Morning Dove Posing | a 7 Image Story Morning Doves tend to stick around for winter. With the leaves off the trees, sometimes they make great images. They don’t seem to mind the cold and snow. It probably helps that they have plenty of seed to eat from my bird feeder. This Morning Dove hung around this tree for a long time. In fact, it posed in several positions on the same branch. Maybe, it knew the camera was clicking away. It was almost like it was saying: “notice my beautiful back feathers! I know you are clicking away.” The branch made it hard for the Morning Dove to continue walking down the branch. It seems to be a dead-end. Photo shoots must come to an end, just remember. An old photography guideline says to always have the eye of the critter in focus. And, a closely related guideline proclaims to almost always show the eye in the frame.
Each image will be posted individually this week under category Morning Dove Posing. Click any image below for a slide show!
Pug Wisdom | a 7 Image Story There are no great Pugs; only great challenges, which under extraordinary circumstances; ordinary Pugs must meet. Pugs must sometimes meet difficult challenges to bring happiness and joy to their pack; particularly their two-legged Pugs. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Never turn down a cookie. Sometimes, even a nap must wait. Pugs, by nature, are somewhat lazy. They really like to play and eat, but between episodes, they need their rest. Sleep with one eye open. Protect your chewy. Pugs have many skills. One skill most folks don’t realize is sleeping with one eye open. Pugs love to sleep. Pugs love to eat and chew. When more than one dog is in the house, there’s only one solution. Sleep with one eye open; watching out, so nobody takes your food or chewy. What goes around, comes around. Love everyone and they will love you back. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again. Then give up; don’t make a fool of yourself, unless it’s about food. Pugs love to eat. Pugs love food; people food. In fact, some Pugs I know seem to think they are really furry people. Of, course, the rest of us know; people are just alpha Pugs. Either way, Pugs know they are entitled to people food. Look back to better understand what lies ahead. History informs us; experience teaches us. Pug love flows like water; splashing on everyone.
Pugs are happy and affectionate, loyal and charming, and playful and mischievous; just happy-go-lucky little dogs. Sturdy, compact dogs, they are known as the clowns of the canine world because they have a great sense of humor and like to show off. Originally bred to be a lap dog, they thrive on human companionship. Pugs are clowns at heart, but they carry themselves with dignity. Although playful dogs, they are also lovers and must be close to their humans. Pugs love to be the center of attention, and get heartsick, if ignored. The Pug’s comical face, with deep wrinkles around big, dark eyes and a flat round face, can’t help but make you smile.
Each image will be posted individually this week under category Pug Wisdom. Click any image below for a slide show!
Elk | a 7 Image Story Today Elk live primarily in western North America in mountainous areas such as Wyoming’s National Elk Refuge near the Grand Tetons NP and Yellowstone National Park NP. Elk are related to deer but are much larger. Male elk are called bulls and weigh over 1000 pounds, but female elk, called cows, are a bit smaller. A bull elk’s antlers can reach 4 feet above its head making it tower to 9 feet tall. Bull elk lose their antlers each March, but they begin to grow back in May in preparation for the late-summer breeding season. In early summer, elk migrate to high mountain grazing grounds where the cows give birth. A cow typically has a one or two calves, which can stand by the time it is 20 minutes old. During fall breeding season the bugling of bull elk echoes through the mountains and valleys. Yellowstone becomes a magical wilderness with fall color and the distinctive sound of an Elk bugling. It’s truly the call of the wild. They strip the velvet off their new antlers and use them in violent clashes to determine who gets to mate with the herd. Males with the bigger antlers, typically older, usually win and dominate the small herds. As winter arrives, the Elk form into larger herds, though bulls and cows typically remain separate. The herds return to lower valley pastures where elk spend the season pawing through snow to graze on grass or settling for shrubs not buried in snow. Yellowstone’s Winter can be brutal! The Elk must push the snow off the brown grass just to get what little nutrition it holds. Of course, Elk lose a good bit of weight during the winter months.
Elk an be aggressive animals; even dangerous year-round. Females can be really aggressive in the spring when their babies are born. Males get even more aggressive in the fall during rut.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Elk. Click any image below for a slide show!
Great Blue Heron | a 7 Image Story Why do I like Great Blue Herons? The Great Blue is a big beautiful bird. It’s common in many parts of the country so there are many photographic opportunities to capture images with multiple poses. And, my nightly walkabout travels by areas frequented by them. They only partially migrant; moving south if the temperatures get to cold.
Great Blue Herons frequent shorelines, river banks, and the edges of marshes, estuaries, and ponds in both freshwater and saltwater. They fly with such ease. It looks almost elegant. Of course, flying with a five to six-foot wingspan while weighing only 5 to 6 pounds looks pretty easy doesn’t it. Like all birds, they have hollow bones.
