Blog Archives
Weekly Photo Challenge:Create
Friends, I certainly did not create this beautiful Mallard duck but I did create the image from the hundreds of images that I shot sitting above this waterhole. This is one of my all time favorite images of my short nature photographer career. The morning that i took this image, was one of the first nice spring mornings and i was on my way to my previous career. I just had to stop and I was late for work. One has priorities in life, when I was sitting at my desk dreaming of birds flying, I knew it was time to retire from this work and move onto another life. Maybe I was sent this image to convince me that another life awaits after my real job came to an end. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge: Close
Friends, these loon chicks stick close to an adult bird for protection from osprey and snapping turtles. They are also dependent on the adults for food. Both adult birds take turns babysitting and feeding the chicks and they grow very fast. But for several weeks they ride piggy-back and enjoy the spring sunshine. Good thing they are cute and cuddly, not hard to keep them close, til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge: Summer
Friends, nothing says summer better than a hot sunset in the badlands. Need i say more? til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge: Blue
Friends, these ring -necked ducks are motoring thru a field of blue. I haven’t figured out why they are called ring-necked ducks when the ring around the bill is by far more prominent than the very slight ring around the neck. But this image was inspired by Arthur Morris’s images of Pied-billed grebes with what he calls a “wake shot”. This is my “wake shot”. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unfocused
Friends, this image is technically focused, but the subject, a Trumpeter Swan, is definitely unfocused. He has his nose tucked in and is napping peacefully in the early spring sunshine. He will be startled when he awakes to find a photographer taking his picture from a very close vantage point. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge: Two Subjects
Friends,Two American Bison heading up the side hill to greener grasses. While this may look like a couple, they are actually two males, the one in the front being a younger version of the one in the back. An early snowstorm in September had painted the sage and brush with white and as the snow melted, the clay on these slopes became very slippery. The whole herd was progressing very slowly with an occasional stall when an animal had difficulty moving to the higher ground. The Bison have been reintroduced to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and thrive within the fenced region. Cattle of the badlands they compete with wild horses, elk, deer, antelope and other grazers for the lush grasses. Even the prairie dogs eat the grasses. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Journey
Friends, this was a journey across the river near sunset and into evening. She was bawling for her calf who meandered across the Little Missouri a few feet ahead of her, She is a mature Bison cow and her splashing in the river got my attention. I was photographing the sunset in the opposite direction and heard her behind me, I did not test her patience and made my way back to the vehicle. When it comes to the Bison, I always give them the right of way, living to photograph another day. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Arranged
Friends, These old corral logs and loading chute were arranged by cattlemen to load cattle into trucks. This remnants of ranch life appears abandoned, the fence is falling down and looks like a wild cow went through it ( sorry last week’s theme) . There are still a great number of ranches in the badlands running cattle on the rich grasslands. Over 1 million acres within the Little Missouri National Grassland are in federal, state and private ownerships, but all are managed by the US Forest Service. The Maah Daah Hey trail traverses the grasslands and connects the South unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park to the Northern Unit. This trail is over 90 miles and is open to travel by horseback, bicycles or hiking. When traveling this trail, remember to close any gates, don’t want to let the cows out, til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Contrasts
Friends, the contrasting textures of the brick wall and closed door to 451 made me wonder what was behind this door. Closed doors hold a fascination for me, to know what is beyond, a mystery to be solved. The tall grass outside serves to add to the abandoned motif, but the patched cracks suggest that someone cares what is inside and that the entire building does not collapse around the bolted door. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Down
Friends, thinking about both applications for the word, down. Down as immature feathers poking from the backside on this Pied-billed Grebe or down as the direction out of my car window.I guess both definitions apply in this image. This is a fall image as the lily pads are in a state of decay and the fall colors are reflected in the water behind this tiny bird. They dive for their food and hence are almost always wet. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 