Swainson, Swainson, Swainson (20140918) An early run on my own.

Well, the wife's uncle slept in this morning. He claims we had our wires crossed about the pick up time, but "I don't think so Tim!" . So I headed out on my own maybe a little later than I would have if I knew I was going solo. This first Swainson of the morning was initially picking grasshoppers off the field, it then popped up onto this fencepost. If you look close you can see the pink morning sun in its eye.

This little Muley buck was walking up the road in front of me, when I stopped he looked for a place to get under the fence.

I stopped in at our new "warbler" spot, but things were pretty quite. I did capture this Kinglet.

As I was finishing up my run I found this adult Swainson. It just wouldn't shut up :)

Just up the road and over the hill I found what I believe is the youngster of the previous bird. Wouldn't it be great if we could "look over our shoulder" like this?

I was actually able to get pretty close to this very cooperative bird. It too was being pretty vocal.

This shot is for my buddy Jamie, he loves the talons of all the raptors. I wasn't thinking properly at the time or I would have just shot the feet. This is a pretty heavy crop of a full portrait image. I will miss these very cooperative birds over the winter, they will be headed south by the end of this month.

There were also quite a number of RTH's out and about in the morning. We always try to improve our images of these tough to shoot birds.

While it is always great to get out on my own, I am certain an extra pair of eyes would have been good to have.  Get out somewhere in the outdoors on the weekend and find some wildlife, I will :)
Turbo

Redtails, fawn, Snipe (20140917) Taking a loner run, will it pan out?

Well with everyone working, I thought I would take a run for GGO's. After our recent snows it would seem they might be out looking for some chow. The morning was looking good, but the "golden hour" light had me thinking that this juvenile gull was something else.

The next "golden hour" capture was this resting Coyote. I would have liked to get out to get a shot as shooting through the passenger window never gives me a good rest. I need to investigate doing something for these situations.

The last subject of this highly desirable light, for most photographers, was this healthy looking cow Elk. Shot this at just 360mm. :) I believe that this is last years calf.

Next up was this Wilson's Snipe. It was great to see one on something other than a fence post :)

On the same road, just a half mile away this cooperative Redtail was sitting patiently waiting for me to "show up and shoot", so I did.

The morning was speeding by, being very unproductive when I found this fawn, with its sibling and mother. It was quite curious and walked right over close to the truck for a portrait shot.

Here she is slipping under the barbed wired fence, you can see that her spots have almost disappeared except on her flanks.

There were gravel trucks everywhere in the area I wanted to investigate so I headed home and finished the day with this Redtail Hawk soaring over the road with another.

Even though the trip was cut short, and I didn't find a GGO as was intended, I did find some unique critters to make up for it. I hope you too had a great wildlife day.
Turbo

Bull elk, Sharpshinned, Red fox (20140912) An outing with Russell

It has been ages since Russell and I have got together for a run. He dropped by with his still "new" truck and we headed out. We had a primary mission and photography was secondary but we were going to put in a little time if the right things made their presence known. Early in the morning Russell found this long distance Red Fox. This critter was a long way out, and it was pretty early so this is purely an evidence shot. This fox looks pretty scrawny to me :)

Our next sighting was this nice bull Elk, not necessarily a trophy, but with all the bow-hunters out there looking for this fella we felt a little privileged. You can see the remnants of our snow from earlier in the week.

Then just up the road a bit I spied this nice eight pointer headed across in front of us. I just barely got out of the truck in time in grab a quick shot. When he jumped the first fence to cross the road he covered about 20 feet in the air.

Our next find is what I believe is a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk. It seemed to be a little chilled. There are any number of accipiters moving southward following the Warblers.

I know Jamie will love the view of these feet:)  I am interested in the little nubs on its middle toes?

We picked up this Hairy Woodpecker just a couple of miles away, and I thought I would it include it as it has been quite a while since I have thrown one in here.

We headed out to complete our primary mission of the day and picked up this Redtail on the way home. This is the chimney on building where I recently shot a pigeon sitting in a window. I just love the look of this old chimney on a deserted farmhouse,, what a great perch for a bird of prey!

