The irony of wildlife filming

After hiking around for days trying to catch up with the wolves Isaac and Gabe had been filming when they were out, we finally had to come to the realization that without a stroke of near miraculous luck, we were not going to find these wolves again.  This country is so huge and wild and difficult to get around in when you only have two legs at your disposal (how many times have I wished for four legs to climb these hills, after watching wolves or elk or bighorns getting around with seeming ease...).  We found no new wolf sign, only a few older scats and tracks that had been left before the last of the rains, so we had to be content with simply seeing new country.

We found a new favorite spot when we hiked up to Cougar Point and spent two nights camped on top of the world, with a breathtaking 360 degree view of endless mountains decked out in an amazingly brilliant emerald green (after all the rain early on).  The slopes were absolutely popping with wildflowers: Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Indian Paintbrush, Ground Phlox, Blue Penstoman and the most abundant Lupine either one of us have ever seen.  Lupine seems to really like relatively newly burned areas, and as were bowled over by the scent as we hiked through endless meadows filled with nothing but vibrant Lupine and velvety black burned tree skeletons.  Really amazing color combination.

One evening we were up on Cougar Point, where there used to be a fire Lookout but it burned about 20 years ago.  We were filming big wide scenics as the sun sank low and golden over the mountains.  Isaac had just set up a time-lapse involving an artistically shaped burned tree snag backlit with the falling sun.  Somewhere right about in the middle of the twenty-minute time-lapse, a pair of cavorting bluebirds swooped into frame and decided that very tree snag was the place to hang out for a while.  I was watching with binoculars and got the most amazing show as they perched on the branches, fluttering and playing and completely backlit with molten sunset dripping from their wings.  I kept "oooing" and "ahhhing" as if I were watching a fireworks display, as Isaac sat beside me behind the camera cursing those very same bluebirds as they ruined his time-lapse.  But that is the story of wildlife filming.  It is so rare to have the right gear at the right moment.  With the right lens (not the one we had at that moment), and shot in slow motion (not a time-lapse), that bluebird moment would have been gorgeous.  But I enjoyed the show anyhow...