Tag Archives: Wildlife

Curious Fawns

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Curious Fawns

Young Fawns near Goldendale, WA.

This week we brings another image related to our trips to the Maryhill Festival of Speed. This past year, on our way to the Saturday session, we stumbled upon two Curious Fawns. They became the subjects of this week’s Image of the Week.

For the 2012 event we had the good fortune to stay on property owned by family friends just north of Goldendale. The property is located a few miles off of the main highway on lightly travelled gravel roads; the area is rich with wildlife. We saw everything from wild turkeys to large deer.

After rounding a corner on Saturday morning we met our Curious Fawns. I always try to keep my camera within reach when I have it in the car. As it happened it was just out of reach this time, but Ethan could reach it and came to my rescue. I stopped the car, rolled down the window, and started taking photos.

As is often the case with wildlife, they were just a curious about us as we were about them. They stayed still for several minutes roughly 150 feet from us. Before long they lost interest in us and wandered into the sticks and out of sight, not in any particular hurry.

Keep your equipment handy, you never know when a moment like this will present itself!

Technical Specs:

  • JPEG image with Nikon D7000 @ 400 ISO
  • Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 200mm
  • 1/40th of a Second @ ƒ/13
  • Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 08:33
  • Near Goldendale, Washington, USA

Brilliant Perch

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Brilliant Perch

False Malachite Butterfly at the Oregon Zoo’s Winged Wonders display.

This week we go back into the archives for one of my early images from the Oregon Zoo. I’m pleased to present Brilliant Perch as this week’s Image of the Week.

The zoo has been a favorite subject over the years. We have a family membership so visit on a regular basis. There are, of course, challenges to getting good images of captive animals. I want them to look as if they could be out in the wild and therefore strive to avoid zoo structures and visitors in the images.

In 2006 they had a wonderful temporary display called Winged Wonders with butterflies from around the world. On a family visit we spent quite a bit of time looking for a good angle on one of the colorful, and very fast, little insects. This was my favorite of the day and spent some time featured on the Zoo’s web site.

The image was captured in JPEG and edited with Photoshop Elements. I was still early in my learning process with my new D50 and did limited work with RAW images. Even with those limitations it remains one of my favorite and most popular early images.

Technical Specs:

  • JPEG image with Nikon D50 @ 200 ISO
  • Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 LD Macro 1:2 Lens @ 300mm
  • 1/160 seconds @ ƒ/6
  • Saturday, August 19, 2006 @ 10:16
  • Oregon Zoo, Portland, Oregon, USA

Q Bird

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Q Bird

Lone and lonely bird outside of historic Municipal Auditorium. Kansas City during Thursday’s super storm Q.

My trip to Kansas City last month was quite a winter adventure. One of my favorite moments was walking the downtown streets after the snow let up and finding a new friend. This week’s Image of the Week is that feathered friend whom I have named Q Bird after the name of the storm.

Midnight 8:30amSuper storm Q arrived Thursday morning dumping 13 inches of snow in 3 hours on downtown Kansas City. I had planned to travel on that day but after seeing the weather forecast I jumped on a plane a day early to beat the storm into town. The images above show what I saw out my window at midnight and then out the same window at 8:30am. I didn’t even know that thunder snow existed, but witnessed it out my window in whiteout conditions during the heart of the storm.

After the bulk of the snow had fallen I ventured out for a short walk around the convention district. It was a very light powdery snow and was not terribly difficult to walk through. You can see some of the images I captured (many with my iPhone), not especially artistic but they do tell a story! The image on the left made the rounds through the convention and I’m told also landed on a Kansas City television newscast.

After walking through the convention center I set off on my return trip to the hotel. As I crossed the street I saw this loan bird, the only wildlife I had seen all day, in a tree on the opposite corner. I moved in slowly to get a shot with the D7000 and grabbed a couple for facebook on the iPhone. He looked very cold and allowed me to get within just a few feet, it was actually a noise from across the street that finally caused him to flee.

I created several versions of the image but settled on this as my favorite. The HDR version (at right) feels a bit over processed and the others all have one bit or another that lead me to favor this one. You can see the various incarnations in the galleries.

Technical Specs:

  • RAW image with Nikon D7000 @ 400 ISO
  • Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 70mm
  • 1/1600th of a Second @ ƒ/5
  • Thursday, February 21, 2013 @ 12:24
  • Outside Kansas City Convention Center, Kansas City, Missouri, Oregon, USA

Fishing for Breakfast

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Fishing for Breakfast

An osprey finds breakfast fishing the Columbia River at Skamokawa Vista Park in Wahkiakum County, Washington.

As mentioned last week this past weekend was the Cathlamet Downhill Corral. Sometimes the things you set out to photograph are just one piece of the puzzle, and this image is a classic example. I’m proud to present Fishing for Breakfast as this this week’s Image of the Week.

We were fortunate enough to get a yurt at Skamokawa Vista Park just a few minutes west of Cathlamet for the weekend. Saturday morning there was a thick layer of fog on the river; so, the passing ships were blowing their fog horns so I decided to go down to the river and explore with my camera. The beach there is a hidden gem; wide and sandy with limited crowds. About half a mile down river I could see two raptors fishing and it appeared they were nested in the trees above a navigation marker. I was very fortunate that one of the osprey flew almost directly overhead with it’s breakfast prize held tightly by strong talons.

I didn’t have time to switch lenses or cameras, it would have been great to capture it with a longer lens. As fate would have it this may be one of the final images from this particular Nikon 18-200mm lens as it would have an unfortunate meeting with the asphalt later in the day. I went back down to the same spot Sunday morning and there was no visible raptor activity, so I feel very fortunate I was able to capture this image.

We had a terrific time at the Cathlamet Downhill Corral (images are being posted as they are processed), and this unexpected treat was a highlight!

Technical Specs:

  • RAW image with Nikon D7000 @ 200 ISO
  • Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 200mm
  • 1/1000th of a second @ ƒ/5.6
  • Saturday, August 25, 2012 @ 07:54
  • Skamokawa Vista Park in Wahkiakum County, Washington, USA

Lorax

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Lorax

Lorax

Meet my friend Lorax. She is a great horned owl who resides at the Cascades Raptor Center. I’m proud to present her as the latest entry into the Image of the Week series.

The Cascades Raptor Center is a Nature Center and Wildlife Hospital for birds of prey in Eugene, Oregon. Through wildlife rehabilitation and public education, CRC fosters a connection between people and birds of prey. We visited in the spring of 2006 and I was fortunate enough to capture this image while she sat on her handler’s arm. This is among the earliest of my Prime Images and was shot with my first dSLR, then Nikon D50. I was still early in my learning process and the equipment was not as good as it would become, but I shot with the widest available aperture and was careful with the background to give a sense that the image was captured in a more natural environment.

Lorax was found April 4th of 2005 in Pendleton, Oregon. She was only about three weeks old and had suffered multiple fractures in her right wing in a fall from her nest. She is glove trained and well adapted to captivity because of the young age at which she sustained her injuries.

Get out and shoot with the tools that you have at your disposal! Every shooting session is a chance to learn and every mistake presents the opportunity for improvement. If you have an opportunity to visit the CRC take it, it is a hidden gem!

Technical Specs:

  • Raw image with Nikon D50 @ 400 ISO
  • Tamron AF70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di LD Macro Lens @ 300mm
  • 1/400 of a second @ ƒ/5.7
  • Sunday, March 5, 2006 @ 12:46
  • Cascades Raptor Center, Eugene, Oregon, USA