SNAPSHOTS

Hobby photographer Tracy Enterline of Columbus spotted this western tanager last summer while heading home from a trip to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. “I’d seen some the night before in a tree, but they flew off before I could get my camera set up,” says Enterline, co-owner of a dental hygienist staffing company in Billings. “When I saw this one, I thought, ‘Oh, please don’t move.’” The bird stayed put while Enterline took dozens of photographs from her parked vehicle. “It was really perfect, with the rustic barbed wire, the green background, the lighting, and a whisp of wind that picked up those light feathers. I really lucked out that morning,” she says. n

Photographer and documentary filmmaker Colin Ruggiero was driving on Montana Highway 39 a few miles south of Colstrip at dusk when he spotted this thunderhead and accompanying lightning storm. Ruggiero, who lives in Missoula, says he was particularly struck by the shape and texture of the dark weather cell as it hovered over the landscape. “I shoot a lot of time-lapse photography, and dramatic weather cells like this are one of my favorite subjects.” n