READ THE LATEST NEWS FROM TRISTAN HOWARD
November 26, 2011
Since August, grad school has been my primary priority, but I recently took a shooting trip for the first time since last summer. My write-up is below along with screenshots and a short video depicting a small sampling of what I saw. While order has been manipulated, this is raw video with no special sound effects or music. I recommend you watch this after reading my account.
Early Afternoon - November 23, 2011
National Forest: 20 Miles Southeast of Missoula, Montana
I trudged over snow and rock as I moved along a narrow trail on the south slope of a mountain gully. A mossy fir and pine forest blanketed the slope I traversed. Below me, a small creek gurgled through riparian shrubbery and leafless stands of aspen. Above the creek, steep grassy slopes (dotted with pines and rock outcroppings) stretched northward. A light gray, overcast sky hung above me as I heaved my substantial videography/photography gear pack off my shoulders and onto snow.
I then glassed slopes to the north with binoculars and spotted about 20 distant bighorn sheep grazing. As I examined my subjects, I occasionally heard the light clinking of tumbling talus rocks. I decided to use my 100-400 mm lens with a 1.4x extender to shoot a distant ram and ewes. However, while preparing to switch lenses on my video camera, I caught sight of the source of the noise. About 60 yards across from me (very close in the context of bighorn photography), a mature ram chased a ewe on the slope opposite of my position. I only had two minutes left on the current tape in my camera, but I proceeded on. Tall trees blocked my view, so with a lens tucked in my wool-lined aviator jacket, and my camcorder/tripod setup over my shoulder, I moved downhill to reach a more open vantage point.
In my excitement, I slipped on the snow and fell backward. My camera gear nearly tumbled toward a rocky mangling, but my jacket cushioned its impact as it slammed into my chest. The slope was steep with mossy rocks and slushy snow, so my landing was a walloping surprise but not painful. With my back on snow—and active, photogenic bighorns nearby—I awkwardly pulled out a fresh tape and inserted it in my camcorder. I tried to stay low for fear of alarming my subjects. With a new tape loaded, I got up and extended tripod legs as I set up to shoot the bighorns. I soon focused my 28-300 mm lens on a mature ram with large horns. He seemed distracted by something on my side of the gully.
Rock clinked, and I quickly glanced right. A substantial bighorn ram with thick, curling horns moved down my slope. This boy was big—with horns much larger than those of the first ram I spotted. At one point, he was only about 40 feet away from me. I believe that was the closest I have ever been to a mature bighorn ram. The ram seemed to come out of nowhere, and he was a welcome surprise. Luckily, he wasn't in a bad mood. As I quickly fathomed the positive shock of my most prized quarry practically stumbling into my lap, I spun my camera right and recorded the ram as he moved downslope, strode uphill, and evicted the smaller ram from the vicinity. The big ram then courted ewes and struck great poses as I recorded the action. I was close enough to occasionally hear the ram emit low bellowing noises.
The large ram soon disappeared, moving west over the top of a hill. I then continued up the trail. About five minutes later, I was surprised to see two yearling bighorns and a lamb cross the trail ahead of me. They may have been perhaps 70 feet away. I recorded them before they moved out of sight behind trees. I've most often shot bighorns in open high desert or alpine terrain, so I was surprised to see wild sheep habituated to such a forested area.
By early evening (after more hiking and no new sightings), I moved back to my original success zone. I soon turned around and saw a huge ram standing alone on rocks far uphill to the northeast. I photographed and recorded the impressive ram. His horns were severely gouged and missing notable layers of keratin—likely from ferocious clashes with other rams.
The gouge-horned ram moved west to join up with the ewes and lambs I'd seen earlier in the afternoon. The original big ram also returned, and both male sheep tried to court ewes. They interacted and postured as if they might fight. However, if they had problems with each other, they were probably settled earlier. The rams seemed pretty relaxed, and no fight occurred. This is the peak of the breeding season for Rocky Mountain bighorns, and one would assume fights could be common—with equally matched rams competing for ewes. However, I've read that most hierarchy is established before the rutting season. That’s when most head-butting is supposed to occur.
After getting one last shot of the gouge-horned ram, I realized that dusk had progressed so far that low light levels were yielding poor quality footage. It was time to go, so I packed my gear and headed back down the trail. As I traveled toward the iced-over parking lot hosting my car, I felt grateful that I finally lived in area where I could casually shoot great footage of a huge group of bighorns that was far from major roads, far from crowds, and in a quiet location I had all to myself.
August 6, 2011
I recently arrived in Missoula, Montana. I like the area, and it feels comfortable, though I anticipate winter will freeze up some of my positive attitude. I’ve already seen velvet bucks close to my apartment, and I have plenty of room to roam. This is the best place I’ve lived since I left Little Hot Springs Valley.
