Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Boys Will Be Boys

In late autumn, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep migrate from the high peaks of the Gros Ventre Mountains to Miller Butte, a wintering area on the National Elk Refuge in western Wyoming. During the rut, rams vie for mating rights with ewes through fierce head-butting competitions. I was fortunate to witness one such competition from close range in December 2024.

The day dawned clear and cold in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Fog cloaked low-lying areas while the Teton Range lit up in early morning colors. I scrambled to capture the fleeting display with my camera.

Next, I set off for the National Elk Refuge in hopes of finding bighorn sheep on Miller Butte. It was the right time of year, but previous visits had taught me that the sheep keep their own schedules that don’t always mesh with mine. Today, however, turned out to be a very good day. Not only did I find sheep, I found three large rams huddled together at a mineral lick on a rocky outcrop - close by and in good light!

My good fortune didn’t end there. The rams were clearly agitated, and I surmised the rut was underway. Some shoving and kicking ensued before the trio descended from the outcrop to the flats below and started grazing - a mere 50 meters from me!

Over the next two hours, several lightning-quick rounds of head butting occurred, interspersed with long periods of nervous grazing. I managed to capture some of the collisions with high frame-rate photography. (By this time, my fingers were too cold to switch to video.)

Here’s the cinematic version.

Bighorn rams engage in head-butting contests at Miller Butte, National Elk Refuge, Wyoming.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Shoshone and Hoback - Giants of the Tetons

For more than a decade in the 2010s and early 2020s, two Shiras Moose bulls ruled the area around Grand Teton National Park: Shoshone and Hoback. Their wanderings, escapades, and a likely confrontation between them were chronicled by local photographer Mike Jackson (https://goldenstudios.com/shoshone/ https://goldenstudios.com/hoback/). I was fortunate to encounter each of them on separate occasions spanning three years.

After hearing about the legendary moose Shoshone for several years during my visits to Grand Teton National Park and its surroundings, I came upon this large bull near the settlement of Kelly, Wyoming, on a snowy October morning in 2021. Minutes after I arrived and before I was fully ready with my camera, he laid down to chew his cud and rest. Experience told me the respite could last for hours, but I was determined to see the impressive bull upright. After waiting nearly two hours, I was rewarded when he suddenly stood and started walking directly toward me. I gave him space as he cantered across nearby Antelope Flats Road to graze and drink. Only later did I realize the bull was Shoshone.

Shoshone, who ruled the area around Grand Teton National Park in the 2010s and early 2020s along with his sometimes companion and competitor, Hoback.

I spent more than two hours with the magnificent bull while he browsed and eventually drank from a small stream (photos below). Only one other photographer was there to share the experience. We wondered if it might be Shoshone, which I was able to confirm that evening by comparing my photographs with those of Mike Jackson (https://goldenstudios.com/shoshone). It was an exceptional experience, nearly without equal, until the day I met Hoback.

I was photographing several bull moose near Gros Ventre Campground as dusk approached on a clear day in late November 2024. One had sustained an injury to its right ear, which was hanging limp. I had been concentrating on another bull until a nearby photographer mentioned that the injured bull was Hoback, who had sustained the injury the past spring in a battle with another bull. In my excitement, I managed to get the following photograph minutes before the sun sank below the horizon.

Hoback, with his distinctive drop left tyne, during evening golden time in November 2024. (https://goldenstudios.com/hoback/)

I continued to photograph Hoback after sunset while dusky afterglow lingered on snow covered hills in the background (left and center photos, below). When that light, too, had faded and most of the assembled photographers had left, I found myself kneeling about 50 yards away from Hoback, preparing to leave. It was then that he decided to move on by walking directly toward me, as Shoshone had done three years earlier. Again I moved off slowly and continued shooting (right photo). A moment came that seemed too exceptional for photographs. I stood stock still and watched while Hoback sauntered past me, his damaged right ear limp but still seemingly secure in his status as an elder warrior deserving of respect. I left feeling immensely fortunate to have been in the company of two giants of the Tetons.

