2013 Spring Trip - Day 2 - A day on the Plains

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Well the long anticipated day has finally arrived.  For the fourth year in a row I will be spending the night in a photographer blind on the banks of the Platte River with a few thousand Sandhill Cranes.  But first there is the morning group blind to experience.

Taking Flight

One must be at the Rowe Sanctuary visitor center by 6:00 am for the morning blinds adventure, so it’s an early wake-up call.  Actually my iPhone alarm was silenced but my internal alarm was working so I made it just in time.  This morning we went downstream from the visitor center to the East blind.  Slowly we walked down the path none of us could see.  The volunteer guides knew the way and we trusted their guidance.  Reaching the blind we entered and began our wait for the sun to start coming up.

The Dance #1

It was a chilly very overcast morning.  The cranes for the most part were quiet, every once in a while you would hear some talking.  It was impossible to determine how many cranes were actually out there since it was so dark.  As the sun began casting a glow of light across the river we began seeing that we had a nice group of cranes right in front of the blind.  The anticipation of a memorable morning was beginning to build.  People were getting their cameras ready and those with binoculars were looking at the outlines and shapes of the cranes.  As the excitement arose so did the cranes.  Before you could make a decent shot the birds were spooked and they were off, all of them.  There wasn't a crane left.  At that point I was ready to call it a day and head back to the visitor center but we waited just to see if any would come back, which they didn't.  As we gathered outside the blind for the walk back snow started falling.

The Dance #2

I spend most of the day driving around the fields looking for some field action.  It’s hard to catch good images of the birds in the field.  As soon as they see you coming they start walking, and flying if you’re too close, away from the road.  Most of the shots you get are tail feathers.  Once in a while though you get some dancing and with my 100mm-400mm you can pull in some images.

The Dance #3

It was a little after 4:00 pm when I was back at the sanctuary getting ready for my trip out to the overnight blind.  Inside the visitor I found the guy managing the overnighters.  Having been there before I knew the blind I wanted, the one upstream, but it’s always a gamble on who gets which one.  I was happy to find out that a new system was put in place, which worked to my advantage.  Blinds were given out in the order reservations were made.  Since I made the earliest reservation I was able to select my preferred blind.  Twenty minutes later I was at the blind.

It was a blustery snowy day with a brisk wind.  The wind was coming from the north-east right into the windows in the blind.  So for the first few hours I sat there with the windows closed but with the back door open just so I’d be out of the weather.  The sun didn't set until 7:30 or so and the cranes don’t come in until sunset or later so there was plenty of time to kill.

 As night time started taking hold the cranes started flying over.  The mystery is where they are going to land.  I was hoping they would land on my side of the river but that was not to me.  Directly across from me the first few cranes started landing, then more and more and… (well you get the idea).  As you can see this became a video fest.  I have never seen more cranes in one place in my life it was overwhelming.  All I can saw is watch the videos and imaging being under this canopy of flying cranes. It was a show that I will not soon forget.

First to Arrive

They kept coming

And kept coming

And kept coming

Once it got to dark it was time to hit the sack.  Since I was alone in the blind I brought my cot along and did I sleep like a baby.  This is one of the very rare occurrences when being hard of hearing helps.  Once I take my aid out its quiet.

Roger

(-:)

2013 Spring Trip - Day 1 - Driving to Nebraska

Friday, March 22, 2013

Boy it's been a long time since my last blog.  It's not that I haven't been doing any shooting it's just I haven't been doing much.  During this time of the year it's time to head out west which is what I did from March 22 thru March 31.

I left home early in the morning.  For the first time I was going by myself.  My wife Carolyn is still in school, just a few more weeks to go, and my friend Travis, whom I have traveled with the three previous trips had gotten married just two days before, March 20, and he and his wife were a day behind me, we would later meet up in Utah.

For the forth year, the first stop is the Rowe Sanctuary by Kearney Nebraska.  This is the time of year when the Sandhill Cranes, and other bird,  head north to their summer breeding grounds.  The Platte River, in central Nebraska, has long been a refueling stop for the Sandhills with hundreds of thousands passing thru here during a 3 to 4 week period starting in March.

Landing Gear down, prepare to land.

