Category Archives: Animals

Animals, birds, reptiles, snakes, turtles

Animals along the Way

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This is part of my Along the Way collection of posts I made last year following our 50-day road trip from Flagstaff to southern Arizona, across Texas to New Orleans. North through Tennessee, North Carolina, and Ohio before heading to Nebraska, Denver, and home. The following are some of the animals we encountered…along the way.

Our journey began with three nights in Portal, AZ in the southeast corner of the state. The friends we stayed with were caring for a property with horses, a big black lab, and…

…a deer population that looked for food regularly. This Red-Tail Hawk was seen on our way home from feeding the animals.

Our next stop was South Llano River State Park outside Junction, TX.

As the afternoon shadows grew longer I heard some rustling in the bushes. Lo and behold out waddled this little guy. They can’t see well but seem to figure out where to go with their noses.

The diets of armadillos consist mainly of insects, grubs, and other invertebrates. Some species, however, feed almost entirely on ants and termites.

They are prolific diggers. Many species use their sharp claws to dig for food, and to dig dens. Armadillos have very poor eyesight and use their keen sense of smell to hunt for food. They use their claws for digging and finding food, as well as for making their homes in burrows. 

Being out in the Springtime allowed us to watch this squirrel family practice their tree-climbing skills under Mama’s watchful eye.

On to Galveston after a few days in Houston. The beach of Padre Island was beautiful. However, after one night of crazy winds, we left and went to Harlingen.

My favorite bird is the pelican. The fossil record shows that the pelican lineage has existed for at least 36 million years; the oldest known pelican fossil was found in late Egypt. I love how they line up along the shore waves and fly in formation only centimeters above the water. 

On to New Orleans!

These two shaggy mutts were enjoying the first jazz parade down Bourbon Street since Covid.

The horse-drawn wagons were up and running again as well.

At our campground in Fountainbleau State Park, across from NOLA, on the causeway that spans Lake Ponchatrain, in the bathroom stall, I found this little fella. You just don’t see that in Arizona.

In Mississippi, we visited Ellen’s sister who was staying at a home that had this guy out in the yard.

I had to Google what this was. A crawdad home.

While staying at Davis Lake Campground, I got to witness the hunting adventures of this Great Blue Heron. An appetizer of snake followed by a main course of fish.

In Tennessee, Henry Horton State Park provided us with some bird and reptile life.

Walking around the neighborhood at our friend’s house near Asheville, North Carolina found these feathered friends.

My cousin’s home in Hillsborough, NC had some characters.

It also had a snake keeping an eye on the local rodent population.

Our final two stops were the family farm in Nebraska where we had the great fortune of learning the finer arts of beekeeping.

We donned bees suits, pulled the honey frames, and spun them to extract the pure, golden, delicious honey,

Last stomp, my brother’s home in Denver where he has created a bomb-proof pen to protect these birds.

Animals, Flowers, Nature, Summer, Travel

Washington D.C. ~ Nature

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We arrived home on May 20th from our 50-day camper adventure only to turn around and fly to Washington D.C. on June 8th.

I will begin this blog series where I left off with the last one…Nature. Editing this set of images for this post was WAY more manageable than the previous one. I only had nine days to sort through, not 50!

Let us begin with our airplane journey across the U.S. It was clear skies until we flew into Dallas, Texas where we encountered severe thunderstorms. In fact, we found out we were one of the last planes to fly out of DFW that afternoon due to the storms. Whew! Once we got above the clouds though, it was beautiful.

Our first day in the D.C. area found us on the banks of the Potomac hunting for prehistoric shark teeth.

It was amazing how many we found. It makes one wonder how many are out there because this is a popular activity in the area and most folks find plenty.

While looking for shark teeth down the beach I found this little guy. Definitely a highlight.

Following the morning at the river and a parking lot, and a tailgate picnic our friends dropped us off at Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington. There will be plenty of pictures later in the Buildings blog but I just wanted to point out how cool it was to touch a tree planted by our first president.

In walking along the National Mall and encountering several ponds and lakes, many with duck families merrily swimming about, we learned that the way the ponds were built is a death trap for little ducklings. They can’t get out as they can’t yet fly. So, volunteers, in their infinite wisdom, came up with duck ramps to help the littles get in and out of the water. Brilliant, right?

D.C. is certainly not at a loss of places to photograph flowers. They are everywhere, especially in June. The orange Lillies above are in front of the Smithsonian building while the white rose rests against the Vietnam Memorial.

We stayed on base with our friends and Jake, the family dog, at Fort Belvoir. We had a good soaking one evening.

One day we went to the U.S. Botanic Garden. It is on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Botanic Garden is supervised by Congress through the Architect of the Capitol, who is responsible for maintaining the grounds of the United States Capitol. The gardens are open every day of the year, and is the oldest continually-operating botanic garden in the United States.

The Conservatory is housed in a Lord & Burnham greenhouse and is divided into separate rooms, each simulating a different habitat. The habitats include The Garden Court, Rare and Endangered Plants, Plant Exploration, Orchid House, Medicinal Plants, Desert, Hawaii, Garden Primeval, Plant Adaptation, Jungle (this is the largest of the rooms, and includes a second-story catwalk so that the jungle canopy may be observed from both below and above), Children’s Garden, and Southern Exposure (courtyard), on the south side of the building, which is surrounded by glass walls, receiving more warmth. It features many plants from the Southeast and Southwest, which would not be able to live in the colder District of Columbia climate if not for the microclimate).

