Snowy Owl in Flight!

Yesterday I had two great opportunities to photograph a snowy owl. I was thrilled to make this flight shot. This owl was perched high on a dune. It was early morning and the light was perfectly diffused by some thin clouds. After watching this bird for about a half hour, it decided to shift its position about ten feet to the next dune. I was ready. Fortunately, I was able to make a sharp photo of its face as it flew.

It was worth it to get up early and freeze my fingers off to get this shot! It was only 30 degrees, but after sittng still for more than an hour, my hands were downright chilly! Still worth it:)

So Close....

This morning I was fortunate to photograph another snowy owy owl. It was perched in a tall pine tree for quite a while. Snowy owls are not known for perching in trees, but then again, they are known for perching wherever they please...

After watching this owl for nearly a half hour, it was harrassed by a group of crows. I have been trying to get a great photo of an owl taking off. So far, this may be my best.

I am happy to write that next fall, I will be displaying some of my favorite snowy owl images at the North River Sanctuary of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Over the next couple of months, I will be trying to improve my current portfolio. On my short list is a shot of an owl with its prey. Keeping my fingers crossed...

The Snowy Owl Invasion Continues

Today I was lucky to photograph another snowy owl. This one was very distinctively marked, so I knew that it was a new one for me. The owl was far away when I first saw it. Then it flew very close and I was able to photograph it using a van as a blind.

In an effort to speed up my frames per second, I have gone back to shooting JPEGS when photographing wildlife. RAW frames just jam up the memory buffers, because they take up too much space to record quickly. With the help of Lightroom and Nik software, I am able to make this image look as I saw it.

This has been a banner year for snowy owls. It has been a thrill to see so many owls!

Baby New Year

With the New Year at our door, I couldn't help but think of Baby New Year when I was reviewing these images of baby rock squirrels. The rock squirrels were along the Riverside Walk Trail in Zion National Park. They had taken over a fairly large section of a hill that overlooked the trail. From their perch they could keep an eye on the hundreds of hikers that would pass each day. The babies were as cute as could be. They would play with each other and seemingly pose for the camera.

I would like to take a moment to thank all of you who have supported me over the past year. Whether you purchased a photo, joined one of my tours, published my images or simply encouraged me to keep photographing I truly appreciate all of your support! I hope that everyone has a fantastic 2012!

Zion National Park: Prickly Pear Cacti and the Watchman

The Watchman has captivated my imagination since I first saw photos of it a few years ago. I have since seen a half million shots of the Watchman, all from the same bridge, using the Virgin River in the foreground. That composition is beautiful and I made several images from that bridge, but in the end I wanted to make my own composition. I am sure that this is not a unique composition, but I have not seen it anywhere else. So, I consider it original. There are probably at least 10,000 shots very similar to this one. With millions of visitors every year, it is incredibly difficult to make new images of the national park icons, but we can try.

I only wished that I had visited these prickly pear cacti a week earlier when they were still in bloom. Later that night, I ate at the restaurant at the park's hotel and had a pork chop with prickly pear sauce. The prickly pear sauce was delightfully sweet. Its funny how something so harsh looking as the cactus, can taste so good...

I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised with the best national park meal that I have ever had. National Park restaurants are often sub par. They are usually the only game in town. This lack of competition allows them to serve poor meals at high costs. The restaurant at Zion was excellent. This may in part be due to the proximity of many restaurants just a short drive from the park. Competition is a good thing and essential to capitalism. These were some of my thoughts on the 4th of July.

Zion Canyon: Sacred Datura

The sacred datura is a beautiful white flower also known as the Zion lilly. The sacred datura has a slightly sweet fragrance, but it is highly poisonous. Visitors to Zion are urged not to touch the plant, which can cause hallucinations and possibly death.

The sacred datura opens its large white flowers during the night and closes them up again, usually by mid morning. They are fairly abundant in the southern section of the park and are often found growing side by side with wild squash plants. The flowers of the squash plant have a strong smell much like bad body odor. When I first encountered the squash, I had worked up quite a sweat and smelling the squash caused me to stop my hike to double check my deodorant. After a few moments I realized that the squash was the worst smelling pumpkin that I have ever encountered.

These sacred datura happened to be in the perfect spot to dress up this early morning composition of the towers of the Virgin. I was fortunate to be able to find an area where I could photograph the Towers of the Virgin and the Watchman with beautiful floral foregrounds.

The second image on this post is a macro of a sacred datura in the late evening, before the flower reopened for the night.

Zion Canyon: Garden of Eden

I celebrated the 4th of July in Zion National Park. Zion Canyon is an amazingly beautiful landscape. The Watchman is an icon of the park and of the West. This image shows the Watchman just after sunrise. I had been searching for a unique viewpoint of the Watchman when I crossed paths with a doe. I quickly readied my camera and made a few images as the deer made its way past me. The animals in Zion, particularly the deer are fearless of humans. This doe walked within 10 feet of me.

The fearless animals, the wild squash, prickly pear cacti and the sacred dutura, a beautiful lilly, reminded me of what the Garden of Eden must have been like. The fantastic mountains and flowing Virgin River create a stunning and peaceful scenery. Early morning in Zion is a truly blissful experience.

At sunset, I met a birder who pointed out six large birds along the ridges to the north of the Watchman. They were too far to conclusively identify, but they may have been California Condors! The other possible species was the turkey vulture.

I found Zion to be truly enchanting. I can hardly wait to return!