Western Montana is grand, but so was the trip here. I saw epic plains, badlands, and dinosaur fossils in Wyoming, extremely high mountain country along the Beartooth Highway in the Wyoming/Montana border country, and abundant wildlife in Yellowstone National Park.
In the brief time I traveled through Yellowstone, I saw mountain goats, deer, elk, bison, and two grizzlies. One grizzly dashed off a steep slope and ran in front of my car at dusk. I got a good look at it and watched it trot into darkness before disappearing in a riverbed. I also encountered a bison jam in the dark. Bison stood on the road, and I was close enough to see headlights shine off hooves and glossy snouts.
The Missoula region is the most like my home terrain out of all the places I’ve lived. Finally, I’m surrounded by mountains again. Vegetation diversity is notably greater than the Colorado Front Range, and this area feels a lot like the Pacific Northwest. Though I’ll be busy with grad school, I’m confident I’ll get plenty of good photos and videos right from the open country surrounding Missoula.
June 19, 2011
I finally posted newspaper articles that cover The Wildlife of Little Hot Springs Valley’s initial 2008 TV broadcast and its first theater screening. The articles are on the
Print Publicity page, which is in the “SCREENINGS & BROADCASTS” section. I also added two new Oregon Field Guide videos: Animal Damage Control and Raptorman.
May 30, 2011
I recently implemented the most significant website update since I revamped the whole site last year. I finally added 31 natural sound clips. You can listen to 19 wildlife audio clips and 12 ecosystem ambience clips. Each wildlife clip is about 30 seconds long, and the ecosystem ambience clips are about 3 minutes long. Below is one of my favorite clips. I recorded it in Colorado last October.
I planned on adding a sound section to my site from the beginning, but I never got around to it. Recording, organizing, labeling, and listening to dozens of hours of sound can be time-consuming. I only recently finished listening to the majority of my sound library. Cinematography and photography have generally been a higher priority for me than sound recording. The sounds on my site were recorded over the course of about 5 years.
I also recently augmented two wildlife photo galleries. I added new elk and bighorn photos to the Large Mammals gallery, and I added a snapping turtle photo and garter snake photos to the Reptiles & Amphibians gallery.
In addition to updating wildlife galleries, I posted a new landscape gallery: Meadows and Fields. I also removed my “Mount Shasta” gallery. It seemed pretty weak compared to the other galleries. Some of the Shasta shots have since been absorbed in the new “Meadows and Fields” gallery, and others will likely show up elsewhere in the future. I also added a page called: Photo Enhancement Notes. There, I briefly describe the types of digital treatments I give some of my photos.
Furthermore, I posted a link to the big freelance video job I performed last year: Addressing Road-Related Sedimentation. Not long ago, I discovered that the 5 Counties Salmonid Conservation Program had finally put the sedimentation video on their site. The link to that video is now under the “COMMISSIONED PROJECTS” section along with the Humboldt County General Plan video I made in 2009.
Speaking of videos, I recently put all my Flash video clips into superior, new player skins that allow full-screen expansion.
May 21, 2011
I recently added three spectacular landscape photo galleries: Rocky Mountain National Park, Redwood National & State Parks, and California’s North Coast. I acquired most of
the redwood forest and coastal shots while attending Humboldt State University from
2005-2009. I shot the Rocky Mountain National Park photos from June to November 2010. The park isn’t far from my current location in Colorado. I also augmented my Southeastern Oregon gallery with more recent shots.
Today, I also enhanced my site with a new wildlife photo gallery: Dinosaurs. I’ve wanted to photograph dinosaurs for years. What wildlife photographer wouldn’t want to capture images of the most fantastic creatures to have ever walked the Earth? I was born about 65 million years too late, so I settled for the next best things: museum models, fossil skeletons, detailed replicas placed in natural settings, etc.
I shot most of the dinosaurs in northeastern California, The Field Museum, the Dakota Dinosaur Museum, University of Wyoming’s Geological Museum, and the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum. Over the years, I’ve visited 9 museums (in 6 states) that feature major dinosaur exhibits. The new gallery showcases a small sampling from more recent visits.
May 11, 2011
I recently designed a new banner for my site. The new graphic features a western fence lizard, Mount Shasta, and a Rocky Mountain bighorn ram. I photographed the lizard in Little Hot Springs Valley in March 2009. I got the Shasta shot in July 2005 while high in the Big Valley Mountains. And, I shot the bighorn ram in northern Colorado last November.
I also added two substantial new photo galleries to my site. A Grand Teton National Park gallery is now under my “Western Landscapes” heading, and an autumn colors gallery is now in the “Little Springs Valley” section. I captured the Teton images in fall 2009 when I camped in the park while volunteering at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. I shot the brilliantly colorful oak trees, maples, and walnut trees in October 2009.
