So thrilled with this cameo in this month’s Nat Geo from our Big whooping Adventure following birds from Texas to Canada. Except for my portrait of @mforsbergphoto, he took all the photos while I was just the trained rat who flew the plane. Mike and I have been flying together for many years, and the last photo is from a flight in 2011 when we were slipping, practically undetected, amongst migrating pronghorn after a brutal winter in the Northern Great Plains.

New skins on an old flap. Almost back to the sky.

Nothing wrong with a little travel now and then.

It’s been a little quiet in the sky recently. The Red Plane has been taking a rest, but will be reemerging soon with a rebuilt flap, new shoes, and a minor patch on the noggin. We’ll be back in the sky for a busy flight season in mid April.

Our sleepy little frontier outpost on a lovely spring morning in January.

Lured my plane-skeptical wife into the airplane—for the first time in about four years—to trade six hours in the car for 2 hours in the plane. Treated to a lovely sunset flight home from the swim meet in Great Falls.

Big Sandy, Montana, hometown of @senatorjontester. Happy to lend this image to @bella.butler_ ‘s very excellent article on our very excellent Senator. @jontester embodies Jefferson’s sentiment that “I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural….”

I have grown accustomed to people lifting my photos from the web for their own projects and purposes. My reaction has long since mellowed from indignation to mild annoyance and occasional amusement. But I might even be flattered by this one—even if it’s several notches below the examples of Ansel Adam’s, Sebastiao Salgado and others. I took this in the Centennial Valley in 2003 (a year or two after Galen’s death) during one of my first flights with the first camera I bought for aerial photography—the newly released 6 megapixel Canon 10D. In 20 years of shooting, I don’t think I’ve shot its equal.

Flying is so lovely this time of year. True airspeed 115 knots, headwind 55 knots, ground speed 59 knots. Fortunately at my destination it’s only 24, gusting 31.

Always grateful to Luke Duran at Montana Outdoors Magazine for the opportunity to share my view of Montana. While a wide angle photograph at 16 millimeters may mute the vertical grandeur, and obscure the specific details of a landscape, I always love its ability to hint at the vastness. Years ago, with only a 28-70 millimeter lens in my kit, I was feeling confident enough about my aerial portraits to splurge on some new glass. It wasn’t immediately obvious to me whether it should it be the 70-200mm telephoto zoom to magnify the incredible details I saw from the sky, or a wide angle zoom of 16 to 35mm to more effectively embrace the expanse of the aerial view. Both lenses cost approximately the same, so my consumer impulse suggested the former, because, of course, in dollars-per-millimeter, the 70-200mm would be a much better deal than the 16-35mm. But my aesthetic impulse was reflected in the fact that the vast majority the images I made with my only lens were shot at below 50 millimeters. Today, my three workhorse lenses are the 16-35mm, the 24-70, and the 24-105, and that image distribution still holds up. Seventy percent of my images are still made below 50mm and the clusters of photographs at the end points of each zoom are informative: of the 47,062 photos taken with those lenses, 9% were shot at 16mm, 24% at 24mm, 7% at 35mm, 13% at 70mm, and 11% at 105mm. The majority of photographs clustered at 70mm and 105mm were made during survey work when I was tasked to document or count swan chicks and collars, capture minute details of archaeological sites, identify vegetation and substrate sizes on river surveys, or catalog specific infrastructure details.

A wee mosey around the valley under a broody sky. Looking southeast towards the Gallatin Range, bison in a corner, whitecaps on Willow Creek Reservoir, and, of course, channels in the mud.

Not sure why, but I really like looking at this photo.

A delightful 4 hours under the hood with my Safety Pilot, Ralph jumping through my instrument proficiency/currency hoops. RNAV approaches at Helena, Butte, Twin Bridges, Dillon, and Bozeman.

Really happy with this placement. Project on Bison Restoration on the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Reservation for @wwf photo picked up by @smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. Important stuff. Google it.

Gallatin county may be in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, but rest assured we’ve almost completely resolved the fake backyard pond crisis.

A minor excursion. Some unnecessary but appreciated runway, a flower blooms in the gravel pit, wind take this poison away.

