Done in by the Wind or Back to the Locals

Wildlife photography can be extremely challenging sometimes.Yesterday afternoon I was feeling really confident that I could get another Mountain Quail image. The quail have been coming in sporadically and I have a pretty good set up that works for them. What I didn't factor in was the wind! I could hear the quail coming up from the forest and I was anticipating some really nice images in my mind. That's when a big gust of wind hit the photoblind and pushed it forward about two feet. The quail scattered and didn't return.What remained was to photograph some of the other locals that weren't so skittish. I got some nice Spotted Towhee images along with Juncos, Steller's Jay and the always cute Douglas Tree Squirrels. So it was a very productive afternoon. God's precious light and love to all, chris

One Frosty Morning

The inland valleys in Mendocino County for the past couple of weeks have been dropping into the twenties. Combine that with clear nights and you get some great frost in the morning. Not what a lot of gardeners want to hear but it's great for photography. Annika and I went in search of frost along Willits Creek over the weekend and we found it in abundance. This morning I got around to catching up on processing some of the images from our adventure. God bless, chris

Glass Beach

Today being a federal US holiday Martin Luther King Day we decided to head over for the Mendocino Coast for a short adventure. We went to Glass Beach which is on the northern edge of the small town of Fort Bragg. It is the site of the old town dump. As a consequence of that there is beach glass galore on the beach from all of the old bottles that were disposed of the many, many years ago. It wasn't the best day for photography because the weather was too good. It was a glorious day with not a cloud in the sky and it was close to seventy degrees out. No jackets, sweaters or coats needed.We had a good time looking at the sights and then we headed back into Fort Bragg for a quick lunch at Cafe One and we were back in Willits by three thirty. God's precious love to all, chris

One Mountain Quail

One of the hardest birds to photograph where I live are Mountain Quail. There aren't very many of them and the ones that are here are extremely wary.I can't count the times that I have sat waiting in the photoblind for them and they never appeared. This afternoon I went out to the photoblind in the backyard just a little before three o'clock. I waited and waited. After about an hour I reached for my tripod to pack it up when I heard their feeding call coming from the forest down and to my right. About three minutes later they popped out of the woods onto the patio.For the next five minutes I succeeded in chopping off numerous topknots in my images. Those darn feathers are way too tall compared to California Valley Quail.It took awhile to get my lens adjusted to make sure it was fully included. I made about two more frames and moved my lens just a little too much and they were gone. God's light and love to all, chris

Finding Beauty in the Details

A passage from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree toad is a chef-d’oeuvre for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts scorn to all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. -Walt Whitman Annika and I took a walk along Willits Creek looking for things to photograph. It's amazing what you can find when you start looking around you. On the walk back I was fascinated with the colors and patterns of the rocks in the creek bed. Incredible beauty can be found in the simplest things that God provides. God's light and love to all, chris

Squirrel,Bird and Sunset

I got off to a really late start this morning spending a leisurely morning indoors. It ended up being a beautiful day. This afternoon I did a little bit of photography in the backyard photoblind. I spent some time photographing a Douglas Tree Squirrel and a Dark Eyed Junco. Today concluded with watching a colorful sunset over the Pacific. God bless, chris

I Think the Fog is Chasing Me!

I should have known it would be foggy! Today I drove Jay back up to college in Arcata,Ca. As soon as we got past Garberville on Highway 101 it turned foggy. Jay and I had a great time talking, visiting the Arcata Marsh and going out to lunch etc. After dropping him off at his dorm I decided to check out the Eel River bottom lands around Ferndale on the way home. In the past it has always been a great spot for birds. The fog was actually far worse there. I did get one great opportunity to put my camera to use, I parked the car to look at some shorebirds and a flock of Tundra Swans flew right by in the fog. I just love that sound! God bless, chris