In the Pink

I am always excited when I can spot a Roseate Spoonbill and especially thrilled when they show their colors, as this one did.

The morning of the new moon last week brought some of the lowest tides I have ever seen. That provided an amazing opportunity to see a wide array of species of bird life all trying to get their fill of seafood before the tide came in and the waters rose.

PDR

 What is the PDR, you ask? Well, around here this time of year we hear a lot about the PBR - Professional Bull Riding. This Red-Eared Slider turtle in Florida is obviously a member of the Professional Duck Riders!

This is one of my favorite strange shots from last week. These ugly plastic ducks have been placed in some lakes to ward off something-or-other. Over the years they have faded and tilted and basically turned into an eyesore. This turtle decided to make the most of the decoy as a sunny perch. I wish he had been facing the front of the duck instead of its hind quarters but it is still a fun shot!

Big Blue

Although I spent only 4 days in Florida last week, I managed to fill 5 - 8Gb cards with photos! I spent hours on Christmas day as I moved through airports heading north, deleting those photos that were slightly out of focus, too far away or just plain boring. I was pretty proud of myself until I realized I still had more than 800 photos left! So now I need to get down to the real work of deciding what stays and what goes. 

This shot is rather static but the beauty of the Great Blue Heron standing in a bush of red berries can't be denied. I have many shots from this location - a rookery near Venice Beach. I even have a few shots of babies I will show over the next few days.

Happy Dance

Like much of the world, I spent the last week traveling to visit family for the holidays. It was a wonderful time and such a delight to experience different environments and spend time with loved ones. 

Just before I left I sent a few photos off to the "Cold Snap Challenge" being sponsored by Wyofile, a state wide wire service with an on-line publication. In the Atlanta airport between flights I checked email and found a post announcing the winner - a long-time photojournalist from Cody. I looked at his beautiful image of bison in Yellowstone and it became obvious why the judges had chosen his photo. But then, as I read down the article, I discovered a list of five or six runner-up's at the bottom and I was delighted to find my name in the mix! Especially when I saw that two of the others were photographers whose work I have long admired. The runner-up photos will be published in the weeks to come. I will post a link when my turn comes around. 

I sent several photos and I am not sure which ones will be published (a subsequent email from the publisher indicates that two of mine have made the cut!). The shot above is one of those I sent. It was taken a few weeks ago and shows a herd of elk bunked down out of the wind in our back pasture. 

Eyelids

When I went through my photos of the golden eagle last week, I had a couple I discarded right away because the sun seemed to be hitting the eyes in a strange way. It wasn't until I went back later that I discovered the amazing truth - the photos show the rarely seen (at least for me!) "third eyelid" of the giant bird!
People have one way of closing our eyes - we lower our top eyelids. Raptors have three options - they lower the top lid, they raise the lower lid or they close the "third eyelid" - the nictitating membrane - from the side like a curtain. This eyelid is transparent and can be used to cut down on glare or to keep the eye moist or even to protect the eyes when the bird is diving. Plus it has the cool effect of making them look like an avian creature from a zombie movie!








I am so thrilled I was able to capture this rare look at an amazing feature!

5 and 6

 Today's photos are the last two in my final presentation. Like the redpolls, they are "backyard birds". I had a half dozen photos of chukars to choose from. This one ended up winning out because of the design strengths - three birds, a diagonal branch starting in the top left leading the viewers eye to the focal point, strong lighting and contrast. Besides...they are so cute!

This photo of the lone pinyon jay is a little darker than I would like but I love the way the shadow of the pine branch lays across his back. 

Also Ran's

 So far I have posted four of the six photos I used in my final presentation for Beginning Digital. The two I am showing today are part of the pile of "also ran's", meaning they came close but didn't make the cut.

The first photo, to the left, is of a red-breasted nuthatch. This is one of those strange photos that I love but no one else gets excited about. Yes, I know it is a photo of the back side of a bird but it is such a classic nuthatch pose! I love the open space at the bottom but others find it too stark. I still think I will print it out at 16" x 20" and hang it on my wall.

The second photo is of a Sharp-shinned hawk in a tree in Lander on a very cold day. He is pretty fluffed up trying to stay warm. It is a beautiful bird but the branches were just too distracting for him to make the final six of the presentation.

Wyoming Winter Birds

Two final exams down and one to go before Christmas break!

Here are two more photos of birds that winter in Wyoming that I used for my final presentation in Beginning Digital.

To the left is a black-capped chickadee. They are so delicate and I loved the way this guy spread his tail, reflecting the shape of the bent branch above.

