The end of April brings frigid mornings which usually give way to enough warmth to melt the drifted snow. The first sage thrashers perch atop the tallest sage and fill the dawn with endless melodies. From the obscurity of the low sage comes a mysterious thumping and popping, and we were there in the blind to film the source in 1080p HD with our new Canon 7D, and our batteries completely charged by the sun with our Brunton 14W SolarRoll.
We set up our blind, then went for a walk in the evening sun to catch some of the great light and shapes.
The light from these mornings is always perfect, although much posturing passes before the first light hits these magnificent birds and their bizarre display.
The first poppings came before dawn, around 5:45. It was a good thing we were in the blind and quiet by 3:00 a.m. or we we have scared them all off. These birds make a living by detecting the slightest odd movement.
Bingo! After a four hour wait, birds came within 20 feet of the blind, posturing to each other, completely unaware of our presence.
The footage we captured will go into our next production for Montana Audubon.