Needless to say, we kept getting lost.

The Washington D.C. area is beautiful. We spent most of our time going to museums and seeing historic buildings. The vegetation in the area is SO different from the desert southwest, so GREEN.

Next week I’ll show you some buildings. Buildings is a HUGE keyword on this trip. Lots of buildings.

Until then, happy shooting!

 

Animals, Flowers, keywording, Nature, Outdoors, Travel

Nature along the Way

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Well. Congratulations. You’ve made it to the end of this nine-week set of blogs about our epic 50-day trip around the eastern united states.

I have saved the best for last. You have traveled with me through eight of the nine preset keywords I use for quick tagging images in Lightroom. The final one is…!! (Drumroll please) NATURE!! It’s a monster one because as you can imagine it includes a LOT.

The preset keywords that fit under the Nature umbrella are as follows: plants, animals, weather, water, landscape, trail, rocks, beach, and park. I’m not married to these nine but that’s what I have so far. I then go to say…animals and further tag them with the following: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, fish, wild, and domestic. I only have eight here because I couldn’t think of a ninth.

This section goes like this: Nature>Plants>Flowers. Once the color words are attached to the image I can then add location, species if I know it, the number of petals, etc.

On this dandelion, I might add the words design, seeds, and stem.

The subcategories I’ve chosen under the Plants umbrella are as follows: flowers, wildflowers, trees, fungi, garden, leaves, green, succulent, and fruit. I literally edited this list while writing this blog. I replaced bark with fungi.

Trees are another one of my favorite subjects. These two images would be tagged with “roots”. I don’t yet have a tree subset as I can’t come up with enough keywords to make it worth the space. The above image would also include water.

I may be coming up with the tree subset as I write this. I could add bark, trunk, texture, moss, design, roots, forest, orchard…Hmm, I have eight.

I don’t consider myself a landscape photographer but I would categorize these two images as landscapes. Landscapes show up as a keyword under nature but that’s it, I don’t currently have a listing of landscapes. I suppose if one DID shoot a lot of landscapes they would be:  Desert, Plain, Wetland, Mountain, Coast, Lakes, Rivers, Forest, and Grassland.

Fungi!!

Now on to animals. It’s a big one. Let’s begin with domestic vs. wild. I don’t have this yet either but one could subcategorize domestic into dog, cat, fish, bird, working, horse, mule, pig, and cow.

This horse was working the streets of New Orleans.

When we stopped to see Ellen’s sister in Mississippi, this guy was in a pen on the property.

This beautiful bird was at my cousin’s home in North Carolina and the dinosaurs below were at my brother’s home in Denver.

My cousin owns four mules and this donkey on six acres outside of Chapel Hill.

These little cuties were escorted across the street, IN the crosswalk mind you, by their Canada Geese parents in Gatlinburg, TN.

I got to watch this handsome fellow eat some Blue Heron spaghetti at our camp in Mississippi.

This Carolina Wren was feeding her babies nestled in a home camera cover at our friend’s house in Weaverville, NC.

I happened to have my long lens with me on a short hike at our camp in Tennessee when this beauty took off from a tree.

South Llano River State Park outside of Junction, TX was AMAZING in the animal department. We spent a lot of time hanging out with armadillos AND I got to watch this mama and her three babies do squirrel activities.

Not sure whose teeth these are but it’s tagged under animals.

We saw a few turtles along the way which is always a treat. These guys were on a log in a swampy area of a park we walked in near Asheville, NC.

We found this fellow on my cousin’s porch in Hillsborough, NC.

My little green friend kept me company while I used the restroom at our camp in Louisiana.

Some of the bees from our beekeeping experience in St. Paul, NE.

Catching flying insects requires a bit of patience and a lot of pixels to delete later.

Water is another of my favorite places to hang out. I’m usually playing in, on, or around it and love finding patterns in its movement. This image fits under Nature>Water>clear, stream, pattern.

There you have it, our 50-day April 1st-May 20th epic adventure has come to a close in my blog world. Thanks for coming along and enjoying our adventure. It was certainly a joy to revisit all that we did.

June found us in Washington D.C. and New York City so STAY TUNED!!

Happy Shooting!

AHPS, Animals, Animals, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Photography, Places to Shoot, Travel, Water

Birds of South Florida with Arizona Highways PhotoScapes

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The workshop, Birds of South Florida with photographer Beth Ruggiero-York and Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, was nothing short of amazing. It ran from February 6-12, 2022, and began in Fort Meyers, Florida on the Gulf Coast. We made our way south, through Everglades National Park,  ending on the Atlantic Coast at Boynton Beach. Here are the images from that epic journey.

This is a rough itinerary of our photographic locations should you ever find yourself in South  Florida with a camera. Speaking of cameras, all images were shot with a Lumix DX-8 and most with my 100-400 mm lens.

My adventure began with trying to GET to Florida. I was supposed to leave Flagstaff on Friday, February 4th, and arrive in Florida that evening. However, recent winter storms provided me with an alternate plan. Between cancelations, delays, hotel stays, and changing airlines  I eventually left Flagstaff Friday evening and arrived in Fort Meyers Sunday around 10:00. The workshop was scheduled to begin at 3:00 that day so I had time to Uber it to the hotel, grab a quick nap, and meet our participants right on time!