My prof was not happy with the fact that you can't distinguish the bird's eye but the truth is they are so black that I don't think even Ansel Adams could make them stand out from the "black cap".

This second photo shows three redpolls right outside my door. This one almost feels like cheating since I was out feeding llamas when they all showed up. I ran back in and grabbed the camera and took a few shots with this being my favorite of the bunch. Very little effort was expended! This photo has turned in to my Christmas card for 2011. 

Winter Raptors

 I have been preparing my final project photos for the last few weeks and am now getting ready to take my final exams this week.

For my Beginning Digital class I elected to present six images of bird species that winter in Wyoming. Things were going well and I was happy with my selections as I was getting them finalized last week. Then, on my way to classes on Wednesday I came across this bald eagle staring down at me from his high perch. He seemed quite content to let me take shot after shot and so I amended my final selection by dropping a finch and adding him to the mix.

Then, on Thursday, I met up with this regal looking golden eagle! He ignored me totally as I stood ten feet away and captured image after wonderful image. That day the photo of the nuthatch was scrapped so this guy could take his place. 

I will post the other images as well as a few that didn't make the cut in the next few days.

Let it Snow!

 In all the years I have lived here, this is only the second time I have been snowed in! With a driveway more than a mile long it is not an option to shovel the snow. The good news is that it is a weekend, the power is on and I have enough food to survive about a year. The temps are predicted to be in the 50's by early next week so I just have to wait until it all melts away.

In the meantime, it has been fun to try and capture images of all that whiteness. I got bundled up and hiked to the gate and back yesterday - not an easy task when the snow is up to your knees. Today I am committed to wrapping Christmas gifts so they can be delivered to family over Thanksgiving.

This was the scene just a few days ago as 

 this young mule deer lounged in the back yard. I mentioned that one of the differences between white tail and mule deer is the huge white tail of the white tail (duh!).  Another difference is in the size of the mule deer's ears. They are amazingly big. This gal has beautiful black accents on her ear edges, making them even more obvious.

Sharing the Trail

 On Friday I hauled Ken off to the Beartooths (it didn't take much persuading!) in a quest to capture more bird photos as well as to set the scene for another photo assignment, a self portrait.
A lucky situation was that the road between Pilot Creek and Cooke City was still open - a rare event for this time of year. The road is not plowed in the winter, which comes early at that elevation, so it is often impassable by the end of October. Not this year! We decided to spend Friday night in Cooke City and make one last foray into Yellowstone Park from the NE entrance this season.

As it was, it snowed heavily Friday night and so we were lucky to get back through on Saturday but I'm still glad we did it.

The beautiful fox above was spotted just outside the Park entrance. I got a couple shots - most pretty blurry - before he hightailed it into the woods.

 On the Beartooth hike on Friday we not only managed to find lots of birds but also found ourselves sharing the trail with a few other creatures. These grizzly tracks were very fresh - obviously made that morning - so he was close by.

The other animals we thrilled in watching from a safe distance away were the mountain goats. We saw two separate groups; one a twosome and the other with four in the herd. I will post those shots another day.

White Tail

One of the final assignments for my beginning photography class, due in mid-December, is to capture 6 images of birds that winter in Wyoming. (We got to choose our own topics.) This weekend I spent a little time walking through the brush beside a nearby creek searching for unsuspecting feathered friends to shoot. While there I surprised these two beauties. We rarely see white tail deer on our place as they prefer riparian areas. Mule deer are much more common to us and the two species seem to keep their distance. 

People who do not have a lot of deer nearby will often ask how to tell a white tail and a mulie apart. There are quite a few differences but the most obvious one is the feature that gives this species its name.

The little spike didn't wait around for his companion - he threw up his warning flag and took off!

Panorama

So today's lesson was about putting together panoramas from your landscape photos. What a blast! I have made pano's before but not through Photoshop which allows me to keep such resolution. I started with a combination of 7 photos from this weekend's hike in the Clark's Fork Canyon. It looks great but I decided to not post it here since it is more than 200MBs!

Instead I am posting a combo of two vertical shots of the canyon from above. It may not be the most beautiful shot but it points to the endless possibilities of using this technique. If I printed this out it would be 12" wide by 30" high.

Coyote

 Wow! If someone had told me two months ago what the last eight weeks would be like, I would have dove under the bed screaming and covered my head. I truly believe that was the busiest and most diverse episode in my life. I gave two lectures in different parts of the state, I attended several quilt shows, I sold my greeting cards in a vendor's booth, I traveled 1500 miles to attend a week of meetings, I lost my FIL to complications of aging, I participated in several Search and Rescue incidents including one that required more than two weeks of intense searching for a  missing hiker, I received my Wilderness First Responder re-certification, I had dinner with the governor at his residence in Cheyenne and I had an article published in a national quilting magazine. All this and much more took place while I was attending my college photography classes on a daily basis (although I will admit to playing hooky many times to accommodate the crazy schedule).

