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Fall Colors, Colorado — 2024

A couple of weeks ago, I made a trip to the Gunnison area to experience the Fall Colors. Here is a selection of some of my images.

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Fall Colors, Ohio Creek Valley.

The Ohio Creek and Ohio Pass are some of my favorite locations to make photographs of the Aspen forests and fall colors.

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Sun Star Along Forest Road.

This is one of the forest roads that pass through an Aspen forest near Mill Castle.

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Aspens Along Forest Road, Mill Castle.

At the base of the Ohio Pass are these red Aspen trees.

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Red Aspen At Ohio Pass.

I visited Ohio Pass several times during the two days at Gunnison. The afternoon sunlight lit up the golden leaves behind the tree trunks in the Aspen forest.

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Aspen Forest On Ohio Pass.

During an early morning visit to Mill Castle, I found this chipmunk perched on a fence post.

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Chipmunk Near Mill Castle.

Close to the base of Ohio Pass is an irrigation ditch that had been shut off for the fall and winter seasons. Fortunately, there was still some water trapped in the ditch; I found one spot that reflected the golden colors of the Aspen trees in the water.

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Aspen Reflections In Irrigation Ditch.

At the end of the last day, I made my way through Ohio Pass and stopped at the Beaver Ponds trailhead. It is a short hike to the ponds, where I made this image that includes one of the ponds and golden Aspens.

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Beaver Pond And Aspen Forest.

Here is another image of the mixture of colors that are typically found during the fall. Most of the Aspens turn from green to golden yellow. But there are some the turn from green to orange and red.

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Aspen Forest Above Beaver Ponds.

Returning to the trailhead, I found a shaft of sunlight that lit up some of the plants growing on the forest floor.

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Catching The Sunlight, Beaver Ponds Hike.

Enjoy!

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Cormorants At Eaglewatch Lake

A couple of weeks ago, I headed down to South Platte River, near C-470. Several people were fishing by the river, so most of the birds headed to other areas. Walking towards Eaglewatch Lake, several Cormorants were draped on the fallen tree that was partially submerged in the lake. Since I had approached from the east side, the Cormorants were backlit by the evening sun.

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Three Cormorants Drying Off, Eaglewatch Lake.

I counted ten Cormorants perched on the tree branches. All were busy drying off and cooling down from the hot sun.

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Three Cormorants, Perched.

Making my way around to the south end of the lake, I made this image of the single Cormorant facing the sun.

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Cormorant, Catching The Sun.

Continuing to the west of the lake, the birds were now front-lit by the sun.

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Three Cormorants, Again.

The fallen tree is submerged with two of the main trunk protruding above water in two places. Three birds were perched on one section of the trunk. The remaining birds were located on the second section of tree trunk. The long lens prevented me from capturing all birds in one image!

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More Cormorants, Perched.

These Cormorants are probably on their southward migration as the leave from the cooler climate of Colorado.

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South Platte River — July

Here are some assorted images of wildlife along the South Platte River, that I captured one evening in July. This Mule Deer was grazing among the scrub and bushes alongside the river.

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Mule Deer, Along Scrub, South Platte.

The Western Kingbird is one of my favorite flycatchers. This Kingbird has some unusual flight patterns while attempting to catch bugs in flight.

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Western Kingbird, South Platte River.

Finally, I found a Downy Woodpecker looking for bugs in the bark of a Cottonwood tree.

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Downy Woodpecker, Looking For Bugs, South Platte.

Almost caught up with my backlog!

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Chatfield State Park — June 2024

In late June, we headed to Chatfield State Park for a birding and raptor monitoring trip. While there, I found this Broad-Tailed Hummingbird close to the Platte River at Kingfisher Bridge.

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Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, Chatfield, No 1.

This bird allowed me to get really close as he left his perch and returned several times.

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Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, Chatfield, No 2.

The Broad-Tailed Hummingbird has a very distinctive throat that glows a bright metallic red if the sunlight reflects at just the right angle.

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Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, Chatfield, No 3.

This bird then went through the motions of flapping his wings several times without leaving his perch.

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Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, Chatfield, No 4.

This allowed me to capture several images… without have to find him again!

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Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, Chatfield, No 5.

Here is the last image just before I left this location.

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Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, Chatfield, No 6.

Time to play catch-up again!

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Santa Fe Art District — June

Here are some more images from early summer. At first Friday Art Walk, these images were captured close to sunset in the Santa Fe Art’s District. The setting sun lit up the windows of this building, casting a golden glow to the the glass.

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Facing Windows.

These images were made in the same building where several walls were painted in bright colors. This building is a home to several art galleries as well as some residential apartments.

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Green And Red.

Each wall was painted in a different color. When in the shadow, all walls still retained their saturated colors.

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Red Wall.

In this final image, the falling sun lit up one of the bright red walls of the building.

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Red Wall At Sunset.

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Westerly Creek, Spring 2024

Some more pictures from the Spring. While visiting Westerly Creek, we found a colony of Cliff Swallows nesting under one of the bridges. Cliff Swallows typically build their nests from mud. In this image three swallows were waiting by the openings to their nest. Periodically, there would be activity as the swallows left and returned to their nest. Were these mates flying in and out? Were they bringing nesting material or food for hatchlings?

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Cliff Swallows Nesting, Westerly Creek.

We made our way around one of the ponds, where this female Red-Winged Blackbird was perched.

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Female Red-Winged Blackbird, Westerly Creek.

Close by was a male bird that allowed me to get really close.

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Male Red-Winged Blackbird, Perched, Westerly Creek.

Here he was calling out. Probably trying to attract a mate.

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Male Red-Winged Blackbird, Calling Out, Westerly Creek.

Later during the afternoon, we met a group of kids along the trail and were sharing info on birds that we had seen. We pointed out this American Kestrel to the kids. It was hovering up above the creek, hunting for a meal. Kestrels typically catch small vermin (like a mouse or vole) and also grasshoppers and other bugs. No luck at this location. This Kestrel was working its way along the creek in search of prey.

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American Kestrel Hovering Above Westerly Creek.

This is a continuation of catching up with images that I have been meaning to post. Work around the house and other projects held up posting!

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In May, I made a trip to the South Platte River. The river was flowing strongly as a result of releasing run-off from the upstream reservoir at Chatfield. I found this Great Blue Heron on the far bank of the river.

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Great Blue Heron, South Platte River.

Here the heron was fishing for the next meal.

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Great Blue Heron Fishing, South Platte River.

Soon the heron caught a fish. This looked like a big one about 16 inches in length.

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Great Blue Heron Catch, No 1.

I made several images of the heron as it was aligning the fish to swallow.

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Great Blue Heron Catch, No 2.

It was amazing to watch the fish make its way down the heron gullet!

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Great Blue Heron Catch, No 3.

Wow. What a huge fish!

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Great Blue Heron Catch, No 4.

Half way down to the stomach.

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Great Blue Heron Catch, No 5.

I never knew that this heron has such a huge capacity in its stomach. I have seen some videos where a Great Blue caught and swallowed a larger fish; it is much more interesting to see this in action.

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Great Blue Heron, Satisfied.

That heron looks really satisfied. I wonder how long until the fish is digested and when the next meal will take place.

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Irises This Spring, 2024

We had several Irises in bloom this last spring; they usually bloom at the end of May. Every year, I attempt to make some images of these fabulous plants. The “beard” of an Iris flower is always the most difficult to capture successfully. This year… success!

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Purple Iris, With Beard.

Focus stacking is one tool that allows one to capture details of the beard. Patience is also required; the slightest breeze will upset focus at a macro scale.

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Purple Iris Bud, No 1.

I made a couple of images of budding flower from this plant.

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Purple Iris Bud, No 2.

Buds lower on the stalk of an Iris plant usually start to bud later than buds at the tip. I found this bud at a lower level.

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Purple Iris Bud, No 3.

On another plant, I found this bud lower down the stalk.

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Purple Iris Bud, No 4,

It has been a while since last posting images. More to come!

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Grape Hyacinths This Spring, 2024

This year we have a profusion of wonderful little Grape Hyacinth plants! Here is a group of three plants from our garden.

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Three Grape Hyacinths.

Bees were attracted to the purple flowers. I was fortunate to capture this bee feeding on one of the hyacinth flowers soon after starting to make photographs.

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Grape Hyacinths, With Bee, No 1.

Some other bugs were also active in the hyacinth patch.

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Grape Hyacinth, With Bug.

I made the following image where the hyacinth flower head was framed by its leaf.

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Grape Hyacinth, Framed By Leaf.

This is some detail of the flower head of another hyacinth flower.

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Grape Hyacinth, Flower Detail.

In the following image, I captured the hyacinth flower, peeking from behind a hyacinth leaf.

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Grape Hyacinth, Behind Leaf.

The bees were really active that afternoon. Here is another image of a bee feeding on a grape hyacinth flower head.

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Grape Hyacinths, With Bee, No 2.

Happy Spring!

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Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge 2024

A couple of weeks ago, we made a birding trip to Monte Vista to do some birding. At this time of the year, Sandhill Cranes stop over at the wildlife refuge on their return trip to summer nesting grounds. For the first morning, we were out at the ponds to view the cranes and geese fly out. Many birds typically roost at these ponds during the night. We found this pair of Canada Geese hanging out on the ice at the edge of the ponds. I managed to capture one bird flapping its wings.

