Blog Archives
Great Horned Owl
Friends, this great horned owl is keeping a sleepy watch over her young in the nest. I shot 200 images on this shoot, but only one image had both subjects with open eyes, and mother only had a half opened eye, but you get what you get, considering myself very lucky this morning, til Tomorrow MJ
Waiting for Spring
Friends, this image says winter and waiting for it to be over, the return of the bird to its house would definitely say spring, but first we have to melt these gigantic drifts. This was found in the Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area, a vast wilderness that only contains snowmobilers and rugged photographers in the winter. Good thing we have four=wheel drive on the pickup, almost got stuck on a trail that had not been plowed very well, so if you go, watch the width of the road, if it narrows too much it has probably turned into a trail, not a road. til Tomorrow MJ
Black Tern
Friends, working in photoshop while we are confined to the house cause of the weather, too cold with windchills in the -50 F range. This image was shot at iso 400 and the sky had a lot of digital noise compliments of my camera, so i have become very good at minimizing the sky noise. This is a black tern that hovered over the marsh in search of prey, he will hunt insects and fish, wonder what he caught. I liked the hovering pose of the bird and a small hint of cloud behind him. til Tomorrow MJ
Be My Valentine
Friends, been saving this image for a special occasion, Valentines day, happy happy til Tomorrow MJ
Sleepy Snowy
Friends, Jim and i went to Duluth on a very bright day and found the Snowy Owl sitting on the snow high above us, he posed but would not open his eyes. The eye shape was probably the inspiration for snow goggles worn in the northland to minimize the snow reflections on a bright day. Just a horizontal slit in a piece of leather served to diminish the amount of light that enters the eye. We had to follow a snowmobile track and fell into thigh high snow when stepping off the track, but we got out where we could photograph without the sun directly behind the owl. The telephoto did the rest to get us close enough, this image is also cropped greatly. Snowing today but we will return on another day. til Tomorrow MJ
Spring Bird
Friends, yesterday while looking for the Snowy Owl, I found a small flock of these Horned Larks, the birdies think spring is on the way, do you?? til Tomorrow MJ
Watercolor morning
Friends, been watercoloring this morning with my computer, always hated the way Photoshop did watercolors, was not realistic, but the ipad has a new app called “waterlogue” that is wonderful for doing watercolor from a photo, thanks to my friend agogo, the winter now does not seem so dreary, thanks kathy til Tomorrow MJ
Snowy Owl in Flight, as promised
Friends, as promised this snowy owl is flying toward the sun and sorry about the head, but you have to get what is given, as he leaped from the post perch, he revealed his underside and his killer talons, you may also see that he is banded on his right leg, can’t read the band but appears to contain a circle with a 3 inside it, others with more knowledge may be able to help with this band id. the sky was very gray and just diffuse light so this was the best that i could do that day under the circumstances, the next good day i will again be hunting. til Tomorrow MJ
Snowy Owl, my version
Friends, this snowy owl was found in Duluth and is quite the celebrity. He is in the same place every day and many photographers in this part of the country have taken his picture. Well i am certainly no exception, so yesterday our frigid temps moderated a little and i ventured northward. He was sitting a very long way away when i first arrived, but then flew to this perch above the ball fields. I was able to maneuver my vehicle to within about 30 feet of his perch. I liked this image because his tail feathers were blowing in the wind. He stayed here for about 40 minutes then flew back to his dirt pile perch that was too far for my telephoto lens. I got one image of his underside when he flew away, i will show that image tomorrow. til Tomorrow MJ
Turkeys are Beautiful ?
Friends, this beautiful turkey is part of the bachelors that visit my mom regularly. She lives in a large senior condo in the cities, and these boys walk across her lawn almost every day. I saw them again this week but because of the snow, they are using the sidewalks and roadways just like the humans. So enjoy til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 