Despite the somewhat heavy vegetable representation, the Scots have a pretty solid breakfast game.

Scenic.

About 40 miles into our wee nosey, 20 miles to go.

Wandering around Scotland with this guy is a pretty good idea.

So great to finally see Sister’s spectacular cheese operation in the remotes of Northern Ireland.

Somebody got tired of having their photo taken.

You might be surprised how much fill it takes to perch a house on a steep, steep hill. Or you might not.

Drove past Montana Rail Link’s “Jobs and Infrastructure” project on my way home from work yesterday. Lots of little jobs happening down there.

Thursday’s flight path, Friday’s flight path.

Sunset and sunrise at the Augusta Regional Aerodrome. Fortunately, accommodation are within walking distance from the terminal.

The other thing that wings are good at (sound up).

Playing with sunrise and rain showers near Ringling, Montana.

Of course the upside that comes with flying around documenting landscape bedlam is the spectacular gift of the rest of the Montana. 1. Sheep mountain near Livingston. 2. The Crazy Mountains from Springdale. 3 & 4. Green folds. Very green. 5. A Super Cub was one of the many aircraft inspecting the Yellowstone train derailment on Sunday morning.

Been a sobering week photographing all of the ways in which we celebrate the Yellowstone River. 1. Train bridge collapses under the weight of a train, spilling hot tar and molten sulfur. 2. A large glampground. 3. Removing all woody debris from a point bar because it’s dangerous.

I squeezed 200 miles of flying into the gorgeous 35 mile-long Centennial Valley looking for collared Trumpeter Swans. All below 400 feet, and with dozens of birds to find/photograph, it’s a busy flight. But what a privilege to lend my strange talents to the people helping these lovey birds.

I borrowed a Big Boy lens with the hopes of making a photograph of our sand hill crane on her nest. It poured all weekend forcing me to concentrate on soggy birds on the deck. A few clear hours at the end allowed me to make a couple of images of our sweet bird. Happy to report she’s off the nest now with at least one colt.

Drove by the house yesterday on my way to count swans in Yellowstone. Found most of the usual suspects. Traffic wasn’t too bad.

It occurred to me the other day that I really don’t spend enough time celebrating the spectacular beauty, complexity and imagination of the sky—despite how generous it has been to me these many years. Here’s a clumsy start.

Who just completed an Instrument Proficiency Check after spending a couple of weeks practicing blind flying, while simultaneously earning his Aeronautical Dorkiness Rating? The upside of the Alberta forest fire smoke was in providing IFR visibility without all the nasty weather hidden inside.

Following lines. Making maps.

Putting together some visuals for a brief presentation on flying photographers. This one a cautionary note about the sometimes necessary combination of slow flight, crossed controls, and steep turns.

Flew over another of Montana’s premier Superfund sites on my way home from Idaho yesterday. As the river rises with spring runoff, it’s comforting to see this 50 year accumulation of toxic sludge nestled safely behind a narrow berm of porous gravel.

Mostly overcast and rain makes for tough shooting conditions. It gives a few lovely gifts—though rarely over my project sites.

Flying season is just getting underway, so it’s time to make sure the cameras still work. A new engine monitor raises exciting new possibilities in data geekery.

So great, after nearly 50 years of summer visits to this wild coast, to finally introduce myself to its winter.

Hello, Maine. So nice to see you again.

Random from my flight to Billings yesterday: 1. Cows following the breakfast tractor. 2. Wind turbine. 3. Icy Yellowstone River. 4. Meanders. 5. Playground. #aerialphotography #aerialmapping

Some recent meanderings: departing runway 12, Hyalite Peak, the sleepy little mountain hamlet of Big Sky, a snowmobile playground along Buffalo Horn Creek, Fortress Mountain amd Ramshorn Peak.

Moved an awful lot of snow today to make room for all the s ow that will drift back into the road again tonight. Love the snow, hate the wind.

New record at Farm 51 of -40. Waited til sunrise to feed. Your heart bleeds for the livestock—hoping they get to keep all of their ears….

Farm 51 in its dress whites the other morning.

As ubiquitous as the trampoline in the back yards of middle America, the Gallatin Valley has its half acre plastic lined ponds. Can you even call it a yard without one?

