Jun 12, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Put simply, it kicked my ass and I enjoyed every moment of it! The Long-tailed Weasel is not a critter you see everyday. While very common, they are very illusive, secretive and simply put, greased lightning! They do nothing slowly but what always seems like panic in motion. The photo above in all honesty really visually describes the life and times of a Long-tailed Weasel. And it’s cool!
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Finding one is only part of the HUGE challenge of photographing them. We were at our very special location when looking at a Mountain Cottontail, I saw this weasel pop out of nowhere behind it. We were just scouting for the moment so had no cameras, having just literally gotten out of our vehicles. Sharon and I both saw it at the same time and in jaw dropping stance, watched as the weasel went ballistic running over this fallen log. We watched for a few minutes and then it occurred to me that it wasn’t going anywhere. So we sent back to our vehicles to set up our gear. I few minutes later I came back with D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT and shooting at eleven frames per second, captured the images above. The series of four demonstrates just how damn fast these suckers can be! It smoked my ass!!!!
This little devil ran, jumped, hoped, skipped, and flew around this log (the size of a huge couch) with such speed, keeping up with it to get glass on it was near impossible! It wouldn’t stop and to be totally honest with you, watching it was really more rewarding than any photograph I might have taken. Then it got to a point where being beaten by this little critter became personal and getting the photo to tell its story became important. My best guess was, there was some prey in the log and it was hauling ass around it trying to flush it out and capture it. It was simply just an amazing show!
We were really lucky. It stuck around for quite a while and it had some what of a typical path around the log. Only by prefocusing at a location it had come to before and keeping an eye in the viewfinder (and Sharon telling me where it was, she’s so good at that) was I able to get a few in focus clicks of this amazing predator. Oh, and its cute factor is off the chart which makes the panic to get the photo even greater. The encounter didn’t last that long but we treasure it so! Having anytime with a critter of this type and in performing such unique biology is a real treat and why we get out everyday. But after this show, I know exactly where the song came from, pop goes the weasel!
Jun 11, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Photographing ground birds can be a challenge at times. The reason being, they are on the ground. The natural debris can hide them to make the photo incredibly busy. And in the case of this California Quail, foraging around in a freshly mowed lawn just isn’t the best of worlds for the subject. This is when understanding basic biology can keep you waiting around to capture the better photograph.
What you can’t see in these frames is the female. The pair came walking down the lawn and we moved into place so if everything worked out, they would walk into the lens. This is because “stalking” ground birds tends to push them back into the cover where they find safety. In this case, the pair kept walking right down to us and but doing it on their terms, all was good and we didn’t matter. Now with the female in tow, the male was looking for other males that might challenge him for his mate. That sex thing which SO makes us photographer meld right into the background.
The other piece of basic biology you need with California Quail is the males constant need to get higher to look around. Normally, he’s looking for predators but in the spring, he’s looking for other males that might make a move for his mate. Shooting with the D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT, we had stopped where there were a number of possible perches the male could hope up to. Now the boys with me heard me chant for the rock but it was only after the great light was on the rock did the male hope up there.
A quite often once on a perch where he can easily watch the female for a time, the male preens. It’s during this moment when on that perch all nice and T’d up that the common becomes uncommon and that’s what we’re after. We were standing on the bank of a creek so we were physically low which permitted using a background WAY in the distance providing the clean background. So combining camera gear, time, basic biology and a passion for the story and the photo is captured. Our entire encounter lasted perhaps fifteen minutes but man, did it produce. It is simply how Mother Nature when given the opportunity can entertain while sharing her glories!
Jun 10, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
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This past weekend during our Sierra Bird weekend, we took a little field trip to a very special location of ours. It has always produced, but you just never know what. We’ve been heading here for over 30yrs and like usual, we had a new and difference subject occupying a bunch of our time this trip. Sharon discovered a nesting pair of House Wrens that were just finishing their nest and seemed to have laid their first egg. The post your see in the photos is where the male would come over and over again to sing, broadcasting his territory and keep his better half interested. We spent over an hour with the male and it was just killer. You will notice a change in nearly every photograph and that’s from both the behavior and the light. There were thunder clouds forming and as they came and went, I would move around the perch to get the better light on both the subject and the background. How close were we able to get? I was shooting with the D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT and we were at the minimum focusing distance of our lenses. The male could care less, he had just one thing on his mind and it’s the wildlife photographers best friend, sex! It was just great fun keeping up with him and looking to make the uncommon out of the common.
