Winter/Spring 2013 Newsletter

Exciting news about Alaska, Eagles, Snowy Owls, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Foxes:

Winter/Spring 2013 Newsletter

My apologies to those who have already received this newsletter through other cyber channels:

Keeping One Eye Over Its Shoulder

Hope that you  enjoy,

Rich

Mirror, Mirror

My image of a mandarin duck titled Mirror, Mirror has been selected by the Nature Conservancy as the photo of the week:

Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror on the wall who is the most beautiful duck of them all – me the Mandarin. Many experts judge the Mandarin duck to be the most beautiful waterbird on the planet. Both rare and colorful, originally from Asia, one was found in Denver, Colorado.

Click on link:

Nature Conservancy Photo of the Week

Hope that you enjoy

Rich

Kindred Spirits Receives Award

I am pleased to announce that my framed print of two snowy owls (Kindred Spirits) received the Mingo Gallery and Custom Framing,  Excellence in Photography Award from the Rockport Art Association, Rockport, Massachusetts Spring 2013 Photography Show.

Kindred Spirits

Kindred Spirits – Two snowy owls share a kindred moment during their vigilance for potential prey in the marsh of Boundary Bay, British Columbia, Canada. A recent irruption of snowy owls has sent hundreds of these beautiful owls from the Arctic to the northern states of the US in search of a more plentiful food source.

Fish Finesse

962 bald eagles was the count by the US Army Corp of Engineers at Lock and Dam 18 in Burlington, Iowa on the Mississippi River in early February 2013.  However, we chose to photograph at Lock and Dam 14 in Le Claire, Iowa, where the eagle count was only 12. Were we misinformed, naive or just crazy? Why not go where the count is the highest?

As wildlife photographers, we (Bob Karcz, Rod Chandler, and I) were in pursuit of the bald eagle fishing shot. Lock and Dam 14 is well suited for photographing bald eagles as they glide down from nearby trees and swoop in to grab a fish on the surface of the Mississippi, only a couple of hundred feet from where we were standing on the shore. There may have been far fewer eagles at this location as compared to others, but at the peak of the fishing, an eagle would swoop in every 15 minutes or so to catch a fish at Lock and Dam 14. This is considered a high probability and high frequency event for wildlife photographers.

On the weekends, Lock and Dam 14 is a mecca for photographers. The boardwalk had as many as 50 of us lined up waiting for that winning shot:

Photographers on the Boardwalk

View From The Boardwalk

But it was not as reliable and predictable as one might hope. Many factors affect the likelihood of the event, such as: weather, temperature, amount of ice on the river, wind, number of fish coming through the turbines of the dam, time of day and number of eagles. There were long intervals when wildlife events were not happening:

Wildlife NOT Happening

Persistence does sometimes pay. Here are a few images that made the trip worth the drive (12 hours from Denver):

Sundown Swoop

Real-time Banking

Sweep and Swoop

Grab and Go

One Second Lunch

“Boomerang” – Not only does this beautiful bald eagle remind you of a boomerang, but also its flight path is from tree, to fish, then return to the tree for a fish dinner in a smooth, continuous  boomerang-like loop.

Boomerang

And finally “Fish Finesse”  – Second place award winner in the wildlife category of the Mile High Wildlife Photo Club competition for February, 2013

Fish Finesse

View more of my eagle images in the Eagles Gallery on my website.

You may also read a previous blog post on Lock and Dam 14:

Fresh Fish Fast Food

Dreaming of Spring Cover

I am pleased to say that my image Dreaming of Spring – a red fox sleeping by a tree, is the cover photo for the Summit Daily Newspaper for March 20, 2013.

Dreaming of Spring Cover Photo

Dreaming of Spring -  it’s a beautiful morning and this young red fox is taking a nap in the early morning sun and no doubt dreaming of spring which was only a few days away when the picture was taken. Image published on the first day of Spring in the Summit Daily Newspaper, Summit County, Colorado.

Dreaming of Spring

Happy Spring!

Denver to Denali Presentation

I am very pleased to say that our Denver to Denali slide show presentation at the Silverthorne (Colorado) Library went very well. This presentation was one of the 2013 Travel Slide Show Series by the library as a fund raiser. We were pleasantly surprised at the 106 people that attended, especially since there were 2 other fund raisers taking place at the same time on Friday, March 8, 2013 in Summit County.

My apologies to those who had to stand in the back or sit on the floor.

Alaska seems to be a very popular subject.

If you are interested in viewing the presentation of images, video clips and stories, click on the link or on the images below:

Denver to Denali Photography Adventure

From Denver to Denali Article in the Summit Daily Newspaper

The Summit Daily Newspaper of Summit County, Colorado did an article of my work and show at the Arts Alive Gallery in Breckenridge, Colorado. The show ends February 28, 2013. If you are in the area and have not had a chance to see it, hope that you can stop by the gallery before it ends. See link below for article.

Apologies for the annoying 2 questions that you may have to answer in the body of the article.

From Denver to Denali: Wildlife Through the Lens

Mother Daughter Duo

Also I will be doing a slideshow presentation of our adventure on Friday, March 8, 2013 at the Silverthorne, Colorado library at 7p. If you are in the area, hope to see you there.

Rich