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Canada Geese Pair, Flapping Wings, Monte Vista NWR Ponds.

American Coots may also be found in the ponds. Later in the morning, they may be found feeding in the ponds. Frequently, several coots spar with one another. This is a common sight that I have found at this location over several years. Here is one image from a sequence of images that I captured from one sparring pair.

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Coots Sparring, Monte Vista NWR Ponds.

During the course of the day, Sandhill Cranes fly over the wildlife refuge. Here is one image of a single goose in flight.

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Sandhill Crane In Flight, Monte Vista NWR.

Sandhill cranes spend winter further south along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. During later winter and early spring, they head north to their summer feeding and nesting grounds. The wildlife refuge is one feeding location where they stop during their journey. Here is a single crane moving while grazing in the fields.

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Sandhill Crane Grazing, Monte Vista NWR.

The cranes typically roost for the night where there is water, either at these ponds, or at other ponds in the refuge. This offers some safety against predators, such as coyotes, during the night. Soon after dawn, the cranes fly out in family groups to feeding grounds where they spend much of the daylight hours. Sandhill Cranes generally pair for life. Occasional single birds (with no partners) will also fly out. In this image, I captured a single bird when it called out soon after taking flight.

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Sandhill Crane In Flight At Dawn, Monte Vista NWR.

Early during the first morning, there was little wind. However, during the course of the day, strong winds developed during the day and persisted for the remaining two days that we spent in Monte Vista. Here is typical family group of a pair of cranes in flight that I capture during our first day, when the cranes were moving between feeding grounds in the refuge.

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Pair Of Sandhill Cranes In Flight, Monte Vista NWR.

Here is another single crane in flight between feeding grounds on the first day.

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Sandhill Crane In Flight, Monte Vista NWR, No 2.

During early March, the annual Sandhill Crane Festival takes place in Monte Vista. We typically visit the refuge either before or after the festival, to avoid the crowds and to find reasonable accommodation. We had really strong winds during the middle and end of the days we spent in Monte Vista. However, the weather forecast for the festival days included snow!

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Searching For Barrows…

There is a Barrow’s Goldeneye that winters in the South Platte River every year. I don’t know whether this is the same duck that we have seen every year, or not. The male duck is very easy to identify, but the female is much more difficult. The female looks very similar to the female Common Goldeneye. Last week, I went on a quest to find the female(s).

After confirming that the Barrow’s is still here, I returned the next day in a quest to find the female. Of course, I found some other species. On arriving at the river, I found this pair of American Wigeons.

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Pair Of American Wigeons, South Platte River.

Soon, I found a group of female Goldeneye ducks. I worked my way downstream and upstream a few times, making several images along the way. In this image, I managed to capture a Common Goldeneye flapping her wings.

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Female Common Goldeneye Spreading Wings.

Now, were there any female Barrows? I found another female Goldeneye that started to flap her wings. Was it a Barrow’s? The bill has much more yellow than the common species. The head is a different shade of brown. This female had a different shape of head when compared to the common females; closer in shape to the male. Yes. Found the female Barrow’s Goldeneye!

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Common And Barrow’s Goldeneye Female, Barrow’s Flapping Wings.

Eventually the male Barrow’s Goldeneye, made his way upstream to the join the group of females. In this image, I managed to capture both male and female as they turned around and headed downstream.

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Male And Female Barrow’s Goldeneye, South Platte,

Most of the Goldeneye ducks were swimming upstream and downstream, swimming and diving as they were foraging for food. They repeated this several times during my time observing them. In the following image, I captured the male with three females following behind; one Barrow’s female and two Common females. They soon passed the male Buffelhead (see below). The difference between the Barrow’s and Common can be seen here.

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Barrow’s Goldeneye Male, With Females, South Platte.

Occasionally, the ducks take flight to move upstream, instead of paddling against the water flow. I managed to capture this one female Common Goldeneye as she took flight.

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Female Common Goldeneye, Taking Flight.

There are several other specifies of birds in the South Platte river at this location. I found this solitary Canada Goose on a sandbar in the river.

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Canada Goose In South Platte River, Overland Park.

As I was returning to the parking lot, a pair of Northern Flickers landed on a tree as I walked under the tree. I managed to get a very decent image of one of these Flickers.

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Northern Flicker, Overland Park.

Found the female Barrow’s Goldeneye. Mission accomplished!

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Some Impressionist Images

One of the techniques for creating impressionist images with photography, is Intentional Camera Movement, or ICM. Here is a collection of some of the ICM images that I captured during daily walks through our neighborhood.

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ICM Harvard Gulch No 1.

These images are made by moving the camera vertically, or horizontally, while make the exposure.

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ICM Harvard Gulch No 2.

In the following image, the camera was moved diagonally.

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ICM Harvard Gulch No 3.

The following images were made in Rosedale Park, before the last snow storm.

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ICM Rosedale Park No 1.

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ICM Rosedale Park No 2.

The most recent snow storm dumped much snow in Harvard Gulch. Here is one image that includes snow around the tree being captured.

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ICM Harvard Gulch No 4.

I stopped by an area where there were several bushes growing close together along the gulch to capture this image.

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ICM Harvard Gulch No 5.

In the following image, the bushes contained several curved branches. Since I moved the camera more slowly than the earlier images, these branches retained more of their curves.

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ICM Harvard Gulch No 6.

Enjoy.

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Bosque Del Apache, January 2024 — day 3

The morning of the third day, was the last opportunity to visit Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge before heading back home. Leaving the hotel, I headed to the north loop of the refuge. I did find a Northern Harrier but it was too far away and spent a lot on time on the ground in the distance.

However, as I continued along the road, I noticed a Red-Tailed Hawk in a tree across from the irrigation channel by the roadside. I just waited to see what would happen and made several of images, including the following one. Red-Tailed Hawks have a very distinctive call that I heard several times from this hawk.

Later on, while we were reviewing images at home, we noticed that there was a second Red-Tailed Hawk hidden behind the branches to the left of this hawk. I never noticed the second bird, and therefore did not attempt to capture an image with two hawks. C’est la vie!

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Red-Tailed Hawk, Perched, Bosque Del Apache, No 2.

There were several reports of a pair of White-Tailed Kites at Bosque Del Apache. Soon, rounding a bend, I noticed several folks who had stopped along the road. They had found one of the kites. So I got my gear out and captured several images. This kite was a fair distance away, and so it was small in the frame. What luck!

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White-Tailed Kite, Bosque Del Apache.

The previous day, I had met a lady who was asking about the kites. Soon she arrived, so I pointed the kite out to her. We chatted a while, and then I left the refuge to make my way home.

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Bosque Del Apache, January 2024 — day 2

One of the most interesting birds to watch and to photograph, is the Northern Harrier. In the early morning on the second day, visiting Bosque Del Apache, I headed along the north loop road, where I have seen Harriers many times in the past. Here I found a flock of Lesser Goldfinches that were feed from the thistles. This little guy was hanging from one thistle to feed from seeds of the second thistle below.

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Lesser Goldfinch, Feeding On Thistle.

I had met several people who had mentioned that there was a pair of White-Tailed Kites in the wildlife refuge. While driving on the loop, I met a couple of photogs who had seen and captured images of one of the kites earlier in the morning. While chatting about the kites, this White-Crowned Sparrow flew by and then perched on a branch in a nearby bush.

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White-Crowned Sparrow At Sunrise, Bosque Del Apache,

The kite was no where to be found. Later in the day, I circled back to the north loop. The open fields were a popular location to find raptors hunting. I found this Red-Tailed Hawk perched on a tree at the roadside. It must have seen some prey and took flight to the opposite roadside. A few seconds later, it had landed in the grass, found nothing and flew off to another tree. However, I did manage to capture a couple of images as this hawk took flight from the perch.

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Red-Tailed Hawk, Taking Flight, No 1.

Later that afternoon, I found another Red-Tailed Hawk perched on a tree, also on the north loop.

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Red-Tailed Hawk, Perched, Bosque Del Apache, No 1.

Bosque Del Apache is a well-known winter location for Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese. This year, I did not see many Snow Geese on the first day; they had found roosting and feeding grounds at Bernado, another location about 40 miles north of Bosque. However, on this second day, I did see a flock of Snow Geese fly in during the morning.

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Snow-Geese, Bosque Del Apache.

Later that afternoon, I found the flock in the refuge captured some images, including the one above and below. I have made several images in previous visits, and so I did not spend much time with this flock.

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Snow Goose, Coming In To Land.

Back on the north loop, I found another Red-Tailed Hawk. I captured the following image as it took flight.

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Red-Tailed Hawk, Taking Flight, No 2.

As I mentioned earlier, the Northern Harrier is an interesting bird to watch. Even more difficult to photograph successfully. This Harrier flies close to the ground looking for prey. They are highly maneuverable and will suddenly turn as something catches their attention. Very soon, their flight takes them a long way from the camera and one loses track of them! Soon they may return by a different path, maybe passing really close, so patience is good habit.

I had found a location where there were sparrows feeding among the low bushes. Pretty soon this Harrier was weaving between the trees hunting for prey. This is one image where the Harrier was close enough and not obscured by the tree branches.

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Northern Harrier, In Flight, Hunting.

