Three Days in Roma

I just spent three amazing days in Roma, Texas with acclaimed bird photographer, Alan Murphy. What an incredible experience! I can tell you unequivocally that three days is not enough time. I was able to photograph twenty-six different species and I learned to identify several by their calls... Alan has been a birder his entire life and has avidly studied avian behavior. Add to this a propensity for perfect planning, a wonderfully artistic eye and the patience of a saint and you've got yourself an amazing photographer AND TEACHER.

The workshop was about more than getting pretty images to take home. Alan taught us techniques to use right in our own backyards. Every step of the way he explained what he was doing and why... from perch selection to placement... every call, every wing flap... Alan knew what birds were out there, when they would appear and what perch they would choose.

I can't wait to start playing in my own backyard... which I always assumed was too small to get anything good... Alan has changed my mind!

Check out my Flickr page for more Roma, Texas birds.

My Coyote

I am EXTREMELY far behind in updating this blog so the next few entries are going to be WAY out of order. I apologize in advance but I am going to just jump straight to my personal highlight of the trip.

I was in Yellowstone with a group of 7 photographers and our amazing guide Wim. Everyone on the trip was hot for Bison and while numbers were down... there were plenty of healthy, well-fleshed and rather rambunctious Bison to go around. Personally... I wanted a coyote.

I love coyotes. I know a lot of people don't, they think of them as pests, thieves and nuisances... that maybe true when they are breaking into a hen house but my experiences have shown them to be quiet, mild mannered, playful survivors.

I heard Coyotes howling the first day of the trip in Lamar and counted at least 25... at a very far distance. As we were leaving a location I spotted one near the road and shouted out that we should stop.... oh the joys of being on a tour instead of by yourself... I was over-ruled with a "We'll see plenty more later in the trip". Nope. We saw 5 more later in the trip, each of them farther than the last... taunting me.

Our last morning we had two hours to photograph before we had to drive out of the interior to meet a bus in West Yellowstone. And once again... we stopped for Bison. I was half-heartedly shooting with my 500mm when I realized the scene really called for a shorter lens so as the remainder of the group continued hiking up the river bank, I headed back to the snow coach to pick up a shorter lens. I was chatting with Wim and taking my time getting my camera and lens set up when Wim jumped up and said "There, right there! Your coyote!". I lept from the snow coach and crept around the side and sure enough, walking right past the coach was a beautiful coyote. She paused and looked back at me as I rattled off shots and just as my memory card was full... she hopped off the road and headed up the hill into the thermal area. Wim helped me locate more memory cards and I bolted through the snow... ok... a slow lumber is probubly a better description of my movemements... you try running in 3 layers of thermals, heavy snow pants, a down jacket and Baffin snow boots and see how fast you can go! Luckily I was fast enough!

I was able to track her up the hill and into an area filled with mist from the thermals. She watched me briefly and dismissed me as a non-threat before settling down on a nice warm patch of ground. My only problem was I had a 300mm lens and it was hand-held! My 500mm on the tripod was sitting at the river's edge a long way away. I was certain that she would leave if I went back for it so I made the most of the moment with what I had. I was only able to signal one other person in the group so Bridgit and I had this beautiful girl all to ourselves for at least 30 minutes before the guys int eh group realized we weren't just photographing trees and maybe they should check out what were we so intently focused on... The coyote stuck around long enough for everyone to get a few shots and then she stood, stretched and trotted off down the river.

Next year... I need to learn to cross country ski and get out there alone!

Raining Cats and Dogs

I am so glad that I headed out today! I had thought I would head into Samuel P Taylor State Park to look for mushrooms in the rain but I've never been there and couldn't figure out where the trail heads were located. I found several turn outs but the only "official" looking area was the campground. So instead I drove past and ended up in Point Reyes... the clouds were breaking up to some extent so I went looking for raptors. I found several Red-tailed Hawks, a Red-shoulder Hawk and a Harrier Hawk but they were all pretty skiddish and flew away just before could achieve a focus lock.

The highlight came in the Tule Elk reserve. I noticed a bit of brown/gold fur poking out under the guard rail. Low and behold a beautiful coyote came into view. He gave me one split second look before trotting off to hunt more mice.

Later in the day I ran into several very cooperative Mule Deer.

To top it all off, on the way through Olema I found a beautiful Bobcat mousing in a field. What a wonderful day!

