Warm day, busy place

 

I have a ball watching the birds that hang around here in the timber and our front and back yard in big numbers at the moment. There is a big flock of American Robins that was here every day this week and the birds enjoyed bathing and drinking at the bird bath. With them was an "ear-full" of Cedar Waxwings. We had very warm weather today (T-shirt time in November!) but this is changing while I'm writing this and I wonder if the birds will move further south if the temperature will drop in the next few hours. Today I tried to keep the white bird bath out of the frame and finally got the shots that I really wanted to make. I hope you enjoy. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Nature clicks #129 - Red-breasted Nuthatch

 

I have enjoyed being home for a couple weeks now and work from my home office. This will change next week when I have to hit the road again but right now I enjoy watching all the birds that get ready for the winter here in our timber. One little guy that is present at this time of the year is the Red-breasted Nuthatch. I have written about this bird before (see "Nature clicks #63" by clicking HERE ) and I was happy to make a couple clicks while the nuthatch visited our bird bath. I'm not a big fan of having this white piece of plastic in my picture, but hey... it makes a nice, snow-like reflector that bounces the light underneath the birds... ;-)

Nature clicks #128 - American Pika

 

Back to nature related photography today. Joan and I spent quite some time to look out for one of our favorite animals, the American Pica, during our trip to the Rocky Mountains. Knowing a little bit about their habitat, steep boulder-covered hillsides at an altitude above 8,000 feet, helps to find them. This photo was made on the slope of 14,264 feet high Mount Evans. I had this pika here already in my viewfinder when a hawk suddenly soared over the rocks and the pika disappeared between the boulders with cyberspeed. It took ten minutes before it showed up again and continued sunbathing. But maybe it was just on the watch from this well exposed rock hanging over a very deep valley. I sure enjoyed watching these critters and was very happy to make some good clicks.

Nature clicks #127 - Cedar Waxwing

 

We keep track about all the wildlife we have around the house since we live here in Eastern Iowa. Some species are here all the time while others have been sighted only ones within the last eight years. One bird that we see briefly almost every spring and fall is the Cedar Waxwing. Sometimes they come in big flocks and feed on the berries in the cedar trees. Unfortunately I have never been able to make a good image that I would have liked to share with you here in the blog or over in my Iowa wildlife gallery at Pbase.  www.pbase.com/deadmoon

Today I watched a couple American Robins drinking out of the birdbath in front of the house. Suddenly they were joined by two Cedar Waxwings and that made me running for the camera, tripod, and long lens. They are such wonderful looking birds and in this matter I don't mind that the birdbath is in the frame. The leaf in the water, the bird that just took off, the colors, they all tell the story of autumn and bird migration. Can't ask for more...

New Portfolio, now HTML

 

I'm sure you know the feeling when you have postponed something for a long time and after you got it done finally you get into a great state of mind. That's how I feel today. It bothered me since quite some time that my photography portfolio could not be opened on an iPhone or iPad, because the portfolio was created with flash galleries and those don't work on Apple's devices.

Beside updating my portfolio and creating a new design I made finally the switch to html-galleries which will work on Apple's mobile devices as well.

Please feel free to have a look at my new LANDSCAPE and WILDLIFE portfolio by clicking on the tab PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO on the left side bar. I hope you enjoy! :-)

Nature clicks #126 - Northern Harrier

 

I got all excited when this Northern Harrier landed in a broken pine tree at Timber Creek Campground on the Westside of Rocky Mountain National Park. We had already an eventful day behind us, had just declared "beer time", and enjoyed the warm evening sun in our camping chairs. The camera was still mounted on my tripod because an elk herd had just entered the campground and I was hoping for a good shot of the big bull elk that tried to keep his harem together.

I moved slowly step by step towards the harrier any time the bird turned its head away from me. I believe it is a female and she let me come pretty close. The picture is slightly cropped to keep some ugly branches out of the frame. I had to dial in -2 EV exposure compensation in order not to blow out the feathers on her breast completely.

