Probably one of the more difficult birds I have photographed. This pair of Tufted Flycatchers are nesting in Upper Ramsey Canyon – which means it is a 2.5 mile hike uphill from the Ramsey Canyon Visitor center, or a milder 3.5 mile hike from Carr Canyon. I chose to hit it head-on and hike up Ramsey Canyon.
Now I am in pretty good shape, but carrying my camera gear, 2 liters of water, rain gear and food makes it a bit more challenging. Additionally, the location of the birds was around 6,500′ elevation and my body is accustomed to sea level. Temperatures were also around 85F, even at that elevation!
But I made it, and I got great photos and video of both the male and female Flycatcher on the nest!
This one has somehow taken a liking to Colusa NWR 45 miles north of Sacramento. Since I didn’t get a chance to go after the bird last year (was in the UK), I decided to make a trek up there with some friends. Lucky for us, the bird showed up after 1 or 2 hours after sunrise at a brisk 30F and light winds.
Since this is the Central Valley during winter, it also provided great opportunities to photograph Tundra Swans, Greater White-fronted Geese and many other waterfowl that are quite ubiquitous at this time of year. Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails, American Wigeon and other waterfowl by the thousands.
It is also a great place to photograph raptors and I couldn’t resist photographing a silhouette shot of a Great Horned Owl at sunset!
I decided to take my chances waiting for morning rush hour to end and rush up the 160 or so round-trip miles to Carpinteria to photograph the bird. Lucky for me, the bird was perched in a cypress tree right on the side of the highway as I drove up. I almost felt guilty spending 5 minutes photographing the bird (before it flew off) and then getting back in my car to drive home. Total time invested: 3 hours.
It approached Los Angeles from Malibu, flying over the Getty Center, Santa Monica, Venice Beach heading east past the Hollywood sign, over Griffith Park and onward to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena where it made a massive arcing turn and headed south toward Orange County. It did fly by’s over Disneyland, Boeing in Seal Beach, over Huntington Beach and back toward LA where it came to the end of its final flight at LAX.
It will soon be moved to the California Science Center in Downtown Los Angeles where it will be put on display (vertically) for everyone to enjoy.
]]>Whilst photographing this Osprey, a 3.8 earthquake in Brawley hit. I first thought someone had rear-ended my car. Checked my mirror, nope wasn’t that. Maybe a gust of wind? Looked at nearby trees, just a slight breeze. Finally concluded it must have been an earthquake. I shrugged it off and went back to photographing the Osprey…nevermind, he took off flying. Guess they aren’t ones for earthquakes either!
On the way home my wife called to tell me that everyone was talking about all the earthquakes in Brawley! I checked on my earthquake app and realized there was an earthquake swarm happening the entire day I was there. I only felt the 3.8 earthquake and must have been driving when the others struck. There were over 300+ earthquakes that day ranging from 5.5, 5.3, 5.0, 4.8 and below.
One of the many joys of visiting the Salton Sea, are the over abundance of Burrowing Owls…everywhere! Lots of juvenile birds this time of year as well.
I finally achieved my gull of photographing different cycle/year Yellow-footed Gulls. Each summer I visit the sea in hopes of getting better 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycle birds but usually only find close adult birds. Today I managed to get very close to a 1st cycle and 3rd cycle Yellow-footed Gull, along with the ubiquitous adult birds all around the southern end of the Salton Sea.
We concluded the day at Ballona Creek to finish off some missed species – Black Oystercatcher, Brandt’s Comorant and Pelagic Cormorant. A super nice treat were TEN (10) Wilson’s Phalaropes on the Ballona Salt Panne! A couple females were still showing a lot of alternate plumage color.
Recently fledged Barn Swallows were perched nearby begging for food from their parents.
Of course, this also the best place in the world to photograph breeding plumage Red Phalaropes.
What would a trip to Barrow be without Snowy Owls?
Crippling adult Glaucous Gulls! Snow Buntings! Dunlin! Long-billed Dowitcher!
Sara on the edge of the Arctic ice shelf. Yep, still completely frozen in June!
Muskox, Caribou were quite abundant. Had a Red Fox being foxy as well.
A Long-tailed Jaeger and Rough-legged Hawk quarreling. Managed to capture shots of the Rough-legged Hawk flipping around mid-air while the Jaeger was diving and harassing him.
Can you spot the Willow Ptarmigan? How about our rental car? I took this with my iPhone…about 2 feet from the Ptarmigan!
Other Nome specialties, Northern Wheatear, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, gorgeous alt. plumaged Black-bellied Plovers and the rest of the usual suspects!
Crippling photos of Red-throated Loons picking out ponds to build their nests on. Rock and Willow Ptarmigans, Parasitic, Pomarine and Long-tailed Jaegers all in the same field of view. Love Nome!!