Tag: snow

Snow Raptors

Bird Species of Conservation Concern, birds, Short-eared Owls, wildlife, wildlife photography

A few from a couple snow days this past January. Some of the first outings with the Canon R5. On one day, light levels were quite low and birds were at a great distance. Tried shooting with and without teleconverter to get more light. Difficult circumstances.

Short-eared Owl cruising over snow-covered grassland.
Settings: 700mm focal length, 1/2000 sec., f/5.6, ISO-3200.
Short-eared Owl shortly after leaving perch.
Settings: 700mm focal length, 1/2000 sec., f/5.6, ISO-2500.
Short-eared Owl with prey.
Settings: 500mm focal length, 1/800 sec., f/4, ISO-2000.
Male Northern Harrier
Settings: 700mm focal length, 1/2000 sec., f/5.6, ISO-2000.
Female Northern Harrier with prey.
Settings: 500mm focal length, 1/2000 sec., f/4, ISO-3200.
Northern Harrier and Short-eared Owl
Settings: 500mm focal length, 1/2000 sec., f/4, ISO-3200.
Squabbling Short-eared Owl and Northern Harrier
Settings: 500mm focal length, 1/2000 sec., f/4, ISO-3200.
Whenever a Short-eared Owl tried and missed its intended prey, it would immediately shake the snow and other materials from its talons.
Settings: 700mm focal length, 1/2500 sec., f/5.6, ISO-1000.
Short-eared Owl skimming snowy landscape.
Settings: 700mm focal length, 1/2500 sec., f/5.6, ISO-1000.
A great catch!
Settings: 700mm focal length, 1/2000 sec., f/5.6, ISO-1600.

Ozark Bill

Happy Holidays

landscape

Happy winter solstice holidays to all my friends and family!

 

A Winter Eden

by Robert Frost

A winter garden in an alder swamp,

Where conies now come out to sun and romp,

As near a paradise as it can be

And not melt snow or start a dormant tree.

It lifts existence on a plane of snow

One level higher than the earth below,

One level nearer heaven overhead,

And last year’s berries shinning scarlet red.

It lifts a gaunt luxuriant beast

Where he can stretch and hold his highest feast

On some wild apple-trees tender young bark,

What well may prove the year’s high girdle mark.

So near to paradise all pairing ends:

Here loveless birds now flock with winter friends,

Content with bud-inspecting.  They presume

To say which buds are leaf and which are bloom.

A feather-hammer gives a double knock.

This Eden day is gone at two o’clock.

An hour of winter day might seem too short

To make it worth life’s while to wake and sport.

 

IMG_6901

“A Winter Eden”

Missouri’s Conservation Ethic

landscape

Did you know?  The Missouri program of The Nature Conservancy has protected nearly 150,000 acres of critically important natural habitat?  Their science-based approach to choosing important and biologically diverse habitats combined with their ability to work with private individuals, governments, corporations and a variety of other organizations has enabled them to protect forests/woodlands, savannahs/prairies and freshwater habitats across our great state.  Their annual update was released recently and in it are a few photographs I donated for it’s use.  Please have a read to see what The Nature Conservancy has been up to in Missouri this past year.  And please, do give some thought of making a charitable donation for your new-years plans.

IMG_2391 color

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 40mm, ISO 100,  f/14, 1/10 sec

Location Spotlight: Piney Creek Nature Preserve – Part Two

"monochrome", landscape, location spotlight

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens @ 12mm, ISO 100,  f/16, 0.6 sec

Ten days following my first visit and hike into Piney Creek Nature Preserve I arose early and left the house during one of the two appreciable snowfalls we’ve had this winter in our region so far (I was very sick on the second snowfall and could not enjoy it).  Prior to the temperature drop we had inches of rain during the previous day and I realized that places such as this should have a significant amount of water flowing through their streams and intermittent waterfalls.  Following a careful drive through the snow, I arrived two hours later almost the exact second the snowfall stopped.  This makes photographing a little easier without worrying about the equipment getting wet, but it would have been nice to hike in the falling white stuff for a while.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens @ 24mm, ISO 200,  f/13, 0.8 sec

The image above was the first waterfall I heard.  To get here required a short bushwhack off trail and down into the ravine.  A hiking pole and crampon/spikes on your boots are definitely helpful in doing this.  The rock in this area was extremely slick, with ice on top of algae/slime.  I was very cautious moving on the rocks to set up this shot, realizing that the rock sloped toward the stream and loosing my footing would prove disastrous. Because of the higher water and treacherous footing the available compositions were somewhat limited.  Considering how poorly I function with too many options, this was not exactly a bad thing!

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens @ 21mm, ISO 100,  f/16, 0.3 sec

This cascade pictured above is a section of a longer series of twists and drops found closer to the back side of the hiking loop.  The water here skips shallowly over rock shelves and narrow chutes and takes occasional breaks in what appear to be quite deep pools.  When I made it to this section of the reserve the cloud cover was almost completely gone and blue skies were above.  The sun that would completely melt this fresh snow by the time I drove home this day was just beginning to peak over the bluff.  I realized that I would soon be faced with high-contrast shadows and harsh glare off the landscape scenery and I needed to grab every capture I could in the limited time available.  Sometimes it is also best to work with a deadline.  😉

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens @ 24mm, ISO 200,  f/14, 1 sec

You can see that the previous one to two day rain brought a lot of soil into the stream.  Because of this, I felt most of the images would be presented best in monochrome.  I did want to present what one of these scenes looks like in color, however.  This one had some greens and reds to provide a little contrast between the browns of the water and rocks and white snow.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens @ 24mm, ISO 160,  f/16, 0.8 sec

This place has a lot more to offer than what I present here.  There were at least two other significant waterfalls that I could see or hear, but the terrain with the snow and ice on precipitous ravine sides caused me to think wisely against trying to get within good photography distance.  Definitely something to try during better weather this spring.  I’ll be looking forward to my next visit to Piney Creek Nature Reserve.  Maybe I’ll even plan on paying a visit to the Popeye museum along the way in the town of Chester.