Back At It
Friends, I thought that returning to my images of Big Manitou Falls might help to refresh my creativity that has been a bit lacking lately. I guess after photoing the Whooping Crane, I thought “I can’t do any better and everything else is boring”, but i need to push onward. Winter is coming and all the boys are thinking deer hunting, so the orange clothing is lying about the living room, the guns are cleaned, the rifles sighted in and Saturday morning all the Wisconsin hunters will be out. This image is an HDR that was made from three images, just to show that HDR can have a natural look. til Tomorrow MJ
One More Whooper
Friends, normally i don’t use this type of image in my blog, but this is a rare bird and a rare opportunity to share with you. This image was taken against the light and at a distance too far for my tele, but photoshop helped the situation so the leg band colors could be seen and recorded for posterity. Sorry but i couldn’t resist showing one more Whooper image, til Tomorrow MJ
Another Thrill
Friends, Jim and i went crane hunting again today to see if we could find the Whooping Crane among the hundreds of Sandhill Cranes, I showed an image yesterday of the large flock with a distant white bird. Today we surveyed the fields and found her again, among the Sandhills. She walked up and down and finally took off, she flew into the sun, but i stayed focused as the small group circled, turned , came right at us and passed directly overhead. I guess my practice at Hawk Ridge and the flying cranes at Crex, paid off, as i was able to capture her in flight. I know, i know, you want the wings fully extended either up or down, sorry you get what you get, it was a beautiful day to share with my honey. til Tomorrow MJ
What a thrill!!
Friends, these Greater Sandhill cranes are gathering on the Trade River for their last hurrah before going south. But surprise, one of these birds is not a sandhill, but is a rarely seen Whooping Crane. The big white one in the top of the image whose head markings are a little different than the Sandhills. They are very white and larger than the sandhills. These birds are extremely rare and are now bred in captivity then taught to fly using an ultralight aircraft at Naceedah Wildlife Refuge, then they are released into the wild. Occasionally we see one who is migrating on his own with the Sandhills, it is a very rare sighting. Sorry for the poor image, but i was stretching my telephoto. Thanks Kim for the tip and Jim for the company. til Tomorrow MJ
Spring Loon
Friends, this is an environmental shot of a loon nesting far out in the marsh in Crex. The loons have all flown south and now the marsh is full of sandhill cranes. Soon they will also disappear and we will be left with the snow, ice and winter birds. Bald eagles, snow buntings, rough-legged hawks, blue jays, nuthatches, goldfinches, juncos, woodpeckers, flickers and ever-present chickadees will remain behind to keep us company. til Tomorrow MJ
Maple Glory
Friends, this foliage is gone for now, but a little reminder of the wonderful fall that has now passed us by. The maples are the highlight of my fall, they seem to turn every shade of yellow, orange and red before they pass into winter snow. til Tomorrow MJ
Looking West
Friends, standing near the top of Big Manitou Falls in Pattison State Park, the mixed foliage from pine and deciduous trees caught my eye. A cloudy day with little direct light made the scene appear kind of drab, so this is an HDR image to capture the full range of colors. HDR is high dynamic range and is a composite of an underexposed image, right on exposure image and overexposed image in a post-processing software, in this case, photoshop. I think this was an improvement over the straight exposure dictated by the camera exposure meter. What do you think? til Tomorrow MJ
Noisy Visitor
Friends, this noisy goshawk is leaving the area in a hurry, Goshawks are notorious for the squawking that they do when in hand at Hawk Ridge. This is a first year bird and is used to hollering for food in the nest. His feathers are a bit ruffled as he gathers himself to continue his migration south. Being a woodland bird, these are rarely seen except in the fall migration over Hawk Ridge. The Goshawk count over the ridge is the highest anywhere in the US. So the goshawk has become an icon of Hawk Ridge, til Tomorrow MJ
Sandhill Closeup
Friends, this sandhill crane was very close to the road, so I just had to take his picture, nice portrait, don’t you think? He was rooting in the mud for food but had cleaned off his bill for the photographer. About 12000 of these birds have gathered in Crex Meadows to fatten up before their long flight south. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 