Blog Archives
Cooper Blur
Friends, this Cooper’s Hawk is still protesting his capture and banding, or maybe the loss of a feather, floating in the lower middle of this image. Hawk Ridge is an exciting place to be in the fall, lots of birds migrating and some are caught, banded, adopted and released back into the wild blue yonder. But I have a question, is this a pleasing blur?? til Tomorrow MJ
Crane Overhead
Friends, this Greater Sandhill Crane is taking flight at sunrise. In Crex Meadows, the cranes come into Main Dike at sunset and roost for the night. People also come by the dozens to watch the nightly display. In the morning, the cranes are noisy on the roost and all talking at once just before they take off and go back to the fields to spend their day. They usually fly in large flocks or smaller family groups and this single crane was actually part of a larger group. As they passed overhead, I was able to isolate a single crane in flight. til Tomorrow MJ
Hatch Year Swan
Friends, this is a juvenile Trumpeter Swan, this years young called a hatch year bird. They are gray with a pink beak, that is turning black as they mature. There were four immatures with their parents on Main Dike when we were on a sunrise shoot at Crex Meadows. I was experimentingwith vignettes other than black, do you like? til Tomorrow MJ
Wood Duck Feathers
Friends, these wood duck feathers look like brush strokes,; the overlapping, fine details , and iridescent colors. The blue color is not a pigment but rather a structural color, the light is reflected as the full spectrum, that results from the light being bent by microstructure within the cells. Perceiving the color is dependent on the angle from which one views. If you stand ninety degrees from this angle, the iridescence is gone, til Tomorrow MJ
Turtle Eye
Friends, this eye belongs to a Blanding’s Turtle that lives in Crex Meadows. Yesterday we went shooting with some friends from our photo club and this guy was sitting on the road, since the road is not a good place for turtles we stopped and put him in a safe place, but after we all shot some images of his smiling face. That yellow chin is his trademark, til Tomorrow MJ




