This is probably my favorite image from a recent event I attended. Karma is a nine-year-old hawk that is used for falconry and educational purposes by Wild Wings Environmental Education. On this morning, just about everything came together perfectly for this shot – the golden light of the early morning sun, a dramatic sky in the background and of course the extraordinary subject. In the end, this is a capture that I am very proud of.
Fresh snow and fall colors
Taken back at the end of September from Boreas Pass not far from Breckenridge, Colorado. With the arrival of autumn the aspen trees were aglow and a snow the night before had coated the mountain peaks in a blanket of white.
The mountain in the background is the 13,829-foot high Mount Silverheels. While not one of the Centennial State’s famous fourteeners, it is a gorgeous, dominating peak with a fascinating story. The mountain is named after a dance hall girl from the nearby mining town of Buckskin Joe. Her real name is unknown but she earned her nickname due to the shoes she wore when she danced.
Legend has it that during a smallpox outbreak in 1861 she used her money to bring in doctors to fight the epidemic. She remained at the foot of the mountain while most other women and children fled to Denver. While she survived the smallpox, her face was scarred by the disease and she chose to remain isolated at her home at the foot of the mountain.
Buckskin Joe is now a ghost town and every now and then people report seeing a black veiled woman at the town’s cemetery placing flowers on the graves of those who died during the smallpox epidemic.
Houdini tries to hide
Very happy to have come across an old friend while out walking a nearby open space. I hadn’t seen him in a couple months but then there is a reason why my friend gave him that name as he is an escape artist. Just when you think you can get a picture, he disappears. Thankfully this past Tuesday he let me snap a few although not without being hidden in camouflage.
Foggy deer
Mule Deer does and fawns seemed a bit interested in the guy with the camera. The fog really made for tough shooting conditions and grainy pics but it also allowed for some unique captures. Taken last weekend at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.
Aplomado Falcon ready to fly
A very cool raptor that we don’t have here in Colorado that I was able to photograph as part of a raptor workshop in Denver. This Aplomado Falcon, named Khaleesi, is owned by the man who organized the workshop and is used for falconry. It only made a few, short flights but I managed some decent captures including this one of its intense focus just as it prepared to launch into the air.
Time to fly!
Boy I sure hope I can find some of these guys this weekend. I am going through withdrawals! This image was captured on a very cold January day.
Young Bald Eagle stays focused in flight for Freedom Friday
Taken back in March in Morgan County, Colorado. The eagles were congregating at a lake and prepping themselves for their trip north for the summer. All put on a nice airshow for me and this is an image of a flyby by a three-year-old.
I love the look they have at this stage of development. Their eyes and beak are starting to turn yellow and with their head starting to turn white, they get that almost mask-like dark stripe behind their eyes. My son likes to call them ‘bandits’ when they have this look.
Harris’s Hawk takes flight
A complete sequence of images showing this cool hawk as it takes flight. This was one raptor I was really looking forward to seeing and photographing at an event this past weekend.
This particular one is named Rufio and is a year and a half old falconry bird. Still in training, he was not overly cooperative only giving a couple of chances at flight captures. In between he would stubbornly perch in the nearby trees requiring his falconer to spend a good bit of time coaxing it down.
Nevertheless, I was happy to be able to capture this sequence.
Harris’s Hawks were previously known as bay-winged hawks or dusky hawks but John James Audubon gave it its present name in honor of his friend and supporter Edward Harris. These birds are primarily found in arid climates like the desert Southwest and Mexico. They are unusual in that they are very social, living and hunting cooperatively with each other in packs.
Scroll down to view the complete sequence.
Gyrfalcon shows off its Arctic influenced colors
This is certainly not a bird many folks will ever see – it was the first time ever for me. The Gyrfalcon is normally found in the far northern latitudes of the globe, preferring Arctic coasts and tundra.
This one, Jackson, is a falconry bird used for sport by its owner in Colorado. Unfortunately, he broke his wing a month or so ago and is just now starting to return to flight.
On this day, he simply was not quite ready to show off so I was not able to get any flight shots. I did however manage some images of it posing. A very, very beautiful raptor!
Scroll down to view the complete series of images.
Moon sets behind a craggy mountainside
Taken last month in Rocky Mountain National Park. I was up before dawn as usual and while I waited for the coming sun to illuminate the landscape, I turned around and captured this image of the setting moon. The clear atmosphere at high altitude allows for some pretty cool images with clarity you just can’t get at lower elevations.