Birds in flight are the most difficult to capture, so I am happy with the results. To my mind, the Northern Harrier is the most challenging to capture, so it will keep me engaged for a long time!

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Bosque Del Apache, January 2024

Earlier this month, I made a trip to Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for some birding and make photographs. This year it was windy, overcast and really cold when I arrived at the wildlife refuge. After a couple of days, the wind subsided but it remained cold for much of the days.

For the first time, I managed to get a decent image of an American Kestrel; the overcast weather softened the light so we can see a lot of detail in the shadows.

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American Kestrel, Bosque Del Apache.

Near the entrance to the wildlife refuge, a Loggerhead Shrike was perched on a fence post.

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Loggerhead Shrike, Perched On Post.

Later that first day, I made this image of the shrike on a thistle. It may have been the same bird but was about a 1/4-mile away from the first image.

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Loggerhead Shrike, Perched On Thistle,

Alongside the south loop, I found a frozen pond where a group of Yellowlegs were waiting for the ice to thaw that morning. Later in the day, I returned to the same pond to find the ice had thawed. Several other birds had moved in during the day. While observing the birds, this male Buffelhead Duck spent much of the day, paddling downstream in the pond, feeding occasionally. Once he reached the end, he would fly to the other end of the pond, and repeat the process. I did manage to capture this one image as he was taking flight from the end of the pond.

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Buffelhead Duck Taking Flight, Bosque Del Apache.

There are several other animals that may be found in New Mexico. I found this Javelina crossing the road to join a group of Javelina grazing in the field to the left.

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Javelina Crossing Road, Bosque Del Apache.

Towards the end of the day, a Roadrunner approached me. It seemed that this Roadrunner was working one stretch of road that runs between two ponds. This is one image that I captured close to sunset.

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Roadrunner At Roadside, Bosque Del Apache.

At the end of daylight, I headed out of the refuge for some dinner. The sun had set behind the mountains to the west of the refuge. However, the last rays for sunlight lit up the few remaining clouds in the sky.

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After Sunset, Bosque Del Apache.

More to come.

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During our afternoon trip to Reynold’s Landing, we discovered a Lesser Scaup (a duck), that was diving for food in the river. I managed to get reasonably close to the Scaup as it dived below the surface. After watching the Scaup’s behavior, I decided to attempt a sequence of several consecutive images from the start of the dive until the the scaup was underwater. After many attempts, I eventually managed to capture a complete sequence from start.

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Lesser Scaup, South Platte River.

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Lesser Scaup, Diving Sequence 1.

2943-0125-Lesser-Scaup-Diving-Sequence-2
Lesser Scaup, Diving Sequence 2.

2943-0126-Lesser-Scaup-Diving-Sequence-3
Lesser Scaup, Diving Sequence 3.

2943-0127-Lesser-Scaup-Diving-Sequence-4
Lesser Scaup, Diving Sequence 4.

2943-0128-Lesser-Scaup-Diving-Sequence-5
Lesser Scaup, Diving Sequence 5.

2943-0129-Lesser-Scaup-Diving-Sequence-6
Lesser Scaup, Diving Sequence 6.

2943-0130-Lesser-Scaup-Diving-Sequence-7
Lesser Scaup, Diving Sequence 7.

2943-0131-Lesser-Scaup-Diving-Sequence-8
Lesser Scaup, Diving Sequence 8.

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Kingfisher Along South Platte River

Ten days ago we headed out to Reynold’s Landing, along the South Platte River. Soon after passing the pond, I heard a Belted Kingfisher calling. It turned out that this Kingfisher was fishing at the pond. Here is a sequence of three images as this Kingfisher was hunting for food.

2943-0024-Kingfisher-Hunitng-South-Platte-No-1
Kingfisher Hunting, South Platte, No 1.

Saw something…

2943-0025-Kingfisher-Hunting-South-Platte-No-2
Kingfisher Hunting, South Platte, No 2.

And diving.

2943-0026-Kingfisher-Hunting-South-Platte-Dive
Kingfisher Hunting, South Platte, Dive.

Whilst watching this Kingfisher, he caught four critters from the pond. Probably crawdads.

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Some Birds From November

During November, I made several trips to the South Platte River and to Chatfield State Park, so that I can improve some bird photography. Here is a collection of some of the more interesting birds that I re-discovered.

2915-0001-Kildeer-South-Platte-River
Kildeer, South Platte River.

2915-0024-Green-Winged-Teal-South-Platte
Green-Winged Teal, South Platte.

These two Kildeer were chasing each other along the river. I was fortunate to capture the far one as it came to land.

2915-0030-Kildeer-Pair-With-Landing-South-Platte
Kildeer Pair, With Landing, South Platte.

2915-0032-Kildeer-Pair-South-Platte
Kildeer Pair, South Platte.

2915-0057-Gadwall-South-Platte-River
Gadwall, South Platte River.

On one day, I spent a couple of hours at Chatfield State Park. This White-Crowned Sparrow spent some 5-10 minutes in one bush, allowing me to capture lots of images. This one bird was the highlight of that visit to the park!

2916-0010-White-Crowned-Sparrow-Chatfield
White-Crowned Sparrow, Chatfield.

Back to the South Platte on another occasion. There are many Mallards in the South Platte River, year round, so I done often attempt to photograph them. However, sometimes I manage to capture an unusual display.

2919-0008-Female-Mallard-Flapping-Wings-South-Platte
Female Mallard, Flapping Wings, South Platte.

2919-0029-American-Wigeon-South-Platte-River
American Wigeon, South Platte River.

On that day, I also found a female and male Buffelhead duck.

2919-0035-Female-Buffelhead-South-Platte-River
Female Buffelhead, South Platte River.

2919-0044-Male-Buffelhead-South-Platte-River
Male Buffelhead, South Platte River.

I found a pair of Mallards feeding. This is the usual position as they dip down to bottom feed in the river. Well timed!

2919-0048-Mallards-Feeding-South-Platte-River
Mallards Feeding, South Platte River.

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Iceland, 2023 — East Coast, contd.

Continuing with my trip to Iceland… During the trip to make images of the wild seas along the east coast, I stopped by one of the inshore lakes that served as a habitat for some swans. During previous trips to Iceland, I attempted to make some images of swans in the wild. Unfortunately the Icelandic swans are very skittish, so as I approached them, they either moved further away or flew away. For the following images, the lakeside was very close to the car. I could make these images without leaving the car, after rolling down the window.

2891-0004-Family-Of-Swans-Iceland
Family Of Swans, Iceland.

As I wrote previously, gale force winds were pumping in the south and east of Iceland. In the image below, the swans were struggling to make headway against the wind. Looking at the surface of the water, one can see the waves created by the strong winds.

2891-0019-Swans-Swimming-Against-The-Wind-Iceland
Swans Swimming Against The Wind, Iceland.

After shooting the rough seas, I headed back to the hostel. These seven horses had lined up near the edge of the farmer’s field.

2892-0006-Seven-Horses-East-Coast-Iceland
Seven Horses, East Coast Iceland.

This was my last day in the hostel at Vagnasstaðir, and the following morning I had to complete a 600km trip to Dalvik, in the north of Iceland. I was up before dawn and headed out after a quick breakfast. As I was driving a few kilometers down the road, the sunrise had started with red, orange and coral colors in the morning sky. In the distance is the Vestrahorn, with a tidal lagoon in the foreground.

2894-0020-Sunrise-At-Vagnasstatir
Sunrise At Vagnasstatir.

On the far side of Vestrahorn, one passes “The Red Chair” that is attached to a rock outcrop along the road side.

2895-0001-The-Red-Chair-East-Iceland
The Red Chair, East Iceland.

Eventually, I arrived at the hostel in Dalvik late in the day. The east coast of Iceland contains may fjords, so the roads usually follow the coastline that is absolutely spectacular. The final leg of the trip between Egilsstaðir and Akureyri was on snow-covered roads. This was the coldest part of the journey where the temperature dropped below freezing (6˚F or -14˚Celsius). I passed several cars that were abandoned on the roadside, because their drivers chose to leave the firm road surface; those cars had become bogged down in the softer road shoulders!

During my two days at Dalvik, I made some trips to some close-by towns. Returning from Husavik, I stopped along the road close to the following treeline.

2902-0100-Trees-In-The-Mist-Along-Field-Near-Husavik
Trees In The Mist Along Field Near Husavik.

Looking back along the road from Husavik, I noticed a rainbow over the road. The morning air was really cold and laden with water vapor, ice and water droplets. These was the source for the frozen rainbow!

2902-0113-Frozen-Rainbow-In-The-Mist
Frozen Rainbow In The Mist.

Later that evening, I returned to the hostel at Dalvik. The sun was setting behind the mountains on the western side of Dalvik, creating the most amazing sunset.

2904-0013-Sunset-Over-The-Mountains-Dalvik
Sunset Over The Mountains. Dalvik.

That concludes the images from my Iceland trip.

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Iceland, 2023 – South Iceland, contd.

Continuing with my trip to Iceland… While in Vik, I made an early morning visit to Skogafoss. It had been raining most of the way there, and it continued to rain after arriving. After waiting for the rain to clear, I decided to abandon this site. However, the next day was clear of rain, so I headed back to make a great image of the sunrise.

