Assateague & Chincoteague (11/11 & 1/12)

Trust everyone had a joyous holiday season and Happy New Year. I have taken several trips over to both Assateague Island National Seashore, MD and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, VA recently, providing private lessons to clients and doing an art festival. Due to the warmer weather we have had this winter, the congregations of waterfowl normally at the refuge have been sparse. The above photo of a White Ibis was captured at Chincoteague. The numbers of this species in the refuge this year have been surprising high. The two goose shots below were captured during a late afternoon shoot with awesome light.


The below wild horse shots were all taken at Assateague. In comparison to prior years, the number and locations of horses accessible for photography was better than average.



Worked out especially well with nice morning light and the wild horse approaching the water for a reflection one morning in Chincoteague.

Good light and great histograms.
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Colorado (10/11)

Recently spent a week in Colorado visiting my son and photographing in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and National Park. Photo goals were to capture some fall Deer and Elk bucks/bulls.The Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR was challenging from a photographic perspective. The unusually warm weather may have played a factor. Locating and capturing quality buck images took numerous trips. Once the territories were identified, the quality of the head gear on some of the Mule Deer was amazing. An example of the number of large racked bucks can be seen below.

Below are some images of Mule Deer bucks within the Arsenal. Both are morning shots.

One interesting situation is that both species of Deer, Mule and White-tailed, are within the NWR. I posted the below image of a White-tailed due to the great way the light beam concentrated on his face through the trees.

Another fun species to photograph at the Arsenal were the Prairie Dogs. Working the town for several hours produced this neat image of the three guys all lined up.

When approaching a Prairie Dog town, observed this Coyote running away with an unfortunate Prairie Dog.

Also, spent a few days at Rocky Mountain National Park. Always a pleasurable experience with a fall visit, especially when the Aspens are turning and the Elk bugling. Was fortunate to locate several bulls bugling one morning in a field near Moraine Park. This bull, in stunning morning light, was certainly trying his best to attract a cow with his call.

You can see the frost on this bull as the sun was approaching the field.

Too funny, capturing the right moment, when this guy stuck his tongue out at the cow.

Good times seeing my son and the Colorado critters. Blue Skies. Read more!

Pantanal, Brazil (8/11)

Apologize for being a negligent blogger. The last few months have certainly been dynamic. One reason, was an August trip to the Pantanal, Brazil. Our primary goal was to see and possibly photograph the elusive Jaguar. As you can see, things went really well. The Jaguars were usually seen in the evenings along the river shores.

Really awesome when this guy came down directly across from our boat to take a drink.

One of our most exciting evening viewings was when the below Jaguar went into a nest to pursue young Limpkins. This compelling image, "Last Seconds of Life" was captured just prior to devouring one of two birds.

Just when we thought things could not get any better, we watched as two sibling Jaguars spar one evening.

Same two resting after their fun.

Jaguars primary prey upon the Cabybaras. Here is a mother and young frolicking in the water.

The Giant Otters were so much fun to watch. They were efficient predators and often caught fish right in front of us.

I enjoyed photographing the Kingfishers as much as the Jaguars. We were able to capture all 5 species of Kingfishers during our trip. Below is a Ringed Kingfisher with a recently caught fish

This Amazon Kingfisher played with his fish for quite some time. Interesting position of the fish in this image.

Below is a another Amazon Kingfisher in stunning afternoon light.

This final post image was taken on our last night. I asked our guide to take us to one of the wading pools filled with Caimans. After almost an hour of experimentation, ended up with something I had envisioned. Wanted to show viewers how the Caiman's eyes reflect red with the night sky above.

Lots more images of unique birds and mammals on my web site. I will be leading a photo tour to this location next August. Currently working on details with the outfitter. Already have some folks locked in and only have a few more slots available. If you have any potential interest in joining us, send along and email: bkenc@cox.net. Blue Skies. Read more!

Loons, Puffins & Moose (7/11)

Had a super trip last week to New Hampshire and Maine. The primary photo goal was to capture a Loon with a chick on the back. Puffins and Moose were also on the list. The above and below images were some of my favorites of the female with chicks. These loon images would not have been possible without the worthy assistance of the Camera Gear Lackey, who changed hats for this trip and became the Canoe Lackey. When approaching the loons by canoe, she carefully kept the light at my back and us at the appropriate distance so as not to cause disturbance. Local photographer Judith E. Lombardi also provided essential advice on locations, which certainly facilitated where to go for the 3 days we were in New Hampshire.

This was a special shoot for two reasons. We had some great light. And watching the male and female take turns feeding the chicks, often at close proximity, made our time on the water just extraordinary. After the first morning of hand holding with the 400/5.6 and looking at the soft image results, decided to make some adjustments and ended up duck taping my tripod to the Wenonah Ultralight canoe with the Wimberley Head and the 400/2.8. This alteration did the trick!

Below are some additional female loon/chick shots.


Here you see the male delivering a crawdad breakfast to one of the chicks.

Here are two loon images with the body wake taking on the blue sky reflection, which made for some great shots.


After 3 exceptional days in New Hampshire, we headed over to Maine. Photo goals were Puffins and Moose. We also had a fodder goal of sinful amounts of lobster and clams. The first stop in Maine was Machias Seal Island. To get to the island you have to take a 45 minute boat trip from Cutler, Maine. There is a breeding colony of Atlantic Puffins (approximately 3K) on the island as well as other predominant Alcid species of Razorbills and Murres. Having been to the island before, I concentrated on Puffin fliers. Below are some of my favorites.





We next headed to Baxter State Park. Known for its moose density, we stayed in a campground and hiked to a pond in the early mornings and evenings. We saw several on every outing. We had our best morning the last day of our trip, between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM. We had the pond to ourselves and the light was awesome. These are shots I've always wanted to capture, with the water dripping off the velvet.


Neat capture with the guy breaking out of the water.


Living a dream folks. Blue Skies and great histograms.
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Out West (6/11)

Been on the road lately and been negligent about blogging. Catching up on things this week. In June, had a great trip out west. No specific photo goals, continuing to live a dream and hoping to capture some keepers. The above (Grand Tetons) and below (Yellowstone) images were my favorite bison images of the trip. Just the fact that the buffalo was posing in some dandelions was awesome by itself, but when the cowbird landed on his back, what a bonus!

We spent several days in Colorado photographing Mountain Goats.

Silhouette at sunrise on the mountain.



Watching this Grand Teton NP Coyote pose on the rock and then howl, just after sundown, was special.


We spent several days watching a Yellowstone Badger den. Waiting for the mother to come back to the den paid off. Below you see the mother returning with a ground squirrel. After a feeding session, the young usually came out and we were able to capture some images.



This Yellowstone Red Squirrel was actually one of my favorite images of the trip.

Had fun shooting the Yellow-headed blackbirds at Camas National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho.


How about this group of Uinta Ground Squirrels right in the grass near Mammoth buildings in Yellowstone. Had to go down to 1/100 of a second to get an f stop of 25, so all of them would be in focus.

Loved the breeding colors of the Camas Ruddy Duck's bill. The second image is him chasing another male who was approaching his female.


Camas Horned Grebe

We ended at Bear River NWR in Utah. Lots of Avocets in great light. We were a tad early for chicks, most females were still sitting.



We did find some of the Western Grebes with chicks. Watching feeding time was special.


This White Pelican cruised in while photographing the Grebes and abruptly flew off.


Good times. In the next few days I will be posting some special Loon and Puffins shots from a New England trip taken last week.

Blue Skies and Great Histograms.


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