Fabulous Flycatchers

I got up bright and early this morning and drove to Mercy Springs Golf Course. You won't find it on any maps as it's a small private nine hole golf course north of here on the Eel River. I went there for our churches Man Day on Saturday and when I was walking around I found a fly catchers nest in an apple tree only about four feet off of the ground.I just had to go back and photograph them! I set up my blind and waited only about two minutes before the first flycatcher arrived carrying insects for their young. After that it was like clockwork. Roughly every five minutes one of the parents would show up with an insect morsel on the wing. A couple of times one of the babies would stick its head out of the knothole to see what was going on. They were constantly trying out their wings as well by beating them against the inside of the nest cavity. That sounded pretty cool. I'm guessing that they are going to fledge in the next couple of days. It was a great little trip. God's bright shining light and love to all, chris

Heat Lightning

Lenore awoke me at four a.m. to let me know there was a quiet lightning display going on outside. Heat lightning flashes were filling the sky about every ten or fifteen seconds. I watched it for awhile and then went and grabbed my camera when it looked like some bolts might be starting to happen. Sure enough as the clouds moved north and east over the Mendocino Range the lightning strikes started. Far too many of them were behind the trees or I just plain missed them while my camera was processing the previous image.An incredible way to start the morning. Thunder storms are fairly uncommon where we live so just to see lightning from a distance here is quite a treat. As beautiful as it is my prayers go out to all of the firefighters whose jobs are going to be probably be very busy today. God blessings to all, chris

Redwood Run 2013

Each year sometime in the first couple of weekends in June the Kiwanis Club puts on a charity motorcycle ride called the Redwood Run. Thousands of riders partake and the rumble of mostly Harley Davidson Motorcycles can be heard for several days as bikers make their way through the redwoods on Highway 101 to the event. This year the event was held this weekend. Bikers started coming through on Thursday morning at a trickle on and by evening it was a roaring rumble. There were Bands All Weekend Long, Bike Games, Contests, Wet T-Shirt Contest, Vendors, Food, Beer and apparently a whole lot more. In all honesty I haven't got a clue as I have never attended not being a motorcycle rider. Today they were coming back down 101 on the return trip. Some of the local gas stations and eateries were doing good business with bikers crowded in eating and buying gas. I hope and pray it ends up being a safe event with no injuries. God's blessings and safe travels, chris

Just Passin' Through

Living in the small town of Willits one of the rhythms of daily life is the pulse of traffic on Highway 101 through town. Summertime brings tourist traffic on the weekends to events further north. This weekend is the Redwood Run. A motorcycle ride up into the redwoods to just outside of Piercy. While I was photographing motorcycles (I'll post those later) I also photographed some of the trucks passing through that make up a snapshot of the traffic that passes through on a daily basis.Hmmmmn.... there sure seems to be a lot of red trucks. God's blessings and safe travels to all, chris

Flying His Colors

I spent about a half an hour this evening in the photoblind pursuing the hummingbirds. My favorite image was of a Rufous Hummingbird flashing his gorget. They are just so beautiful. God's blessings to all, chris

Poor Little Anna's

This morning Jay and I did yard work. Too many years of delayed maintenance in some parts of the backyard! Afterwards we headed out and did some shopping and had lunch. When we got home and we were coming through the door one of the dogs kicked something with its rear paw as I was coming through the door. I looked down to see a poor little Anna's Hummingbird that looked too weak to fly. I cupped it in my hands and carried it out into the backyard where I placed it on an oak twig. I ran back into the house and I grabbed my camera to photograph it. It sat there for about five minutes before trying its wings a few times and then flying away. God's love and protection to all, chris

An Alligator in the Studio

Allright, allright, I'll admit it is a stretching the truth a a bit. You can see from the images it isn't really an alligator but a Northern Alligator Lizard. Today in the process of moving an old wood pile from the backyard my son Jay and I ran into some pretty interesting things.We found centipedes,millipedes and some really large beetles. The coolest thing of all was a Wood Rat nest with two full grown Wood Rats in it. They were absolutely adorable and pretty fat from all of the bird seed and acorns they have been eating.Jay managed to catch one of them but we ended up letting it go for fear of injuring it. One of them escaped into the trees. It was so amazing watching it climb away on the branches overhead. At the bottom of the wood pile I found the lizard and I brought it into the studio to photograph on an old tree branch before I let it go. For an Alligator Lizard it was actually fairly docile as it only hissed at me and never even tried to bite me like some of them do.I'm sure it's much happier now being back in the woods. God's blessings to all, chris