Walking with Mountain

[popeshawnpaul]

Got out Sunday to do a little shooting on the peninsula.  Had a great time with Mountainwalk and we saw a little wildlife to shoot.  Had some close encounters with grouse but we bagged out on finding goats since it was an 8.2 mile hike to them and it was hot!  Learned that grouse love to eat wildflowers.  I'll post a few pictures here over the next few days as I only had time for these this evening.

First up was butterflies.  I snapped a few so Bone couldn't have the monopoly on here with butterflies.


Was walking up the trail and thought I saw something.  Do you see it?


This is the momma grouse.  She had 4 babies and watched intently over them.  I got within a few feet of them so my 70-200mm lens was all that was needed.  She snacked on wildflowers and kept me in check.


To be continued...

[popeshawnpaul]

On the way up the mountain, we spotted more grouse.  This one stared me down.  I'm not sure if she wanted a piece...


This was one busy stuffing her face with flowers.  She ate the white and purple ones.  Yummy


While I was busy shooting that grouse stuffing her face, Mountainwalk spotted a mountain marmot.  Not sure if that's the official name for it but he looked fat and happy on his mound.


At the top the view was great, but stormy weather was moving in.  The odd hazy conditions made for an interesting photo.


We left the park and went driving around.  Mountainwalk spotted this blacktail mother outside his side of the car and we put a little stalk on her in a rain storm. 


Lastly, we got a few shots of elk.  I got rather close to this one...


The day was fun, but the ferry ride back on a Sunday evening sucked.  I waited for at least 2 ferries for over 2 hours.  Overall, we had a fun time seeing some animals.

[boneaddict]

Thanks for the butterfly shot!  Awesome shtos Pope.  What lens are you shooting with that narrow depth of field?

[popeshawnpaul]

All shots were with a 70-200 f2.8 L IS.  Thanks.