Twin Towers
Bozeman, Montana
2011

I don’t really know what kind of plant this is, but I’m going to take a guess and say it is some kind of timothy.

Time of the Season
Bozeman, Montana
2011

I guess today being the autumnal equinox has me seeing something representing the solar system, with the thistle head as the sun, in this photo. And that got me thinking of the changing seasons and that while I don’t really get the current zombie craze, there are some zombies I can relate to:

Morning in America
Bozeman, Montana
2011

I took this photo of dried up balsam root leaves just this morning as the sun was coming up while out on a stroll down our road. While you get two points for citizenship for recognizing the source of the phrase used for the title, no political commentary should be inferred by its use here.

Squawk and Holler
Livingston, Montana
2011

Another turf war photo. Oh, wait, I know that guy! He represents my district in Congress.

Congressional Caucus
Bozeman, Montana
2011

Yesterday’s photo was taken as a metaphor for various aspects of the social/political/economic situation in this country by at least one person, which spawned me to come up with the title for today’s photo.

Banquet
Bozeman, Montana
2010

These crows were taking turns feeding off the same (increasingly smaller) chuck of bread. Their feeding interactions seemed to be somewhere between cooperation and an uneasy standoff.

Turf Wars
Livingston, Montana
2010

When the gleaning gets tough, the competition for the best space to search gets a little rough.

Gleaning #2
Livingston, Montana
2010

Same park as yesterday’s photo, same activity, different year. Different birds? Maybe, maybe not.

Gleaning
Livingston, Montana
2011

I’ve heard that getting oil from tar sands or even ethanol from corn is very inefficient in the sense that the net energy gained from the fuel after extracting and refining is a very low percentage of the energy required to produce it. Perhaps that is not unlike crows and ravens searching for tidbits of food in a lawn–they  seem to spend a tremendous amount of time poking around before finding a small bug or other morsel. No wonder they seem to prefer congregating around garbage cans and dumpsters, the yield is much better.

Next
Livingston, Montana
2011

Another crow coming in for a drink. It wasn’t clear if the first one was being polite in yielding to the next in line or because it was being forced off. I was sure these were crows but now I see the wedge-shaped tail on the incoming bird, which is supposed to be a distinguishing sign for ravens, so maybe I was wrong. As much time as I’ve spent photographing the two species you’d think I’d be better at telling the difference.