I am a very analytical person. My creativity flows from my need to understand and explain. I made a career of distilling processes to their essence and reconstructing them to be more efficient and productive. My approach to photography is an extension of my life’s work. I distill a scene to identify its processes and actors. I try to understand how the processes, generally the forces of nature and the forces of humans, have and are interacting with the actors to create the scene. I focus on one or more of the actors and compose a scene that shares a moment with them in an aesthetically pleasing way.
Actors may be humans or wildlife. They also may be the sun, the moon, a tree, a river, mountain or other object. Each image shares a unique moment showing how its actors and processes have, are, and sometimes even will impact each other. But I also want to entice the audience to linger and to find their own story. I want them to imagine themselves experiencing the sights, the sounds and the feeling as if they were there.
There is no theme to this post. It’s just a set of images taken mostly in 2019 that I thought I’d post today.
The Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus) was taken in August of 2016. It is one image that I overlooked when I was posting my images from Africa.
The Coyote (Canis latrans) was taken at Yellowstone National Park in May 2019. We watched him stalk for half an hour until he took off after something. We never saw what he was stalking but alas, he missed.
The Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio glaucus) was taken in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada in May 2019.
This female Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) was taking care of these babies all by herself. The Common Mergansers have some peculiar child rearing behavior. Sometimes, one will lay its eggs in the nest of another and leave. Sometimes they just abandon their chicks to another Common Merganser to raise. So, at times, you will see one female with a large group of ducklings. I watched this group for a long period of time. During that time, the mother would hide the brood in the shelter of some brush alongside the river. When she felt it was safe, they would dash to another shelter. It was a lot of fun. This image was taken at Effie Yeaw Nature Center, Sacramento, CA in June, 2019.
The landscape is a sunrise at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Amargosa Valley, NV in October 2019. This wonderful sanctuary is an oasis in the Nevada desert outside Death Valley National Park. Its home to birds and other creatures alike.
Note: Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution.
One of my favorite birds is the American Kestrel; a small falcon. These colorful birds perch in tree tops, power lines and other places where they can hunt for prey. They eat insects, invertebrates, rodents and small birds. One interesting Kestrel practice is called “kiting”, i.e. they hover then, when the timing is right, pounce on their prey.
Kestrels nest in tree cavities though they don’t excavate their own; they take over abandoned cavities.
Note: Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution.
The Blue Elderberry (Sambucus nigra ssp. caerulea), also known as the Mexican Elderberry, or Tapiro is a deciduous shrub or small tree, growing to as tall as 30 feet. It is native from Oregon to Baja and into western Texas. It has cream or yellow flowers in the spring and purple berries in the fall. Its berries are one of the most important sources of food for birds in California. [i] It was also an important source of food and medicine for the Native Americans and early European settlers who inhabited this region.
In the book “Seaweed, Salmon and Manzanita Cider”, Rhonda Robles of the Ajachmem, explains that the elderberry was well known to her ancestors. The elderberries are said to be helpful for bronchitis, sore throats, coughs, asthma, colds, and constipation. They also induce perspiration to break a fever. She also states that recent research has found that elderberries stimulate and build up the resistance of the immune system, and they also directly inhibit the influenza virus. In addition, elderberries are loaded with minerals, antioxidants, and vitamin C. Indeed, elderberry products can be found in the cold and flu section of pharmacies and other stores.
The book “Living Wild” has recipes for champagne and wine made from the elderberry flower and syrup and pancakes made from the berries.
We must be careful however in using elderberries. They must be dried or cooked before eaten. Never eat elderberries raw. They contain a cyanide-inducing glycoside. Eating a sufficient quantity of these cyanide-inducing glycosides can cause a toxic buildup of cyanide in the body and make you ill.
Birds, however, like elderberries a lot and don’t appear to get sick when they eat them raw. Over the course of the season, I was able to photograph several birds enjoying elderberry fruit.
On the way home from a Christmas trip, we got off to an early start, Much to our good fortune, we hit the Oregon-California border just as the sunlight was breaking to the east and was treated to a magnificent site – the skies above Mt Shasta appeared to be on fire. The peak was covered with a thin lenticular cloud that looked life a flowing gossamer fabric. Sometimes nature rewards you with some awesome treats.
Please click on caption to see images at higher resolution.
A few more birds, mostly from 2019; the Herring Gull is from Iceland in 2017.
The icebergs at Jokulsarlon are a magnificent site to behold. But I became fascinated by the life around them. Birds soared through them, presumably hunting. I am sure there were bird noises as well as people noises, but I don’t remember any. I was in a zone of quiet concentration.
My normal encounter with Brewer’s Blackbirds is in the parking lot of fast food restaurants and supermarkets. They are opportunistic hunters. It was nice to observe them in more natural environments.
Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution.
A week ago, we visited Staten Island, CA. It is an island in
the Sacramento-San Jouquin River Delta. More importantly, Staten Island is
owned by The Nature Conservancy and is managed to allow conservation friendly
agriculture and as a place for birds to stop on winter migrations as well as to
winter over. For this area, it means we have an opportunity to see Sandhill
Cranes, Tundra Swans, White-fronted Geese and many other birds. On this visit,
we got to see the Sandhill Cranes, Cackling Geese, Snow Geese and Sora.
The Sora (Porzana Carolina) was my surprise bird. I didn’t even know they existed. It is one of those drab, gray birds that hide in the brush, along streams and irrigation ditches. But drab and gray is not a fitting description. They are quite beautifully marked and have a bright yellow bill. Three Sora gave me the rare opportunity to see them in the open and photograph them.
Please click on caption to see images in higher resolution.
Today I am sharing images of swans I’ve photographed over
the past several years.
Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus Buccinator) are North America’s
largest waterfowl. Thy can have a 6 foot wingspan and weigh as much as 26
pounds. According to All About Birds, a Website from Cornell Labs: “They breed
on wetlands in remote Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern U.S., and winter on
ice-free coastal and inland waters.” The odd thing here is that I found some on
the icy Yellowstone River in February.
The Tundra Swan (Cygnus Columbianus) is a winter migrant to
the US. We see them winter over on the Pacific Flyway from late October through
about the end of February. They nest on arctic tundra. The Tundra Swan is
sometimes called a Whistling Swan.
The Mute Swan (Cygnus Olor) is not native to North America; it’s
a European immigrant. It is the swan we see in ponds and lakes at parks, farms
and estates. According to All About Birds: “ All of the Mute Swans in North
America descended from swans imported from Europe from the mid 1800s through
early 1900s to adorn large estates, city parks, and zoos. Escapees established
breeding populations and are now established in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic,
Great Lakes, and Pacific Northwest of the U.S.” The ones I am presenting may be
from a wild colony or may be feral.
I found the Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus) in Iceland. According to Wikipedia, Whooper swans can migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles to their wintering sites in southern Europe and eastern Asia. They breed in subarctic Eurasia. Icelandic Whooper Swans breed and winter over in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They can have a wingspan of 9 feet and weigh over 30 pounds. Whooper Swans pair for life.
Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution.
Earthwatcher 