May 2, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
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Our Douglas Tree Squirrels, some call them Chickaree, are busy at being busy if you know what I mean. The males are chasing each other around the trees and many are showing up with large notches in their ears from the battles. And the females are looking for sources of calcium. One of the most common source of calcium for them are sheds. Sheds are antlers shed during the winter by deer, elk and moose and a very concentrated source of calcium. Those antlers I have attached around the office as perches right now are under siege by the females. Starting at sunrise, it sounds like someone is sawing the side of our home / office as the females gnaw with great zest on the antlers.
The challenge is, getting a shot of this biology. With the antlers literally attached to the side of the office, the squirrels are close. With it still being cold, the windows are closed so I have to have a squirrel at the antlers, slip over and open the window and get back to the lens without scarring it. The first few days they start this activity, they are shy but a week into it, it’s feast time. This morning, this female let me get to the sliding glass door, open it up and slip back to the camera. Shooting with the D4s / 800AFS I’m stuck at f/5.6 wide open and in the dark, the shutter speed was in the basement. I knew I didn’t have time to set up a SB-910 / Octa so my only option was uping the ISO to 800 (hate doing that). That gave me 1/125 and the images you see here. Oh, why the 800mm and not some shorter lens? See that background, that’s why the 800mm. I wanted to grab the green about 40yards behind the squirrel. Oh, and my antlers? They will get replaced as they do every this time because soon, there will nothing left of them.
Apr 30, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Six days ago the drilling began. The Hairy Woodpeckers set up their home again in the machine riddled street pole the I swore would come down this past winter. Well, the 5×5 pole survived and has a little solid wood left for the Hairys to drill out. Woodpeckers have to drill out new holes each spring for the cavity nest. The process takes normally two weeks. Most of the Hairy and White-headed Woodpeckers are showing up to the suet right now with a red stain to their breast. They are drilling in the Red Fir causing the stain. We know when this pair of Hairys come to the suet because their whites are still pretty white. This isn’t the first time I’ve worked this nest so I have the drill down. Get it, drill, woodpeckers … ha!
The rig is real simple, D4s / 80-400VR3 / Pocket Wizard is all that’s needed. Why is this what I think is the needed gear? Since I’m shooting remotely, I can’t see exactly when “the” moment is so blasting away is one way to capture the moment. The D4s with that Lexar card is one giant space you can fill with a single squeeze of the trigger! The moment in this case is when the woodpecker brings their head out of the hole and spits out the wood shavings. I caught the moment, but the size of the wood bits is too small to see. The 80-400VR3 is the killer nesting bird lens because of its focal length range and MFD. And the Pocket Wizard for a remote because of its range. I was 60+ yards away firing off the camera.
The set up is pretty simple. Since the nest is in a street pole, I wanted “urban” in the background. There’s a little fir tree I can kinda hide the rig from the public so that determines the physical distance from the pole. I was shooting at around 260mm @f/11. When it comes to focusing, this is key. You don’t focus on the hole, focus on the nearest edge of the hole. Woodpeckers the way they perch and the size of their bodies, the closest edge of the hole is the basic plane of focus for their eye. Once the focus is set, the AF is turned off. When that is done, the eyepiece shutter is closed so sunlight doesn’t enter the prism to change the exposure (I was using Face-detection Matrix). With that, I sip my coffee, watch the hole and fire when the action is happening. The rig is in place for no more than 30min as there’s not a whole lot of variety in the shots. Hopefully this inspires you to find a cavity nester and start your own spring shooting.
Apr 28, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
We had one of those spring snow storms at the office Friday. These kinds of days really make it hard for me to work, I just wanna play. But one big incentive to move is the snow concentrates all the birds at the feeders for non-stop activity. With all the Evening Grosbeaks in the yard right now and their killer spring yellow, I went looking for the more “atmospheric” portrait rather than a “snowing gobs” kind of shot. To me, this mean I need to find a perch where a narrow DoF throws much of the photo into a soft focus so the whites of the falling snow take over. At the same time, I wanted to shoot without flash so the soft, wrap around light from the storm was the light source. Shooting at ISO 100, my shutter speed was 1/15 at f/8 so I had to watch the blowing branches to find those not blowing. That left really just the aspens in the front meadow. Luckily, a flock of Grosbeaks came in and started to munch down the spring leaf buds. With the D4s / 800AFS, I was able to stay dry, have the image size I desired with the DoF I was looking for. Now I got zero work done, but watching the critters in the snow is always good for the soul.
