OK, it sure looked like a dust cloud.

I’d seen a few tractors out in the fields as I rolled along and they were trailing dust as they went so that’s what I assumed it was. Still, though, something wasn’t quite right. Instead of hanging in the air, it was moving across the horizon, changing shape, disappearing for a few seconds and then appearing again.

And as I watched it, suddenly, I realized what it was. It wasn’t dust.

It was birds.

I’d left town not sure what to do with my day. First, I thought, maybe head to the mountains and scout for wild horses on the way. Then I remembered the tamaracks up by Caroline and Burnstick Lake. They’d be looking pretty nice right now. Either one sounded good. Both choices meant heading northwest so that’s the direction I went.

The morning was pleasant, a touch chilly but sunny. The poplars and aspens were bright and golden and I hadn’t gone far when I came across a little moose that was trying to cross the highway to get to its momma. It had picked a bad spot, though, so I paused just long enough to grab a picture. I hope the little guy made it OK. I’m sure it did.

From there, I hit the Beaver Dam Creek valley by Madden and continued on north. I still wasn’t sure where to go but tamarack country was starting to pull a little bit harder than the mountains so I rolled over the ridges toward the Little Red Deer River.

But pausing to take a few pictures by a sunny, dewy pasture — nice soft light — I saw a bunch of geese on a pond close by. The autumn grasses and shrubs were casting a bronze reflection on the water, the geese were swimming with mergansers and mallards and as I shot my pictures I thought, OK, the mountains ain’t going nowhere and the tamaracks will likely hold onto their needles for a while yet.

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