Birds, Birds and more Birds!

Midway is one of those special places where the birds have no fear of humans. White Terns flit just above your head, Bonin Petrels occasionally use you to break their plummet at night, Laysan Albatross are fond of untying shoe laces and Red-footed Boobies cruise by to check you out. For a photographer it is a dream... but don't mistake the abundance and willingness of subjects for easy photography! There are times when the birds are so thick it's almost impossible to get a clean background. It takes a bit of ingenuity, a willingness to crawl and a lot of patience but the reward is pretty amazing.

My Eagle Addiction

I can't seem to get enough Bald Eagles. I love raptors with the cool talons and the sharp eyes and that strong beak... but there is just something about eagles that makes my camera shutter fly. They don't even need to do anything to look cool - just stand there.

I took some wonderful head shots and close up's while I was here in Homer this winter but I didn't get many scenics. Today my boat trip to Gull Island was canceled due to huge waves so we went driving around the countryside and discovered a great recreation area near Anchor Point. The eagles were wary but with a little bit of patience and without too much trouble I was able to get close enough to get the wide angle shots I was craving. I love the mountains rising up in the background. To me these images scream Alaska much more than the close up portraits.

My Favorite Hummingbird

Last but certainly not least is my favorite of the hummingbirds in Madera Canyon, the Black-chinned. As the name suggests, th male has a black chin until they turn and flash their gorget at you and display a beautiful purple. They are pretty chatty and always let me know when they were near. While they feed on over 90 species of flowers, the black-chinned also eats small insects and spiders particularly during nesting season.

Size: 9 cm (4 in)
Wingspan: 11 cm (4 in)
Weight: 2-5 g (0.07-0.18 ounces)

The Rarity

The White-eared Hummingbird is a rare visitor to the United States, and as it turned out, to our feeders. She much preferred the honeysuckle growing nearby to our feeders but I managed to capture one shot of her on my first day in Arizona. There were many birders visiting Madera Canyon in hopes of glimpsing this rare beauty.

Size: 9-10 cm
Weight: 3-4 g

The Largest Hummingbird

The Magnificent Hummingbird is the largest hummingbird that visits North America. It sounded like a helicopter was landing when he came into the feeder. Just as vibrant as the Broad-billed male, the Magnificent was much more shy. He would zoom into the feeder, take a quick drink and zoom back off without stopping to pose like the smaller bird did quite often. Adding shyness to size and infrequent visits made the Magnificent a very challenging species to photograph.

Size: 11-14 cm (4-6 in)
Wingspan: 18 cm (7 in)
Weight: 7-8 g (0.25-0.28 ounces)

Broad-billed Hummingbird

The second species is quite the little jewel. The male Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris) was extremely proud of himself and took every opportunity to flash his lovely blues and greens. The female was extremely territorial... so much so that I watched her chase away a Mexican Grey Jay.

Size: 10 cm (4 in)
Wingspan: 12 cm (5 in)
Weight: 3-4 g (0.11-0.14 ounces)


Southeastern Arizona is as far north as this species ranges and those individuals found there are migratory. The majority of the species lives year round in Mexico. The Broad-billed consumes 1.6 to 1.7 times it's body weight in nectar every day.

A Better Day

I bundled up in my warm layers and set out from my car with my 600mm lens resting firmly over my shoulder. The snow from the day before had melted and frozen into a hard crust which my feet broke through. It was only ankle deep today but somehow the addition of breaking through a crusty surface made the hike to the blind more difficult than the knee high snow had the day before. I kept my pace slow and steady - a friends voice in my mind saying "the Sherpa shuffle". One step at a time, slowly and surely, just keep moving forward. Even though it was an hour before civil twilight would begin, there was plenty of moonlight to guide me along the path, no artificial light was needed to see the way. By the time I reached the blind I was beginning to sweat and needed to strip off a few layers to avoid getting too warm only to have the warmth drained as I sat still in the blind for the next three hours. I regreted not bringing my snow boots as my toes began to feel as if someone had filled my hiking boots with hundreds of tiny pins.

Now that I was installed in my blind, the camera set up, the flaps open and the prairie spread out before me I had nothing to do but wait. The cold began to seep into me and I added my layers back on. My wicking shirt did it's job and kept me nice and dry. My thermal held in my body heat and my amazing Nomar Polar Fleece from Homer, Alaska did the rest. I wrapped my down jacket around my lap like a blanket and was almost comfortable... except my feet. With nothing in the viewfinder I had nothing to do but focus on how uncomfortable I was GOING to be when my feet got REALLY cold.

As twilight began I became aware of a heavy, deep buzzing noise, growing in intesity... I heard wing flaps and suddenly from every direction chickens began to gather and strut their stuff. I was set up on iso 1600 again at f/5.6, as wide as I could get with the 1.4 teleconvertor attached. It wasn't wide enough. I watched helpless to capture as the chickens began to inflate their bright orange neck patches. My 8 second exposure was just too slow. Seconds dragged by into minutes. I fired a few test shots to see just how much speed I needed to capture just a sliver of the scene that was unfolding in front of my eyes. FINALLY I was able to get my shutter speed up to 1/80th s and drop my iso to 1000. My camera rattled frame after frame of images as the light steadily increased, I focused on increasing the shutter speed and decreasing the iso until finally I hit a respectable combination. Of course at that precise moment the entire lek exploded into the air and flew away. My heart lurched and I felt crushed. What had spooked them? I'd seen no movement from the blind opposite me and I hadn't moved at all. A northern harrier hawk glided over the snow crust in the distance... perhaps that was the cause... luckily for me they all came back and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. The light got better and better and more and more chickens arrived, playing their games of "made you flinch".

