Blog Archives
Working Again
Dear Friends, this ten-petal mentzelia is growing out of the red rock in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, locally the red rock is called scoria, but the real term is porcelainite (sp) , made from clay layers being baked by a burning coal layer, if you drop a piece on a hard surface it will ring like a china cup, hence another local name, clinker. the white flower of the mentzelia is only present in late summer near sundown and before sunrise. til Tomorrow MJ
Teaching the Dance
Dear Friends, this image is a composite of two images, but typical of dancing cranes, i love it when they dance in the fall, you can see in the top bird a small piece of corn in the beak being offered to the ground bird, sometimes they will toss a small piece of ground clutter into the air as they jump, i don’t have that image yet which is why i keep trying, a fascinating ritual, sometimes the youngsters will imitate the adults, so teaching the dance til Tomorrow MJ
The Essence
Dear Friends, the essence of fall in our part of the world is summarized in this image, the trees are brilliant with color, the corn is harvested and the cranes are flying everywhere. Soon the ground will be white, the cranes will be gone and the trees will be bare, i do not like the winter, but will put up with it, bah humbug, til Tomorrow MJ
Back to Work
Friends, this gray fox was focused on something that moved, not me, i don’t move a hair while photographing this guy, i have been on a short hiatus this summer from blogging, but still gathering images to be used in this site, enjoy the fall season, i am, til Tomorrow MJ
Lots of Storms
Dear Friends, i could not decide how to present this image, color or black and white, without the color it looks stormier, do you like? til Tomorrow MJ
Before the Storm
Dear Friends, the other day i was chased by this storm and it seems to be a reoccurring theme in Crex this summer, lots of rain and humidity, this morning it is a little cooler and dryer, time to visit the birdies, til Tomorrow MJ
Green Wing Teal??
Dear Friends, i think this might be either a young male green wing teal or some kind of hybrid, what do you birders think? The green speculum is there but no white border around the head green stripe, the back and side feathers are also strange. Seen on Phantom Lake in Crex Meadows on July 1. til Tomorrow MJ
Mistakes
Dear Friends, no Northern Lights last night at our house, but the stars were out, so i was shooting star trails. These trails have gaps that resulted from neglecting to turn off the noise reduction feature in my camera. There are two settings hidden in the camera menu that do noise reduction with high iso and one with long exposures. When they are enabled, the camera tries to process the image between exposures and this processing takes as long as the exposure time, so if your exposure is 20 seconds, the camera delays the next exposure while it processes the noise reduction, resulting in a 20 second gap between exposures. Lessons learned. til Tomorrow MJ
Crane Lunch
Dear Friends, i always think of our Sandhill Cranes as gentle giants roaming the wetlands in search of food. I never thought of baby Red Winged Blackbirds as a food source. These young cranes were being harassed by the adult Red Wings as the cranes plucked the babies from the nest. The male red wing bird is definitely in attack mode but the sandhill has his lunch. Red wings are not in short supply here and predation is common as they nest on the ground. til tomorrow MJ
Badlands After 5 PM
Dear Friends, this image was taken last August when the Mentzelia bloom on the red scoria. These white blossoms are found growing right out of the rocky slopes and only open after 4 PM. Most tourists overlook them cause they are a prickly looking plant until the blossoms open, then they are magnificent. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 