It was a nice way to wrap up a wonderful day and a valid reason to interrupt "beer time", don't you think?... ;-)

Nature clicks #125 - Dusky Grouse (?)

 

It is not easy to identify a grouse and I'm not 100 percent sure if I'm correct in this matter. According to iBird PRO, a terrific app that I use for bird identification, the Dusky Grouse and the Sooty Grouse were considered to be the same species, called the Blue Grouse. In 2006 the American Ornithologist's Union split them based on DNA evidence. Beside iBird PRO I use several books to identify my bird encounters. However, this time I'm not really sure and if you have a different opinion I like to hear from you and would appreciate any professional advice.

This photo took a lot of efforts to get the shot. This female grouse was not very shy but wandered constantly around between rocks and trees laying on the ground. The light was low and I had to dial in ISO400 in order to get a shutter speed of 1/60s. The D300s was handhold and I tried to stabilize the lens by leaning against a tree. I got several sharp images but my choice to publish this photo was based on the background. The Dusky Grouse rested briefly on a rock in front of some other boulders and no twig or dead branch disturbed the scene...

Nature clicks #124 - American Pika

 

A few day ago I mentioned that I was actually waiting for another critter while shooting some pictures of the Yellow-bellied Marmot. So here it is. The American Pika is one of my favorite animals. They live on steep, boulder-covered hillsides at elevations between 8,000 and 13,500 feet (2400m - 4100m). The pika is one of the animals that has no way to go if the effects of global warming continue. Their numbers are already on a systematic decline in many mountain ranges of the American West. If you like to read about why this is a matter of fact click HERE for a link to an article on the website of the National Wildlife Federation that explains it very good or click HERE for a video on the National Geographic website.

First I saw them a couple years ago in the Mount Rainier area in Washington and fell immediately in love with this animal. My pictures of this first encounter , hmmm, just sucked, and so this time the American Pika was at the top of my shooting list for our trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park. They were in process to harvest grass, sedges, and thistles for the winter, which they carry in their mouth, and they can move very fast between the rocks, making it a big challenge to capture a sharp image. Before you can see them you may hear their very vocal call that the pikas use to communicate and to warn each other. It helps to find them between the rocks and boulders on a mountain slope.

This photo was actually made along a relative busy trail. We went there again another day but didn't see a single pika. Wild animals have their own agenda and we are the intruders in their world. Patience and a careful approach is the only fair way to get the shot. It wasn't my last picture of a pika during this trip, but this is reserved for another post...

Nature clicks #123 - Rocky Mountain Elk

 

Rocky Mountain National Park is known for being a good location to see Rocky Mountain Elk, also called Wapiti. The rut was in full swing and we had many opportunities to see the male elks wrangle for control over the harem and fight for the right to mate with the females. For me there is no better sound in the world than the one from a bugling bull elk. We even had two nights at Timber Creek on the Westside of the mountains with the herd in the campground, spending the night between tents and RV's or nearby. I can tell you, it can keep you awake but didn't bother me a bit.

The elks I can show you here belonged to a group of seven bull elk, resting and grazing during the day at Milner Pass, just slightly below the alpine tundra. They obviously didn't "own" the harem yet, some were probably still too young to challenge the big bull that claimed control over the herd. Most of the time the elks had their heads down eating grass. The challenge was to catch moments of an interesting pose or at least when they stopped chewing for a moment so that the faces didn't get all blurred. I hope you enjoy!

Nature clicks #122 - Yellow-bellied Marmot

 

We found them at many places in the Rocky Mountains but always in higher elevations in the alpine tundra zone above 10,500 feet (~3200m). In some areas they are used to people and they may show up right beside the trail. In most instances they disappear between the rocks if you get too close. It needs a little patience and luck to catch them in a nice pose and good light. Quite often they sun bath on a rock or watch out for predators. The Yellow-bellied Marmots feed on green vegetation exclusively and in the fall they put on a layer of fat, which sustains them through hibernation during the winter.

Most of my images of the marmot were made while waiting patiently for another critter, that is much more difficult to get in front of the lens. I will report about this one shortly, so please stay tuned....