I learned later that Shoshone had not shown up in the fall of 2022, less than a year after our encounter, or anytime thereafter. In March 2025, Hoback was enjoying his retirement from competition with other dominant bulls, some of whom will undoubtedly extend his proud bloodline.

Shoshone and Hoback - Companions, Competitors, Legends

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Tasmania and South Australia

Much of Australia’s wildlife is unique and occurs nowhere else in the world.

As a result of its unique geologic history, Australia’s wildlife is remarkably diverse and most of its indigenous species occur nowhere else.

Australia was part of the supercontinent Gondwanaland, which included present-day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Antarctica, and Australia. About 180 million years ago, plate tectonics driven by mantle convection caused Gondwanaland to break apart into several lithospheric plates that slowly drifted apart, eventually creating the Australian continent about 35 million years ago. Australia’s resulting isolation and lack of predators allowed marsupials that originated in Gondwanaland to survive and evolve into the diverse group of unique species that are present today.

See more photos of Australian wildlife from our visit there in October - November 2024 HERE.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

The Wild Mustangs of Pryor Mountain

Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is a 39,650 acre refuge for the Pryor Mountain mustang in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming. The Pryor Mountain mustang is considered to be genetically unique and one of the few strains of horses verified by DNA analysis to be descended from the original Colonial Spanish horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish.

The Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center in Lovell, Wyoming, is dedicated to preserving the future of the wild horses of the Pryor Mountains. I’ve taken the Mustang Center’s tour three times, twice in 2023 and once in 2024. Each visit was unique and memorable, from the rugged 12 mile road to the summit to the beauty of the horses and landscape.

Wild Mustangs, Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range, Wyoming/Montana. Photo acquired during PryorWild guided tour.

You can browse my photographs of Pryor Mountain mustangs here.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Beasts are where you find them

Flame skimmer or Firecracker Skimmer (Libellula saturata)

With an early July heatwave approaching, I didn’t want to venture far afield in search of photo opportunities. Looking outside with a freshly brewed cappuccino in hand, I noticed a brilliant orange and especially persistent dragonfly darting back and forth over a small pond in the backyard, picking off small insects. I watched long enough to realize that it had a favorite perch at the edge of the pond where it invariably stopped to enjoy its snacks. With a tripod and Nikon Z8 camera body fitted with a Nikkor 105 mm macro lens, I set up shop about two feet away from the perch and waited for my subject to appear. It obliged me several times in different poses, in one case long enough to finish its meal while I took photos from less than a foot away! You see what you look for. Look for photographs.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

The Kids Are Here

In a previous post (May 31, 2023), I mentioned that Mountain Goats have been seen more often near Johnston Ridge Observatory (JRO, https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=31562) since the road to JRO was closed by a landslide in May 2023 (https://www.kgw.com/article/travel/mt-saint-helens-closure-landslide-sr-504/283-927ce515-a314-4a2c-9454-4f15c6a539de). After seeing adult goats in the area three times during April and May 2024, I was curious if any newborns had arrived by early June. My question was answered on June 13, when I spotted three adults and two young kids in places where only they could go.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Badger Cubs!

Three American Badger cubs were anxious to explore their surroundings while I shared a few hours with them in June 2024.

I made a quick trip to Yellowstone National Park in early June 2024 when I heard about a Red Fox den with kits that could be photographed discretely without drawing a crowd (see previous post). It was a memorable experience made even better when I discovered an American Badger den, also with youngsters, in the area.

Two cubs made frequent short forays away from the den, foraging for food, while a third seemed content staying closer to home. Sadly, the cubs’ mother had been injured by a car a few days earlier and her status was unknown.

The cubs seemed healthy and potentially self-reliant, so hopefully the entire family survived and is doing well.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Two days shared with a Red Fox family

What kits do when Mom isn’t home

Recently I was fortunate to spend 10 hours over two consecutive days observing and photographing a Red Fox den in Yellowstone National Park, mostly hidden from the foxes and alone. I saw one adult, presumably the vixen Mom, and three kits. Earlier, others reported that there were four.

