Wednesday, July 13, 2011

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.


3 comments:

OAL-photo.com said...

Very amazing animal...in the bed of yellow flowers...very nice...

Elaine said...

Stunning series of shots! I love the buffalo in the dandelions, and the Avocet series is gorgeous. Actually I guess I could say that about every one of the photos. Looks like you had a very satisfying trip.

Bob Pelkey said...

Great photos in your long anticipated post, Ken. The rugged environment is really shown dramatically. It's a real treat for me to see your images of the breeding colors and behavior of the migratory species of bird that pass through primarily in the late winter months here in SW Florida with relatively dull plumage. The low light captures of the Coyote are quite extraordinary as well with most wildlife photographers giving up before or at sunset on most occasions I've observed.