Snow Goose Video

A quick video of the snow goose migration at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Missouri. Shot December 2010. Video shot with Panasonic GF1 with 20mm f/1.7 fixed lens. 720p HD AVCHD format.



Dress warm and carry an umbrella, but be careful if you wear a down jacket. They might take special aim at you as they fly overhead...


D.
Read more...

Autumn Deer

This time of year is great for photographing wildlife, deer in particular. The main reasons: animals are more focused on fattening up for the winter and mating. Most other concerns like "safety" and "security" go by the wayside. Normally skittish deer that would slink into the shadows at the first sight of a camera wielding human will hang around and stare with curiosity. That is, until the first day of firearms deer hunting season (which begins at sunrise on November 13th this year in Missouri).

Some thoughts on photographing autumn deer:

• Use the longest lens you have: 200mm is good, 300mm is better, 400mm is great
• If you don't have a long lens, use whatever you have. Make a landscape photograph with the deer as an element of interest. Use a medium focal length lens to make an environment photograph of the deer. Not all photos need to be tight "portraits."
• Go where the deer congregate: watering holes, oak trees with lots of acorns, meadows
• Does and yearling fawns will usually be less defensive than bucks. You can approach much closer.
• Approach quietly, but don't try to sneak up on the deer or they might get spooked. I find that if I move slowly, don't make too much eye contact and act like I am just out for a stroll the deer don't get antsy.
• Urban wildlife areas are great for photographing deer since they are accustomed to humans and don't see much (if any) hunting pressure. They are still wild animals, just used to having the occasional human around.

More to come as autumn progresses,

D.


Read more...

Colorado-Sand Dunes Part II

My dad and I arrived to a setting sun at the sand dunes after crossing a vast plain of farmland on our motorcycles. We could see the dunes in the distance after descending from a mountain pass, but it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to reach our destination. They loomed large on the horizon yet were deceptively far away. Speeds topped 100mph at times as we raced along deserted farm roads, passing seemingly endless fields of beets, potatoes and barley.



Our haste was rewarded by a nice sunset over the dunes. It is something that was hard to capture in a camera. The way the sun warmed the rim of the dunes for just a moment before slipping into night was beautiful. As mesmerizing as watching the famed green flash over the Florida Keys.



The campground at the park was full, so we were regrettably forced to stay at a private campground called "The Oasis." It was anything but. The roads to this pit of hell were so rough that a small passenger car got stuck. Everyone with the option had their transfer cases firmly locked in 4x4. And my dad and I were on fully-loaded street bikes. We have no business being in a gravel parking lot, and here we were doing some fairly gnarly off-roading on these "roads." The view from the tent in the morning turned out to be worth all the cursing, wailing and gnashing of teeth from the previous night.



Mule deer graze along the road to the dunes. One large male bounded along with me keeping a steady 35mph before suddenly cutting to the right, crossing my lane, skittering on slick hooves over asphalt, and disappearing into the brush. It would have made a beautiful video, panning along with him if I hadn't been so startled by it all. That is why I am not a wildlife photographer.



The sun just peeked over Sangre de Cristo mountains, skimming the dunes in clear morning light. It lasted for all of ninety seconds before being obscured by clouds and the morning's photography was done. We had a nice breakfast at the foot of the dunes along the pretty Medano Creek and watched as kids rode down the hills on snow sleds.

D.


Read more...

Least Bittern Nest

 I had the pleasure of exploring Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge by airboat earlier this summer. Our goal was to find a few Least Bittern nests and see what wetland wildlife was active. These interesting little birds stalk wetlands and marshes and have a very cool method of camouflaging themselves among the reeds. They can point their long beaks skyward while rotating their eyes to see what is in front of them. The coloration of the mature birds blends extremely well with aquatic plants and they can be very hard to see. Least Bitterns are an amazing example of adaptation to an environment.

I was out with a biologist and he was doing a bird count to see what species and how many were in the wetland. This lends a sense of scale for how small the nests are. He picked up a baby to examine it briefly.



We found three nests that morning. The biologist said that often the adult birds will be aggressive in defending the nests and will refuse to move. This was later in the season and the adults flew away as soon as we approached.



This is a pretty poor photo of an adult Least Bittern, but it is all I have and was taken while buzzing through the reeds at 20 miles per hour. This is the only adult bird I was able to photograph that day. They were very skittish.



I only include this photo to show what an adult bird looks like, since the photo itself is pretty embarrassing.

D.

Read more...

White Tails

I was out for a walk at the Parkville Nature Sanctuary north of Kansas City when I ran across a strutting tom turkey and hen in the middle of the trail. Of course I didn't have my camera ready. We were both surprised. We stared at each other for a long moment and they were gone into the brush before I could remember that there was this thing on my shoulder called a camera and I should probably use it to take a photo of them. Welcome to wildlife shooting with Dave. I resolved to be more attentive and heads-up for the rest of the walk. A half-mile further, I spotted four deer just off the trail. I got my gear ready and walked toward them as unassumingly as possible...no eye contact, no creeping, just like I was a regular visitor to the area hiking down the trail.

They didn't run as I approached, or flinch when I gently opened my tripod, and I photographed them for a few minutes before they moved off. The light was low and dropping, it was raining, and I had a slow lens (100-400 f/4.5-5.6), so the conditions were tough: 1/10th of a second at 400mm and I already had the camera (EOS 1Ds MkII) cranked up to ISO 1600. I photographed for a few minutes before the light was too low to focus.

It was a nice evening and I enjoyed the location very much. The Parkville Nature Sanctuary is a gem, and I plan on visiting more in the future. The trail system is a few miles in length and connects to a nearby Conservation area: White Alloe. There is a tranquil waterfall and creek and many birds to view from a boardwalk. It isn't a destination in itself, but if you are in the north Kansas City area it is definitely worth checking out.


Read more...

Baby Hawks

I got a call yesterday from a woman who said she had a hawk nest in her backyard and that it looked like the babies were going to fly at any moment. Always skeptical of phone calls promising a great photo opportunity (I've been burned too many times), I decided to check it out since it was only a few blocks from my house. I was not disappointed. Walking up to the house to investigate before unloading my gear, I was greeted by three downy heads poking out of a nest right by the house. It was pretty nice because I could tell that the hawks were somewhat used to being around humans and didn't seem too bothered by people walking by and talking.



The mother hawk soon brought a morsel to share.



There's nothing quite like the taste of mole to pique some interest.



Making sure the little one is doing the job correctly.











A family resemblance.






Setting out for another hunting expedition.





The more dominant of the young ones imitating mom.



Getting right up the edge of the nest and making a show, but having second thoughts.


It was very interesting to see after only a short time that the birds followed a very predictable schedule. The babies would call, a few minutes later the mother would show up with a mole or squirrel or snake, everyone would eat, mother would leave, much rough housing and playing was involved, some wing flapping and shedding of the downy feathers, babies would settle in and sleep for 30-45 minutes (I'm assuming since I couldn't actually see them, but they made no movement or sound) and the whole process would repeat itself.

My goal is to get some photos of the little ones leaving the nest for the first time. We'll see if I can time it right. I'll post more if I can manage to catch them again before they leave.


Read more...