Whhhhaaaaaat! a Blue Grouse in the front yard? Thats what my parents were tyring to tell me yesterday afternoon. At first i thought it was a bear, cuz the dogs were out and everyone was excited. They like to tree bears but thats another story. I ran up to the deck and there it was in the pine tree looking at the front. The front yard is a meadow that tends to draw in many species such as the Western Tanager. This is the first time that we have every been able to photograph the mom and even better, two kids. We didn’t even see the kids at first cuz the meadow is so high, even the mom can hide in it. With the bird in the tree i quickly setup my 600 and flash and position myself ouyt my bedroom window. Glad i did too because she came back into the yard and posed a couple times for us. This was the one time she was in a clearing on the ground and we were both able to get clean shots of her. The rest of the time she was hidden or on a stump. Dad was out with the 200-400 shooting from outside. The three grouse stayed for maybe fifteen minutes then left weaving their way down through the houses back towards the mountains where the belong. We watched them ethusiastically the whole time. I can’t wait to see who else shows up this summer.
Images captured with D3, 600f4, TC-14E, SB-800 on a flash arm, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film