Photographer in Colorado

This year we had a record number of irises flowering in the garden. Before budding started, I estimated that there were over 40 plants that would flower — I stopped counting stalks at 29. For a couple of weeks every year, near the end of May, these flowers create a welcome addition to out garden in spring.

It is always difficult to make images of irises, especially macro shots like these. I like to get the “beard” in focus. However, it is easy to miss focus, especially when a breeze is present. Also, the depth of field at close focus is really narrow, so the entire beard cannot be sharp.

Iris buds are really interesting to photograph, before the flower emerges. There are greens, oranges and yellows with plenty of details in the veins. In this image there is a hint of the color of the flower — a deep blue/purple in this example.

This year, flower stalks from two adjacent plants were really close. I made this image of the pair flowers the day before both flowers opened — almost symmetrical!

Iris stalks typically have several flowers — one or more at the tip and several growing out of the stalk lower down. In this image, this plant had two flowers, one at tip and the second just behind, lower down on the stalk.

The iris leaves also make for some interesting images. In this image, we just have a forest of leaves! Each leaf seems to have an edge that is a paler yellow/green color that the rest of the leaf.

I made a second image, that I rendered as a monochrome black and white image. Here one can see the pale edges of the leaves.

Recently, I made a few images with the Lensbaby Velvet lens. At wide apertures, the iris flower has a soft focus glow that is very pleasing.

All our iris flowers have now willowed away. Every year, it becomes a challenge to make some interesting images of these wonderful plants.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard that a whole lot of birds had returned, or passed through, during the Spring migration. So I decided to head out to Cherry Creek State Park. soon after arriving, I walked along the shoreline and was able to get reasonably close to the birds. The first birds that were encountered was this pair of California Gulls. Even, though I had seen these gulls before, this was the first time I attempted to capture an image.

One of the next shorebirds that I had not seen before was the Greater Yellowlegs. There were several birds in the vicinity, but I did not need to wait long until they came in front of me.

Here this bird is just taking a walk through the water.

This bird is distinctive with those big yellow legs.

I had heard that several Avocets had arrived at Cherry Creek — this was the hook that caused me to visit. I had made some images of Avocet in a previous year. But this time there were a dozen or more at this location at Cherry Creek. I like this image because I managed to capture a frame with the open bill.

There were some small still pools close to the shore. As the Avocet was working along the shore line, I manged to capture a couple of images that included a reflection of the Avocet in the still water.

Here is the another image.

Finally, along came three yellowlegs, walking through the deeper water. The earlier images were of single birds. This was the first time that a group of birds approached me.

After leaving the shoreline, I hiked along one of the trials. Often I get to see Magpies — I used to see them every day walking to work. However, this time managed to capture an image of a Magpie as it was perched on a cat-tail.

A few minutes later, I noticed that a Coyote was walking through the long grass, but it was too far away.

A few weekends ago, I was rode along the Platte River bike path. When passing the Overland Pond, several Cormorants were perched on logs around the pond. After completing the bike ride, I returned with camera. By this time, only one Cormorant remained. This bird was perched on a log close to the center of the pond.

I spent about hour at the edge of the pond, making several images. This cormorant has a striking orange chin.

While perched, the cormorant pooped several times. Often birds will poop before taking flight. However, this time the bird remained on the perch.

This is a Double-Crested Cormorant. These birds have two crests, that look like long eye brows. In the image above, these “crests” are really visible when looking away.

Wow. How wide can bird open its mouth! They swallow fish whole.

Looking carefully, these cormorants have blue eyes. However, this was the first time that I noticed the the inside of their mouth is also blue.

Cormorants often drape their wings while perched out of water. They spend much time swimming on or below water; they spread their wings to allow water to drip off before taking flight.

In the above image, the bird made some unusual poses. I’m not sure what the above pose is about; there were no other cormorants in the vicinity. After spending an hour or so, the cormorant had left the perch and continued swim around the pond. On the other side of the pond, three Painted Turtles were perched on a log.

This was the first time that I had seen these turtles. I moved around to alter the angle of the log to a diagonal.

Finally, just before leaving the pond, one squirrel had found something to munch. He had been sitting on a knob of the tree, eating in the the afternoon sunlight.

Soon after making this image, the cormorant took flight and left the area.

The second morning in Monte Vista, we made sure to arrive at the ponds in the wildlife refuge well before sunrise. I made this image just before the sun rose.

