Adapting to City Life

After coming out of the Rockies down to the plains below I had to adapt to driving in city traffic. The traffic in Denver is really bad! For my good friend Dan's wedding I stayed at one of the major Hotels right off the 470 freeway. It was in Centennial one of the suburbs of Denver on the far south side. Coming out of the hotel one morning I looked up at the flags flying in the early morning breeze. Wow! That looks cool. Then I had an immediate flashback of coloring a Colorado flag when I was probably in third or fourth grade. You know the time when kids all over the United states learn about the state they are growing up in. I stood there lost in thought when my mind popped back to reality when I realized that there were two birds of prey flying around above me in the updraft of the breeze hitting the front of the hotel. One was a young Redtailed Hawk and the other was an immature male Kestrel. It was great they were using the building to hunt the grass along the shoulder of the freeway. The Kestrel wasn't too happy about the Redtail getting too close and he made a few dives at it. The Redtail circled a few times and then went into a stoop towards something in the grass but came up empty handed. By then it was too far away to be photographed but I was really happy to watch it unfold. God's love and blessings upon your weekend, chris All of these images were created with a Canon 7DmkII and a damaged handheld Tamron 150-600mm lens. Exposures varied.

Disaster, "The Big Show" and Downtown

On day two of my big adventure first I hit RMA refuge early in the morning and then I went to the Rockies Dodgers game at beautiful Coors Field. While walking from the parking lot to the stadium I heard a loud thunk and then a clattering noise behind me. I turned around to see what the strange noise was. I stared dumbfounded at my telephoto lens lying there on the concrete. I'm always very careful at securing my lenses. What could have possibly happened? A quick check of my day pack showed me that the zipper had broken allowing the lens to fall from my back pack to the concrete. I put the lens on my camera and shot a few images. Everything seemed to be okay until I went to clean the front element of the lens and discovered that it was cracked all around the edges and there were pieces of broken glass clinging to the inside. Surprisingly with it being a high quality lens I was able to photograph with it for the rest of my trip. Watching the the game was great. I met my brother Eric there and he bought us tickets about half way back in the shade just off of third base. The shade was perfect because it was a warm day in the mid seventies. I took a few breaks from watching the game to photograph it with my broken lens and was very happy with the results. For lunch I had a Chili Verde Burtito and it was only eight bucks. A great price for any ball park and it was made fresh right in front of me and was delicious. Best thing of all was the Rockies beat the Dodgers 7-0. The Dodgers got payback that night coming back to beat the Rockies 10-8. After the game rather than drive on the craziness of I-25 I drove all the way down Broadway to experience all the architecture of Denver.What a great game and a great day. I'm shipping the lens off for repairs this week. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Big City Wildlife

As many of you already know I'm a sucker for Pikas, squirrels and Marmots. The first night of my trip to Colorado I stayed at a cheap motel in Denver, Colorado. When I pulled into the motel parking lot and was unloading my photo gear a squirrel bounded across the parking lot. It climbed up a small tree beside my car. I was surprised to find that the tree was an apple tree of all things. The squirrel grabbed an apple and climbed a ways up the tree. I grabbed my camera and tried to find an angle I could photograph the squirrel from. I ended up being so close that my camera wouldn't focus that close so I had to back up.I made several images but this one was my favorite. After taking a few images I plucked an apple and I have to agree with the squirrels choice of dinner. The apple was sweet and delicious. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris

Last Day and RMA

October seventh was the last day of my trip to Colorado and Wyoming. I planned a an early afternoon flight out of DIA so that I could spend one last morning at Rocky Mountain Arsenal before my flight out. It's a pretty convenient location because the airport is only ten or fifteen minutes away when traffic is light. The arsenal is in Commerce City virtually in the shadow of Denver. You can see both the Rockies and the skyscrapers of Denver when you are driving around the refuge. On my flight out I had a western takeoff and I was seated on the south side of the plane so I got to see the Arsenal from the air. The roads are lined with cottonwoods and there are several good sized lakes. There are some good trails to hike and a plenty of subjects to photograph. You are required to stay in you car in the Bison area which is a pretty good idea if you have ever witnessed how fast they can move when they really want to. Hands down my favorite subjects are the Black Tailed Prairie Dogs. I had a great time photographing them as you can see I have plenty of images of them. They are a key species here providing food for predators as well as building homes for rabbits, snakes and burrowing owls. In addition to the Prairie Dogs I also photographed a Magpie on a Bison as well as a Mourning Dove, Meadowlark and a House Finch on some sunflowers. I saw quite a few deer both Mule Deer and Whitetail but I didn't seen any bucks like I did on my trip here a few years ago. I had an absolutely wonderful trip and I'm looking forward God willing to a trip back here in the future. On my drive home after my flight I was treated to a wonderful sunset as I drove up the Ridgewood Grade in Mendocino county where I call home. God bless and enjoy the images, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a variety of lenses.

Good bye Wyoming Hello Prairie Dogs

I paid my respects to the silhouetted cowboy and his dog as I left Wyoming at the Colorado border. I don't know who the artist is but it makes for a wonderful image early in the morning. This was day 13 of my trip and I was headed south on I25 to Loveland, Colorado and then on to Denver for my trip home in NorCal the following day. I was up way before the crack of dawn as is the norm for any kind of a photography expedition. My first major stop was to the Prairie Dog Colony on the east side of Loveland. Sadly this colony may not be there very much longer as the property is up for sale. Who knows what will become of them once the property is developed? I photographed some great behaviors of the eating and greeting. I even got an image of one barking out it's warning out to the rest of the colony. When you see one getting ready to bark you have to leave plenty of room at the top of the frame for them to leap up to. From there I stopped by for short visit to my brother and sister in laws and then I drove past my old house and photographed Barnes Ditch where I spent many a day fishing,swimming, tubing and ice skating in my youth. I'm sure that in this current day of lawsuits and safety none of that is allowed now. My final stop in Loveland was to visit my second Mom, Joanne Burke. Check out her artwork it is fantastic. I call her my second Mom because I was always over at her house when I was growing up. From there I drove with my friend Dan and his girlfriend Julie back to Denver where I got another chance to photograph Zack Julies dog. Dog images are a lot of fun to make especially when you have a great dog like Zack t work with. Such a handsome fellow! God's love and blessings to all, chrisAll images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens. Settings and exposures varied.