2877-0010-Skogafoss-Sunrise
Skogafoss Sunrise.

About the time there was a major weather change over Iceland. Along the south coast, gale force winds had developed. This caused many road closures, over a 3 or 4 day period, until the winds weakened. I managed to make the following image of the main water fall at Skogafoss. It was really windy here, even with a camera on a tripod. However, other photographers were not so lucky — I did see one tripod blown over, with the sound of breaking glass, probably causing a broken filter.

2877-0001-Skogafoss
Skogafoss.

Returning to Vik, I had breakfast at the hostel. Several hostel visitors that I met had left early that morning so they could complete their journey in case they were delayed by road closures. Later I headed east and stopped at another waterfall, Stjornarfoss, that I had visited during a previous visit to Iceland. This waterfall faces south and is located in a short canyon. Even here, there were strong gusts of wind that blew from the north over the waterfall.

2877-0012-Stjornarfoss
Stjornarfoss.

Returning to the car, I passed by the following curved treeline. The low autumn sun cast long shadows, even in the middle of the day.

2877-0026-Autumn-Shadows-Stjornarfoss
Autumn Shadows, Stjornarfoss.

Returning to Vik later that afternoon, the road leading west out of Vik was closed because of the high winds. There were many travelers in tour buses that had stopped at the main shopping center in Vik, taking a break before resuming their journey towards Reykjavik later that day.

The following day was my turn to move the the next hostel location at Vagnasstaðir, closer to Hðfn, along the southeast coast. I then proceeded to Vestrahorn, a location that I had missed during previous visits to Iceland. Many beaches in Iceland have black beaches, as a result of black sands originating from volcanic and igneous activity on the island. In this image, I found a location where the yellow grasses grew on the black sand dunes — this provided a nice contrast of the yellow against the black.

2885-0033-Afternoon-At-Vestrahorn
Afternoon At Vestrahorn.

During my stay there, we had a snow storm during the first night. During the course of the next day, there was a rain/snow mix, that eventually melted by the end of the day. I did manage to get some clothes washed and shopped for some groceries.

The following day, the snow and rain had cleared, so I decided to head towards Jokulsarlon. This is a location when the Vatnajokull (glacier) calves into a lagoon. At low tide, icebergs are carried out to the sea. Later these icebergs are washed up onto the beach when the tide rises. This stretch of beach is often called “Diamond Beach”. Here I made several images of the icebergs as the rising sun shines through the ice.

2887-0029-Beached-Icebergs-Jokulsarlon
Beached Icebergs, Jokulsarlon.

Even though the snow and rain had stopped, the high winds continued to blow from the north. This gave me a great opportunity of capturing the rough seas as the waves rolled into the coast. The high winds created lots of spray from the surf allowing some backlit waves to be captured. Absolutely spectacular!

2887-0146-Rough-Seas-At-Jokulsarlon
Rough Seas At Jokulsarlon.

Later that day, I headed back towards Hðfn and past Vestrahorn, to the east coast. Along the route, I made images of the snow covered mountains.

2889-0007-Snow-Covered-Mountains-Near-Hofn
Snow Covered Mountains Near Hofn.

There was very little snow along the east coast. However, I stopped at one location to make images of the breaking waves as the wind carried the spray aloft from the breaking surf. In the following image, I took shelter behind rocks below a low hill. Again, some really spectacular conditions.

2890-0039-Gale-Force-Winds-East-Iceland-No-1
Gale Force Winds, East Iceland, No 1.

After making images here, I decided to head further up the coast. I found a parking lot, located above the cliff top. At this location, the winds were even stronger. Also, I had no place where I could shelter, so I had to lean backwards against the wind when capturing images so I didn’t get blown over the cliff!!!

2890-0112-Gale-Force-Winds-East-Iceland-No-2
Gale Force Winds, East Iceland, No 2.

These proved to be another location with spectacular waves.

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Iceland, 2023 — Snaefellsnes,contd.

Continuing on my journeys through Iceland… On day 3, I made a brief stop to capture some of the wetlands close to Kirjufell.

2867-0072-Kirkjufell-And-Wetlands-Sunrise
Kirkjufell And Wetlands. Sunrise.

Then I headed out beyond Kirkjufell, towards the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Here is the view of Snaefellsnes Jokull. This is the glacier above a dormant volcano.

2868-0013-View-Towards-Snaefellsnes-Jokull
View Towards Snaefellsnes Jokull (Glacier).

As I approached a town, Rif, I noticed this waterfall that is fed from the snowmelt of the glacier.

2868-0040-Svodufoss
Svodufoss (Waterfall), Snaefellsness.

After passing through Snaefellsnes National Park, I visited this abandoned farmhouse. This is a site that I have visited several times in the past — it becomes even more dilapidated and covered with more graffiti with each visit!

2868-0124-Abandoned-Farmhouse-Snaefellsness
Abandoned Farmhouse, Snaefellsness.

On the return trip to Grundarfjorður, I stopped at the beach near Latravik. The foreground shadow was slowly creeping along the berm as the sun dropped lower behind the mountains behind me.

2869-0011-Beach-Berm-And-Road-Latravik
Beach Berm And Road, Latravik.

It was close to low tide when I walked down the beach. The beach is formed from black volcanic sands that are the result of volcanic activity in Iceland over the millennia. This beach had several pools that I could use to include some reflections of the clouds.

2869-0029-Pool-On-Beach-Latravik
Pool On Beach, Latravik.

In the following image, the edge of the pool had interesting patterns created by the ripples of the beach sand.

2869-0069-Another-Beach-Pool-Latravik
Another Beach Pool, Latravik.

There is one feature close to this beach that I captured the day before — A Giant Padlock. This padlock is the main feature of the gate that leads to the berm that I captured.

ip11-7117-Big-Padlock-West-Iceland
Big Padlock, West Iceland

However, there are several padlocks that adorn the gate, including one on the left side of the giant padlock!

ip11-7118-Big-Padlock-More-Padlocks
Big Padlock, More Padlocks.

In the final image, I captured the road and the berm framed by the hasp of the giant padlock.

ip11-7120-Through-The-Hasp
Through The Hasp.

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Iceland, 2023

This last October, I made another trip to Iceland. After arriving in Keflavik airport and renting a car, I headed to Reykjavik. My flight had arrived an hour earlier than scheduled. Having visited several times in the past, I knew my way around the city. I entered the center of the city by means of the road along the waterfront. It was sunrise by the time I reached the city. Along the waterfront is the “Sun Warrior” sculpture, that was lit by the sunrise. Fortunately there were no crowds in the area, so I was able to capture the following image.

ip11-3667-Sun-Warrior-Reykjavik
Sun Warrior, Reykjavik.

After visiting Sun Warrior, I had some breakfast and then headed out to a fjord. This would give me the opportunity of taking a nap during the day to overcome jet lag and make some photographs.

“Hvalfjorður” is a fjord some 30 kms north of Reykjavik. The road around this fjord was part of the ring road until a tunnel was constructed to cross the fjord in the 1990’s. I always like to visit this fjord since it is a short drive from Reykjavik. A bit of history: during World War 2, this fjord was used as an allied naval base.

2860-0052-Nature-Reserve-Hvalfjordur
Nature Reserve, Hvalfjorður.

I made my way around the fjord. This is a really pretty drive with some great scenery. One of my favorite spots along the road is the “Laxa i Kjos” (salmon river). This river is a crossed by a single-lane bridge that passes small waterfalls as the river makes its way down to the fjord.

2860-0001-Laxa-i-Kjos-River-Hvalfjordur
Laxa i Kjos River, Hvalfjorður.

Later, I managed to get a nap and then returned to Reykjavik. I spent some time near the harbor, where I made this image of the Harpa Concert Hall.

ip11-7096-Harpa-Concert-Hall-Reykjavik
Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik.

This concert hall has glass windows that has colored panes in random locations. Here is one of the images that I made inside the hall, that shows some details of the windows.

2861-0007-Harpa-Concert-Hall-Window-Detail
Harpa Concert Hall Window Detail.

The next morning, I headed to the next destination, again passing through Hvalfjorður. Here is another image that I made of the waterfall.

2862-0004-Waterfall-Laxa-i-Kjos
Waterfall, Laxa i Kjos.

En route to Grundarfjorður, there were a couple of herds of Icelandic horses along the roadside.

2864-0013-Horses-West-Iceland
Horses, West Iceland.

I parked the car at a close by parking area and made my way towards the horses. There were two groups of horses; one on each side of the road. As I approached the fence, several horses made their way to greet me. I had the opportunity of capture several images of these wonderful horses.

2864-0047-Pair-Of-Horses-West-Iceland
Pair Of Horses, West Iceland.

After arriving in Grundarfjorður, and checking into the hostel, I headed to Kirkjufell that is located just outside the town. Here is one of the images that I made here.

2866-0003-Kirkjufell-Near-Sunset
Kirjufell, Near Sunset.

More to come.

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Fall Colors, 2023

This week, I spent a couple of days in the Gunnison area to make some images of the Colorado Fall colors. After arriving at Taylor Reservoir, the aspen on the far bank had taken on their fall colors.

2855-0005-Aspen-Fall-Colors-Taylor-Reservoir-No-1
Aspen Fall Colors, Taylor Reservoir, No 1.

