Jeff Lubeck

Capturing The Valley: McGowan Cusp of Summer

Successfully completing springtime photo-shoots in Idaho has been tough in 2023. Why? The weather has not been cooperating.

Weather in the Wood River, and Salmon River basins in 2023 has been more like the late 1980’s and 1990’s. In other words – wet with great variability. The 2000’s have proven to be much warmer and drier in the spring and fall.

Many of you are aware I like to have photo-shoots that offer something that can be observed and considered in context. For example, I like exhibits to offer images with before and after comparison or shot on an equinox or solstice.

This year I wanted to capture an iconic peak at the summer solstice for sunset, under the night stars, and at sunrise. I chose McGowan Peak an icon of the Sawtooths as the subject.

Why? McGowan is tough to capture in its most vivid possible state. It is north facing with other large peaks nearby. Therefore, only the earliest of sunrises and latest of sunsets around the summer solstice provide the most compelling light.

The plan is to photograph McGowan over a 9+ hour period on the same day. As planning (or luck) would have it there would also be a New Moon (0% moonlight) and the Belt of the Milky Way would be at its height of visibility.

The weather service predicted overcast skies with possibility for rain to start the day and moving towards Clear Skies through the rest of the night and early AM. “Great” I thought the plan is looking to stay “on Plan.”

The start of the day is not what the weather service predicts. Stanley Idaho on June 20th, 2023 at daylight is being pelted with combination of popcorn snow, sleet and rain. The temperature is in the low 20’s F.

The weather throughout the day is lousy; snow, sleet, and rain. However, while the weather service changes its hourly prediction through 8PM, it says the weather will approach clear and then clear as predicted earlier. Given the prediction, I head to Stanley Lake and McGowan Peak even though it is cold and rainy.

So… the weather service proves to be correct. I will let you judge the results.

*** Jeff’s Thoughts and Other Worthless Trivia ***

McGowan Peak is often misspelled. It is named for one of the earliest residents in the Sawtooth Basin, George McGowan. Many travel maps, tourism companies, and historical websites misspell it to be McGown Peak. Official records of the U.S. Geographical Board have the name designation of “McGowan” submitted by the United States Forest Service on February 21, 1916, and approved on June 7^th, 1916. Relatives of McGowan living in Challis, Idaho have confirmed McGowan to be the correct spelling.

A story about the naming issue in the Idaho Statesman is [here].

An example of not getting my trifecta (i.e., sunset, under the stars, sunrise) in the same photo-shoot is Little Redfish Lake. The weather would not cooperate. While all the shots were good, the sunset and sunrise where not of the compelling brilliance the location can provide. I did, I think at least, get a solid under the skies image.

Capturing The Valley: Pronghorn on the Salmon

Pronghorn are a prominent feature of the open prairies and ranges of the Western United States. The Pronghorn is not an Antelope. Its closest living relative is the Giraffe.

The Pronghorn travels at speeds between 55-60 MPH. Therefore, it is the fastest land animal in the western hemisphere. While the African Cheetah can reach a top speed of 65MPH, the Pronghorn can run at top speed for a far longer period.

Pronghorn on the Salmon River.

Pronghorn have an extensive presence in Idaho. There is a large population of them on the rangeland of the Salmon River from its headwaters at Galena to the town of Stanley. A group of them frequently show up on and nearby our property.

Written observation about the Pronghorn in the U.S. first occurred with the Lewis & Clark Expedition (1804-1806). The Pronghorn neared extinction in the U.S. in the 1920’s. A conservation effort was made by a joint public and private effort in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The result is the Pronghorn thrives (for the most part) today with an estimated population of 1M+

There are not many animal migration corridors that remain in the U.S. However, there is one the involves the Pronghorn and Idaho. There is a 160 mile migration corridor the Pronghorn travel from the foothills of the Pioneer Mountains through the Craters of the Moon National Monument to the Continental divide.

Capturing The Valley: Sharing Residency

This week, the Grosbeak’s decided to move in at our home in Stanley, Idaho. They are new residents.

A New Bird in Town

The Evening Grosbeak is an eye-catching kenspeckle bird. It travels in flocks looking for food sources. In addition, if the flock likes the food source and it proves to be reliable, they set up shop.

Below are images of birds captured in the past few days.

The Bird Feeders at 75 Goat Creek in Stanley Idaho, are essentially a two-story walk up. Birds from all over the area have lived at our place for years. The Evening Grosbeak however, is a bird new to our feeders.

Joining the Regulars

There are a number of birds that are regular visitors to our feeders. They consist of the Stellar Jay, House Finch, Cassin’s Finch, House Sparrow, Western Tanager, Brewers Blackbird, Yellow Headed Blackbird, Redwing Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Mourning Dove, and Western Meadowlark. What’s more, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird come to special feeders provided by my brother Roger and sister-in-law Lynette.

For example, a link to my Post about the hummingbird at the house is [here]

It appears, The Grosbeak Flock that have found our house totals about be 10 birds.

In addition, a bird has appeared at the Feeder’s and in the trees that I cannot make out. I captured an image of this in the trees on our property. I hope to figure out who is this visitor to our home.

I cannot identify this bird.

Wildflowers Return as Well

The return of the birds also signals the return of wildflowers. The Columbine is one of the first at the cabin. I captured this image of Columbine amongst the Purple Sage Brush at High Noon. Its location is on a sidehill on Goat Creek next to the cabin. Equally important, to me at least, is it includes 300-400 vertical feet. I ski this sidehill often. In early March, I skied over these flowers covered in 6 feet of snow.

Columbine at the Cabin on the Way to the T.

*** Jeff’s Worthless Trivia and Other Thoughts ***

I captured all of the bird images above photographing hand-held in manual configuration with the Nikon Z9 Camera and either the Z 400MM S F2.8, Z 560MM S F4.0 or Z800MM S 6.3 Prime Lens’.

I captured the image of the Columbine photographing hand-held in manual configuration using the PhaseOne IQ4 151 Digital Back with the PhaseOne XF Body and Schneider PhaseOne 35MM F3.5 lens.

Capturing The Valley: McGowan Cusp of Summer

Capturing The Valley: Pronghorn on the Salmon

Capturing The Valley: Sharing Residency

A New Bird in Town

Joining the Regulars

Wildflowers Return as Well

Recent Posts

Blogroll

Meta