NORTHERN FLICKERS

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Male northern flickers call to establish a breeding territory and attract a female.

This week was spent working on northern flickers which have shown up on our  homestead.  I have worked these beautiful woodpeckers extensively in the past yet there are still great shots to be had.  I concentrated on getting the best shots I could of the opportunities that presented themselves.  The leading off photo of the calling male was one shot I needed to improve on.  This kind of shot presents a challenge because normally the eyes will be in focus but the long bill is not.  I shot this at F16 to give enough depth of field. Continue reading →

THE BOREAL OWL-PART 2

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665-14-15Boreal owl with red-backed vole.

I have been continuing to keep track of the little boreal owl in Slana.  Its calling is falling off.  I no longer hear it in the daylight hours though my friend still reports hearing it during trips to the outhouse late at night. Less calling means it is much harder to locate but I am still finding it in the thick dark woods by searching an area of about one hundred yards by two hundred yards.  This small area seems to be its preferred daytime roosting area.  Slowly walk back and forth through the spruce and poplar forest and scanning every tree I find it about 30 percent of the time.  Once I was guided to its location by the calling of a couple upset boreal chickadees.  It is never in the same perch. Continue reading →

WEATHER AND MIGRATION

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687-13-12Long-billed dowitcher found interior Alaska still in the grip of winter.

What a difference one year can make.  This spring came earlier than normal to the Upper Copper River country in interior Alaska.  It was warm and without our
usual spring snow storms.  But last year, during the first week of May and at the peak of spring bird migration we were hard hit by a freak blast of winter weather.  More than two feet of heavy snow fell over a period of several days covering everything including most sources of food for migrating birds. Continue reading →

BOREAL OWL

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I got a tip a couple years ago about a lady who had complained about being kept awake at night because the snipes were making too much racket.  But it had been too early in the season and I had a sneaky feeling it wasn’t snipes that were keeping her awake.

So, when I paid them a visit a couple weeks ago, I pulled out my I pod and speaker and asked if this is what she had heard.  “Oh yes”, that’s it she insisted.  “I could never forget that call.  And they’re back!  I have been hearing them again almost every night. ”

This was exciting news to me, because the call I had played was not the display flight of the common snipe.  Instead I had played the territorial call of the boreal owl.  She was quite surprised that it was a small owl she had been hearing. Continue reading →

EDITING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

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61-14-33Steller’s sea lions hauled out on rocks along Alaska’s coast.

Going through ten thousand photos and trying to pick out the best is a daunting task.  That was my goal upon returning home from two week photograph trip to coastal Alaska.  You must be ruthless and delete the vast majority of shots.  There is really not much sense in keeping too many of your photographs.  They clutter up your files and make it hard to have the cream, those photos with value, at your finger tips.  And when you have whittled your work down to bare bones it makes your entire collection look its best.  As you might expect bringing the cream to the top is not so easy.  Deleting shots that took a lot of work and more than a little luck requires a collection already bulging with good material and knowledge of what has a chance of being published in this market of low demand and high, very high supply.  I pick my keepers by asking questions. Continue reading →

Herring

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Each spring herring mass by the millions along isolated sections of Alaska coast in preparation for their annual spawn.   Recently I had a fantastic trip to photograph the bird and mammal predators that are on hand for this spectacular feast.61-14-9Large rafts of resting Steller’s sea lions assemble between sessions of frenzied feeding. Continue reading →

WAITING FOR A CHICKADEE

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In my part of Alaska’s Interior we have two species of chickadees.  These tiny and delightful birds cheer up the coldest day but are hard to photograph.  The black-capped chickadee is often found in mixed habitats of spruce, willow, birch and aspen.  The boreal chickadee is associated with the black spruce bog habitats.  They are quick and refuse to stay put so you must be very quick yourself.  One sure way just might be the oldest techique for bird photography out there.  Simply pre-focus on a favorite perch and wait.

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