I love winter!!!!!!

It doesn't get much better than this! Just back from Churchill, Manitoba where I spent five wonderful nights sleeping on the tundra with some magnificent animals. The accommodations were rustic, a train style bunk bed with barely enough room to sit up but the view from my tiny window every morning made me smile.

Polar bears are typically loners. They roam the ice flows looking for seals to eat and rarely run into other bears. Yet, every fall the southern most population of polar bears gather near Churchill to wait for the Hudson Bay to freeze and provide them with a hunting ground.

The younger bears often rough house and tumble while the older bears sleep and conserve energy. All of the bears check the ice as it forms and prepare their systems to eat again. They dig up kelp and chew and chew. Researchers think the kelp provides iodine and perhaps beneficial bacteria which helps to restart the bears digestive systems. One thing is obvious... it gets things moving right along.

A great organization that is working with the bears is Polar Bears International. Check out their website at: http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/

TURTLE!

I managed to make it back out to the Farallon Islands. More importantly, I managed to do it without getting sick. Out of 20 people on the boat, 7 people were down for the count due to sea sickness.

I headed out because I had heard there had been Blue Whale spotted. Unfortunately there was a storm at sea that stired up the currents - the whales had not yet returned to their feeding cycle. We did spot the Blue but at the end of the day and from afar.

The absolute highlight of the trip for me was an encounter with a Leatherback Turtle. If you know me, you know I ADORE turtles... if you don't know me... I ADORE turtles. When I first moved to San Francisco I took a tour to the Farallons and found a Leatherback - we got some photos which I am sure were nothing short of amazing... and the print lab lost the film.

It's pretty rare in life that you get a second chance. Even more rare to have a second chance with an endangered species. So I am counting my blessings on this encounter. The Turtle was so nice and mellow and didn't even care that we drifted along side of him for a time.

The Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) was the icing on the cake for the day!

Wonderful Sunday

I spent the day co-leading a workshop in one of my favorite California shooting locations, Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing with my friend Jim Goldstein. We kept our group small so that everyone had room to spread out and swing their longs lenses on the pontoon boat. Captain Yohn maneuvered us into just the right position for all of our shots and cut the engine often to keep the motor vibrations from affecting our images.

We were extremely fortunate to have a light layer of fog which lifted just enough to create a giant soft box effect. The lack of harsh shadows made it easy to get detail in even the darkest subjects like the Brandt's Cormorant. I love their deep blue eyes.

We were mainly after Sea Otters but I kept being distracted by the abundant birds. There is a large Elegant Tern colony on the end of the rock jetty and we practiced our flight shots with great glee. Three hours on the water passed by in a heart beat and before I knew it, I had several full memory cards and it was time to head home back to shore.

We'll be heading out there again for another workshop this winter with the hopes of capturing some newly born Sea Otter pups. There were a lot of amorous otters around so we are hoping for lots of young this year. Maybe you can join us!

Up Close

One of the great things about the Katmai Brown Bear comes from the abundance of food found in the summer. When they emerge from hibernation they ravenously munch on sedge grass to get their digestive systems up to speed. Then the salmon berries bloom. A good salmon berry crop in the spring bodes well for spring cubs the following year - this year was stellar which gives me just the excuse I needed to head back there next summer. Next, the salmon arrive. The bears adopt a very cool "I'll mind my business if you mind yours" attitude toward people when there is so much for them to eat. That said, never underestimate them. Statistically the chances of being attacked by a brown bear drop by 50% when you add just one person to make a group. Increase the group to three or more people and the likelihood of a bear attack drops to 0%. We had 8 people.

This sow spent quite a bit of time hunting for salmon in the rivers fed by the Serpent Tongue Glacier. She followed the tide and deftly grabbed salmon from the shallows when they least expected it. By sitting quietly in a group several feet back from the rivers edge, we were no more obtrusive in her world than the gulls who swooped in to clean up the remains of her meal after she left. She made several circles in front of us and even laid down to rest and gaze at the fish swimming past. A pretty amazing experience to photograph a bear this big with only a 70-200mm lens.

Teaser

I'm back!!

Just in from a wonderful week in Katmai National Park at the Katmai Wilderness Lodge. Tons of Grizzly Bear, Harbor Seals, Otters, Kittiwakes and Puffin. Over the next little bit I'll be telling you all about it. For now, I need sleep.

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.

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!