Great Blue Herons eat almost anything within striking distance including fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, insects, and other birds. They use their dagger-like bills to impale larger fish. Great Blue Herons tend to go fishing alone; wading slowly or standing stock still while peering into the water for fish. They can quickly strike prey at a distance; lightning fast. Also, they can hunt day and night due to their excellent night vision. With a little luck, they can live over 20 years.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Great Blue Heron .
American Bison | a 7 Image Story The American Bison, also call Bison Bison, is our National Mammal and symbolic of the Great Plains. The largest land animal in North America; at one time millions roamed the grasslands of North America from Alaska to Mexico in massive herds. Today, small herds are maintained in several parts of Canada, as well as several states in the USA. Many national parks also keep Bison. With approximately 5,000 animals, Yellowstone NP has North America’s largest population of wild Bison and is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since the prehistoric times of the last ice age.
Capturing wild Bison images usually means a trip to a national or state park. These images come from Yellowstone, Wind Cave, and Badlands national parks. Good clicks come relatively easy. The Bison are usually standing around; like they’re waiting for you to make a click. A good telephoto lens is really required though. Getting too close is not only bad form, but can be detrimental to your health. These beautiful animals are wild and unpredictable. Keep your distance.
A few Bison facts: Bison are year round grazers requiring water every day. They eat primarily grasses, but will also eat flowering plants, lichens, and woody plant leaves. In the winter, they sweep their heads from side to side to clear the snow. Bison grow a thin layer of soft fine hair and a thick outer layer of course hair. In the spring, they shed their heavy winter coats. A mature Bison stands 5-6 feet tall weighing 1,800 to 2,400 pounds. They have cloven hoofs, and can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour. They prefer to graze in the morning, rest, ruminate (chew cud) in the middle of the day and then graze again in the evening. Bison communicate through grunts with each other and sometimes snort to warn intruders. They have excellent hearing and smell, but relatively poor eyesight. Baby bison, called “red dogs,” are orange-red in color for a few months until their hair begins to turn dark brown. Their life expectancy ranges from 15 to 20 years.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category American Bison.
Wolf Park Wolves | a 7 Image Story Although I rarely capture images of captive wild animals, Wolf Park is an exception. It maintains a near wild environment for their wolf pack while providing a wild canid research and education center. Wolf Park is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to behavioral research, education, and conservation. They aid researchers as well as offer tours and seminars to their visitors. For the photog, they offer wolf photography classes and photo shoots several times a year. These images were captured in a spring photo class and shoot. Someday, I’d like to go back in the winter when snow covers the ground.
The wolves at Wolf Park are socialized. They are not afraid of the public and will interact in front of visitors. They are better research animals, maintenance and medical care is easier, and their lives are enriched by allowing them to walk and run in multiple environments including their seven acre natural enclosure. The socialization process starts when the pups are only 12-14 days old. It’s a 24/7-365 process involving both men and woman as well as visits from adult wolves. Pups are bottle raised from a very early age and their environment is kept very stable. People come to them; not visa versa. Socialization is integrated into their lives and continues essentially for their entire life at Wolf Park. Although they are socialized from birth, they still have wolf instincts. The socialization process is very detailed and time consuming. For more information, visit Wolf Park’s website.
Included in the photo classes and photo shoots, is required instruction on safely interacting with the wolves and general behavior while in the wolf enclosure. The large enclosure includes a lake, woodlands, and prairie. Yes, accompanied by Wolf Park staff, you can get in the wolf enclosure to capture images. The wolves are right next to you. Obviously, certain restrictions apply. Flash is permitted. Tripods are discouraged. Camera bags and tripods covered in foam padding are not allowed in the enclosure. Photo sessions are held in most weather, including rain or snow. For more detailed information, see the Photography Page on Wolf Park’s website.
Wolves make beautiful subjects for photographs. The gray wolf ranges in color from all white to solid black. Many wolves are more like a taupe color with the guard hairs sometimes banded with black, white, gold and brown. Wolves have two layers of fur. The outer or guard layer is made up of long colored hairs that shed water and snow. The inner layer is thick gray fur that traps air, insulating the wolf; keeping it warm in sub-zero temperatures. In warmer weather, they shed the inner layer. Their eye color ranges from amber/brown or gold to hues of brown, gray, yellow, and green.
The experience of capturing these images was amazing. It’s an creditable experience, which is virtually impossible in the wild. The enclosure is so big, the class had to follow the wolves as they moved from one area to the next. One time, I was capturing an image of a wolf twenty yards away when another came up from behind me and touched my right arm, just before the click. Wow. After I settled down, I had to make another few clicks. Even though they are accustomed to people and sometimes seem like they are posing for the shot, other times they just wrestle and play, as though we were not there at all. The wolves clearly feel at home.
