Waterfowl have a number of really cool attributes making photographing them incredibly rewarding. There is the watery world they live in, it can be an instant clean background. There is their coloration which is the rainbow personified. Then there is their head shapes making them distinct and at times, comical. The fun is combining all of these elements into one frame that says it all. Take this Ring-billed Duck male as an example.

The top frame is my favorite and it came after spending about an hour with them. I started by finding a place to stand to get the reflections I wanted in the ripples, the background. They changed based on where I stood and what the water saw to reflect. There was a partial God scrim going so by making small moves, just inches, I could play the gray / blue patchy sky in the ripples. Then there was the light on the “purple” head feathers that the sky was helping as well. The indirect light was essential in getting that color. Then finally was putting them together with the “eyebrow” head shape with those orange eyes. The top shot was what I was after, the gallery below (click on arrows to see all) are the shots leading up to the final one. It was a ton of fun just working the duck to get the right combo of background plus attitude!

It was -8 yesterday when I photographed this American Goldfinch waiting in line to get to the feeder. It’s -24 at the moment warming up to -10 today. In these conditions critters need those calories to stay warm. They need even more the free water, the line for the water feature /bird bath is even longer! I have the blind over the glass door so I don’t disturb causing them to burn more calories then necessary. They have enough problems with the Sharpies & Coop and then on Tuesday, the Goshawk moved in! I literally looked out the office window and saw it perched there. It stayed long enough out in the open for Sharon to see it once I picked my jaw up and then moved to the back side of the tree. We’ve watched it pick off a flicker and dove but not gotten glass on it, yet! I figure I’ll get serious about getting out and photographing it, once it gets warmer which, might be relative today!

There is a very simple saying in wildlife photography, don’t photograph birds against a gray sky. Be it flight, perched, on water reflecting gray sky, just don’t do it. Why? That’s a great question! It’s all about light and when shooting up in those conditions, the range of light is greater than what the camera can hold. The shadow under the bird eliminates a whole lot of information. But here’s the deal, this long lived “guidelines” comes with “exceptions” you might say. One is, gray is referring to a slate, flat gray sky of the overcast kind. It’s not referring to a broken gray sky like you see above. It also assumes the sun is overhead and not just coming up on the horizon like in the photo above. But it has everything to do with celebrating the joy of flight. You know the saying about feeling gray. Well gray skies play right into that saying. Remember it’s your photograph, your story and you need to bring it to the viewer your way. Guidelines like about gray skies are there as a starting point, not ending point. Like everything, when you come up against such things, just FEEL it through and you might say, never – gray skies?

Bosque del Apache NWR is a sacred part of our wild heritage preserving a spectacle a millennium in the making! I feel very fortunate to have been wondering its landscape for the past thirty-nine years with my camera. I have to admit I spent the vast majority of my time just watching more than shooting, both seem to place my warmth deep in my soul. Don’t get me wrong, I do take a few photos, this one is #26009 of Greater Sandhill Cranes to be filed in the digital library with another 16k in the slide file. A case could be made I’ve been there, done that yet #26009 proves that wrong. “It only takes one” the proverbial answer to how many photos does it take. My problem is, I want the one so I keep going out. For myself, #26009 comes really close in telling the story of the Sandhill Crane at Bosque del Apache, NM. At least, for today.

They are often confused as being wolves in winter. It’s those rich, think winter coats that make the Coyote look so spectacular. There is a size difference between Coyotes and the Gray Wolf but if they are not side by side, that knowledge doesn’t help. Just look at the tip of the tail. See that black, yep, that’s a Coyote. This pair are two of four that were trying their very best to take advantage of a four day old elk kill. Well, elk drowning would be more accurate. It seems the bull was trying to cross the Lamar River, fell through the thin ice and couldn’t get back out and drowned. The Coyotes and other scavengers thought they had the perfect frozen dinner until the body got trapped under the ice, only its massive rack was above. That didn’t stop them from trying and providing us with a great show and some fun photo opps.

Those two hours flew! That’s what the clock said when the River Otters finally went on their very merry way, but it seemed like it was just a few minutes. What appeared to me a female with two pups from the spring (I honestly don’t know if that’s the case) appeared just to be having the grandest of times. Perched over the Lamar River, what I could see in the 800mm was sheer enjoyment at being free in the ice cold waters to do whatever their mood struck them. It was the first time in my shooting career that stills were totally inadequate to tell the story. I shot nearly thirty minutes of their antics and in watching that video, smiling and laughing all over again. I now see this as a personal challenge, taking those feelings from the action and translating it into a single still image. I love those kinds of challenges and this one starts with, finding again these river clowns!