The adventure continued when we left the hotel lobby on Sunday afternoon for our first shoot at Naples Pier. We were scheduled for a 30-seat minibus to take us around for the week but walked out to a full-size motor coach that was FAR too large to access some of the parking lots on the schedule. We took it to the pier for lack of a better option. However, following that first shoot we dropped our people off, had the bus driver take us back to the airport where Ron York, Beth’s husband, the other photo guide, had secured us three premium SUVs. Beth, Ron, and I became the bus drivers for the week. Whew! Crisis averted.

Naples pier was a nice way to begin the workshop and just get out and warm up the old camera. On Sundays, however, the powers that be do not allow fishing, Wait, WHAT?!? No fishing means way fewer birds. Hmmm. We wandered around the end of the pier when someone spotted a few egrets on the roof of the building. YAY! Birds! Again, crisis averted. I only took my 100-400 mm lens out on the pier. We all lined up, aimed our canons, and photographed these characters.

This Ruddy Turnstone was wandering the pier. I hadn’t noticed he had lost a foot until I downloaded the image.

More Ruddy Turnstones squawking out below the railings along the pier.

The first official day Beth had us up early and driving out to Cape Coral to photograph the neighborhood Burrowing Owls. They had set up shop between the fences to a set of baseball fields and a street. The houses on that street face the owls. So there we were, lined up and waiting for the little guys to wake up and come out and say hi. 

They blend in remarkably well. The owls throw themselves a festival every year. Apparently, they have been living here for quite a few years.

I found this Loggerhead Shrike hanging out on a post.

After leaving the Burrowing Owl neighborhood we headed to Sanibel island stopping at Pond Apple Park, a set of ponds that attract birds, on the way to Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. We parked in the Matzaluna Italian Restaurant parking lot. The trail entrance is out by the road. The park is about 40 acres and is a place to definitely spend some time.

This Wood Stork was showing off her new pedicure.

If you can look past the birds there are some pretty cool plants in Florida as well.

The White Ibis. As common in Florida as pigeons.

Next, we went to the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge which is part of the largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem in the United States.  It is world-famous for spectacular migratory bird populations.

The refuge was created to safeguard and enhance the pristine wildlife habitat of Sanibel Island, protect endangered and threatened species, and provide feeding, nesting, and roosting areas for migratory birds. Today, the refuge provides important habitat to over 245 species of birds.

We took the four-mile Wildlife Drive, stopping along the way to photograph birds. These were all shot with my long lens.

Florida Pigeion (White Ibis)

Roseate Spoonbill, a crowd favorite.

A fishing Tri-Colored Heron.

Monday was one of our longes days because next, we head south to Everglades City for lunch at a food truck and a photography boat tour out among the mangroves.

Everglades City is at the mouth of the Barron River, on Chokoloskee Bay. The Bay is approximately ten miles long and 2 miles wide. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by the northern end of the Ten Thousand Islands.

This was our lunch spot. See the green umbrellas behind the building? We ate at those tables. At this point, I believe we were either in or at least at the edge of Everglades National Park.

We then divided into three groups, loaded three different boats, and headed out in three different directions so as to not be in each other’s way for pictures.

A couple of baby mangroves taking root.

Our captain showed us an Osprey nest, a Bald Eagle nest, a shell island built by Native People over hundreds of years, and a spit of land that housed these White Pelicans. They were chillin’ on the beach until we floated a little too close. They then got into formation, except for the one guy, and tried to march but had nowhere to go. We motored back away from them and everyone mellowed out.

We toured an area full of islands like this. We had a regular prop boat, not an airboat like they use in the thick of the Everglades. All three boats met up at sundown at one particular island where many birds go to roost for the evening. It was quite a sight.

Tuesday morning we started off at Big Cypress Boardwalk. This was in Everglades National Park. Boardwalks are a common way to have trails in the park due to the massive amounts of water. I was also glad to be above any potential reptile run-ins. This was a short walk through a very dense, watery jungle that ended at a more open pond.

The pond had a few smaller birds (as seen above) as well as several Heron and a Wood Stork.

AND! An alligator.

Woody Woodpecker made an appearance on our way back to the vehicles. We heard him for most of the trek in so when he finally made himself seen everyone was quite excited.

Our final stop of the day before heading to our new hotel in Homestead, FL was an area of the park called Shark Valley.

Shark Valley is a geological depression at the head of the Shark River Slough located along the Tamiami Trail (US 41).  Shark Valley empties into Shark River in the Ten Thousand Islands of Monroe County. The Valley characteristically includes sawgrass prairie that floods during the rainy season, hence the name “river of grass”—Pa-Hay-Okee, from the Mikasuki language—for such marshes in the Everglades. We will walk the Pa-Hay-Okee trail tomorrow .

Wildlife seen in Shark Valley includes alligators, ibis, wood storks, roseate spoonbills, raccoons, white-tailed deer, and various amphibians. Here’s some of what I saw:

This guy landed on the railing right near us. He looked like he was on a serious mission. The trail we were on was paved and followed a ten-foot-wide “canal” on one side that continued into a deep jungle on the other side of the canal. The opposite side of the path was dense jungle. The sun was out and this was by far the warmest and most humid day we would encounter. coming from the cold winter at 7,000 feet in Flagstaff? I loved it.