Wolves communicate in a variety of ways including body postures, gestures, and sounds. Sounds may include whimpers, whines, growls, barks, and, of course, the howl. The meaning of these postures and sounds vary with the context in which they were made. Their howl, which may be heard several miles away, may be a solo, a duet, or a chorus. Each type of howl gets used for different reasons. For more detailed information on wolves, go to the wolves information page on Wolf Park’s website.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Wolf Park Wolves.
Husky Dogsled Party | a 7 Image Story Each year in January or February, the Free Spirit Siberian Rescue organization hosts a Husky Dogsled event in northern Illinois, with Huskies galore. Jake and Elwood have gone for the past several years. They love to run and play in the snow. They would rather be outside running, playing, working, or just taking a nap in the snow than anything else, except possibly eating. Elwood has different colored eyes, a fairly common Husky trait. Although grey and white colors are common in Huskies like Jake, they really come in many color combinations including pure white.
Although it was a beautiful day with intermittent sun and snow showers, the trail had not been groomed like they typically are for races, so the dogs had to break a new trail in the snow. Rescued Huskies coming to the event can run as part of a dogsled team. As natural sled pullers, Huskies instinctively know they should pull the sled with other Huskies in their new pack. When the harnessed dogs are being attached to the sled, they are very excited; barking, jumping, and talking “Husky”. As soon the musher calls “mush”, the dogs all become quiet and start pulling the sled. As soon as the sled stops, they go back to barking and howling.
Several dogs in the team were newcomers to dog sledding. That’s Jake and Elwood in the center of the pack. This outing was their first time pulling a dogsled and they ran beautifully. Of course, they were in the middle of the pack. The lead dogs are the most experienced and the specially trained to be lead dogs. What many folks don’t know is that the last two dogs are specially trained to be the “wheel dogs.” Of course, wheel dogs are also the primary view for sled riders.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Husky Dogsled Party.
Winter Birds by Feeder | a 7 Image Story Colorful winter birds cheer us up during the long, cold winter months. My bird feeder gets used heavily in the winter; particularly when show covers the ground. In fact, sometimes there’s so many birds, it seems like they need a control tower to direct air traffic. They do have their own version of “see and avoid.” The smaller birds give way to the larger ones on the feeder. Many just fly down to the ground beneath the feeder to get leftovers. When a Blue Jay arrives, all birds clear out or given it wide birth. Of course, many more than seven bird species visit the feeder during winter months. For this post, I’ve chosen some of the more colorful birds as well as the more frequent visitors. Perhaps, another post will be needed later.
First things first, why not call the red-bellied woodpecker, a red-headed woodpecker instead? You might not have noticed the rose coloring on a red-bellied woodpecker’s breast. Whoever first named this bird must have had a strange sense of humor. I’m not a birder so I don’t get it. Still, it’s call a red-bellied woodpecker. And, why are Blue Jays mean? Because they are. For that matter, why do some birds stick around for the winter while others leave to warmer climates? Experts tell us that birds can and do survive extremely harsh winters. The primary reason for migration is food. Some birds can forage for insects in the bark of trees and find enough other food to make it through the cold winter months. In fact, in some areas even a few American robins stay through the winter months.
Winter can be a difficult time to capture wildlife images particularly small birds. Sure fewer leaves on the trees make it a bit easier to capture an image of the species remaining. Getting close enough to the bird with a long lens still remains the biggest obstacle. Placing a bird feeder close to windows and doors make a big difference. Even then, shooting images through windows takes skill and post processing software. These seven images were captured with a 70-300mm lens, equivalent to 189-810mm using a 2.7 crop factor on the V1 & V3, at a distance between 5 and 15 feet. Little birds tend to have big lenses pointed at them.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Winter Birds by Feeder.
Morning Dove Posing | a 7 Image Story Morning Doves tend to stick around for winter. With the leaves off the trees, sometimes they make great images. They don’t seem to mind the cold and snow. It probably helps that they have plenty of seed to eat from my bird feeder. This Morning Dove hung around this tree for a long time. In fact, it posed in several positions on the same branch. Maybe, it knew the camera was clicking away. It was almost like it was saying: “notice my beautiful back feathers! I know you are clicking away.” The branch made it hard for the Morning Dove to continue walking down the branch. It seems to be a dead-end. Photo shoots must come to an end, just remember. An old photography guideline says to always have the eye of the critter in focus. And, a closely related guideline proclaims to almost always show the eye in the frame.
