photos – Northern Desert Photography

Bearing Witness

As winter rapidly approaches the high deserts of the Great Basin, the Bureau of Land Management has the thankless task of gathering overpopulated wild horses off our drought stricken and fire ravaged western ranges. The activists against responsible management have stepped up their game of protesting these gathers by taking legal action and stopping some of the emergency gathers. One of the tools in their toolbox is attending gathers, photographing them and sensationalizing any mishaps that inevitably occur in handling wild, unhandled animals. Yesterday a group of conservationists, myself included attended a gather north of the city. We had several large wildfires this summer and there is little forage left for any of the animals that live there.

The BLM’s 2026 North Complex wild horse gather will begin October 17, 2026, targeting about 320 horses to bring the population down to the 101–157 “appropriate management level” (AML)

Attending these gathers takes some commitment. You must notify the BLM of your intent. You then wait for a phone call the night before a gather operation. You are told where to meet the BLM officials conducting the gather early in the morning the day of. You are met by BLM wild horse and burro specialists, BLM law enforcement and other civilians who have been approved to attend. Then you convoy out to the gather site. The observers are usually placed about a half mile from the trap site, and this was true in our case. While you have a clear view of the helicopter bringing the horses to the corral it does not make for great photos. Too far, and 80-degree weather ruined my pictures with the heat haze that plagues long distance photography in the desert. You then are committed to staying at the observation site until the operation concludes for the day and the BLM escorts you out of the area.

A cowboy holds the prada horse, or judas horse. A horse released to lead the horses into the trap.

Access to the trap site used to be better. You could be pretty close and really see what was going on. Activists ruined that for everyone by behaving like lunatics, running out in front of the horses entering the trap and threatening BLM employees and contractors running the gathers. In one case they caused a horse death and an injury to a contractor.

Helicopter turning the horses into the trap

We observed a smooth operation, professionals doing their job professionally. Some of us are committing to attending more of these operations to counter the narrative of activists who claim the BLM is cruel and helicopter gathers are inhumane. I am planning to attend several this winter across the state to bear witness to the need for these gathers and to counter the drama that is being pushed by people who don’t want or understand the need for management. Some horses are going to starve in areas that legal injunctions have halted gathers. These areas have burned and forage is gone as we go into winter. Part of my plan is to document those horses suffering as well. It isn’t my dream to see and photograph this type of situation but the reality has not been adequately shared. Looking forward to long freezing days in America’s outback.

Pronghorn hanging out near the trap site. They were unbothered by the operation.

Spring Hummingbirds with Pink Flowers

The hummingbird season was somewhat different this year. More of a steady stream of birds starting in the spring and continuing through the summer without the frenetic activity I usually see in August. Starting in May, I have Anna’s and Black chinned hummingbirds visiting my feeders and the early blooming pink flowers I have in their garden.

America the Poem by Joseph Massey

Rain washes the dust from train windows 
as we barrel through the poem of America.
From New York to Chicago, I watch it scroll by—
frame by frame and line by line.

        Rivers and lakes reflect the pale winter sky
and haunt my vision. 
                 America, what you were, 
and will be again—I see you 
in silos rising like fists from farmland.
America, the land itself says, “Fight!”

America, I see you in chipped brick walls 
stained with faded logos. 
                I see you there, waiting 
to rise from gone-under towns
and cities spangled in endless dusk.

               We can see you now
emerging from boarded-up corner bars,
baseball fields barbed with weeds,
hollowed-out churches
and factories folded in on themselves
like crushed cans reclaimed by the wild. 

               And we see you, and we know you 
in ragtag families packed into vehicles 
to head to church on a Sunday, 
or to visit a grandfather who remembers war 
and what it means to survive 
for love of the country that survives because of him
and his brothers—gone.

America, for love, we go on. 

        America, you defy the narratives 
imposed to poison your majesty.
All the poison imposed 
to warp us away from our axis:
the true, the beautiful, what binds us
to a shared reality 
sealed under the hand of God.

     Americans, may we all wake 
to the dawn, this day,
with courage, 
for we are the whirlwind 
promised by patriots 
who fought to the depth 
of a last breath 
to birth America.
And we are here—
there is no other time—
to watch her rise again.

Today is a day of deep mourning for half of America and a day of cynical indifference for the other half of America. May we bridge the gap in the near future or fall into the darkness of a failed dream.

Plain Little Birds

Photos from a recent walk along the river. These two tiny species are difficult to photograph but I managed. A Marsh Wren and a Bushtit decided to be cooperative.

Random Summer Flowers

Random Insects

I am enjoying the process of learning my way around the new camera equipment. It is excellent at insect photography. Sharing some random photos taken over the summer.

Annual Summer Trek

Every summer my sisters, my mother, and a changing cast of friends and cousins gather in our hometown. We rent several cottages on the lake we grew up on and for a week we pretend we never left our community. We share meals and memories, catch up and chill out, reconnect and dream of moving back home. None of us ever will but we daydream about it. My sisters fly in from New York and Alaska while one makes the shorter journey from Spokane. I drive 900 miles one way because I like to drive the back roads and look at the country.

After several years of making the drive in an exhausting one-day drive, I decided to break it up into two days, make some short side trips and take some photos if opportunities arose. I’ve settled on my favorite route which takes me through some of my favorite areas in Eastern Oregon and northern Nevada. After saying goodbye to the Interstate at Winnemucca my path takes me through Denio, Fields, Frenchglen, the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, Burns, Seneca, John Day and Pilot Rock. Two lane highways and small towns all the way to the Canadian border.

Because of the more leisurely pace, I could stop and take photos of the wildlife along the way. What follows is an eclectic collection of some of the critters that wandered into my field of view.

Great Horned Owls

This spring I encountered Great Horned Owls both in person and on my trail cameras. An owl family set up housekeeping near my camera route. On a particularly windy day the mama owl and baby roosted low enough in the trees to avoid the gusts and I was able to get some photos though the lighting was bad.

New Generation

Lots of fawns showing up on the trail cameras this summer. It looks like the first week of June is when most of them are born. I am seeing at least one set of twins which is not unusual for Mule Deer. I caught some interaction between bucks and fawns which is interesting. More bucks are hanging out with does through the summer than I have seen in the past. They usually break away into bachelor groups until the fall. Animal behavior is always interesting.

More Deer this Year

I haven’t posted trail cam photos for a while as I have been busy with my new camera equipment. I have been checking them regularly and am excited to see more bucks showing up than at any other time this early in the season. I usually only have a few small bucks appear during the summer and the big ones seem to hide until autumn romance time. I am also seeing lots of fawns and at least one set of twins. Here are a few of the most recent trail cam pics of bucks. Some look like they may have some decent antlers going into the fall.