Summer has arrived in the desert and it is HOT. Temperatures hover near 110 degrees during the day and drop to a chilly 90 just before dawn. On Sundays the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden opens at 6am for members, a perfect opportunity to get outside before the heat of the day and remind myself of…
Mary Poppins?
We have it from an inside source, that the Sandhill Crane was the inspiration for a few scenes in Mary Poppins.
What do you think?
Blastoff!?!
You may have heard about the incredible amount of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. If you did, you are either a birder or a photographer. There can be tens of thousands of these birds that take residence each year from November thru February while on…
Eagles and Lumberjacks
Eagles Ketchikan is our first Alaskan stop on our cruise up the coast. It is also the first time either of us has been to Alaska. Check! Another state seen. I am up to 47 (only Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota left). Kassie is at 48 but with a remaining two different than mine. There’s…
Who, Who’s Home?
Who? Owls, yes. In the ground, really? Before moving to Arizona, I had never heard of an owl that burrowed into the ground to nest. And then even after hearing about them and hearing that their numbers were declining, I never expected to see any. Low and behold, there is a local agency working to…
That Darn Bird
Preamble This is a story about a man and a bird. The man is me (aka, Sylvester) and the bird is a Gila Woodpecker (aka, Tweety Bird). We have a hummingbird feeder just beyond our patio which allows us to sit back and enjoy beautiful and crazy birds. We fill it with a water and sugar…
We’re Back!
We are on another photography vacation, beginning with a workshop in the Mammoth Lakes area of California. It is known for Mono Lake with its famous Tufas (more on these another day), the spectacular Eastern Sierras (mountains), and now that it is fall, some fall foliage (colors). And let’s not forget, some “Moose abuse” (sorry…
The Bird and the Bug Eyes
This is the story of the mother wren trying to feed her babies. Mother wren chose a man-made birdhouse as her nesting place. Well, it was really a metal hat, hanging on a post on the inside portion of an outdoor patio. I guess if I were a mother wren, and I am not, I…
A Morning Walk
It was our anniversary the other day. The weather was exquisite. Up early and coffeed up, we were raring to go. So what do two photographers do under these conditions? We go out on a photo shoot! We decided to go to one of our favorite shooting locations near our home in Massachusetts, Tower Hill Botanic…
A longer lens in our future?
Birds of the Maasai Mara When we started this trip we weren’t wildlife photographers and certainly not bird photographers. Of course, if a particularly large bird or colorful bird came across our path, we’d just have to shoot it. If you think about it, this makes sense. With our equipment (maximum length lens of 400mm),…
