Well Hello Mr. Coyote

Holy smokes it is gorgeous up here.  It doesn’t matter how much time I spend in Glacier – I continue to be amazed by the beauty of this place.

I got up really early and headed back to the pond that I visited last night.  My hope was to capture some early morning shots of the geese on the water but when I arrived, the pond was frozen over.  So much for those open water shots. 😉

Spring is definitely arriving in Glacier.  I wasn’t able to shoot the geese but there was no shortage of other things to capture.

The buds on the willows in this area are starting to open and that makes for some really interesting shots.  I was experimenting with some slow pans of the willows when I heard a yelping sound behind my back.  I immediately recognized the sound as that of a coyote.  He blended well with the snow and aspen trees that cover this area so at first I didn’t see him.  Finally I caught a bit of movement near the shore and confirmed that it was indeed a lone coyote on the move.

I had been shooting with the wide angle lens so I quickly switched to the 400mm and fortunately was able to get some interesting shots.  The coyote was far enough away that there was a slight separation of sight and sound – I could see his head move before the sound of his yelping reached my ears.  Off in the distance I could hear a response from another coyote and he soon moved in that direction.

I’ll try to get the footage processed this afternoon and if possible I’ll send Matt some frame grabs of the willows and coyote.