Photographer in Colorado

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.

Now that we are in the winter months, I have been making (daily!) nightly walks through the neighborhood instead of bike rides in the dark! Often, if there is enough light, one of the cameras accompany me. The is a park a few minutes from the house, where there is a colorful basketball court.

The sun was reflected in a puddle of water on the court.

A few days earlier, it had snowed, forming ice in the streets. On this particular day, there were puddles of water remaining from the ice melt.

There were several patches of ice along the sidewalk. These are fun to photograph to capture the air bubbles trapped in the ice.

In this image there are some leaves and other detritus trapped in the ice.

Walking along Harvard Gulch, the setting sun lit up a mural/graffiti reflected in the water flowing along the gulch.

In this final image, I arrived at Kunming Park just before sunset. There was a haze hanging over the Front Range. One can just make out the alternating peaks and valleys along the range.

Since making these images, there has been another snow storm. Maybe some more images later?

Week before last, I headed out to the South Platte River near Foxton. This is a trip that I often make sometime during the winter months to make some images of the ice that forms. I have often seen these timbers stuck to a boulder in the river. Looks like it may have been the remains of a broken bridge that must have been washed downstream a few years ago.

This was the first trip that I made here during this winter. Often there maybe a sheet of ice that covers the river. As the weather warms, the ice melts, leaving an ice skirt around the boulders.

The river offers many opportunities to make different images of water and spray as water flows downstream.

I found this location at a narrow section of the river, where ice had built up across the whole width of the river. Here a whirlpool had developed where the water tried to navigate through the ice. I noticed that there were occasional pieces of ice that managed to get sucked into the whirlpool.

Small waterfalls form where water flows over the ice. Often, icicles form when the spray from the water hits the underside of the ice sheets.

In the final image, I attempted to capture the turbulence of the water flowing over the ice.

Enjoy.

On Christmas Day, after our family Zoom call, we headed down to the South Platte river. Angela had found some rare birds earlier this week and wanted to share with me! Soon after leaving the parking lot on foot, we encountered a couple of Snipe working along the shore.

Most of the time the Snipe had their long bills working on the short, looking for food. After making several images, along came a Kildeer, to join in the search for food. I like the pose of this bird as it stretched out.

Soon the Kildeer joined the Snipe. However, the Snipe had that long bill under water.

After waiting patiently, the Kildeer moved off but a pair of Mallards were working along the river. At this point, I had managed to make this image with the long bill out of the water!

The Snipe had stopped to scratch an itch, in this image.

We move further along the river. By this time, it had branched off into Plum Creek. Here, many ducks were working the pond.

I had seen Northern Shovelers in the water before, usually dipping their heads and that long shovel bill below the water. However, this time this Shoveler had its bill laid out flat along the water.

That was the first time that I observed this feeding behavior. Looking carefully at the build, one can see what looks like a filter along the sides of the bill. This appears to be used to trap food floating on the surface as the duck paddled forward.

At first, it appeared that this was a female. However, there is a slight hint of green in the head behind the eyes, so most probably, he was an immature male.

This bird actually allowed me to approach quite close. Or rather, it swam close to where I was standing. The closest I ever got to a Shoveler. Usually, they are very skittish and move away quickly.