These little guys attracted a crowd. They were literally at our feet in the weeds. Just across the way was mama. She never seemed too concerned, luckily.

 

A goofy-looking Anhinga.

Two different types of turtles, one on the stick and one just below it in the water.

This Anhinga was swimming underwater like a snake. He’d come up for air and usually had a little fish in its bill. It was such a great place to shoot because you could follow his path on the footpath. The canal was narrow enough that the animals were never too far away.

I walked with just a sling and my 100-400 mm lens which made it easy and maneuverable.

What a difference 24 hours makes. We went from the sunniest day to the rainiest day in that amount of time. Wednesday morning found us at Pa-Hay-Okee Trail. A boardwalk through the everglades. Though it was beautiful, this was not my favorite place to shoot but only because I really don’t consider myself to be a landscape photographer. So I focussed on other things.

Sunrise was beautiful.

The most difficult thing to get used to in Florida is the flatness. There are no landmarks to help keep your sense of direction intact and on really cloudy days you don’t even know where the sun is.

The boardwalks were super cool. Even if I wasn’t super inspired to shoot I was really glad just to be there and enjoy the magic that is the Everglades.

Following this trail, we headed back to town for breakfast. It was really wet so as a way to see something cool but not necessarily stand in the rain with our camera gear we went to the Robert is Here Fruit Stand and Farm.

Robert Is Here is a family-owned and operated fruit stand in Homestead, Florida. They specialize in rare & exotic fruits and vegetables, mostly grown right there on the farm.  The location started off as a literal side of the road Fruit Stand and has grown into a complete tourist destination equipped with an animal farm, play area, and picnic tables. It was a pretty cool way to spend an hour and let the rain dry up if only a little.

You could also purchase chocolate or gummy alligators.

Read the sign to the left of the coconut carvings to see what they actually are.

They also had quite the collection of old tractors.

From there we were off to  Anhinga Trail

There weren’t as many birds here as in other locations. We chalked that up to the rain.

This Purple Gallinule has some BIG feet! He uses them to run across the tops of the lilypads. In sunlight, he is VERY iridescent. But seriously, those FEET!

Hanging out in the rain.

From here we headed to Flamingo, FL. This was one of my favorite places to shoot. There was so much going on here. Between the raindrops, we saw a crocodile (not an alligator ), a nesting osprey, and manatees. We also grabbed lunch here at another food truck. Restaurants in the Everglades are hard to come by.

There was a marina here in Flamingo. Also, an old pier.

The manatees were drinking drips coming off the floating dock.

Our final stop of the day was Mahogany Hammock Trail, another boardwalk. A Hammock is hard to explain but I’ll try.

A hardwood hammock is a dense stand of broad-leafed trees that grow on a natural rise of only a few inches in elevation. Hammocks can be found nestled in most all other Everglades ecosystems. In the deeper sloughs and marshes, the seasonal flow of water helps give these hammocks a distinct aerial teardrop shape. 

On Thursday morning we drove from Homestead to Boynton Beach, FL. Our afternoon shoot was at the  Wakodahatchee Wetlands. The Wetlands are constructed on 50 acres of wastewater utility property.  Wakodahatchee features a three-quarter mile boardwalk that crosses between open water pond areas and islands with shrubs and snags to foster nesting and roosting. This site is part of the South section of the Great Florida Birding Trail. Over 178 bird species have been identified there, along with turtles, alligators, rabbits, fish, frogs, and raccoons.
Each day, the Southern Region Water Reclamation Facility pumps approximately two million gallons of highly treated wastewater into the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, which in turn acts as a percolation pond, returning billions of gallons of freshwater back into the water table.

We photographed this area for about three hours each Thursday evening and Friday morning. It was so great to experience the difference between evening bird activity and morning bird activity. Watching

Apparently the week before, these guys were falling out of trees it was so cold.

There was a LOT of nesting and courtship activity.

Baby Great Blue Herons!! They are definitely ugly cute. They were the only babies I saw. The rest were in preparation.

We ended the workshop at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. What a beautiful place. I can’t wait to go back with my bike and bike some of the trails. They also have a canoe trail I’d love to explore.

There is a trail behind the visitor center, a boardwalk trail, that goes through a deep, dark cypress grove.

Once we left there we headed out to the end of the road and found this:

This dock saw plenty of action. Just to the left of it is the Great Blue Heron. Somewhere below is the alligator waiting for the fisherman to catch something he can steal. And in the distance flew flocks of birds heading across the setting sun to their roosting place.

I chatted with a lady who had been out kayaking. She and her friend took the wrong channel and ended up out where they should not have been. The channel closed up and when she got out to move her boat along she realized she was a foot or two from an alligator. Yikes! Glad they made it back safely!

Wow, that was a long post. It was a spectacular trip. Keep p in mind that these pictures are only the tip of the iceberg. I came home with over 4,000 images. I have since edited them down to just over 1,000 but still, these only tell part of the story.

I highly recommend this workshop and I think it will be offered again in 2023 so look for it on the Arizona Highways PhotoScapes website.

I hope you enjoyed my trip to Florida, thanks for looking.

Happy Shooting!

