Category Archives: Photography

Painting the sky white

25 Saturday Mar 2023

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I took a bright, sunny day off from skiing last week to gaze at the thousands of snow geese that pause in southern Idaho on their migration from Mexico and California to summer range in Canada and farther north. The yearly migration brings these beauties to the wetlands and farm fields scattered across our relatively mild, March landscape. We’re still racking up inches and feet of snow in the mountains, but the lowlands begin to green up in response to longer days of sunshine, providing a perfect layover midway in the journey. This pause also gives their northern destination a bit more time to warm up before the geese arrive, ready to nest on the tundra. Interestingly, the females usually return to their nesting site of the previous years.

These birds are smaller than Canada geese; they are about nine pounds lighter than their Canadian cousins with a wingspan about twenty inches smaller. And they are beautiful, both on the ground where they appear to be totally white with pinkish bills and feet, and even more so in the air where the underside of their wings are tipped in black. Due to a mutation, some snow geese appear slate grey or blue and are referred to a blue geese. There seems to be no discrimination between the whites and blues; they hang out together without quibble or squabble. However young birds tend to choose mates of the same color as their parents, thus a white female from a blue male, will look for a dapper blue as a life partner.

They are very social, mate for life, and maintain family groups and large migration flocks. Strength in numbers. At night they prefer to roost in marshes, ponds, and lakes. In the early morning they gravitate to agricultural fields where they feed on about any vegetation available; grasses, sedges, willows, rushes, horsetails, roots, tubers, seeds, and grains. I wonder how farmers feel about these voracious plant pillagers.

Wildlife enthusiasts, birders, and photogs clog dusty farm roads to gawk and photograph the yearly extravaganza. The birds hang out for three to six weeks, depending on the weather and the available forage.

They are masters of air traffic control. How they avoid in-air collisions is beyond me.

Sources:

https://beautyofbirds.com/snow-geese/
https://www.birdadvisors.com/geese-idaho/

A little walkabout

16 Thursday Mar 2023

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I am fortunate to live in one of the rare places in America that is not reeling from the fury of wild and crazy weather events. Having survived a string of drought years, abundant snow is a welcome sight for recreationists and for farmers. Heavy snowfall does come with its inconveniences and dangers to out-of-bounds recreationists, however. North of Boise, a snowmobiler lost his life last week when he approached a hill with unstable slabs of snow that broke loose and buried him under thirty feet of snow, boulders, and trees.

Snow drifting down in town is relatively rare here, which makes it all the more enchanting—in my opinion anyway. I realize not everyone gets giddy at the sight of snow, but honestly, no one here should be whining about the weather, given what folks on both coasts and the Midwest are dealing with.

And by the next day, poof—the snow is mostly gone.

Back at home, a fireplace, a cup of hot cocoa, and a splash of store-bought color await.

The calendar and the clock may say spring, but Mother Nature calls the shots, and she’s not done with winter just yet.

Fall Flights

07 Monday Nov 2022

Posted by in Photography, Travel & Adventure

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Just six miles from home is the amazing World Center for Birds of Prey (WCBP). For about six weeks in September & October, the WCBP hosts Fall Flights during which expert bird handlers show off the amazing skills of their education birds. What is a bird of prey? Also known as raptors, birds of prey share these traits:

  • Meat Eaters
  • Hooked Beaks with sharp cutting edges
  • Sharp Talons to catch, hold, and carry prey
  • Keen Eyesight

Raptors include eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls.

Meet Oliver, the Verreaux’s Eagle-owl, one of the largest owls in the world. Oliver was magnificent once he got over his stage fright and stepped out of the cage. He swooped silently from one handler’s arm to the other’s nearly parting some of the audience’s hair.

Next came Griffin, the Swainson’s Hawk, looking rightfully regal.

Finn, the Red-tailed hawk enjoyed showing off his prodigious beak.

Farrah, a beautiful Ferruginous Hawk has a pretty intense stare.

Makeda the Lanner Falcon wowed us all with her stunning outfit and her arial acrobatics.

Falconry in action

This was a really fun hour of life. These creatures are amazing and it’s a treat to see them up close.

The Swainson’s Hawk (I believe. I have a hard time telling them apart from the red-tailed.)

The World Center for Birds of Prey is the headquarters of The Peregrine Fund, “founded in 1970 to restore the Peregrine Falcon.” The Peregrine had been declared extinct on the eastern seaboard due to exposure to DDT when a few passionate raptor biologists had the audacity to propose a captive breeding program using eggs from the few remaining Peregrines in the western United States. Thus began the Peregrine Fund sustained mostly by private donations. “The Peregrine Falcon was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999. That success encouraged the organization to expand its focus to raptor conservation efforts on behalf of more than 100 species in 65 countries worldwide, including the California Condor and Aplomado Falcon in the United States. The organization is non-political, solution-oriented and hands-on.”