Great Gray Owl
What a GREAT Christmas gift we got this year. On Christmas Eve day I was out and about and a little voice in my head told me to go down this road near our house. As I was approaching a curve the truck in front of me scared up a large bird and immediately I thought OWL! I also immediately hoped it was a gray owl as I have not yet seen one. So I carefully turned around and slowly headed back to the tree and there he was, a Great Gray Owl. What a magnificent bird, just stunningly beautiful. I reached over carefully for the camera, not taking my eyes off of him, and grabbed…nothing. No camera. Arrgg. Always Carry a Camera. So I watched him for a couple of minutes and headed home. The good news is that I knew where he was now and I expected to be able to find him again. So Christmas Day we headed out for some owling. We looked for him for a good hour or so and we were getting ready to leave when Dee spotted him. We got to photograph and observe him for about ten or fifteen minutes. Totally topped off my day and made it an absolutely great Christmas. I hope you and yours had a great Christmas too!
Fence Row
Well it is getting to be the season for snowscapes. We have had some marvelous snow over the last week and a half and we are finally getting some good accumulation. The avalanche danger is through the roof right now so be very wary out there. Always remember the 24 hour rule. This scene caught my eye earlier today.
Oyster Catcher
This is the time of the year for reflection. For me that really means “I have a ton of images I haven’t even looked at and I have a ton of film to develop.” So while I was waiting for some water to warm up the other day I found this image that I really like but just have not yet got to. I love these Oyster Catchers, the contrast of colors on this beautiful bird is just so attractive I can’t stop looking at it. I might have mentioned that we took a Fjords tour earlier this year and we really enjoyed it. It was different atmosphere, totally bird oriented really, with a relatively low head count. It really made for a great day on the water. The sun was out in totally clear skies that day which made for some harsh photographic conditions but as a general rule the people and birds seemed to like it.
New Print of the Month
I have updated the website with the new Print of the Month. www.fallriverphotography.com. Thanks for taking a look.
Nice Ducks
These mallards and a blue winged teal or two are hanging out in just about the only open water that is left around here. It was pretty cold (~10 F) but that was a warm up from the -18 F last week. I don’t know how long this open water will last, I don’t recall last year if it closed up or not but I think it did. There is a bit more down by the old Mat-Su townsite that might be productive too. We went down there last Sunday though and did not see a thing. The birding forums were reporting that a GBH had been in that area but we did not find it.
Great Blue Heron
A great blue heron was out on Potter’ Marsh about a month back. I caught him over the course of several days and enjoyed his antics immensely. It amazes me how hard it can be to spot this bird even when it is right in front of you. It is quite a hunter too. It was capable of remaining perfectly still for very long periods of time but it would lock on to anything that moved in the water even when it was on roost. This photograph was made after he caught a fish and moved onto this log. He is pretty much in a zone here and he was attacking little sticks with great enthusiasm. What a fun bird to watch.