Apr 23, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
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We know spring has sprung at our home when the Steller’s Jays are back in mass. In the winter, the majority of them do a down slope migration to warmer haunts. But once the spring equinox occurs, back up they come. As the time gets closer to start a nest, the males are quite spectacular like this one individual. We had a snow today and that big, soft, overcast light was perfect to give them a little attention, especially with their lookin so good. Shooting from my desk, I just watch until a gorgeous individual appears and then simply go click.
Their blue stripes in the crown are simply a blazed right now! With their crown erect, their stare down their bill penetrates the lens. This male was so close, I had to go vertical. Shooting with the D4s / 800f5.6AFS, horizontal cropped the tail so I had to go vertical. I was being, well, lazy and didn’t want to take the time to set up the softbox so I simply raised the ISO to ISO 800. With the D4s, no big deal but I won’t make a habit of it. Because of where the Jay was perched, I went to handholding (this body/lens combo is incredibly balanced) to make the shot and even shooting at ISO800 I was at 1/40. These guys are such characters though. The Pine Siskins, Evening Grosbeaks, Cassin’s Finchs all scatter when the Jays come in and I think the Jays do it on purpose.
Apr 22, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Happy Earthday to you! I have always found this concept of Earthday interesting because, well, one would kinda think it’s something that should be celebrated everyday. I mean, without terra firma, there would kinda be, no us. Anyways, this year’s theme is Green Cities. This might be because of the recent UN report on Climate Change. An incredibly controversial topic to say the least, I for one have seen first hand many ecosystems effected by a warmer planet. I have no doubt we have influenced our world most likely in not a positive fashion or that our weird weather lately is not a direct cause of climate change. But I am intrigued by some of the solutions that were put forth in the UN report that could make a big difference in our changing climate. Here’s my favorite.
Men should switch to levi’s and T’s for work. Now when I first heard this, I had to really scratch my head how this switch in men’s attire might make a big change in our environment. But it’s actually so simple and logical, it will never happen. It’s simple, men going to work in suits and ties have the buildings where they worked cooled down so they can stay comfortable all day wearing, their suits and ties. If these same folks were to switch to just levi’s and T’s, then the buildings wouldn’t have to be cooled down so much. Cause and effect, these relationships in the natural world always intrigue me but in our world, they often floor me.
On a personal level, is there something just as simple we can do as creatives that can make a HUGE difference? I think there is. How many of you leave your notebook plugged into the AC overnight? I’m not talking about it running some program, doing a backup, but the notebook is powered off but it’s plugged into the wall? How many of you own a Mac which is a great conserver of power. But you plug it in to “charge” though you’re going to use the notebook plugged in later which will with the Mac’s great technology, charge your notebook while you’re using it. What if we all just simply, didn’t leave our notebooks plugged in all the time and think through more about those times we “charge” it? I’m not talking about desktop computers or our main machines or NAS drives but just those secondary notebooks most of us own. You would be surprised the difference this very simple act would have. So while today is “Earthday,” try thinking about our home everyday and try to make one, simple act to help it. The next generation just might thank us when it’s their turn to live here.
Apr 21, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
It’s really exciting to see Bears now out from Disneynature! The Disney crew had left our favorite place, ever, for griz just a couple of weeks prior to our arrival last fall (and where we’ll be this August, can’t wait!). Hallo Bay the Disney folks tell me is where they filmed nearly 80% of the movie which is no surprise. This is just such a special place where we can be amongst these gentle giants as guests in a way that can’t help but move you emotionally. Our Dec issue of the BT Journal is all about our experiences at this magical locale. Watch the movie, read the Journal and you too will want to experience this special slice of our wild heritage!
