Birding the History Trail

Trail Creek in Dense Forest Brush
Trail Creek flowing along the History Trail through dense forest brush. Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming

The History Trail is a 3.8 mile trail that parallels Old Pass Road up to Teton Pass. Though I’ve hiked segments of the trail many times before, I had never hiked the full trail. I took the opportunity to also see what kind of birds I would find along the way, knowing it wasn’t a very active birding location. Regardless, I had some wonderful encounters, all of which is documented in the video below.

Heading up the trail, I didn’t have much luck capturing any great shots of birds. This primarily due to the fact that I was hiking into the afternoon sun, which yielded a lot of harshly backlit shots. Fortunately, I was able to make some great finds on my way back down. In addition, the sun was not only behind me (which is ideal for wildlife photography most of the time), but it had also set behind the mountains on my way down. This allowed for some great opportunities with some birds in a nice even light.

This hike took place in early July, so there was still plenty of activity from birds that were still in their mating season. Despite that, this particular trail isn’t known for being a terribly active birding site, so the odds were already stacked against me. Regardless, I like a challenge. As a result, it made the sightings almost more exciting. With lots of time passing between sightings, my ears would perk up with each nearby call.

At any rate, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it! Be sure to like and subscribe to get the updates directly on YouTube. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below!

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