Drive past the farm on the way to work. She’s looking very sassy in the new fall colors. Drove right over the M on the way home. @boyerfarm51 #montana #aerialphotography #gallatinvalley #bozeman

I made the mistake of borrowing a mirrorless Canon R5 for a test flight. Passable results at ISO 20,000, in-camera stabilization with sharp images at 1/160th of a second—previously impossible without an external gyro—, and a seemingly broader dynamic range. A few more megapixels have me looking for an excuse to make some more 8-foot by 12-foot prints. Corporate profits about to plummet. #canonr5 #mirrorless #aerialphotography

I have trouble justifying the expense and carbon of just flying for myself, so 99% of my personal work happens on route to client projects. But on Saturday I took myself on a joyride for no good reason. 1. Everybody gets a tiny piece of Wide Open Space (Ennis). 2. it was nice to see some moisture in the neighborhood (Centennial Valley). 3. Chased my glory in the Big Hole Valley. 4. Our Lady of the Rockies never gets tired of her view (Butte). 5 & 6. Estuaries are always beautiful. No matter how toxic. (Whitehall). #aerialphotography #conservationphotography #ennismontana #centennialvalleymontana #buttemontana #goldmining

Lovely start to the week with Lara and @storiesforaction, doors off over Paradise Valley. Check out the great work she’s doing with the Life in the Land series of Montana stories: lifeintheland.org. #aerialphotography #aerialvideography #paradisevalleymontana #yellowstoneriver #cessna

A strong finish to the week with @ronan_donovan over some spectacular #beaver complexes in the #greateryellowstoneecosystem. I love introducing a gifted photographer and storyteller to the Red Plane’s fantastic #aerialphotography capabilities. #conservationphotography #yellowstonenationalpark #wetlands #cessna

While flying a watershed tour for a local non-profit this morning, I noticed a plume of smoke in upper Fawn Creek in the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park. Had to violate my “No texting and driving with passengers onboard” rule to contact The park’s Fire Dispatch Center. Although it wasn’t exactly in heavy timber, it’s awful dry right now and probably good to get their eyes in it. #yellowstonenationalpark #aerialphotography #forestfire

Spying on the neighbors again from behind my organic surveillance blind. #beavers

The Rocky Creek Beavers got an early start on their dam this year, after it was leveled by last spring’s floods. I made a neighborly gift of some fresh cottonwood branches I trimmed off the road. After dinner Nellie and I pulled up a chair and watched the action. Beaver shared the bounty with muskrat roommates, trout were rising, kingfishers fishing, warblers warbling. It’s never a bad idea to sit quietly in nature. You will always be rewarded.

1. Took the door off and brought the 15mm fisheye along for my @lighthawk_org flight in the #centennialvalley yesterday. 2. Into the murky dawn. 3. #nationalgeographic writer and photographer Jon waterman making magic over the #redrockslakenationalwildliferefuge. 4. There’s something about a grass airstrip that makes every plane look sassy. #aerialphotography #canonphotography #sigmaphotography #cessna #taildragger #henryslake #conservationphotography

Busy day at #bozemanyellowstoneinternationalairport. “Four-Six-Bravo, make left 360’s on the right downwind until further notice.” Then: “Can you make a short approach to runway 03?”

Really regret that I didn’t spring for the trailer towing package on the Red Plane. 2,144 more miles to go.

Driving down a country road to document the path and progress of an ambitious project to link central Montana communities with a clean, dependable supply of water.

So excited to go off grid for a week at this undisclosed location. And there’s something that seems right about a giant pile of horse shit in front of a Wyoming airport “terminal.” I mean that in a good way. #windriverrange #lander #wyoming

Finding Baby Swans in the Blackfoot is a delightful way to spend a summer morning. 1. Arrived just as the morning fog was breaking up—such great moisture this year! 2 & 3. The camera does the hard work for me—I just look for white and grey blobs—and it’s been a great year for grey blobs. 4. The Swan River. 5. The iPad and the GPS never tire of telling me to “PULL UP, PULL UP!” 6. Gorgeous trip over the Mission Mountains on my way to fuel in Ronan, MT. #aerialphotography #aerialsurvey #conservationphotography

What a difference a month makes. Shallow Creek wetlands, tributary to the Yellowstone River at 8,500’. June 9 and July 7, 2022.