May 6, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
We spent the morning at the awesome American Museum of Natural History. I went through the halls enjoying the exhibits until I came to the African mammal halls. You walk in to a very dark room and in dim lights, a herd of elephants seem to be move silently through. But in real life, elephants are anything but silent. As we went by the various exhibits with Bushbucks, Leopard, Cheetah it occurred to me, something was very wrong. The main important element of these critters was horribly missing. Life!
Then we came to the Black Rhino exhibit and it occurred to me, I might never see them other than as live mounts in an exhibit. Even though I’m going to where they should be in two months, the odds off seeing them are slim to none at best. And not that I’m trying to depress you, but I was rather depressed with that thought. Sadly, we’ve all experienced the passing of someone dear in our lives and know the emptiness that brings. Loosing a species to extinction and for such a stupid reason as poaching, well, leaves an even greater emptiness. Leaving that hall and those live mounts, it was simply a very sobering moment.
Apr 10, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Then, the magic happens … the years of paying dues, the desire of not just seeing by sharing the spectacle fills the viewfinder and you can go … click! It’s what wildlife photography is all about!
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And while of course we’re hoping for the “best,” there is no “best.” There is only the best we’ve experienced and captured up to that point and that’s what we experienced. At 06:45 the shutters started to fire as enough light permitted photography. Still shooting with the D4s / 800mm, I scanned the cranes in front of the blind. At first, the cranes seemed to be shaking of the morning. Then, in one sudden wave the dancing began and deciding where to point the lens became the biggest challenge. When the wind is from the North, the cranes spend another day. When it’s from the South, they take to skies and head to the nesting grounds. When there is no wind like this morning, I wonder what they think. With the incredible wave of dancing overtaking the entire flock, I think simply celebrating life was on their mind. All I know is all the years coming to this fabled locale and witnessing this magnificent wildlife spectacle paid for itself this morning. The forty five minutes we had with these cranes (that’s all we had this morning) was more than worth it all. Will we be back next year? Of course. Why? Because while this was the best I’ve captured so far, it’s not the best. Better is still waiting for us out there which why we keep going out. It’s real simple when you know, hope is rewarded!
The Hope
Hope Renewed
Hope Awakened
Hope Rewarded
Apr 9, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
The alarm went off at 06:00, 90min before sunrise. It was still dark outside but the bright full moon gave some hint of who was still on the river. Around 02:30 there was a lift off from the river. Didn’t see it, heard it! More than likely a predator like a coyote made an stab at a free meal which set the flock into the skies. Since I didn’t hear them come back, I was wondering if we’d wake to an empty river. It’s happened before, it’s part of the gamble of spending the night in the blind. At least this night, got some sleep since we didn’t have to deal with a leaky blind in a rain storm.
With as much stealth as we could muster, we crawled out of our sleeping bags, got everything packed back up so we have space to set up camera gear and get ready to work. Oh, what a cup of hot coffee would do right now. Wait, no, been locked in the box for 14hrs, scratch that thought! Around 06:30 there is a hint of the coming day so I peaked out of the blind. The cranes, they are still there! Not nearly as many as we had at sunset but as I like to remind folks when shooting critters, it just takes one to make your day! So with that glimpse, the window gets closed and camera gear assembled.
With some stiffness, I get the D4s / 800mm mounted on the Gitzo. With it in place, chair ready and bundled up in everything I had with me, the window was opened and you can see the view above. While a long lens helps, the subject has to be physically close to make it all work. As I scan around, I see birds everywhere and they were the closest we’d ever had, but still not that magical distance we desired. Then as the light brighten the flock began to move as they often do. Then some birds flew in and they were right in front of our blind. This was a first and the closet we’d ever had the Sandhills to our lenses. Mark & I looked at each other with big smiles. The day had started on the right note, hope awakened!
The Hope
Hope Renewed
Hope Awakened
Hope Rewarded