It was a beautiful day as I left Minnesota but I knew a storm was brewing across Nebraska.  It wasn't until I headed west from Des Moines that the sky started clouding up and the further I went west the cloudier it got.  I was rushing to get to the sanctuary by 5:00 pm since I had a reservation in the evening group blind.  Turns out that wasn't a problem and I got there with plenty of time to spare so I spent a little time driving around the fields look for and shooting the cranes.

A long exposure makes ghostly figures except for the one standing still

The central U.S. has long been a great place for the cranes to rest during their migration north.  Before man started taming the wilderness it was said the Platte River was a mile wide and an inch deep.  This along with the spring ice and floods that flowed from the Rockies kept this area free of plants and trees and made for a perfect place for the cranes to roost at night.  The river gives them protection and a warning from predators.  Today with dams in place and the water flow being controlled, the Platte River is much narrower and native vegetation has covered much of the area the cranes need for roosting.  Thanks to the efforts of Rowe Sanctuary, and other organizations, work is done during the summer to keep areas of the river free of vegetation so the craned have a perfect place to roost.

Group landing

The diet of the cranes has changed a bit as well.  Cranes will eat seeds, tubers as well as bugs, mice, snakes and other creatures.  What with the extensive farming in Nebraska the cranes have an abundance of waste corn on which to gain the 20% of their body weight they put on for the continuing trek north.

The afternoon turned quite dark as the clouds thickened and shooting cranes in the fields required hi ISO, large apertures and slower shutter speeds, far from idea conditions (a theme that would follow).  I didn't make many images but it was fun being in Nebraska with the cranes again.

A long exposure turns the cranes in flight into an visual abstract.

We met at the sanctuary, split into our groups and headed out to our blinds.  Our blind was upstream and named Stevie, a very nice blind.  We enter the blinds well before the sun sets and well before the cranes arrive.  I've seen some wonderful sunsets from these blinds but a sunset was not to be this evening.  As the sun set behind the clouds it got quite dark very early.  By the time the cranes started arriving it was almost to dark to photograph.  Those of us that were using tripods and had camera with decent ISO capabilities were able to capture a few images.

The sky fills with cranes

One thing about the weather being like it was, I found myself watching the cranes more so than looking thru a viewfinder.  The number of cranes was astonishing and I believe I was experiencing the peak of the migration this year.

It was a fun and enjoyable evening.  The only thing missing was not having Carolyn there to share the experience with me.

Roger
(-:)

The Heron and the Osprey

A few weeks ago on the way home from the Grabnds I stopped at a heron rookery outside of Duluth.  My friend Travis and I were shooting Auroras and since it's summertime it doesn't really get dark until around 10:30-11:00pm.  To make the most of the time we shot straight until 3:30am when the sky started to brighten again marking the end of a very short night.  It was 4:00am when I hit the sack for what would be about 2 hrs of sleep.

I'd visited this rookery a few weeks before in the late afternoon on my way to Grand Portage.  The sky was overcast and the light really crappy so I didn't walk away with anything worthwhile.  I was determined, however, to shoot there in the morning and this morning turned out to be the one.  To catch the morning sun I need to drive the 2 hrs before it got to late so had to rise at 6:00am and hit the road.


It was rather quiet at the rookery.  I was hoping to get adults flying in to feed the young but it just wasn't happening.  I waited and waited, good thing I'm patient, when all of a sudden there was some activity to my left.  Among the herons was an osprey nest and for some reason one of the adult osprey took some interest in the closest heron nest.  It stated dive bombing the two herons, an adult and a youngster.  It must have dive bombed the nest a half dozen times and I was lucky to witness it and photograph it.  Following are image sequences of a couple of the ospreys passes.

the adult is actively watching the osprey

never taking its eye off the predator

 protecting its young the adult makes itself look bigger

then decides it's going to scare it away with its ferocious call

 and at the last minute ducks low

its safe now to come back up as the osprey flies off

not taking it's eye off the osprey,

its preparing for another attach

the osprey approaches again

again the adult puffs up in size

looking tall and ominous

 

both adult and young try to look fearsome

and again duck at the last minute

Is the osprey done yet?

not taking their eyes off the bird

it comes in again with talons outstretched

the youngster is getting a little braver and doesn't duck as far down as the parent.

