Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/09/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Beautifully told and photographed - happy to see you back with warm feelings Doug Thank you for it all. Amiti?s Philippe Le 22 sept. 11 ? 22:56, Doug Herr a ?crit : > The White-tailed Ptarmigan is an alpine grouse which can be found at > the highest elevations in western North America. Like other > Ptarmigans, the White-tailed Ptarmigan is a master of camouflage, > resembling the rocky alpine tundra in summer and changing to white > in the winter. > > I found the Ptarmigans after many years of searching in several > western states. In Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, US > Highway 34 goes up to an elevation of almost 12,000 ft where the > Ptarmigans live. One location in particular is a good bet for > finding Ptarmigans: Medicine Bow curve, a bend in the road where the > Medicine Bow mountain range is in full view. From the parking area > one must hike a trail that eventually fades away, down a slope to an > area sheltered from the mountain winds, but not so far that you fall > over a cliff to the snow fields below. Once you reach this general > area, luck is what you need to find the birds. They might be nearby > but you'd never know it until you nearly step on it and it walks away. > > As luck would have it, after a few hours of searching I found a pair > of Ptarmigans no more than 20' away as they were feeding on the > alpine vegetation. As I watched, both birds completely vanished! I > was certain they weren't hidden by terrain, I hadn't seen them fly > away, I hadn't glanced away even for a moment, but they vanished! > Scanning the area carefully I noticed that two of the rocks were > more rounded than the others, almost as if they were worn down in a > stream bed... but this was at nearly 12,000 ft elevation, the > nearest stream was thousands of feet below. It was when one of the > rocks got up and resumed feeding that I re-found the birds. > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/phasianidae/wtptar00.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/phasianidae/wtptar01.html > > Maneuvering for good lighting (and not falling over the cliff) I > heard a peeping sound nearby and after a few befuddled minutes > looking for the source I found a nearly-grown Ptarmigan chick at my > feet. > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/phasianidae/wtptar02.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/phasianidae/wtptar03.html > > I then began to see more rounded rocks, some merely resting and > others that had been feeding all along. I had hit Ptarmigan > Jackpot! There were at least 16 White-tailed Ptarmigans within 25 > feet of where I was standing. With every step I had to watch > carefully to be sure I wasn't going to disturb a bird. I then began > kicking myself for packing light, with only the R8/DMR and 280mm > Telyt. No extension tubes, no shorter lens! While laying on the > tundra for a low camera angle several of the Ptarmigans walked > within a few inches of me, much too close to focus on. > > Despite being chilled to the bone from sub-freezing temperatures, > the leg cramps, the blasts of wind, the thin air that had me > struggling to form a complete sentence, this was almost paradise: > alpine tundra, sun and clouds playing peek-a-boo, an occasional > Peregrine Falcon or Golden Eagle overhead and an elk's bugling > drifting up from the valley below, surrounded by ptarmigans at arm's > length. Outdoor adventures rarely get any better than this. > > Technical stuff: I had stuffed every DMR battery I own into an > inside pocket of my parka to keep them warm. The R9/DMR was in sub- > freezing temperatures for about 4 hours and I expected to run out of > battery power long before filling the memory cards, but my > precautions were unnecessary because after a few hundred exposures > and long after I had become numb from the cold, the DMR showed that > the original battery had plenty of power remaining. The only > equipment failure was the QR clamp on the monopod's tilt head which > kept un-twisting from the head. An upgraded QR clamp is now in the > mail. > > This, along with the adorable cashier at the Ft. Collins Whole Foods > store (I leave this to your imagination), was easily one of the most > memorable events of my 3-week road trip. All comments welcome. > > Doug Herr > Birdman of Sacramento > http://www.wildlightphoto.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information