Above the dam wall, there is a rock wall and a line of aspen growing up the slope. In previous years, I never managed to get a decent image that shows the contrast between the gray cliff face and the yellow aspen.

2855-0013-Aspen-Fall-Colors-Taylor-Reservoir-No-2
Aspen Fall Colors, Taylor Reservoir, No 2.

After reaching Gunnison, I setup a tent at the campsite and then headed north into the Ohio Creek valley. In the Gunnison area, there are plenty of cottonwood, willows and other trees (apart from aspen) that typically have fabulous fall colors. This is one location that I often visit. This year I stopped along the roadside. After a few minutes, I noticed the following scene where the trees lined the creek. I had never captured images at this particular location. The angle of the sun created perfect backlight and shadows for this scene.

2855-0036-Fall-Colors-Ohio-Creek-Near-Gunnison
Fall Colors, Ohio Creek, Near Gunnison.

From this location, I headed further to the base of Ohio Pass. This location always has great fall colors. I this following image, I focused my attention on the red and gold colors of these trees.

2855-0046-Aspen-Red-And-Gold-Ohio-Pass
Aspen, Red And Gold, Ohio Pass.

The west side of the road always offers fabulous backlighting in the afternoon sun. I framed these small aspen trees between the two large aspen trunks.

2855-0052-Backlit-Aspen-Ohio-Creek
Backlit Aspen, Ohio Creek.

There are also willow bushes that still had green summer colors that contrasted with the golden yellow aspens.

2855-0053-Aspen-And-Willow-Ohio-Creek
Aspen And Willow, Ohio Creek.

In the following scene, I looks like the sun is lighting the center of the trees, but casting a dark shadow around the rim of the trees.

2855-0079-Backlit-Aspen-Trees-Ohio-Creek-No-2
Backlit Aspen Trees, Ohio Creek, No 2,

Across the far side of the valley, a huge pine forest dominated the landscape. However, there was a gap that created a triangular sliver of light in the field.

2855-0092-Triangle-Of-Light-Ohio-Creek-Valley
Triangle Of Light, Ohio Creek Valley.

From here, I made my way up Ohio Pass. As I rounded a bend, I came across the following scene where the low sunlight grazed the top of the trees. A few minutes later, the trees were in shadow.

2855-0095-Last-Rays-Of-Sunlight-Ohio-Pass
Last Rays Of Sunlight, Ohio Pass.

At the top of the pass is another pine forest. This was the first time that I noticed the low sun picking out the red ground cover.

2855-0108-Pine-And-Ground-Cover-Ohio-Pass
Pine And Ground Cover, Ohio Pass.

These two days were great for viewing the fall colors. Mid-week was great because of less traffic and fewer visitors than would be the case for weekends.

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Almost Got Away

These ones almost got away! I prepared this selection of images in August, but never posted. We often visit Reynold’s Landing, along the South Platte River. I always check out the pond located to the one side of the river. This time, I found this Snowy Egret close to the edge of the pond. I liked his pose as it was looking for food.

2846-0006-Snowy-Egret-Pond-Reynolds-Landing-No-1
Snowy Egret, Pond, Reynold’s Landing. No 1.

These egret struck some interesting poses. Here is another one.

2846-0012-Snowy-Egret-Pond-Reynolds-Landing-No-2
Snowy Egret, Pond, Reynold’s Landing. No 2.

Close to a weir, we found this Night Heron. After several minutes, this heron got his leg up, so I managed to capture this image.

2846-0019-Night-Heron-Leg-Up-South-Platte
Night Heron, Leg Up, South Platte.

This cormorant spent a good half hour preening. Several times, the bird spread its wings. This was one image that I captured before the cormorant took flight.

2846-0045-Cormorant-Spreading-Wings-South-Platte
Cormorant, Spreading Wings, South Platte.

We found a couple of Say’s Phoebe along the riverside. This bird is an immature, as witnessed by the fluffy feathers.

2848-0062-Says-Phoebe-Immature-No-1
Say’s Phoebe, Immature, No 1.

Here is another image of this bird.

2848-0079-Says-Phoebe-Immature-No-2
Say’s Phoebe, Immature, No 2.

The other Phoebe was buzzing around close by. Eventually, chasing this one away!

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Great Blue Heron Action Sequence

Yesterday afternoon, we headed down to Reynold’s Landing on the South Platte River, hoping to do some birding after watching the football game. It was pretty quiet along the river, with maybe 3 groups of people tubing down the river. We spotted the usual night herons and snowy egret. After most of the tubers had passed, we spotted a Great Blue Heron. I had been wanting to capture some different behavior of this fabulous bird. So I just waited to see what happened. The heron was perched or a log, gazing up an down the river.

2853-0038-Great-Blue-Heron-Sequence-No-1
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 1.

All of a sudden, the heron appeared to take flight.

Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 3.
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 2.

But it was just one big hop…

2853-0041-Great-Blue-Heron-Sequence-No-3
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 3.

To the other end of the log!

2853-0042-Great-Blue-Heron-Sequence-No-4
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 4.

And then landing.

2853-0044-Great-Blue-Heron-Sequence-No-5
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 5.

To resume gazing downstream!

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Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 6.

Even though we spent just over an hour at the river, we had fun watching just a few birds. The Great Blue made my day!

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Storms Over The Eastern Plains

May was one of the rainiest months of the year, with huge storms over the Eastern Plains. Last Saturday, the sky was full of storm clouds, so I headed out to Bennett. I captured this image north of Bennett; this is close to the flight path out of the DIA airport. You may even spot an airplane in front of one huge clouds in this image.

2830-0004-Storm-North-Of-Bennett
Storm North Of Bennett.

Soon I headed east, so I could return to Bennett. Along the roadside, the strong winds kicked up a dust-storm on one of the plowed fields. This was spectacular against the dark clouds.

2830-0009-Dust-Storm-On-Agricultural-Fields-Near-Bennett
Dust Storm On Agricultural Fields, Near Bennett.

From here, I headed south, through Bennett and then to Kiowa. South of Kiowa, I found another huge storm cloud that stretched all the way from Colorado Springs to Bennett, against a deep blue sky.

2830-0013-Storm-Clouds-From-Colorado-Spring-To-Bennett
Storm Clouds from Colorado To Bennett.

This next image that showed the full height of the storm above me.

2830-0020-Storm-Cloud-Colorado-Spings-To-Bennett
Storm Clouds Colorado Springs To Bennett.

Soon it was time to turn back. Across the road where I had parked, was this half-dead tree in front of a roadside pond. This was lit up by the late afternoon sun, just before becoming obscured by clouds.

2830-0025-Half-Dead-Tree-Under-Storm-Clouds
Half Dead Tree Under Storm Clouds.

Fortunately, I was able to make this image, with the trees and fresh spring grasses, against a storm laden sky.

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Night Herons on the South Platte River

While out daughter Susan was visiting us, the two of us took a trip to the South Platte river to see what birds we could find. After finding a Night Heron, she became entranced by these birds fishing among the rocks. It turned out that there were 5 Black-Crowned Night Herons spread out across the width of the river! What luck. We spent most of the next hour watching these herons as the they were fishing.

2825-0018-Black-Crowned-Night-Heron-South-Platte
Black-Crowned Night Heron. South Platte.

These birds are really amazing to watch. Look as those bulging eyes that I managed to capture in the following image.

2825-0025-Night-Heron-Hunitng-South-Platte
Night Heron, Hunting, South Platte.

This was the heron closest to where were sitting close to the bank of the river. Soon the heron spread its wings an did some rock hopping to move to a new location.

2825-0042-Night-Heron-Rock-Hopping
Night Heron, Rock Hopping.

Here the heron continued fishing. Success at last, as it caught something from the river! Susan saw several herons catching some prey. I only managed to get one decent image, with the heron swallowing prey.

2825-0047-Night-Heron-Caught-Some-Prey
Night Heron, Caught Some Prey.

After munching on the food, this heron did some rock hopping. I captured this heron in mid-stride.

2825-0070-Night-Heron-Mid-Stride-No-1
Night Heron, Mid-Stride, No 1.

Here is the next image in mid-stride.

2825-0071-Night-Heron-Mid-Stride-No-2
Night Heron, Mid-Stride, No 2.

Finally, this heron resumed fishing from the next rock!

2825-0072-Night-Heron-Resuming-Fishing-South-Plattle
Night Heron, Resume Fishing, South Platte.

We both enjoyed the time spent observing these herons as they went about hunting for fish and other critters swimming in the Platte River.

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The Egrets Are Back!

Last week, I headed out to Westerly Creek to checkout the latest arrivals. From the parking area, I headed down to the creek and across the bridge where Westerly Creek meets up with the Sand Creek. Here were the usual birds that I had been seeing during the last month, including Robins, Widgeons and Mallards. After I had turned back, two Snowy Egrets landed in the creek. I managed to make an image of one egret who was visible on the far bank.

2821-0007-Snowy-Egret-Sand-Creek
Snowy Egret, Sand Creek.

After returning to the parking area, I headed to another location along Westerly Creek, where there is a pond alongside the creek. Having spotted an egret in the pond, I made my way down to the pond. When fishing (or hunting), Snowy Egrets typically stir up the floor of a pond, hoping to dislodge some live tasty food!

