[Leica] IMG: White-tailed Ptarmigan

[gpinkcp at msn.com (Gary Pinkerton)]

Wonderful photos !and love hearing about the adventure too !

> Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:56:18 -0400
> From: wildlightphoto at earthlink.net
> To: lug at leica-users.org
> Subject: [Leica] IMG: White-tailed Ptarmigan
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
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