A memorable scene unfolded late in the afternoon of my first day when the vixen delivered an adult Snowshoe Hare carcass to the den. A lively spat ensued among the kits, one of which claimed the prize for itself and carried it off a short distance from the others. During the next hour, I watched as the kit consumed almost the entire carcass, which was nearly as large as the kit itself!

On both days I left the den in dusky light, mindful of my good fortune.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Face of an Angry Sun

The Sun’s 11 year sunspot cycle is approaching its peak and the results have been spectacular.

A strong coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun produced a G5 geomagnetic storm, the strongest in more than two decades, and a dazzling aurora borealis display on the night of May 10/11, 2024.

The CME occurred from region 3664, near the lower right limb of the Sun in the photo below.

Image of the Sun taken on May 12, 2024, in Vancouver, Washington. A strong CME from region 3664 was responsible for the G5 geomagnetic storm on May 10/11.

I was fortunate to experience and photograph the auroral display from a remote area in south-central Washington State.

Aurora borealis display on the night of May 10/11, 2024, as seen from Dalles Mountain Road near Warwick, Washington.

Aurora borealis display on the night of May 10/11, 2024, as seen from Dalles Mountain Road near Warwick, Washington. Mount Adams is silhouetted near the lower left corner of the image.

The peak of the sunspot cycle is now expected to occur in mid 2025, so more colorful nighttime displays are likely.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Totality in Concord, Arkansas!

Staring at the Sun in the shadow of the Moon!

My first experience in the shadow of the Moon was a brief one on July 11, 1991, when my wife, son, and I were able to stare at the eclipsed sun for a few seconds through a gap in stubborn clouds on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was our son’s 11th birthday and a memory that will last a lifetime.

We were luckier on our second attempt, this time at the Santiam Golf Club in Aumsville, Oregon, when we spent more than two minutes in totality while the Moon’s shadow swept across northern Oregon on August 21, 2017. My panic when I couldn’t locate the Sun in the viewfinder of my camera at the start of totality ended when my son reminded me to remove the solar filter from my lens. Totality can be an “out of mind” experience.

Most good things don’t come easily and that was the case during the next total solar eclipse across North America on April 8, 2024. My son, his partner, and I arrived in San Antonio, Texas, five days early and resolved to drive our rental van as far as necessary to find a cloud-free sky. That turned out to be about 1,000 miles away in Concord, Arkansas, after several misses while we nervously adjusted our route using real-time cloud forecasts from NASA and the National Weather Service. Ultimately, we reveled in more than four minutes of “totality” darkness after some stubborn high clouds vanished just 15 minutes before the start of the eclipse. It was worth every minute and mile of the odyssey!

For a fascinating account of the science, history, and lore of solar eclipses, I recommend the book Mask of the Sun, written by John Dvorak and published by Pegasus Books.

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

Mountain Goats Galore

Mountain Goats are back near Mount St. Helens.

The catastrophic landslide and eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 resulted in near-extirpation of the local mountain goat population, but sightings were reported again starting in 2000 and by 2020 a population of about 250 goats was thriving again. https://www.mshinstitute.org/about_us/blog-posts/mountain-goats-are-thriving-in-the-mount-st-helens-national-volcanic-monument.html

Since the road to Johnston Ridge Observatory (JRO) was closed by a landslide in May 2023, mountain goats have been using the Boundary Trail at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument to traverse the area north of Mount St. Helens and the Toutle River. I saw more than a dozen goats on each of two walks to JRO in April 2024. 

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Dan Dzurisin Dan Dzurisin

It’s Never Too Late To Start

My Nikon companion and I near Mount St. Helens, Washington, on a perfect snowshoeing day.

I’ve been fortunate to visit some exotic and unusual places during my four decade career as a volcanologist and recently in pursuit of my interest in wildlife photography. Those experiences are chronicled in part by my photographs, some of which are posted on this website and also here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ndomer73/.

Until now, I haven’t tried to share my adventures more widely or to provide much written context for my photographs. This blog is an attempt to remedy that by creating a trip log of sorts in which I describe where my camera has taken me recently and invite your comments on any aspect of the trips or resulting photographs.

Let me know what you think, where you’ve been, what I’m doing right or wrong with my camera, and how I might improve. It’s never too late to start!

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