2821-0017-Snowy-Egret-Stirring-Pond-Westerly-Creek
Snowy Egret, Stirring Pond Westerly Creek.

In the image above, the bubbles below the egret above, were caused by the egret when stirring up the floor of the pond. After finding a tasty morsel, this egret soon decided to investigate the cattails along the far bank of the pond.

2821-0022-Snowy-Egret-In-Cattails-Westerly-Creek
Snowy Egret In Cattails Westerly Creek.

After a while, this egret returned towards the center of the pond.

2821-0028-Snowy-Egret-Wading-Westerly-Creek-No-1
Snowy Egret Wading Westerly Creek, No 1.

I soon learned that there was a second egret located on my side of the pond. The second egret was obscured by the cattails in front of me.

2821-0030-Snowy-Egret-Wading-Westerly-Creek-No-2
Snowy Egret Wading Westerly Creek, No 2.

Here is another image of the same egret. Snowy Egrets can easily be identified — they have yellow feet or “yellow slippers”.

2821-0035-Snowy-Egret-Hunting-Westerly-Creek
Snowy Egret Hunting Westerly Creek.

This afternoon we headed out to the South Platte River. After walking south from the parking lot we heard many birds, but they proved difficult to find. We head back, and then continued north. What luck, we found a Snowy Egret at the weir.

2823-0012-Snowy-Egret-Fishing-South-Platte-River
Snowy Egret Fishing, South Platte River.

Yes, the Egrets are back for the season.

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Monte Vista — 2023

Earlier this month, we took a birding trip to Monte Vista. Every year, at this time of year, Sandhill Cranes make their way north to their summer breeding areas. Monte Vista is one location where thousands of cranes stop over during their flight from New Mexico.

The city also hosts an annual Crane Festival. This year we decided to visit before the festival started. It was the 40th anniversary of the festival, so we chose to avoid the expected crowds.

For our first morning, we headed out to the National Wildlife Refuge at dawn, well before sunrise.

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Pair Of Sandhill Cranes, Taking Flight, Monte Vista.

The cranes spend the night in the the ponds, where they are safe from any predators. Hundreds of Canada Geese also spend the night in the same ponds. About the time of sunrise, the take flight, either singly or in family groups, to daily feeding grounds. I managed to capture some of these magnificent birds in flight.

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Sandhill Crane In Flight, Monte Vista Ponds.

In the following image, the single crane took flight. In the background there are five cranes — all out of focus. I like the contrast of the four out-of-focus birds with the wings swept up above the single bird, contrasting with the wings swept down of the out-of-focus single bird.

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Single Sandhill Crane At Sunrise.

Around the edges of the ponds are plenty of cattails. Hundreds of Red-Winged Blackbirds also spent the night in these cattails. There was an amazing cacophony of sound as the birds were chattering and calling from the cattails.

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Male Red-Winged Blackbird, Calling, On Cattails.

Typically, there are male blackbirds that have migrated to the ponds, while they await female birds to arrive. I did manage to find one female Red-Winged Blackbird, perched on a cattail.

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Female Red-Winged Blackbird, Monte Vista.

This year we were lucky in finding a male Great-Horned owl during the late afternoon. They are really difficult to see clearly because they often perch close to the main tree trunk and are often tucked between other branches. Luckily, this owl was perched in a tree close to the road. They may also roost in trees far from the roads during the day. They are so well camouflaged that they become invisible.

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Great Horned Owl, Monte Vista NWR.

During the other mornings, we headed out well before sunrise. Here are some more images of family groups of Sandhill Cranes leaving the ponds.

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Sandhill Crane Family, Taking Flight.

And here is a family threesome taking flight against the dawn sky.

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Three Sandhill Cranes, Monte Vista NWR.

We spent three nights and four days in Monte vista. However, for days two and three, there were strong cold winds blowing across the San Luis Valley, often kicking up dust from the dirt roads and ploughed fields. Regardless, we still enjoyed birding for all four days.

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Birds In Flight, South Platte, February 2023

Winter is always a good time to view ducks and other waterbirds along the South Platte River. Now for something a little different. Mallards and Canada Geese are really plentiful species along the river. As a result, I don’t usually make photographs of these birds. However, this month I did find one female Mallard that was preening herself and flapping her wings at the riverside. I could not resist making some images of this one individual duck.

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Female Mallard Swept Wing No 1, South Platte.

Those blue tail feathers are really striking in the above image. Here is another image with swept back wings.

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Female Mallard Swept Wing No 2, South Platte.

Here is another image that shows equally spectacular wing detail of this magnificent bird.

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Female Mallard Flapping Wings, South Platte.

On another morning, I found this Canada Goose that was flapping its wings while standing in the water. This might prove interesting. There were several geese in the area, so I may get lucky to catch some geese in flight.

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Canada Goose Flapping Wings, South Platte.

Sure enough, the flock of geese took flight. I managed to capture a whole sequence of images. Here is the leading pair of geese taking flight.

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Canada Geese Taking Flight, South Platte.

I continued tracking the geese, with this one being the last in the sequence.

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Canada Geese In Flight, South Platte.

Later that morning, I was watching a male Buffelhead duck in the river, when he suddenly decided to take flight. These are small ducks, so the move very fast. Here is an image soon after he leaves the water, paddling with his feet.

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Buffelhead Duck Taking Flight, South Platte.

A few moments later, he had successful taken flight. Here is one image as he was fully out of the water.

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Buffelhead Duck In Flight, South Platte.

It is always a challenge to capture images of birds in flight. So I was happy with these few images from this month.

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Winter Evening Walk, 2023

At this time of year, I usually take a walk through the neighborhood, usually in the evening after work, and sometimes at the weekend. Last weekend I chose a different route, where a bridge crosses one of the local “ditches”. Close by, there are several large sumac bushes that we covered with bright red berries.

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Sumac Berries In Winter.

Crossing the bridge, there is a collection of love locks attached to the bridge. That red lock just grabbed my attention, so I made this image of a cluster of three locks.

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Love Locks On Neighborhood Bridge.

The route continued through the hospital and then to Harvard Gulch Park. Sometimes, I head down to the stream that flows though the gulch. Here that are some interesting rocks that have pink and gray coloring.

2792-0014-Rocks-In-Harvard-Gulch
Rocks In Harvard Gulc

The edges of the gulch are covered with long grasses that reach down to the water’s edge. During the winter, these grasses, turn pale yellow and make a great monochromatic image.

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Winter Grasses Along Harvard Gulch.

The park is separated from a golf course by this long fence. Looking up the fence, there was a hint of blue sky behind mostly overcast skies. Another candidate for a black and white image.

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Fence Along Harvard Gulch Park.

Reaching the top of the fence, I decided to shoot another image as the fence curved to the right.

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Park On The Left, Golf To The Right.

From here, I headed across the park. Close the the far edge, was a huge patch of snow and ice, that had been melting during the course for the day, forming a pool of water and ice. Gaps in the ice, where water had melted, allowed nearby trees to be reflected in the pool.

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Icy Tree Reflections, Harvard Gulch Park.

Sometimes I take a detour through one of the alleys. In one of these alleys is this colorful scarecrow.

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Scarecrow In The Alley.

It was close the sunset, so that was the last image of the day.

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Winter Storm Over South Park

This winter, we have had several snow storms in the Denver area, with the mountains receiving even more storms. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to head into the mountains, near South Park, where I hoped to experience some storm action! Heading out on highway 285, as I approached Bailey, the storm was dumping snow on the mountains south of the town. I left the highway to find a location above the town that offered a clear view to the south. The soft filtered sun lit up some snow clouds in the valleys to the south.

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Winter Storm Near Bailey.

Rejoining the highway, I headed up Kenosha Pass and on towards to South Park. At Como, I left the highway to join the dirt road that leads to Boreas Pass. At this point, there was some clearing of the clouds that allowed the blue sky to peek through. Stopping there, I made the following image.

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Winter Storm At Como.

For grins, I decided to head towards Boreas Pass for some more exploration. At the base of the pass, the road was closed for the season — typically this would be from November through to May. Boreas Pass was once the route of the narrow gauge railroad that connected the mountain mining town of Breckenridge to Como. Stopping at the roadside, I made this image. The falling snow progressive reduces visibility into the distance. This results in a nice layering of the mountain ridges receding into the distance.

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Snow Storm At Weston Pass.

Heading back, I rejoined highway 285 and headed south. There are large areas of South Park that did not have snow covering the ground. The mountain grasslands had turned into a pale yellow, as in this image. It was great to see the contrast between the yellows and blues whenever a patch of blue sky opened up in the clouds overhead.

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Storm Over South Park.

Looking back towards the west, a snow storm was raging near Weston Pass.

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Storm Brewing Near Weston Pass.

Soon it was time to head back. I made my way towards Hartsel and Fairplay. Along the road was a sign to Tomahawk State Wildlife Area, that is located on a ridge above the park. This needed some more exploration, so I headed up the dirt road. By this time the sun was getting low, close to sunset. From this location, I could make out the Collegiate Peaks in the far distance. A the sun dropped lower in the sky, the clouds started turning yellow from the setting sun.

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Storm Over Collegiate Peaks.

A few minutes later I started to head back. From this point, I was driving in light to heavy snow for most of the journey home.

