Migrating Past the Moon Rocky Mountain Front (Continental Divide, MT)

Along the Rocky Mountain Front, in the middle of a network of wheat fields and the small town of Fairfield (known for grain mills and for farm radio) a Wildlife Refuge collects the seeps and springs. In the spring, when the miles of ponds are flush, up to 200,000 tundra swans pass through in the span of less than a week. The birds rest and recuperate on their way the Carolina shores. This image was made in the morning, when the moon was still in the sky. Chains of birds fly through the clouds on the way to the migratory stopover. This was a chance encounter; I had spent most of the morning crawling an irrigation ditch (and surprising mice and jack rabbits) in a wheat field trying to photograph the birds feeding on an early crop of spring wheat. I couldn’t get close enough without disturbing the birds; but if I laid in the ditch, rested myself, and kept a still camera on the sky, birds moved close and far above. Sizes: 8x8, 14x14, 22x22