With the grey overcast sky I never got quite enough light to capture the amazingly fast wing flaps of these birds but I came away with many beautiful portraits of these colorful birds. Now that I am completely hooked on these comical birds I know where to come next year and I know I'll need at least four days just in case the weather decides not to coorporate. The there will be the lesser prairie chickens, the Attwater... not to mention the grouse.... every discovery opens the door to ten more things to be discovered. For now I am satisfied and ready to move on to some warm weather shooting. Next week: Arizona's Hummingbirds.

Frozen Chicken

I arrived in Minnesota with hopes of photographing the Greater Prairie Chicken lek and immediately knew I would be needing all the layers I brought with me. 30 degrees Fahrenheit isn't too bad when you are dressed for it but in jeans and a t-shirt I was under dressed. I picked up the rental car and headed out to the Blue Stem Prairie to explore the blind site. I wanted to be certain I could find the site in the dark the next morning. The grasses around the lek site were golden and I visualized the images I wanted to capture.

The temperature seemed to drop as I headed back to the car. By the time I reached my hotel room the snow had begun to fall in earnest. I listened to the reports of road closures and accidents before heading to sleep.

I headed out at 4am, very skeptical that I would come away with any photographs - they would definitely be very different than those I visualized the day before. The snow was knee deep as I hiked the path I had explored the afternoon before. I made it to the blind, kicked off the snow and settled in to wait for the sun to rise. When it finally did the chickens began to arrive on the lek site.

They tried their best to proudly display and boom but even they were cowed by the driving snow. I kicked the iso up to 1600 and did my best to focus through the snow. By 7:00 the chickens gave up and so did I. I managed a few images and it was incredibly fun to see these impressive birds. I'm hoping for better luck tomorrow.

Eagles of Homer, Alaska

Located on Kachemak Bay, Homer, Alaska is the southern-most town on the Alaska Highway system. Despite the recent uproar about feeding, Homer is still the premier location for viewing Bald Eagles up close and personal. Jean Keene aka the Eagle Lady, feeds the eagles from December to April in an effort to help them make it through the hard winter months. Though she is in her 80's, she is out there every day, rain, snow or shine.

I had no idea what to expect when I flew in from Anchorage. It was a clear day and the mountains were covered in snow. I made it to my hotel on the famous Homer Spit and watched the setting sun as it lite up the mountains and made them glow. Long-tailed ducks, Glaucous gulls, Common goldeneye, sea otters and of course, eagles, could be seen right out the window of the Lands End Resort.

This morning was a different story. A thick cloud cover rolled in overnight and the entire spit was covered in a layer of white snow. It was beautiful... beautiful and COLD. Bundled in my trusty thermals I headed out to the beach to photograph the eagles for the first time. In the low light shutter speeds were too slow to keep up with the birds as they soared and swooped so I pushed my ISO up to 1600 and found my shutter speed. It was amazing to see these enormous and majestic birds flying and perching.

Once the feeding was over the birds dispersed though a few remained on the beach, happy to digest while they watched us crawl ever so slowly closer to their position. One eagle in particular was extremely accommodating and posed for wide angle shots, close head shots and mid-range full body photos. He seemed to know exactly when I had enough of one pose and he would switch to another. I don't think a professional model could have done a better job. Once he was board (or perhaps when he realized his performance wasn't going to get him any more fish) he retired to a perch high on a rooftop to preen and nap.

I can't wait to discover what tomorrow will bring!

2008 Catch-up

Welcome to my adventures!

This year got off to a bang with a wonderful New Year spent on Carcass Island, Falklands, thanks to the hospitality of Rob and Loraine McGill. Carcass has never had a rat or cat problem so the island has amazing biodiversity including the diminutive Cobb's Wren which is the first species to loose out when rats invade an island. I'll write more about the Falklands and it's amazing birds later.

I returned home for a few weeks to do laundry and catch up on some much needed sleep before I headed out to Florida for my grandmothers 90th birthday. If it weren't for the tolerant birds Florida would be too hot and buggy for me. But the birds keep bringing me back. This time I went to the dump and found a few fun surprises including this Loggerhead Shrike.

After Florida I trekked up to Montana to visit some terrific animal actors and their trainers at Animals of Montana and to spend a day in Yellowstone National Park. I love to photograph in the snow, I think because I don't have to shovel it. On this trip I captured my first images of wolves in the wild. It was an amazing experience made even more intense by the recent delisting of wolves from the Endangered Species list. I hope that they continue to have the chance to thrive as they are truly inspiring animals.

I'm back home again, paying bills and drooling over thoughts of the wildflower bloom in Southern California. I'm not ready for Spring yet... the snow is still calling me and so my next stop will be Homer, Alaska to photograph the famous Eagles and to meet eagle-icon, Jean Keane.

Stay Tuned!