A scenic @lighthawk_org sashay around the Wind River Range with writer and photographer Jonathan Waterman, for his Nat Geo book, Atlas of American Wilds. #conservationphotography , #conservationpilot, #lighthawk

A few days in Wyoming this week: 1. A not so grassy part of the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. 2. Departing Buffalo, Wyoming at Sunrise. 3. The Wyoming landscape gets texture. 4. The Yellowstone River flowing into the Southeast Arm of Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. #aerialphotography #conservationphotography #wyoming

A lovely anniversary sky during our lovely anniversary walk after our lovely anniversary dinner. Then we lovely anniversary chased chickens in a downpour to lock them up safe from last night’s predator….

Home for a couple of days shooting some fantastic landscapes in east central Wyoming. #aerialphotography #conservationphotography #cessna172 #taildragger #wyoming

Dropping B off for a 3 week ocean voyage that will result in sailing and SCUBA certifications, and presumably a whole lot of other wild new experiences. The bonus is a couple of quiet days at the beach with my lovely wife.

1. A lovely spring tour of Yellowstone National Park and the Madison River. 2. Daly Lake in the Paradise Valley. 3. Pelican Creek meandering towards Yellowstone Lake. 4. Alum Creak meandering through the Hayden Valley. 5. Found ‘em. And 33 of their friends. #aerialsurvey #aerialphotography #conservationphotography

Grateful to @jlaerospace for making some time to troubleshoot my electrical issues. Sadly a fried instrument rather than a simple grounding issue. Might be time to bring the right hand portion of the panel into the 22st century.

After an inordinate amount of time flying in straight lines this spring, I’m settling back into the groove of natural resources flying. This a channel survey of a lovely prairie stream flowing across the Canadian border into the Milk River near Glasgow.

Downloading photographs after flying a great conservation project is always a little bit like Christmas. I get some of the wonderful gifts I was hoping for, and some wonderful surprises. #aerialphotography #conservationphotography #badlands

1. A lovely morning shooting the Badlands for some great projects. 2. My engine monitor suggests we’re about to have a catastrophic failure, but I realized it was just kidding when it also told me the outside air temperature was over 300 degrees. Need to look into that. 3. Busy morning when I returned to the Hot Springs airport at 7:30.

Bedtime at the Nylon Inn and Suite, Hot Springs, South Dakota after a long commute and a challenging shoot of the amazing lands of Badlands National Park.

A golden eagle stops by Farm 52 to snack on a ground squirrel.

Just a quick boast about my amazing wife—crisis this morning with Ruth—near death with what might be bloat (new pasture) thiamin deficiency and possibly grass tetany. She injects, drenches and massages; then keeps her upright while practicing campaign speeches. By 6:00 she’s alert and upright (but still a little blind) and getting a ride down to the barn for continued observation. @boyer4gallatin @boyerfarm51

The final, homeward leg of the #whooperhighway—Back across the Peace Athabasca Delta, the largest fresh water delta in North America, and back across the largest open pit mining operation in North America. Sadly, the pits lie upstream of the delta, and with predictable results.

After a month on the road, 70 hours in the air, and nearly 6,000 miles on Jeff’s truck, we’ve reached the end of the #whooperhighway in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. The #whoopingcranes left Texas uncharacteristically early, and this years unusually persistent winter has resulted in a late arrival. @mforsbergphoto and @trlcam drove south yesterday, and I flew east in an effort to avoid some snotty weather, before turning south. An in-flight weather briefing suggested that I might be too late. With 300 miles across the cracked granite, trees, and ice of the Canadian Shield in front of me, and just one airport within the fuel range of the Red Plane, I turned back to #fortsmithnwt to await a more dependable forecast. Could be days….

The unimaginable scale of the Tar Sands in a place where water runs everywhere, and a thick industrial haze hangs for miles. But I guess it’s just the eggs that must be broken for our luxurious omelettes…. Escape down the Athabasca River into the truly trackless wilderness of the Wood Buffalo National Park. Then finally the leisure to explore and shoot with the door off, a photographer is provoked.

