Bald Eagles and American Dippers

2nd year Bald Eagle Preening

A week ago we drove through Yellowstone National Park on the Montana side, on Highway 191. Before we got there we were on Interstate 90 and saw 4 Bald Eagles snacking on a deer carcass. We pulled the semi over and they flew off their meal and went flying in circular formations in the sky, while the other three landed the other stayed flying on the thermals. One landed on a nearby fence post closest to the carcass and the other two landed in the top of a dead tree.  We got plenty of shots of the one on the fence post and one of the Eagles in the tree.  They were 2^nd year Bald Eagles that we got pictures of. Such a beautiful bird!

2nd Year Bald Eagle

After leaving the Bald Eagles to finish their meal we got on highway 191 through Yellowstone! It was quiet beautiful through there. We stopped off at Gillatin River and got some landscape shots and a shot of some graffiti under the bridge.

It’s really interesting to me what some graffiti artist will do to leave their mark on overpasses, trains, under bridges, and wherever else they decide! This one looked like the artist actually hung there from a strap to do his work. Some people don’t like it and thinks it looks trashy, but I think sometimes they are quiet good!

Artist Unknown

After we got back on the road Simon spotted a American Dipper along the river side. I don’t know how he does it, but I can’t see that good or spot a small bird going down the road, but he can! We stopped and headed back to where the bird was and found it swimming and floating like a duck! After several minutes of photos we headed back to the truck and stopped again to take some landscape shots and look for more Dippers along the river. No luck.

Gillatin River

Once we had crossed into Idaho we were still along the river and once again Simon spotted two American Dippers in the water. We stopped and made our way down to the river, but this was a little bit more difficult. Once we started for the river we were walking through 1-3 feet of snow at all times. We did not have snow gear on just a jacket and shoes, no boots, my feet were freezing and I was were wide legged jeans so the snow made its way up my legs…not a fun experience with the snow, but the birds were very interesting. There were two Dippers there and they were calling out, swimming and floating like ducks too! Very interesting to watch!! But they soon few off together and doing aerial display; not sure if this was part of their mating or not.

 Below I’ll share some of the landscape shots we got. Hope you enjoy!