Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
This was a pretty fun thing to have happen! I was observing this handsome fellow and his mate as they hunt out near their home. He disappeared into their cavity for a moment and when he emerged, he brought out breakfast! He sat there showing it off for a brief bit and then, much to my surprise, launched right at me with the mouse.
I’ll take that! Such a cool thing to witness although I don’t imagine the mouse particularly enjoyed its flight.
Driving home from my photo excursion yesterday I spotted a large nest and the unmistakable “ears” of a great horned owl sticking up. That, of course, required investigation. I went to the next exit then backtracked along the frontage road. There I found mama sitting in her home and likely on eggs or with little ones under her. Being only 150 feet from a busy interstate probably doesn’t allow her much rest.
While moose can sometimes be pretty nonchalant around people, make no mistake, they know you are there. Harkening back to August in Gilpin County, Colorado for this image.
As usual, the rest of my camping crew was sleeping in and I was out looking for critters. I happened across this handsome fellow and a young bull as they enjoyed a breakfast of aspen tree leaves in a little valley not far from camp. They were well-concealed and a good distance away so my photo chances were few.
At one point, as the big boy walked along, he came to a small opening and cast me a glance letting him know I was there.
After our latest Arctic blast in Denver, Colorado, this coyote’s pose as the sun climbed over the horizon is how I feel with warmer weather on the horizon. This winter here hasn’t really been all that unusual, more just a bit more ‘normal’ than the recent mild winters but I am ready for some warmth.
This beautiful coyote and its mate were hanging out this past weekend and as the sun encroached on their chosen morning hangout. While the male was, unfortunately, suffering form a bit of mange, the lady was quite pretty.
An additional posting for today as I deleted the one I posted to social media this morning. Those pics were merely to educate and show a unique situation. Unfortunately some folks who probably meant well did not pay attention when I specifically said the appropriate authorities were aware. Sigh.
So… Moving on, here’s another shot from this past weekend. This gorgeous eagle and its mate have provided me some great photo ops recently. In this pic, after chasing its mate off of the pole, the male came in for a near vertical landing on top of a pole. Fun to see and a unique pose.
An interesting eagle and encounter this past weekend. My friend initially spotted this female last month with a GPS tracker hanging from her neck.
We corresponded with Colorado Parks & Wildlife and learned the eagle had been outfitted with the unit in October 2020 in Weld County, not too far from where she was seen last month and this past weekend. Since then, she has managed to work the GPS off part way, leaving the solar charging cell dangling around her neck.
They would like to catch her again to remove it but the tracker is an old device that connects to cell towers via 3G and there aren’t many of those left so they can’t really follow her. The hope is that she will eventually chew through the harness and get it off herself.
It does present a danger to the eagle with it hanging like that should it get snagged on something. With any luck she can get it off on her own soon. It should be noted that the tracking devices they put on eagles now are much improved lasting longer, are more rugged, are less likely to do this and can connect to more modern cellular networks.
With bone-chilling cold and snow yesterday, my mind couldn’t help but wander to warmer days and summertime critters. Of course the temperature at 14,000+ feet is never really all that warm but it does allow for visits with these fun little ones.
This image, taken last July, is a cute, fun shot of one of the mountain goat kids as it paused briefly while bounding around the boulders on Mount Evans in Colorado. It almost seemed to purposefully pose for me. It will be another few months before conditions allow a visit but I am very much looking forward to it.
After a noticeable dearth of seeing these cool little falcons, I have been kind of lucky recently with them.
This past weekend, this merlin was alternating between perching on a fence and hopping down to eat on some leftover roadkill. After enjoying a quick snack, it took off and much to my surprise, rather than going right back to the fence opted to take the long way around right by me!
It flew eyelevel to me and not more than a few feet away. Fun stuff! It was backlit which isn’t normally desired in photography but I think the series I captured came out pretty cool. This one is my favorite.
What is the cause for alarm? Humans? Nope, those pesky magpies.
This beautiful owl was quite comfortable with me photographing it from a respectable distance. Unfortunately for it, magpies and taken note of its presence and were raising quite a ruckus. While their harassment was largely in the form of making a lot of noise at the long eared bird, a couple did take dives at it, trying to drive it off.
The owl really presents little threat to the other birds, instead focusing on rodents for its primary food source. That, however, did not put the magpies at ease.
Some different, extreme closeups of these past presidents as found on Mount Rushmore. Taken last June during our visit to South Dakota, I tried to find something “different” in photographing them from the usual. That is not an easy task given how much this monument is photographed.
Here is my attempt, zooming in on each former president’s face, giving you a look at all the detail on each.
If you have never been, I do highly recommend visiting the memorial. It is an uplifting experience, one to help maintain and restore your American pride. Yes, each of these men had their faults, however, each also contributed greatly to establishing and maintaining this, the greatest nation on earth. It has been far too long since we have had leaders of this caliber, something I fear we are desperately in need of today.
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