Into the heart of the Canadian Tar Sands on the final leg of the #whooperhighway. After not very many miles of trackless boreal forest and wetlands, the seemingly endless grid of seismic exploration and then the chaotic network of roads, transmission lines and industrial facilities. As a human being, I find the scale of this development heartbreaking. As a pilot, the network of roads is oddly more comforting than trees, rocks and ice.

From the #whooperhighway belly cam chronicles: diversions and unplanned landings, landscape change and prairie potholes still locked in ice after several big storms. Now waiting out more marginal weather in Saskatoon. The birds, similarly are being interrupted by the conditions—waiting out weather in the Dakotas. Our journey is a pretty thin analog to theirs, but the Holiday Inn Express Saskatoon presents neither optimal habitat nor foraging opportunities. @mforsbergphoto @trlcam

Caught up with most of the whoopers in North Dakota. Today we follow the tracks from last spring’s migration, hoping to make Saskatoon tonight. #whooperhighway

A strip of photographs along the #whooperhighway. At midday, the mapping cameras don’t do justice to the incredible topography of the Nebraska Sandhills. A white pile of feathers under a power line inspires a moment of panic…turned out to be one of the thousands of American White Pelicans we’ve been passing all day. The view of our trail from space suggests a long way to go before we arrive at the Whooper nesting grounds at Wood Buffalo NP. Lucky to be on this journey with @mforsbergphoto and @trlcam

Sissies that we are, we chose to stay on the ground and watch the dust bowl reenactment from there.

Who doesn’t love a good diorama? Or any kind of diorama, really.

Made it to the Platte. Expressing our frustration with the constant wind.

After a run of marginal weather in Rockport, we strapped some new gizmos on the plane and headed north to catch up with the birds. Grounded by 50 mph wind gusts in Temple, TX, then crawling through 30 knot headwinds we followed the specific tracks of two birds—at their altitudes and with their view. Hopi g to make Platte River tonight.

Finding some cool animals here in Texas: armored, sticky, prehistoric, one footed, a technical wizard, and a pretty great photographer.

Gusty winds make for a sporty landing…

From Tucson to Rockport: Spare Parts. A view of the Gallatin Valley in 500 years?. Optimistic urban planning outside of El Paso. An optimistic legend on the GPS. “Intermittent" on a geological scale. Organic topo lines in West Texas. So Far, So Good.

A little airplane jaunt #1: Bozeman to St. George, Utah, where electrical gremlins forced an overnight and delightful visit with an old friend and his mechanic. Off across the Grand Canyon with a somewhat patched up electrical system—as long as I only switched on the alternator occasionally to charge the battery. Into Tucson to visit another old friend—and his mechanic—who turned a tangle of chafed wires into a work of art. A test flight along the border wall—you can see the crisis in this photo—with Greg leading the way in Georgia, in case I need a ride home. Next leg: Tucson to Rockport, TX.

“World Famous Brisket Burritos” at the Pecos, TX airport. Well worth a stop on a long day.

The Red Plane is finally back on her feet after a couple of months in the infirmary having her landing gear rebuilt. With no parts or designs available we had to re-engineer new landing gear brackets from the ancient worn and broken parts—a practical and administrative nightmare. But we’re stronger than ever and back in action just in time to join an old friend on a grand adventure.

Hello Friends! Come out to Blend this afternoon at 5:00 to say hello to my amazing wife, and to hear a bit about her campaign for Gallatin County Commission. She'd love to see and to hear from you all.

Mud and babies. It must be spring.

Notice the quick white flash in the corner of your eye and investigate. It will be a gift. #ermine #montana

This determined boy found his stride yesterday. So proud.

Starting to plan for my upcoming flying season, and I’m particularly excited about a project which will take me to Badlands National Park, and to the northern end of the Nebraska Sandhills—two landscapes I’ve been dying to explore. #aerialphotography #conservationphotography

From the files—still grounded. 2008–A cool morning over #yellowstonenationalpark Upper Geyser Basin. #oldfaithful in repose at lower right. #aerialphotography

A celestial donut appears over our Farm 51 wedding tree. Must be a sign.