Tag Archives: winter

BACKYARD SAFARI PART 3

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Red squirrel has cached black spruce cones in an old flicker hole.

RED SQUIRREL

32-15-30I am still on my backyard safari.  This is where I do some of my favorite work.  I have had professional photographers scoff at the mere suggestion of doing in-depth work with such “insignificant” species as the red squirrels, voles and the like. But I happen to enjoy photographing all species of wildlife including red squirrels.  The idea of a backyard safari is to give one the incentive to compile a complete coverage of the wildlife in your immediate surroundings as well as gaining experience turning photographic potential into great photographs.

Red squirrel pry the scales off a spruce cone and feeds on the tiny seeds.

32-15-22Red squirrel jumping.

The red squirrel jumping straight on is a tough one.  I found a place where the squirrel routinely jumps form one branch to another.  The distance is just over three feet and it takes less than a second.  The problem lies in the tiny amount of depth of field with the 560 mm telephoto lens.  I use a Nikon 200-400 lens with a 1.4 tele-extender and pre-focus at about 4 meters.  There is less than one inch that will be in sharp focus.  I manage to get off about three frames each time the squirrel jumps and only about one in fifty photos will be in focus.  What that boils down to is about one photo every four days will be a keeper.  I could increase the percent of successful shots by adding a trigger which trips the shutter as the squirrel crosses a beam of infra-red light.  Maybe next week.

TRACKS

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One of the few sets of snowshoe hare tracks I have seen in the backyard this winter.  They are currently at the low-end of their population cycle.

BOREAL OWL

The male boreal owl is still calling from the flicker holes but not every night.  I suspect he is also singing his territorial songs from other possible nesting sites in the area.

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The male boreal owl begins his territorial songs just before dark.

AURORA BOREALIS

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The aurora borealis usually begins with a band of green, glowing light in the northeast.

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Aurora begins to dance.

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THE COLOR OF WINTER

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Month after month of white, gray, blue and green of the cold interior Alaskan winters leaves me wishing for warmer hues.  Fortunately warmer colors in winter are out there, if you look close enough.

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The common red poll adds a tiny  touch of color to the long Alaskan winter.

hb cranberry-13-22The fruit of the high-bush cranberry seems to be to winter resistant.

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Winter sun sets.

aurora_borealis_202 copy (2) A rare crimson aurora sets the night sky on fire.

WEASEL IN THE WOODPILE

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56-15-1Short-tailed weasel.

This week there were a couple of expert mousers hanging out at my place.  Actually there are no mice here, but lots of red-backed voles.  As vole hunters go, nothing can match the tiny short-tailed weasel or ermine. Continue reading →

PHANTOM OF THE BLACK SPRUCE BOG

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55-15-17Alaskan lynx

Some authors claim the lynx is strictly a hunter-predator.   I have observed several lynx that do not fit perfectly into that mold.  I do think lynx prefer fresh game they have killed themselves, But what if game is scarce and lynx are very hungry?  This is the situation in much of interior Alaska this winter.  The snowshoe hare population is currently at the bottom of its ten-year cycle.  There are always a few snowshoe hares in prime habitat which is thick, white or black spruce mixed with a variety of other trees such as aspen, birch or poplar as well as willows and alder.  But in the stands of pure black spruce, which dominate much of the landscape near my home snowshoe hare tracks are nearly absent.  What remains for the lynx are primarily red squirrels, spruce grouse, willow ptarmigan, and voles.  Lynx have been known to kill and eat red fox but that is not common.  Same goes for mink, marten and the short-tailed weasel.  And I suppose the lucky lynx could catch a woodpecker or gray jay if they were distracted. Continue reading →

FRAMED BY A RAVEN

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604-197Raven pair get acquainted during a snowstorm.

Ravens have been lurking around mankind ever since humans began making footprints.  They are quick to learn and take advantage of any  food sources we provide.  And, ravens are smart, perhaps the smartest bird on the planet. They have the largest range of vocalizations of any living creature except of course, for us humans. Continue reading →

COYOTE

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Twenty years ago, coyotes were one of my favorite photo subjects.  This extremely adaptable species was both deadly hunter and scavenger.  Nothing it seemed, was too large or too insignificant, too old or too new, to be left off the coyotes menu.  Whether it was big game or game birds, domestic sheep or farm-yard chickens, coyotes made few friends.  I guess I was one of just a few.  The sheer variety of behavior they would engaged in, made each and every encounter a new and exciting adventure.

18-399-8Coyote feeds on an elk in Wyoming.  Tracks and blood in the snow told the story. Coyotes had harassed a cow and her big calf through the night.  By morning at least thirteen coyotes had assembled and were finally able to bring down the large calf.  Twelve hours later there was only a large trampled area of blood and hair remaining. Continue reading →

TRACKING THE LYNX

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55-6-4ON THE TRAIL OF THE LYNX

I’d been on their track for  a mile or two. It had taken nearly two hours to get this far moving slowly through the forest on snowshoes. The thick and stunted boreal forest was mostly black spruce. Small stands of tall aspen and veins of thick and lofty white spruce stood where the nutrient poor soil drained enough to prevent permafrost. The understory consisted of numerous species of willow along with Labrador tea and blueberry. Tracks and trails of snowshoe hares were everywhere. The snowshoe hare population undergoes huge swings in numbers during their ten-year cycle. Likewise, other prey species such as spruce grouse were on the upswing driven by years of low predator numbers. The hare population had peaked. And with the increasing snowshoe and grouse population, lynx, coyotes, red fox, northern goshawks and great horned owls, and even the smaller northern hawk owl populations were once again on the rebound. Continue reading →

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 →

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 →