Fly Like an Eagle

This morning, I posted to our Face Book page, "Off to work! I wish our day jobs were this much fun!" It was a little warmer today, with clear, sunny skies. So we loaded up the cameras and set out in search of willing subjects. 

We took the truck because we wanted to get out on back roads. Just past Columbus, we turned onto Country Man Road. We started seeing deer right away. While I do think the does are pretty, they do not appeal to the general public the way a big buck does. We stopped for a couple of shots of the Crazy Mountains (my favorite range), and again for the grain elevators in Reed Point. 

Then we drove our GPS crazy as she tried repeatedly to get us on I-90 back toward home. (Who asked you, GPS? Dan just turned it off!) Nope ~ we wanted Bridger Creek Road. More deer and more mountains, but the day was beginning to look like a bust from a photography point of view. We managed to get all the way across Bridger Creek (we weren't sure if it had been plowed) and turned toward Fishtail. Suddenly, Dan spotted a fox in the ravine below us. We did manage to get a few quick clicks in, but she wasn't hanging around for a full-on photo shoot. 

With our outlook refreshed, we took the road toward the East Rosebud Valley. Finally! We spotted an eagle! There was an unfortunate deer that had not gotten across the road safely, and a pair of eagles were keeping a close eye on it. A small group of magpies were taking advantage of the eagles' absence to take their turn at the carcass. I think magpies are pretty, so I took a few pictures of them before joining Dan in shooting the eagle. 

We don't usually see many eagles during the afternoon, but today was different. As we started toward home, we came across a stretch of road near Roscoe where we have frequently seen eagles. Sure enough, there was a pair hanging out in the branches above the river. As we followed the river back to Absorkee, we continued to see eagles, turkeys, and deer. But daylight was fading, so it was time to "clock out" and go home.