During this visit, I attempted to make several images of cranes in flight. I managed to track this single crane from the time that it left the water.

I made several images of this crane. In the following image, the rising sun lit up the underside of the wings.

We spent more time at the ponds later in the morning to watch the coots and other birds. Periodically, the coots started chasing one another across the water. Perhaps this was a territorial dispute? Or a courting ritual? As they scoot across the water, the coots leave a trail of water spray behind them.

The calls of the Red-Winged Blackbirds rang out across the ponds. In this image, four males were perched in a nearby tree.

The ponds are lined with plenty of cat tails, so I had to make some images and included here.

The Red-Winged Blackbirds typically perch on cat tails. From here they make their distinctive calls. Most of the birds were males; the female birds had not arrived at the ponds.

Here is another image of the sunrise above the ponds. Luckily there were Canada Geese flying past at the same time.

The sun was obscured by clouds soon after this. There was less light when the last of the cranes flew out. This required a slower shutter speed that blurred the movement of the flying birds.

We made our way back to the hotel, checked out, and headed back home after a welcome break.

A couple of weeks ago, we spent a few days in Monte Vista to do some birding in the National Wildlife Refuge. It was great to go out to this great location. This was the last location where I stayed a few nights just before the Covid lockdown started!

Soon after arrival, we spent a few hours near one of the ponds in the wildlife refuge. This muskrat was spotted swimming up one of the channels adjacent to the main pond.

We counted about a dozen Cinnamon Teals, mostly male, farther down the channel. I managed to capture this male bird as he was spreading wings.

There were two mating pairs swimming along the same channel. In this image, the female was swimming ahead of the male.

Soon the male came into view…

This was a great location to capture these teal ducks. We were really lucky to get really close, capturing some great images as well.

The following morning we headed back to the ponds just before sunrise. The Sandhill Cranes were bathed in the dawn sunlight. This pond was a location where the cranes often spent the night to avoid predators.

In the distance, water had frozen during the night. But in the foreground, the cranes were contemplating flying out for the day.

Occasional birds and groups of birds slowly took off to reach the daytime feeding grounds. I managed to make several images of this crane as it left for the day.

In this image, one of the cranes was spreading its wings. Again I made several images until the crane had retracted its wings.

This was the first time that we had spent a night in a hotel for over a year. Also, we got to have dinner in a restaurant, practicing safe distancing.

We had another big storm this week — some 15-inches of snow fell. It was close to sunset on my usual walk through our neighborhood. Passing one house, the tree and grasses in the front yard made some interesting shadows on the snow and siding.

As I reached Harvard Gulch Park, I noticed the tracks in the snow. During the day, many kids had brought their sleds to the park to slide down the slopes. By the time I got there, the sunset had created long shadows on the snow.

This location had construction work during the last few months. The snow covered all the earth works, except for the one flag below.

This tree had been surrounded be a fence, probably to create construction traffic from backing into tree.

There is a tall chimney at one of the buildings in the park. As I walked past, I noticed the almost-full moon hanging in the sky above the chimney. One lady was climbing the slope with her dog.

The Rosedale School is located close to the park. Earlier in the week, I had noticed the detailed stone work on the building. This evening the setting sun had cast an orange glow onto the stone and brick work.

By the time I reached Kunming Park, the sun had set behind the front range, leaving some traces of shadows in the sky. Also, the condensing steam from one of the nearby buildings had created some interesting foreground.

With the clear skies at the end of the day, that night also had another night of below freezing temperatures.

During the last couple of weeks, we have had a couple of snow storms and some frigid temperatures. As usual, I take a walk through the neighborhood on a daily basis during the work week. After one snowy day, I found these shadows on the fence.

In the shaded areas of the park, the deep blue sky lit up the snow with shades of blue. I found these tracks in the blue show.

Along the sidewalk, were frozen puddles that had entrapped unsuspecting air bubbles.

On reaching Harvard Gulch, I followed the gulch downstream. There was some foam carried along the gulch. At one spot, the foam had accumulated behind some rocks in the water. At the point, the foam had started to freeze, creating interesting patterns.

Further along the creek, I found some more frozen foam.

After leaving the park, I was back on the street. Here I found plenty of frozen puddles in the shaded areas. The smooth surface of the ice allowed some reflections to show.

We still have plenty of snowy cold days ahead of us.