I usually don't take commercial drone jobs 302 miles from home. But Thursday I took a break-even job in Circle, MT because it got me most of the way to Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge up near Malta, MT, at the eastern end of the High Line.

I saw shorebirds at Bowdoin last year but we didn't have time to linger, so I decided next time I would have the big 500mm lens and get down to the shore. The result was good views of American Avocets, which have long skinny bills which curve upward. Then a little bird which I would just call a plover started working its way toward me along the shore from the left. Officially I believe this is called a Wilson's Phalarope. The bird paid no attention to me as it got within 20 feet or so, just offshore. I suppose it knew a land beast like me would sink into the mud if it gave chase.

The two species have a marked difference in feeding technique. The avocets plunged their heads into the water, digging up stuff from the muck at the bottom. The phalarope fed at the surface and didn't dive in.

Bowdoin also has a good-sized breeding colony of white pelicans, but most of them are on an island in the middle of the lake and I didn't get a good view. Then I shot a macro of some fuzzy flies/bees which were going to work on a sunflower.

On the way home I drove the auto-tour route through a portion of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, which has an elk viewing area along the Missouri River. I saw no elk, four deer. I muttered, "I can see deer at home." (When I got home, I snapped one of the local deer jumping the fence.) Since I had the drone along, I did take a 180-degree panorama from a high bluff which shows the river stretching from horizon to horizon. If I had flown the drone toward the river it would have been a better view, but I'm always leery about losing it. So I went straight up, snapped the panorama, and came straight down.

And I arrived home Friday evening content in the knowledge that the citizens of the Circle, Montana area have a new Dollar General.

Avocets

Phalarope

Drone panorama of the Missouri