 

 

 

AHPS, Animals, Animals, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Shooting Close to Home

Shoot at the Zoo with AZ Highways PhotoScapes

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On March 5th this year I joined photographer Amy Horn and Arizona Highways PhotoScapes for a day of shooting at the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield, a town just west of Phoenix. It’s a spectacular way to wander around a relatively small zoo and practice your photographic skills. I brought with me only one camera body and lens. I shot with my Lumix DX-8 and Olympus 100-400 mm zoom lens, which equates to a 200-800. At times this was a little too much lens but 98% of the time it was perfect.

One of the skills we learned was how to shoot through a fence and make that fencing disappear. If not entirely, then at least mostly. The following images are my attempts to create such magic.

The fence in this image is so blurred it almost appears as part of the background.

This lioness was watching the day go by behind a chainlink fence.

All the animals were quite active on that day. We’re assuming due to a cool front moving through the state.

“Pumba, you ARE a pig”. The warthogs were also behind a fence. Again, the fence is so blurred it’s barely noticeable.

The following set of pictures, by contrast, were of animals NOT behind any sort of fence. Wait, let me clarify, they were behind enclosures, but I could photograph them without shooting through a fence of any kind.

This crane image was captured on the safari tram through Africa. I was able to use Lightroom to grab the background, take down the exposure to make it appear as shade, and highlight her (his?) beauty.

This little guy was on a monkey island across some water. He was going to town on a piece of tree. His little old man expressions were super cute.

Again from the Safari Tram ride, we saw this gazelle.

Zombie Flamingo Appocolypse?

Heading into Dragon World we passed the slow-moving tortoises to see some, well, dragons.

You can see the fence that this ostrich was behind. He (she?) was pretty close. Apparently, the ostrich is not the sharpest tool in the shed. They do, however, provide for some great facial expressions.

Moving on to the duck pond where there was a LOT of activity.

Egyptian Geese.

A pair of wood ducks with her in full mating regalia. I caught them just before they, well, YOU know, they tried making baby ducks. I hope they were successful.

A beautiful  Red-Crested Pochard looking for a mate.

A very colorful Mandarin Duck strutting his stuff.

There were even a couple of majestic black swans.

…and a turtle.

We were treated to a private animal showing where we could shoot first and ask questions later.

This character, a red-legged seriema, took this fake snake in its mouth, stood up as tall as he could go, and slammed the snake to the ground. So there.

We were presented with a Kookaburra bird and were able to practice the camera settings for flight.

Macaws close up are always nifty.

We then moved on to other animals. Turns out we were helping the next couple of mammals out with their “sessions”. Which apparently, means getting them ready to come out in public and not be terrified.

This little guy was a character. He’d come out, then run back. He did this quite a bit. Then one of the handlers figured out how to bring him out farther. He’s trained to do circles around their feet for a treat. So, she’d take a step as the little guy was rounding the back of her foot, and slowly, he made it out beyond the stage.

This one always makes me nervous. But he (she?) performed wonderfully. He came out in front of the stage and was quite well behaved, keeping all parts of himself…TO himself.

Following the show, we wandered off to Australia for a walk-about. We encountered a mama kangaroo whose little one had just crawled back inside the pouch. A couple of the participants had more patience than I did and waited for the baby to come back out. I can’t wait to see THOSE images!

It was cool watching them jump and use their tales for balance. They are VERY strong animals.

All-in-all it was a great day of photography and instruction. The temperatures were perfect if not a little cool at times but that meant the animals were active, which makes it more fun when you have a camera. I encourage you to join PhotoScapes next year for this workshop or if you need inspiration just get out to your local zoo and see what you can find.

Happy Shooting!

Animals, Animals, Collections, Gear, Nature, Outdoors, Shooting at Home, Spring

New Birding Lens

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I recently purchased a new lens for my Lumix GX-8 micro 4/3 camera body. It’s an Olympus 100-400 mm zoom which translates to a 200-800 mm given the crop sensor on my camera. It. Is. Amazing.

The images are sharp, it’s not too heavy to lug around for 2-3 hours and it hangs nicely on my sling so my hands don’t cramp holding it while not in use.

Here are some recent images from my first outing with it. These were all shot at a local wetland near where I live south of Flagstaff, AZ.

I can now officially consider myself a Bird Nerd! It is SO MUCH FUN collecting images then going home and identifying them with the app Seek. I pull up the app and point my phone camera at the image on my computer and it does a great job of identifying the birds. It works with animals, plants, and insects as well.

I wasn’t sure what this little guy was so I posted it on FaceBook and asked the birding community to identify. They were quick! It’s a vesper sparrow.

Catching them in flight is challenging. I set the camera at 400-800 ISO, in full sunlight which gives me a shutter speed between 2,000 and 6,000.

Perched birds are easier but you still have to be quick. They don’t always hang out for a photo! This is a red-winged blackbird.

Coming in for a landing!!

I’ve seen as many as four ospreys hunting the ponds of these wetlands.

This looks like a shorebird to me. It’s a killdeer. On another day I caught one with a worm in its mouth!

They are so dramatic when they sing!

The first goslings of the season!

This one was tough to capture. It didn’t hang out for long so I had to be quick. Luckily, with the length of the lens, I don’t have to get too close and the birds tend to not skitter away quite as quickly as when I tried to capture images of them with my 28-300 mm lens.

Turns out it’s also a reptile lens!

Set your camera to burst mode, hold down the shutter, and expect to trash a LOT of images. In my first two-hour outing I think I took over 800 images. I tossed probably 700 of them.

