PHOTOGRAPHING MOUNTAIN SHEEP

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14-14-28Dall ram checks out photographer.

 Walk softly and carry a big lens.  All species of North American mountain sheep, the bighorns, Rocky Mountain bighorn and desert bighorn and the thinhorns, stone sheep and dall sheep are naturally skittish. Specific protocols are required when photographing wild sheep at close range.  Ever on the lookout for predators, wild sheep are tuned into sounds of rocks tumbling down the mountainsides or moving across noisy scree slopes.  Sudden movements or too much noise are likely to send mountain sheep stampeding towards the nearest cliffs.  A telephoto lens is a must.  The perspective a telephoto gives will separate your subject from the background. Continue reading →

WHITE SHEEP, WILD MOUNTAIN

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14-14-2Dall ram peeks over a windswept ridge.

Pursuing wild rams in the far north is an addiction of mine.  Those who are afflicted with this particular disease willingly subject themselves to cold and wind, sweat and pain. Other symptoms include an insatiable desire to witness dramatic wildlife amid glorious wilderness settings. Continue reading →

FLYING SQUIRREL AND BOREAL OWL

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68-14-2                       665-53-2

Northern flying squirrel and boreal owl at the entrance to the same old northern flicker nesting cavity.  The flying squirrel taken with a Nikon D3s digital camera  and boreal owl shot with a Nikon F3 on Fujichrome film were taken more than ten years apart. The images illustrate the importance of the northern flickers, a keystone species. The flickers nest building activity increases forest biodiversity.  Photographs were taken near my home in Slana, Alaska.

 

ALASKAN FLYING SQUIRREL

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68-14-1Alaskan flying squirrel peers out of an old northern flicker cavity just as darkness sets in.

Northern flying squirrels are more common in Alaska than most realize.  They are found in coastal rainforests as well as the boreal forests of the interior.  Flying squirrels are nocturnal thus rarely seen.  I began to see them as I photographed the nocturnal activities of a pair of nesting boreal owls.  As it turns out, boreal owls and flying squirrels share the same habitat preferences.  They seem to prefer the big white spruce stands that grows along streams and other places where permafrost is not close to the surface.  They share these places with the red squirrel.  Red squirrels are active during the day and flying squirrels are active at night.  But in the far north where it does not get dark for a several weeks during the summer, their activities overlap. Flying squirrels nest in abandoned northern flicker nesting cavities or other natural hollows.

OCTOBER MIGRATION

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515-09-1A family group of tundra swans flies over Wrangell/St. Elias National Park in early October.

By mid October, open water becomes harder and harder to find and most waterfowl, ducks geese and swans, have already left Alaska.  But the past two evenings, after dark, I heard migrating swans somewhere overhead.  There were both tundra and trumpeter swans calling.

515-09-8Tundra swans over the Wrangell Mountains. Continue reading →

FALL CLOSE-UPS

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kinnickinnick-001Frosty kinnickinnick and poplar leaves.

Fall colors are a favorite subject of photographers.  But don’t forget to look down. That world beneath your feet is easily overlooked.  Give forest understory pictures adequate depth of field by stopping down to F 16 or F 22.  Focus on the most interesting details.

While my wife, Cindy and I picked  high bush cranberries I noticed several  beautiful, colorful and cryptic moths. Continue reading →

THE NOCTURNAL BOREAL OWL

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665-14-288Adult male is a night hunter and his prey consisting of small birds and mammals, such as this red-backed vole, are located by sight and sound.

Since nesting began, the male has been impossible to locate in the dark, damp forest near Slana, Alaska. But each evening he arrives at the nest site to deliver prey to the owlets. As the Alaskan days grow shorter, the male becomes active as twilight engulfs the stand of tall white spruce and poplar.  He is the sole provider for the five owlets snuggled inside a hollow stub.  The female abandoned her owlets when they were three weeks of age.  They no longer needed brooding so apparently her role is complete. Continue reading →