The “WELCOME” page has also been slightly modified with image and text adjustments, and I’ve added a geology-themed Oregon Field Guide video called Missoula Floods.
April 17, 2011
MOVING TO MONTANA
I’m now certain on my graduate school plans. This fall, I’ll be attending The University of Montana (UM) in pursuit of a Master of Science in Geography with an Option in Community and Environmental Planning. I’ll also be working part-time because the UM Geography Department awarded me a teaching assistantship.
Colorado (my current location) has impressive scenery and wildlife, but the portions of the state I’ve experienced are far too crowded and ecologically barren for my tastes. Despite my acquisition of real work and the presence of two universities suitable for my goals, I’m eager to leave Colorado.
Montana’s a different story. It contains much more intact ecosystems, sustainable populations of wolves and grizzlies, and over 4 million fewer people than Colorado. According to the 2010 U.S. census, Colorado has about 5,029,000 people while Montana has about 989,400 people.
I’m fascinated by many wildlife species, but my primary interest is often in North American big game animals. As accomplished wildlife photographer Peggy Bauer states in Erwin Bauer’s Horned & Antlered Game (1986): “Montana, with Wyoming, is the premier state for the horned and antlered mammal enthusiast.”
UM’s location in Missoula will put me near virtually every large mammal species I’ve videotaped and heavily researched. Finally, I’ll be near bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elk, pronghorn, bison, mule deer, white-tailed deer, moose, black bears, grizzly bears, and gray wolves. I’m near some of those species now, but I’m not fond of driving through Denver’s north sprawl to see whitetails, and I don’t enjoy navigating a swarm of Interstate 70 traffic to maybe see bighorns above the road.
With world-famous wildlife havens nearby like Glacier National Park and the National Bison Range, Missoula will give me unprecedented opportunities for fantastic wildlife cinematography and photography. I’ll also be near exemplary wildlife habitat in northern Idaho. However, my main focus will be on my education and teaching work, so I probably won’t get out nearly as often as I’d like.
March 5, 2011
SOP TV (Southern Oregon Public Television) broadcast The Wildlife of Little Hot Springs Valley yesterday at 5:00 a.m. I would have written of the airing beforehand, but I unexpectedly learned of it late the night before. Sure, 5:00 a.m. isn’t a great timeslot, but I’m glad a documentary I finished nearly 4 years ago is still being aired on a PBS station.
Speaking of Oregon, I recently embedded another Oregon Field Guide archaeology video onto my site. “Indian Pits” (1992) focuses on prehistoric Native American culture along the ridges of the Columbia River Gorge.
January 22, 2011
I recently added more Oregon Field Guide Videos with wildlife (Harlequin Ducks, Lizards), locations (Warner Wetlands, Jordan Valley, Harney County), and archaeology (Summer Lake Revisit).
I also updated the Natural History Research Links page with a link to the U.S. Forest Service’s Silvics of North America Manuals (thorough references for virtually every conifer and hardwood tree in the U.S.). Furthermore, I augmented the Physical Geography Research Links page with a link to the website of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS’s site has a fantastic array of geographic and geological information, and much of it can be found in the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Additionally, I added photographic banners (one of which is below) to all my research link pages.
December 25, 2010
I recently embedded some new outdoor videos on my site. They’re all story segments from or entire episodes of the Oregon Field Guide (OFG) television series, which airs on local PBS stations throughout Oregon. As the series website states, the show’s “a valuable source of information about outdoor recreation, ecological issues, natural resources and travel destinations.” Below is one of my very favorite videos from the series. It should give you a taste of why OFG is so worth checking out.
While much of my material is a mix of education and entertainment with little human content, OFG approaches things with a more journalistic style and often interviews people in addition to showing spectacular scenery, wonderful wildlife, fascinating facts, and other elements I strive to deliver to the public. Basically, OFG is one of the best sources for expanded coverage of themes and topics my documentaries address. It covers wildlife issues, but also hits other interesting topics, like geology, archaeology, etc.
I have no professional affiliation with the show. I’m merely a big fan, and I feel strongly about sharing the series with others.
Oregon is such a diverse state that coverage of its outdoor issues and paradigms is often relevant to the rest of the western U.S. Even if you live far from Oregon, the show’s still engaging. I grew up in northeastern California, so southern Oregon was a natural extension of my typical outdoor roaming range.
My new “OREGON FIELD GUIDE Videos” menu tab links to a page on my site with links to some of my favorite videos from the series. I have videos arranged by the themes of:
“Big Game,” “Predators,” “Paleontology,” “Geology,” “Archaeology,” and “Locations.”
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