Every time I’ve been to the wetlands I see a new bird or capture a bird in a different way. Also, as I get better, I find myself giving permission to toss previous images of the same bird. Don’t forget, pixels are free. Load up those memory cards and only keep the exceptional ones. The first ones may not be exceptional but with practice, they will come!

Happy Shooting!

Adventure, Animals, Animals, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Places to Shoot, Seasons, Travel, Water, Winter

Patagonia Lake State Park, a discovery

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We decided to spend New Year’s Eve camping. We thought we’d usher out the crazy year of 2020 and welcome 2021 in the great outdoors. It was cold where we live and we figured anything south of Flagstaff, Arizona would be warm. Think again.

You are about to join me on a classic scouting trip to Patagonia Lake State Park in southern Arizona. It was an amazing trip and we learned a LOT. We also learned to check the elevation of locations, especially for winter temperatures.

The park is a five-hour drive from our home in Flagstaff, Arizona. We made it even longer by “swinging by” Fountain Hills to visit a dear friend on the way down. When we finally arrived about an hour before sunset, here, to our horror,  is what we found.

This is the sign that greeted us as we entered the park. We missed the rangers so we figured we’d locate our camp site and get our tags the next morning.

We sleep in a rooftop tent. Our bikes hang off the back and still provide us with plenty of room to access our kitchen when the hatch-back is open. We were in spot #104, LITERALLY the worst spot in the whole park. We learned that there is a reason it was the last one available. As we backed in we thought for sure we were doing something wrong as there were tents for site 105 directly behind us. OUR ramada is actually in front of spot #103! WHAT!?!

Luckily we had two parking spots so we could drop the ladder that gets us into our home. The ramada you see with the tall tent? That’s us. The tall tent was our Christmas present to ourselves. We use it as a changing room. It couldn’t have been purchased at a more perfect time.

Another view of our camp.

This is our fire pit, RIGHT next to #103 (who was a very nice family by the way). #103 had a little more space as their fire pit was just outside their tent which gave them some room. On the upside? We had a spectacular sunset and the “tent only” camps were right on the lake.

This body of water is only two and a half miles long and 250 surface acres. A bit of a pond compared to what we’re used to at Lake Powell where we spend our summers canoe camping and paddleboarding.

The next morning was cold, like 24 degrees farenheight cold.  Since we don’t have a heater in the tent, we got up, made coffee and tea, and went exploring.

The large arch of a bridge is the most prominent man-made feature of this park (outside of the lake itself). It spans the inlet to the little marina that has a store, boat launch, and dock full of boats to rent from a canoe to a powerboat.

The arch is as dramatic as it seems. Both ends are quite steep and at the top, you get a pretty nice view of the lake.

Following the bridge adventure, we began to take back our comments of “We’re NEVER coming here again!” of last night and began to see the beauty of the surrounding area. We headed back to the parking lot, reloaded our tea and coffee mugs, and headed off in another direction.

We found the other boat ramp (again, quite small compared to Lake Powell).

We found camp #38, accessible by water and by car. On the downside you would have to lug all your gear down these steps. On the upside, when you get to the bottom, you have the site to yourself. The sign faces the water to alert incoming boats that it is in fact a campground and not a day-use site.

Here’s a funny story. We were in the RoofNest last night and Ellen realized she hadn’t taken out her disposable contacts. She decided to just drop them out of the tent and she’d pick them up off the pavement in the morning. Having forgotten all about them we returned after our morning coffee/tea exploration to change out of our winter layers and low and behold! What’s this on the side of the car?? CONTACTS!!

Our next order of business was to get on our bikes and explore the park. Turns out it’s really not a mountain biking park. Lots of trails but not for bikes. Our goal was to ride up to the ranger station to get our tag and explore the RV section for possible future sites. As we left the ranger station I turned to look at the skulls and jumped as the snake caught my attention. I didn’t have time to reason that snakes aren’t out in these cold temperatures.

The other thing we did was ask about moving sites. One of the ones we liked and had passed on the way would be available the next day. One more day in the ghetto! Then…MOVING DAY!!

After dropping off our tag we were off to explore. We encountered some folks that looked like they were heading off for a lengthy hike so we inquired where they might be going. “Oh, there’s a lovely birding trail at the end of the RV section, you should check it out!” they said. And check it out we did!

On our way to the trailhead we happened across this roadrunner lurking about the RV’s. We stopped to watch him (or her) and apparently we ruffled its feathers! I’d never seen such a thing in a roadrunner. Fellow birders said it’s common and that roadrunners like to hang out with people and demand food. Who knew?

The entrance to the birding trail has a lovely spot with bird feeders that attract all kinds of feathered friends. It was nice to just sit and watch through binoculars and a longish lens (28-300) and try to capture their antics.

In the winter Patagonia Lake State Park is mainly a birding and fishing destination. The ranger said the campground is full year-round but with very different guests. In the summer you get the “escape the heat” crowd with motorboats and lots of swimming at the designated beach. Winter is full but much quieter with folks and their binoculars and fishing rods.

After a brief stop at the bird feeders, we headed off for our “hike”. Turned out to be more of a walk and much shorter than was indicated by some of our new friends.

The trail descended to a gate that led us directly to the edge of the lake. It was very mucky and full of reeds, cattails, and a few ducks.

Our trail was blocked by these two calves. Mama was close by so we gently approached the siblings and continued on our way.