The insane pace is my first excuse for not posting for some time. The other excuse is one I totally did not expect - as I am taking more and more photographs for my classes, several things are taking place: 1) All my images are now being shot in RAW, meaning they are 25-30MB each. That means lots of editing and downsizing before I can post them on my blog. Most of my editing work is being done at the college on the Mac's; meaning I also have to figure out how to transfer them home to my desktop before use. 2) Many of the photos I am now taking are those required for school projects and are not those I would normally take for the blog. For instance, I have about a hundred shots of an egg. Yes, an egg. That was to teach us how to shoot portraits in different lighting situations. Fascinating for me but not, I suspect, for readers wanting to see pictures of wildlife!

I promise to try and do a better job. I may not be posting daily as before but I do intend to try and post at least twice a week going forward.

I am starting my revival with the two photos above of a coyote hunting rodents in Yellowstone. He was amazingly productive as he brought out mouse after mouse and consumed them before moving on to try again. The funny thing was that the bison seemed to be totally uncaring of the fact that this predator was strolling among them.

A Time for Everything

 Just as most of the wildflowers are calling it a season and the prairies are pulling on their coats of gold, one unobtrusive plant is making its first stand of the year. The Arctic Gentian is a beautiful flower that takes over the Beartooth tundra in late August and early September.

The first photo shows the plants getting ready to bloom.

 From the top.

There is a sea of the white and purple-blue blooms that will remain on the ground for the next few weeks.

I started back to college this week. I am working toward my 5th degree - this one in commercial photography. My posts will, no doubt, be less consistently regular but I hope my shared photos will improve in quality over time.

It is interesting being back in class after 20 years - especially when everyone there is about 35 years my junior! So far I have been welcomed with friendliness and not a little bit of curiosity. I am looking forward to this two year journey!

Early Heart

Choppers

After arriving home yesterday to a sky seemingly clear of all signs of fire, we awoke this morning enclosed in smoke yet again. Last night's incredibly strong winds not only created power surges that fried my main computer - a mini disaster, to be sure - but also gave new life to the dying embers of the Hole in the Wall fire.

 Today's post shows some of the helicopter photos I have taken over the last week plus a few shots from above the fire. Ken and I hiked up to the top of the Beartooth Plateau on Sunday and made our way to Line Lake so we could look down on the blaze. When we arrived it seemed to be well under control. By the time we left, after the winds picked up, the fire had found new life - much like last night. This thing seems to have more lives than a cat!

The obligatory photo of Heart Mountain with a chopper above!

This shot is from atop the Plateau, looking out at the action. 

Here you can just see plumes of smoke rising from below.

In this photo you can see the smoke increasing as the winds pick up.

Leftovers

 Here is the last batch of photos from the Beartooth camping trip.

 Looking down on the Cloverleaf Lakes from above. There is still lots of snow in the area.

I loved the look of this sole Wyoming paintbrush on the edge of the lake.

There were several beautiful waterfalls viewed along our day hikes.

Just as Heart Mountain is the defining feature from our property, so are Pilot and Index Peaks the identifying landmarks in the northwest corner of the state. Pilot, on the left, is often called the "American Matterhorn". It looks like the classic kid's drawing of a mountain!

Meanwhile...

Meanwhile, back in the Beartooths on our camping trip last week, I took photos of our day hikes, including the one to Trail Lake - pictured here.
Trail Lake is often ignored by anglers; maybe because it just seems too easy. After all, as the name suggests, it is right off the main trail. Of course you still have to hike 11 miles from the trailhead to get there so that rules out those people looking for a day excursion.

I have always had good luck there and love catching the big cutthroat trout. I only ever fish until I have dinner and with these big guys, one is enough to feed two people easily.

 Dinner! Cutthroat are really good eating fish - not oily at all and the meat is firm and tasty.

 A view of the campsite from above with the falls in the background. Rusty, Pancho and Hobbit can be seen relaxing around the tent.

This shot shows a view of Kidney Lake from above. Nearby are Heart Lake and Liver Lake.

Ken with Rusty and Capola.


Here at home the helicopters continue to fly overhead hauling buckets of water to the fire. It has moved quite a bit further north and the wind is carrying the smoke away from us. It is almost easy to forget there is a mountainside burning just a few miles away! With additional resources pouring in over the last two days I really think they will have the blaze completely under control in the next few days.