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Joshua Tree NP, 2022, contd.

Continuing with my visit, I made this image near the Hemingway parking lot. This area appeared to be popular with rock climbers — they were busy climbing the granite rocks that are on the left side of the image. I like this image as a black and white monochrome image because of the long shadows of the late afternoon.

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Boulders Near Hemingway Parking Lot.

Earlier that same morning, I found this bouquet of flowers that were growing from a fracture in the shaded side of a granite boulder pile near Quail Springs.

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Bouquet Of Flowers In Fractured Boulder.

While visiting the Cholla Garden, I made several images of the Teddy Bear Cholla. Could not resist those spiny needles backlit by the afternoon sun.

2771-0216-Teddy-Bear-Cholla-Backlit-Limb-Joshua-Tree-NP
Teddy Bear Cholla, Backlit Limb, Joshua Tree NP.

The old parts of the cholla plant have turned a dark-brown color. Hidden in the shaded, dark side, of the plant, were some bright spiny needles. These were complimented by the colorful remains of the flowers and cholla fruit.

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Teddy Bear Cholla, The Dark Side, Joshua Tree NP.

About half an hour before sunset, I found a location where there was a Yukka plant and Joshua tree casting very long shadows on the ground. The sun was about to star setting behind the hills to the left, so I hurriedly setup my camera. I made this image about five minutes before the sun disappeared behind the hills. By the time I had reached the truck, about 100 yards away, this area was in shade.

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Five Minutes Before Sunset, Joshua Tree NP.

The following morning, I made my way to Quail Springs, heading towards a valley where Joshua Trees stretched out into the distance. This was one image looking back towards the path that I took.

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Sunrise Near Quail Springs.

I stopped by another Cholla bush that was catching the light of the sunrise.

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Cholla At Sunrise, Joshua Tree NP.

Most of this area of the park had lots of live Joshua Trees. However, I did find this dead tree in the shadow of a slight ridge in the ground.

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Sunrise Near Fallen Joshua Tree.

After returning to the truck, it was time to leave for Oxnard, where I had another visit scheduled for the afternoon lunch break!

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Joshua Tree NP, 2022

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at Joshua Tree National Park while on a road trip to California. It was late in the day when I arrived at Yukka Valley, so by the time I headed into the park, the sun had already set. The next morning I headed to the park, arriving just as the sun was rising above the granite hills. I made my way along a trail where I found this yukka plant, adorned with a long stem that flowered in some earlier season.

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Yukka At Sunrise, Joshua Tree NP.

The park is named after the Joshua Tree. Here is one of the first images that I made of a Joshua Tree that morning.

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Joshua Tree At Sunrise, Joshua Tree NP.

I found a pair of Joshua Trees. In this image, the sun was low in the sky. Moving around, I made sure that the sun was located behind the trunk of the tree and created a silhouette of the two trees.

2771-0029-Joshua-Tree-Silhouette-At-Sunrise
Joshua Tree Silhouette At Sunrise.

The higher elevations of the park are formed over granite intrusions. I found this granite boulder lit by the morning sun against a wall of granite that had vertical fractures resulting from erosion over the ages.

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Granite Boulders, Joshua Tree NP.

This was my second season visiting the park, so I headed down a track that led to Wall Street Mill. While exploring the area, I had a familiar tapping sound. Soon I discovered this Ladderback Woodpecker feeding on bugs in a Joshua Tree. The woodpecker was working up through the tree, allowing me to approach closely. Soon the bird reached the tree top, where it perched awhile before finding another tree.

2771-0208-Ladderback-Woodpecker-On-Joshua-Tree
Ladderback Woodpecker On Joshua Tree.

At a lower elevation of the park, which is much warmer that the higher Mohave Desert area, is the Cholla Cactus Garden. On this visit, I reached the garden in the afternoon, when the sun was low in the sky. The Teddy Bear Cholla look like a forest of cactii! I like how the low sun lights the cholla spines in this image.

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Cholla Garden, Joshua Tree NP.

I made another closeup image of one of the cholla plants.

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Teddy Bear Cholla Closeup.

I had decided to leave the macro lens at home for this trip. However, I did bring a Lensbaby lens that allows a softfocus image to be created. It also had a limited macro capability. I used this to get close to a shaded area of one the cholla, where the remains of the flowers and fruit were located.

2771-0277-Teddy-Bear-Cholla-Fruit
Teddy Bear Cholla Fruit.

Teddy Bear Cholla have nasty spines. Occasionally, a ball of spines fall from the cholla, and roll around the ground. One got attached to my boot so I had to work it off without touching the spines. They can be very painful! In this image below, I decided to focus on the distant cholla heads, leaving the closer cholla soft and fuzzy.

2771-0285-Backlit-Cholla-Joshua-Tree-NP
Backlit Cholla, Joshua Tree NP.

As the sun sank lower in the sky, I headed to a location where a roadside Joshua Tree cast long shadows on the tarmac road. This road was especially busy at that time of the day, so I made several images. This was one of the images made in between the passage of vehicles along the road.

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Joshua Tree, Road Shadows.

I did manage to capture some with cars passing, but those were deleted!

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November Favorites

Here are some of my favorite images for November. Arriving at First First Art Walk, I passed by an alley where there was some new paintwork! These are some murals from the alley.

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Alley Mural, No 1.

This is the second one in the pair.

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Alley Mural, No 2.

The roll-up door, maybe a garage door, was recently replaced. This mural lost its body!

2759-0003-Alley-Mural-Wheres-My-Body
Alley Mural, Where’s My Body?

During one of my evening walks through the neighborhood, I pass by a parking garage. The low sun lit up the floor with warm evening light in between the shadows caused by the pillars.

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Parking Garage, Streaming Sunset Light.

This month was a quiet time for the birds along the South Platte. A lot of summer migrants had already moved away, and the winter visitors had not yet arrived in numbers. However, I did find this female Gadwall, and was happy to capture an image of her spreading her wings.

2760-0013-Spreading-My-Wings-Female-Gadwall
Spreading My Wings, Female Gadwall.

Later in the month, the Mergansers arrived. This male Hooded Meganser was enjoying the setting sun lying on a boulder in the middle of the river.

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Merganser On Rock, At Sunset.

Enjoy.

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Fall Colors, 2022 – contd.

Mount Elbert is a great location to visit for fall colors. The forest road starts close to a pine forest and then passes up through an aspen forest at a higher elevation.

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Fall Colors Along Forest Road, Mount Elbert.

The previous night it had snowed on the mountain peaks, with rain showers at lower elevations. I chose to capture the aspen tree tops against the background pine and aspen forests. There is a light covering of snow at the top of this image.

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Aspen Leaves, Mount Elbert.

In the depths of the forest, one often finds odd boulders under the trees. There was an occasional breeze that afternoon. There were also large cloud banks that moved through the sky. There was a thin long blade of grass that was moving in the breezed. I waited patiently for a cloud bank to provide overcast lighting. When the breeze to paused, I managed to capture this image.

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Boulder In Aspen Forest, Mount Elbert.

Close to this location on the forest road is a beaver pond that I frequently visit. During the fall, the pond reveals abstract patterns as the colors are reflected in the water.

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Reflections In The Pond, Mount Elbert.

Once the leaves drop, they become a carpet of yellow. Looking straight down, I captured an image showing some of the leaves. Soon the leaves turn brown and start to decay, so I included them in this image.

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Fallen Aspen Leaves, Mount Elbert.

Looking towards the base of Mount Elbert, I was fascinated by the layering of the colors in the forest. In this image, there are alternating bands of color from the pine and aspen forests.

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Fall Color Layers, Mount Elbert.

After returning home via Buena Vista, I took another forest round that passes several ponds. More reflections as the reeds and grasses at the edge of the pond were reflected in the water. I also included some of the reflections in the pond from more distant aspen trees.

2749-0071-Pond-Reflections-Near-Buena-Vista
Pond Reflections Near Buena Vista.

In this final image, I included more detail of the grasses and bushes across the other side of the pond. I like the way that the grasses are mirrored in the water.

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Mirror In The Pond, Near Buena Vista.

All for now.

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Fall Colors, 2022

This year, I made a few trips to the mountains to capture some of the fall colors. While camping, I made a trip to Ohio Pass, where I found these grove of aspen trees, with a mix of green and yellow leaves, growing on the scree slope.

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Fall Colors, Ohio Pass.

Early the next morning, I headed to Mill Castle about sunrise. Last year, I discovered a great location at Mill Castle during the late afternoon drive. So this year, I made a repeat visit in the morning.

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Mill Castle Forest Road, No 1.

The trees were full of birds, and many chipmunks were running along the fencing and up the trees. I did not have a long lens, so no attempt for any bird photography.

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Mill Castle Sunrise.

Walking along the forest road, I found this location where the road disappeared into a tunnel formed by the trees.

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Mill Castle Forest Road, No 2.

Later in the day, I headed to Kebler Pass. Aspen forests often have ferns growing below the trees. I have never made any decent images in previous years, but managed to get a couple of images during this trip.

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Ferns In The Aspen Forest, Kebler Pass.

The ferns turn from green to yellow to brown. This year, I was a little early, so the ferns were a pale yellow. After a week or two, the ferns turn a brown color.

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Ferns In The Aspen Forest, No 2.