We heard running water and discovered Sonoita Creek which is the drainage that is dammed up to create Patagonia Lake.

In this image, you can see flood debris probably deposited during the monsoon season.

There were random benches along the trail.

The pathway cut through forests of cottonwood and mesquite. However, in one section was a stand of these trees.

Here’s the funny thing about these signs. There is a Lower Loop and an Upper Loop. They are the same loop. One goes to the right, the other to the left. And there is no elevation change to delineate it as upper or lower. Weird.

Cockleburs. These were found on the local cows. Poor things. These guys are no fun for dogs to pick up either.

On our way back we ran into this guy. Holy COW!! or STEER!! or BULL!! He was so big I had to photograph him straight on to show his girth! I thought she was pregnant then realized she was a he.

What would a Vicki Shoot be without some patterns?

It was on this trip that we decided to become birders. We downloaded the Audubon App and began attempting to identify birds. We started with the easy ones.

In some areas the foliage was close to the path and in othere it openedd up. We saw several photographers with 600 mm + lenses and many birders with binoculars at the ready.

The Mesquite tunnel.

Some of the mucky water early in the trail.

We made it back to the bird feeders and sat for a while to see who showed up. I did my best with my 28-300 mm lens but vowed to look into a good birding lens.

Random bow hunters passing us and heading out onto the trail. They said they were hunting deer and javelina.

We also vowed to bring our inflatable paddleboards with us next time.

Party at the table top feeder!!

Given how busy our camp was we didn’t spend much time there. Following our bird walk we stopped by the car, grabbed a quick lunch and headed off again to explore the marina.

As I stated earlier the marina is small.

This sign is at the boat ramp.

More views of the lovely bridge.

This is the path running alongside the marina.

We followed this little ramp only to come upon an area the racoons have deemed their toilet.

The reeds are pretty.

We ran into our #103 neighbor in his rigged out fishing kayak. It seems he grew up coming here from Tucson and is now bringing his wife and own children to his beloved park.

Boat tours? Cool.

There are a LOT of day-use areas. I’m sure in the summer they are used more. Unfortunately, with Covid, day-use is being heavily restricted.

Such a pretty lake. I’m trying to imagine it in the spring or summer when the trees and grasses are green.

MOVING DAY!! This is the site we ended up with. We loved it. However, at 4,000 ft in elevation, the nights and mornings were REALLY cold so, even though the site was spectacualr, we called it a day early, packed up on Sunday instead of Monday and headed home.

But before we did that we went for another walk.

 Same picture, color vs black and white. Do you have a preference?

This is why I need a longer lens! Great bird, blurry shot!!

This fellow greeted us down at teh swimming beach. They seemed pretty tame and especting food.

               

On our way home we went back a different way. The new route took us through the town of Patagonia and on through Sonoita. This building reminded me of the old train station in San Geronimo, Californina located at the Presbytarian church on Sir Francis Drake Blvd.

We grabbed lunch at a local eatery, ate outside on a picnic table and headed back to Flagstaff.

It was a great trip that taught us a lot about the area. We fully intend to return. Next time I hope to have a longer lens to capture the bird life.

Happy shooting!

AHPS, Animals, Animals, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Outdoors, Places to Shoot, Shooting Close to Home, Travel, Uncategorized, Water, Winter

Watson Lake in Winter

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Watson Lake is one of two reservoirs at the Granite Dells, in Prescott, Arizona, that was formed in the early 1900s when the Chino Valley Irrigation District built a dam on Granite Creek. The City of Prescott bought the reservoir and surrounding land in 1997 to preserve it as recreational land. Local rock climbers use the granite cliffs above and adjacent to the lake for top-roping and lead climbing. The lake is also the home of TriCity Prep Rowing Crew, a local high school team and only rowing team in Northern Arizona. Who knew?

Arizona Highways PhotoScapes runs this workshop in January in order to be able to photograph the sunrise. The park opens year-round at 7:00 am. In the summer we would miss the sunrise. And, we get the lake pretty much to ourselves in winter as most visitors take advantage of the lake in warmer months.

It’s a beautiful lake and I’ve paddled on it before. Not in the winter though so I was looking forward to hanging out in Prescott for a couple of days with our photographer Amy Horn and our amazing participants. Even though shooting landscapes isn’t my jam I did manage to find some patterns and scenes that interested and inspired me.

While everyone else was photographing the lake I turned my attention to the nearby grasses.

  Winter hours have the park closing at 6:00 pm which is plenty of time to catch the sunset without having to stay out too late.

Apparently in winter humans come to the lake regularly to feed the waterfowl that live there. This was the highlight of my shoot. It was sheer chaos with Canada Geese, swans, ducks of several sorts and American Coot vying for the feed.

This is a great lake in any season.

Happy shooting!

AHPS, Animals, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Shooting Close to Home

Wildlife World Zoo, Phoenix

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If you like to shoot animals, I mean photograph them, there is a great little zoo on the west side of the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix), just off the 303, called Wildlife World Zoo. As a former first grade teacher, we took our students there every spring to see the animals they had been studying during the last quarter of school. They loved it.

In these times of COVID, it’s a great zoo for camera buffs (if you like zoos, but that’s another conversation) because the animals are quite close.

Some wander the grounds. Just kidding, the little alligator is in an enclosure.

You can buy feed and present it to the giraffes at their feeding station.

