Blog Archives
Proud Parents
Friends, this proud parent (Common Loon) is stretching his wings while his 5 day old chicks swim around. In the bottom image, you can see how fast the little ones mimic their parents. The little chick is stretching his wings (?) . I have been camping out with the new parents and now today the chicks are 7 days old. The parents have always used a deep water channel near a road and i guess they trust me, they seem to be content with me sitting in my car with my telephoto pointed in their direction. I typically don’t leave the site until they have gone away so i don’t alarm them. Tomorrow back to work in the swamp, til Tomorrow MJ
Bald Eagle Portrait
Friends, this a mature Bald Eagle with her chick of this year are sitting on the nest. I have been following the chick progress since about early May, now the chick is getting ready to fly. When both adults are on the nest with the chick, there is peace and harmony, but when the adults leave him alone, the chick jumps around the nest and spreads his wings to make them strong. The bottom image is a composite showing that he is getting lift from his powerful wings, soon he will take flight, maybe today, since the wind has diminished from the 40 mph gusts of the last two days. til Tomorrow MJ
Little Yellow Warbler
Friends, this little bird is a yellow warbler and hangs out in the willow bushes in Crex. I was photographing the various butterflies, bees, dragonflies and hummingbirds that were pollinating the blue flag iris, when two of these little curious birds peeked out of the bushes to see what was up. Their songs are delicious and i enjoyed a serenade while i worked. They went back to chasing insects in the willow leaves. til Tomorrow MJ
Suspended Animation-Hummer Style
Friends, this female hummingbird, was flying much slower than her male counterpart, I was able to focus on her and maybe she felt the lens vibrations, cause she hovered in front of the iris before she came into it, the male was never this cooperative. He just bounced from bloom to bloom never once stopping like this. This image was a challenge to post process and i still feel that the composition is unbalanced somehow. maybe time will tell, til Tomorrow MJ
Hummers on the Wild Blues
Friends, I call these wild Iris, the wild blues although when they have been out in the sun, they soon fade to a light blue or white. This ruby-throated hummingbird was jumping from bloom to bloom. He would periodically disappear into the willows and when he exited he flew above the iris in a u-shaped diving back and forth. I witnessed a male showing off for his girl. Although this shutter speed 1/1000 of a second is fast enough for most flying birds, hummers are too fast to freeze without special means. Their wing speed is 50 flaps/second and they do hum when they fly hence their name, hummingbird. til Tomorrow MJ
Bobolink
Friends, this beautiful bird is a bobolink, a male in breeding plummage, the yellow on the back of his head is a defining mark. After the summer solstice, he will become just another drab brown bird, but now in his heyday, he is busy showing off for the ladies. They nest on the ground, mostly in grassy fields, but the cutting of hay crops have dented their population. Here in Crex, the grass is allowed to grow forever and i find bobolinks occasionally. Emily Dickinson writes of their boisterous nature:
The Bobolink is gone -The Rowdy of the Meadow -And no one swaggers now but me -The Presbyterian Birds-Can now resume the Meeting-He boldly interrupted that overflowing Day-When supplicating mercy-In a portentous way-He swung upon the Decalogue-And shouted let us pray -Emily Dicinson
I love the last line. til Tomorrow MJ
Loon Babies
Friends, this loon parent is feeding his/her chicks, the fish is as big as the chick, no wonder those chicks grow so fast. I watched while mama loon carried the chicks on her back and at 3:30pm she called to the male, soon the male appeared and both parents dove below the surface finding food to feed the chicks. They put on quite a show but i was stretching the limits of my telephoto lens to record these proceedings. I have gone back on two other occasions but they have moved out to the center of the lake. This image is a little lacking in quality but does show the “decisive moment”. til Tomorrow MJ
Clouds of Summer
Friends, I think images of the sky are somewhat universal, this sky could probably be seen anywhere in the world. We saw numerous thunderhead-filled skies when we traveled in New Mexico last fall. Unstable air like unstable people can be found where ever the hot air meets the cold. We see our share of these clouds in summer and i like to collect them, the more textures, the better for me, til Tomorrow MJ
Redface the Magnificent
Friends, this beautiful roan stallion is called Redface, he is a herd stallion with about 6-8 mares running wild in the North Dakota badlands. He was peacefully eating his grass and raised his head briefly to see what i was doing but very relaxed with a piece of grass still peeking out from the corner of his mouth. i am experimenting with a frame and signature for my work as someone suggested that a signature will protect the image from “pirating”. I just want to share, not too concerned about deviousness, but a signature on a piece of art also shows that the photographer was proud of the work enough to attach a name to it. In the old days (before my time), women did not sign their art, and many of the watercolors of Medora De Mores are not signed. Medora and her husband the Marquis DeMores, were early historical figures who were instrumental in establishing the town of Medora. Medora is the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I will address this history in a later post. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Today
Friends, Today i was chasing birds at Crex Meadows, a good day to get some great images and to play with Photoshop. This Eastern Kingbird was an attitude shot and the background was just plain water, so i changed it to white to emphasize the bird pose. Using the Digital Basics Tutorial from Arthur Morris, Birdsasart, i am constantly learning new things to enhance my photography. Maybe this image needs a frame??, til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 