That was a great trip, until I got a punctured tire later in the afternoon. After mounting the spare, I headed back to the campsite and dinner. It turned out that the tire was totally written off!

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Just One Bridge

A couple of years ago, I entered some images into the Lenswork publication for the “Seeing In Sixes” book. These images were made at the bridge where I-25 crosses the South Platte River. This is a great location to shoot, especially late on a sunny day. The sunlight is reflected from the river to the underside of the bridge, creating some great patterned patches on the bridge structure. Also, the ripples on the surface of the river create some interesting patterns when lit by the low sun.

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Bridge, Arch Reflections.

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Bridge Arches.

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Arch Detail.

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Arch Detail.

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River Reflections.

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River Reflections.

These images did not get published. More importantly, I enjoyed the time photographing at this location and taking the time to process for consideration.

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Cormorant And Others, South Platte River

The last weekend, a cold front arrived, giving us a break from the hot weather. After completing chores around the yard, I headed down to the Platte River, at Reynold’s Landing. Overcast skies provided some great lighting and maybe there would be some interesting birds along the river. Soon after arriving, I found this Cormorant diving for fish.

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Cormorant Fishing In South Platte River.

I don’t know whether the bird found any fish, and soon took flight. On second thoughts, maybe my presence disturbed its fishing routine.

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Cormorant, South Platte River, Time To Leave.

Upstream, I noticed a Great Blue Heron wading along the far bank. The heron did not stay for long; probably disturbed by some visitors with their dog closer to the its location.

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Great Blue Heron, South Platte River.

Walking along the river bank, several House Wrens were rummaging through the bushes and calling. I made my way towards their sounds. Here I found 3 immature wrens. Also, there was an adult close by, maybe a parent, that I captured in this image.

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House Wren, Near South Platte River.

In the bushes, and along the river banks, there were plenty of birds singing and calling out across both river banks. However, most of the birds were hidden from view.

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Three Little Dippers

On a day off from work, I headed to the “Lair Of The Bear” open space park during the late afternoon. I heard many birds calling from bushes and trees around the park. The birds were difficult to see, being hidden by the fresh leaves of spring. After meandering along the trails for a couple of hours, I stopped close to Bear Creak, that runs through the park. Just as I was about to move on, I noticed these three little American Dippers on the rocks along the creek.

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Three Juvenile American Dippers.

These juvenile birds were just a few weeks old. Moving along the creek, I found a better location to make some more images. American Dippers frequent the rivers and creeks where the live, feed and breed. One of the dippers moved to another rock, leaving these two.

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American Dippers, Lair Of The Bear.

Soon, another one moved on, leaving this little guy on the rock.

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Juvenile American Dipper, Lair Of The Bear.

Adult birds have a very distinctive behavior; they bob periodically as they work along the creek. These little juveniles must have practicing this behavior, because they were bobbing almost continuously! Still images do not show this behavior, so I captured a few video clips that show these cute little birds. Here is a short 50 sec video that I created.

American Dippers.

Enjoy!

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Miscellaneous Images, May 2022

The month of May had some really interesting events. One of my favorite bands, Nightwish, performed in Denver as part of their North American tour. While waiting for the show to start, I noticed several shadows of audience members cast by the stage lighting.

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Shadows, Waiting For The Show.

The show started with an explosion of light.

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Nightwish, The Show Starts.

I made couple of images of Nightwish during the evening. Here is Floor Jansen letting loose with her fabulous vocals.

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Nightwish, The Show.

This May, we also had a late snow storm. During my evening walk, I found these garden flowers weighed down by the heavy wet snow.

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Garden Flowers, In May Snow Storm.

In the park, close to our home, the basketball court was wet, but too warm to accumulate a layer of show. The grass in the background had managed to retain some snow after a whole day of snow.

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Basketball Court In Snow Storm, Neighborhood Park.

The heavy wet snow caused a lot of damage in the metro area with broken tree limbs. The arborists had a really busy week cleaning up the mess. We had one broken tree branch that we cleaned up in a couple of hours.

Finally, for Memorial Day, we visited a friend. While chatting after our meal, I noticed the aspen leaves pressed against the frosted glass wall of her patio. So I made several images that hinted at the shape of the leaves.

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Aspen Leaves, Frosted Glass.

What an interesting month!

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Westerly Creek, Again

Last week, I made another trip to Westerly Creek. During the previous visit, it was really windy, so a lot of birds had hunkered down for the day. When I got to the junction with the Sand Creek, I did not see many birds, so I made this image of the reeds along the Sand Creek.

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Sand Creek, Reed Reflections.

After a few minutes, I noticed an egret appear from behind a curve in the creek, so I approached the spot via another trail. No egret — another couple, with their dog, had approached the creek on the opposite bank and had disturbed the bird, so it flew off.. So I turned back. The egret had left and flew downstream. Soon I noticed the Snowy Egret had moved to the rocks above the waterfall. What fabulous lacy plumes on the birds head and tail!

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Snowy Egret, Westerly Creek Waterfall.

There was a commotion taking place between a couple of Night Herons; but I failed to get any decent images. By this time the egret had moved to another location to resume hunting for food.

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Snowy Egret, Westerly Creek.

I made several images at this location, including this one with the egret’s reflection in the water.

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Snowy Egret, Westerly Creek, No 2.

There were three Night Herons close to this location. Here is one heron at the water’s edge, waiting for an opportunity to catch a fish.

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Night Heron, At Water’s Edge.

Here is the second Night Heron further upstream on the rocks.

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Night Heron, On The Rocks.

The Snowy Egret also moved near to the heron. The Snowy Egret can be identified from other egrets by the yellow slippers (it’s feet) which are really distinctive in this image.

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Snowy Egret, On The Rocks.

After leaving the area of the creek, I encountered a Western Kingbird. When I arrived at Westerly Creek, this kingbird flew off soon after parking the truck. When returning to the truck, I made this image as it was perched on a street sign.

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Western Kingbird On Street Sign.

The trip to this location ended up be a fun experience.

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Reynolds Landing, Mothers Day — 2022

Yesterday, on Mother’s Day, Angela decided that we should go to Reynold’s Landing to do some late afternoon birding along the South Platte River. Leaving the parking lot for the river walk, we encountered an American Robin, calling from the trail-side.

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American Robin, Reynold’s Landing.

We continued our way south along the woodland trail. We could hear the calls of many birds, but could not see them. While stopping along the trail, I heard some rustling in the undergrowth. There was some movement and a little face appeared. Looking through the camera lens, I found this rabbit munching some grass.

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Rabbit, In Undergrowth, Reynold’s Landing.

Soon it was time to turn back, but by a different trail. Angela spotted this pair of Mallard’s perched on the tree stump belonging to a fallen tree.

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Mallard Pair, On Tree Stump.

While walking along the riverside, I noticed two pairs of Wood Ducks paddling across the river. We made our way downstream until we reached one pair. These ducks are extremely timid, so we were lucky to see two pairs!

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Wood Duck Pair, South Platte.

This pair chose to stay close to the far bank, reasonably close to us; the second pair continued to swim away downstream. The male duck has really distinctive markings with a long crest on the back of his head. The female would be really well camouflaged and has a really distinctive eye-ring or eye-patch.

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Wood Duck Pair, South Platte, No 2.

Heading back towards the parking lot, we encountered this pair of Northern Flickers near the top of a tree that was just starting to bud.

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Northern Flicker Pair, In Tree.

Adjacent to the parking lot, another male Flicker was calling from a tree branch.

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Northern Flicker Male, On Branch.

Located close to the parking lot is a pool where I had spotted a Great Blue Heron during a bike ride a week or so prior. We headed towards the pond. In the distance, we could see the Heron, stationery at the side of the pond. I made my way closer to the bird, making sure that I did not disturb the heron. So I chose to shoot through the bushes along the shore.

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Great Blue Heron, Reynold’s Landing Pond.

I continued to watch and wait. Soon, the heron started stalking some prey in the water.

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Great Blue Heron, Stalking.

Caught it. The heron caught a sizeable fish, maybe some 8 inches in length.

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Great Blue Heron, Caught It.

The heron proceeded to swallow the fish. Soon here turned around and resumed the waiting game.

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Great Blue Heron, Resume The Waiting Game.

Was that the last meal of the day?

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Afternoon At Westerly Creek

There was a group of four Lesser Yellowlegs wading and feeding in the creek. In this image, an occasional gust of wind did manage to ruffle some feathers in this bird.

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Lesser Yellowlegs, Westerly Creek, No 1.
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Lesser Yellowlegs, Wind-Ruffled, Westerly Creek.

While I was on the bridge overlooking the creek, the birds approached closer. Good news.

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Lesser Yellowlegs, Westerly Creek, No 2.

I made several images from the bridge. Later, crossing the bridge, I made my way to the far bank and approached the riverside. After waiting for several minutes, a pair of Yellowlegs made their way closer.

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Pair Of Lesser Yellowlegs, Westerly Creek.

This was a much better location, because reflections from the vegetation along the river bank created nice background for the images.

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Lesser Yellowlegs Pair, Westerly Creek.

In this image, one bird had his bill opened as it approached me.

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Lesser Yellowlegs, Westerly Creek, No 3.

It was really great to see the birds on a really windy day.

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