As you walk through the Down Under enclosure the kangaroos and wallabies are literally just behind a single rope fence.

There are a tram ride and a train ride that take you into enclosures. I’m not gonna lie, it’s a little Jurrasic Parkish. The animals in these enclosures could come right up to the vehicles. I’ve had the tram driver have to shoe away the ostriches before.

The big cats are in enclosures…of course.

The monkeys have various islands throughout the park.

Some very interesting reptiles…

And birds. Lots of birds. Some are free-roaming in the park or in enclosures and some are in cages.  

As a photo workshop, we had access to a private bird show which was pretty cool. Their macaw population largely comes from private owners who either got them as a pet and realized they couldn’t t or didn’t want to take care of a perpetual toddler OR the bird outlived the owner.

  The flamingo exhibit right at the front entrance provides for some great reflection images.

There is a walk-through aviary with some pretty exotic birds in it.

So regal.

Who doesn’t like a happy ostrich?

Yikes!

The ducks are free to come and go. They know when they have a good thing.

Look for this workshop with Amy Horn at Arizona Highways Photoscapes. She ran this one and it was great. It is a COVID safe one as you would drive yourself there, get excellent instruction, and be able to easily social distance. I’m not sure when it will show up again on the calendar but it is definitely one to look for.

Happy Shooting!!

Adventure, AHPS, Animals, Animals, Architecture, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Boating, Cultural, Flowers, Historic Buildings, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Travel

Vancouver Island, B.C.

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In June of 2017, I went on a dream come true workshop…Vancouver Island. A dream come true workshop for me includes a perfect mixture of urban and nature shooting opportunities. The workshop was run over six glorious days with a really fun group of participants. The photographer, Shane McDermott, grew up on the island so he was wonderful to follow around.

Here’s one way I could tell I was extremely inspired on this trip, I squeezed the shutter over 3100 times. Over twice from any other workshop. It still remains the highest number of images I’ve taken in my career with PhotoScapes  (except for the Albuquerque balloon festival last year but that’s another story).

We arrived in Vancouver (the city) on a Saturday in June. “We” included two participants that happened to be on the same flight and Megan, my fellow volunteer. My good friend Amy Horn was already there. Megan and I had some volunteer errands to run before we hooked up with Amy,  and the two participants we knew and headed out to explore the city. It was suggested we head to Stanley Park and Granville Island, so we did.

Seriously, I was like a kid in a candy shop. We walked and talked and laughed and I kept having to run to catch up because everything caught my eye. And the workshop hadn’t even STARTED yet!

The next morning we took the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island. I think I FINALLY got the difference between the two! LOL!

The morning fog was beautiful.

The workshop began for Shane at 2:00 pm in our hotel in Victoria. For the volunteers and participants, it began with breakfast Sunday morning, rounding everyone up and getting them to the ferry then to our hotel. After introductions and an overview, we headed out to the inner harbor to photograph. Victoria is such a beautiful city.

I could shoot boats all day long.

The Parliament Building was amazing.

Growing up in Arizona and having spent my entire adult life in Flagstaff I am used to the art and culture of Navajo and Hopi first nations people. It was SO much fun to be exposed to those of the northwest. I was especially enthralled with the totem poles.

The Inner Harbor also boasted fun tattoos and cool floating homes.

The rain was a constant companion and made for some beautiful images.

The next day, after a morning shoot at Beacon Hill Park,  we headed to world-renowned Butchart Gardens. It did not disappoint. Be sure to plan a full day for this venture, especially if you plan to photograph. We allotted four hours and in that time many folks never got past one or two of the gardens! I wandered all the way to the back and found the ocean and more boats!

Another tip would be to arrive, walk the entire property then go back to the gardens you feel most inspired by. Don’t get sucked into the first ones. Not that they are not beautiful but there is so much more!

Tuesday morning, following our third trip to the Inner Harbor, we loaded the vans and headed to Port Renfrew a couple of hours up the coast. On the way, we stopped by Royal Roads University and photographed the grounds there. It was beautiful. Royal Roads University is located on the grounds of the former Royal Roads Military College (RRMC) at Hatley Park National Historic Site on Vancouver Island. Following the decommissioning of RRMC in 1995, the government of British Columbia created Royal Roads University as a public university.

The coastline of British Columbia stretches approximately 27,000 km, including countless islands, bays, inlets, and arms.  Port Renfrew is the last step into this remote area. Considered the “Jewel of the West Coast” and the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada”. Port Renfrew is the southern entrance to the Pacific Rim National Park and the world-renown “shipwreck life-saving trail” now called “The West Coast Trail”, and the beginning of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail.

Yes, we stayed n these cabins. Check out the low tide.

We spent Tuesday afternoon, all day Wednesday and Thursday morning exploring this wild area. My favorite part was our walks along the coast.

 

We drove back to Victoria on Thursday afternoon. Friday was a big day. We had our final classroom session before heading to the dock and our whale watching tour. The tour finished at 1:00 and by that evening I was visiting family in Northern California. Here’s what we saw on the whale tour.

We each had to wear these survival suits. They were really hot but would save our lives should we end up in the ocean.

Ocean-going tankers and whale collisions is a real problem.

Another tour boat.

If you ever get the chance to visit British Columbia I highly recommend it. SUCH a beautiful place. I hope you enjoyed the tour, I’d do it again in a heart-beat.

Until next time, Happy Shooting!