That wrapped up our day as the weather was turning quite nasty with rain and wind moving in. I hope that you too get out for some wildlife shooting this weekend.
Turbo

Lincolns, Yellow Warbler, Sapsucker (20140907) I just cannot seem to stay home :)

With all of our "western" opportunities lately it wasn't hard to talk Jamie into a trip back to where we had seen the big cat and Barred Owl in the past month. So we were off at 6:00 a.m. with great expectations. The "early" hours were pretty uneventful, perhaps we had gone to the well once too often. We spent some time looking for warblers but none were showing themselves. We did manage this immature Swainson.

Another look, while in flight.

On this very short little stretch of road we had a couple of other worth noting visitors. Although we had a very sunny day, this Lincolns Sparrow was a very difficult capture, it just wanted to stay in the dark.

The next little group of bushes also netted us a bird we haven't in a while a Yellow Warbler. Again, hiding in the leaves and shade made even getting a shot of this little beauty difficult.

Isn't it amazing how you can just happen into such a little flurry of activity that before you know it an hour has passed as you are watching and waiting for the opportunity for a shot or two.  We re-ran one of our most productive areas of late and were granted the opportunity for some Mountain Bluebirds. It seems we weren't the only ones on the "hunt".

It is great to see all the Kestrel's that have matured into looking very much like their parents. I believe that this is a youngster from this year. Leaving for a hunt.

A little later in the morning we found this juvenile Sapsucker. With the colouration at the back of the neck I believe this is a Red-naped.

Finishing up our Tour we spied this young Redtail "out standing in the field " :)  There are a lot of young raptors around this time of year.

Life is great! We had a great day shooting a new set of subjects. That's what it is like here in Alberta, you never know what you are gong to be finding when you spend some quality time in the woods.
Turbo

Dusky, Raven, Kestrel (20140906) Will 1A pay off today?

With the good fortune that my guests and I have been enjoying lately it was a tough decision to determine where to head on Saturday morning. Kerri and I decided the 1A run might just produce great opportunities since we were pretty successful on our last pass. We were just getting started when we ran into this little lady and her four or five fledglings.

It took us a little while to start finding the kids, this little fella was sitting in plain sight, just under the overhanging boughs of the spruce tree they probably stayed under last night.

We picked up some White-crowned Sparrows in Moose Meadows. Then nearing the end of our run we spied this little Black Bear crossing the road. Even though it is September it still is shedding last winters coat.

On our return trip we were provided a nice cooperative Raven. The sun was good and I believe the colouration shows quite nicely here.

We did a little exploring on the drive home and found this little Kestrel. I can't apologize for the wire, I shoot them where I find them:)

Here it is again. While I don't condone baiting in order to get wildlife shots, this little guy looks like he is sitting within a swarm of flying ants hoping for a victim to come and feed on them.

We got home a little early, and still had a terrific day. Who know what you'll find when you get out? All I know is if you don't get out you won't find much:)
Turbo

Antlers and Fur (20140901) The antlers were out in ernest

I decided to do this as a follow up supplemental because we had enough great encounters to throw them together for a post. Our first encounter was bright and early. This "herd master" is already gathering the ladies up some fun during the rut.

Just up the road we ran into these two Whitetail bucks. They were nice enough to each stop  and give an opportunity for a shot.

This second buck has a second brow tine on his left side, a pretty unique feature.

Here are the two of them walking away in the grain field, the farmer should have a pretty group crop based upon the height of the stems.

Here are three more Whitetail bucks in a small bachelor herd. The largest is growing into a pretty nice unit. I think in two years he will be a trophy.

These boys weren't all alone either. There were some ladies just up the hill, so they are keeping an eye on their potential mates.

Next up we captured this long distance Muley Buck. He is looking pretty impressive.

This next Whitetail Doe was standing full out in the sun. I really like how I was able to capture her left eye. Oh, and yeah, we were pretty close.

I'll wrap up here with one more Whitetail buck. I know my brother Len would like to see a few bucks, and when I can throw in a couple of Elk, well that's just a bonus--Right?

It won't be long and the velvet will be gone. There should be some good meat for the larders this fall.
Turbo

Young Great Horned owl behaviour. (20140831) A short video of an evening owl encounter.

I have uploaded a new video on YouTube of an encounter that Jamie and I had on the last day of August this year. Based on the success of this I will likely be posting more lowlight video as I am encouraged by the result. I can also hope that I get much better than my current skills :)  I thought that there were a number of behaviours captured here that people would like to see, as we don't always get to witness these magnificent predators on the lighter side.
I hope you enjoy, comments always welcome.  The video is located Here.
While you are there you can check out some of my other YouTube videos from this year.

Turbo