Such fun creatures to photograph but not always easy to do so. They are always on the move, scrambling to gather food before winter arrives. Yesterday, this little American Pika was kind enough to take a break and pose about five feet away. I can’t help but be struck by how darned long those whiskers are!
Coming soon: fall foliage
Going back to September 24 of last year for this image for Throwback Thursday. By all indications, our dry summer is leading to an early change of the foliage this year and will likely make the viewing time short. That will complicate things and make my annual goal to capture the spectacle a bit difficult but hopefully luck will prevail.
This image was taken along Colorado’s famous Peak to Peak Highway south of Nederland. About an hour before this image was taken I was standing about 1,000 feet higher in altitude in fresh snow taking picture of wildlife. Here though it was just rain and fog. The fence helped to create interest in the scene as the dreary skies sure weren’t helping.
Young Red-tailed Hawk keeps watch
Red-tails are about the most common hawks on the plains but they also aren’t usually prone to hang around for pictures. Every now and then I come across one that is willing to pose and such was the case with this juvenile. It had staked out a nice tree to keep watch on a field, undoubtedly waiting for some poor rodent or snake to appear and become breakfast.
A mountain of Mountain Goats
A fun image from back in June when I spent time with the herd on top of Mount Evans, Colorado. As usual, the animals were spending the morning hanging out entertaining the tourists and photographers.
After a time, they then proceeded around the east face of the mountain, bounding higher and across the large rocks. This made for a great photo opportunity to capture a large number of them in a single image, something you usually can’t do. It is a bummer the skies were so hazy but it still made for a neat shot.
Moose bulls go head-to-head
The rut is getting close and even a few weeks ago when this picture was taken, the Moose bulls were establishing a pecking order.
Here, two go head to head leading up to a bit of pushing and shoving. Unfortunately, this was before the sun hit the valley floor so my pics of the action came out blurry due to the necessity of a slow shutter speed. Sigh.
These two big guys were part of a bachelor group of four, but, they were only the middle two in terms of size. There was another with them that was clearly the senior and dominant one of them all. Taken in Arapaho National Forest, Colorado.
Ring around the sunrise
Colorado has had a good number of wildfires this season but nothing as bad as what areas to our west have seen. As fires rage in California, Montana, British Columbia and Alberta, their smoke has been a near constant presence this summer.
This makes for some crazy, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets but of course I would prefer not to have them as a result of the fires. Nevertheless, it does make some good photo ops such as this rising sun taken yesterday morning in Weld County. The ring was caused by the polarizer filter on my lens.
Bald Eagle bathed in the early morning light
Well, my last few photo outings have been pretty much duds. Subjects were non-existent or uncooperative or the resulting pics just sucked. So, I am jumping back to Tax Day for this image.
This is the male of my favorite mated pair of eagles. He had just returned from dropping off some nesting material and stopped and posed not long after sunrise.
Temperatures are cooling here in Colorado (finally) and while I am not anxious for the end of summer, it does mean the seasonal Eagles will be returning soon and that makes me happy.
Pronghorn battle on the plains
This was a fun little bit of action that I had never witnessed with this particular type of creature before. Driving along I spotted five Pronghorn bucks out in a field north of Denver International Airport.
Normally, stopping would send them running but they were more interested in each other. Four of them were engaged in some back and forth battles, locking horns and pushing each other around.
I presume this is all leading up to the annual rut as they start to establish a pecking order for mating season. Fun stuff to see!
Mass of Yellow-headed Blackbirds take over the trees
I’m not normally into taking pictures of ‘little birds’ but sometimes you just can’t ignore them. Such was the case this past weekend when I came across a massive gathering of these cool dudes. Hundreds of them, literally, had assembled in a few trees in Longmont, Colorado. They were very noisy, making a heck of a racket. Most likely the gathering was a precursor to their winter migration to the southwestern United States and Mexico.
Video: All phases of the Great American Solar Eclipse
Going back again to this event on the one year anniversary of the solar eclipse. This was a video I put together of my images of each stage. It is fascinating to me to watch it as it progresses, reaches totality and then comes to an end.