The osprey wasn't done but you get the point.  Eventually the osprey returned to its nest to be with it's young.  The other adult heron showed up and soon after the first adult took off.  It didn't take long before the second adult also took off leaving the youngster by itself.  i wondered what the osprey was going to do now that the youngster was by itself.  Well the adults must have known something because the osprey left the young heron alone, well for as long as I was there.

It was a beautiful morning to sit by this pond and watch the wildlife.  It reminded me of the day last year when we spent the entire day watching Loons nesting.  It was during the drive home that the short night caught up with me.  A half hour power nap get me home safely.

Roger
(-:)

A Night of Northern Lights

Last Thursday June 14 my iPhone chirped with the sounds of an incoming email. As I normally do I looked down and saw a message from Space Weather about an incoming CME, the kind of blast from the sun that create an aurora. It not only talked about a CME but said there were 2 CMEs heading toward earth due to arrive Saturday June 16. As luck would have it I was planning to make a trip back up to the Grand’s, Portage and Marais, this weekend and it looked like I was going to have my first Northern Lights show from the North Shore.


Anticipation was riding high as I made my way north on Friday afternoon. I travel north quite often although this was just the 4th time so far this year. Over the last year or so aurora activity has been particularly high but I've missed the big one that can extend overhead. I've lucked out and made some aurora images but the aurora was typically hugging the northern horizon.  Hopefully this would change this weekend.

  

10:46pm - McFarland Lake

I got up to by friends in Grand Portage Friday night and we began talking of the following night and plans for aurora shooting. And then he mentioned the weather forecast. In my excitement I had not checked the forecast assuming clear skies. Well the forecast for Saturday and Saturday night was cloudy with 70% rain. Oh great, I’m finally up north, have an excellent prediction of auroral activity and it’s going to be cloudy. In Minnesota one doesn’t totally give up on things because of the weather because weather predictions are frequently wrong.

12:12am - First view of Aurora off the Arrowhead Trail

Saturday came and we had really nice weather during the day. Blue sky, sun and nice clouds with very comfortable temperatures was in stark contrast to a day filled with rain, so maybe the forecast for tonight would be wrong as well. I lazed around the trailer in Grand Marias much of the day before traveling back up to Grand Portage. Not long after I arrived the sky started clouding up and, well, it was looking like the storm was finally making its way toward us. The radar weather map was looking really bad with a long line of thunderstorms bearing down on us. The only good thing was the storms were moving quickly and the hope was they would come and go before sunset.

12:19am - Doesn't take long for the clouds to move in

Optimistically, we headed out around 7:00 to our sunset location at Esther Lake. Expecting to get hit by some huge storm on the way out it just barely sprinkled, although enough to clear off the windshield a couple of times. Once at the lake it began raining. First a little then a lot, lightning, thunder and rain beat down on the windshield as we sat patiently hoping the storm would pass so we could get a nice sunset. As 9:00pm approached it was obvious the skies were not going to part and since sunset was a 9:00pm as well we decided to head over to our aurora site at Lake McFarland. Again it was raining, although not so heavy, and we found ourselves sitting, waiting. It’s a good thing Travis and I are real patient, we were certainly spending a lot more time sitting and waiting in the car than shooting.

2:00am - Cascade River from The Grade

A couple hours passed and the sky lightened a bit enough for some definition in the clouds so we got out to shoot the clouds. Then on the horizon a bright peek of light began showing thru. It slowly grew and spread and we thought we were in luck. But wouldn’t you know it another bank of clouds were moving in to take ownership of the sky. Crap!! It had stopped raining but the clouds remained. They were thin clouds, you could catch stars thru then, but not thin enough to see the aurora.

2:08am - Cascade River from The Grade

I was staying in my trailer in Grand Marais about 20 mile south and west of where we were. Thinking the clouds might have already cleared down there we headed to "town". But first we stopped at a north facing overlook on the Arrowhead Trail. Travis got out to check. The sky was relatively clear towards the north and sure enough the aurora was shining bright in the sky. You’ve never seen guys move so fast getting camera and tripods out and starting to shoot. It was glorious watching the ebb and flow of the clouds of solar wind. It’s didn’t take long before those darn clouds made a reappearance and the prospect was not looking good. Having seen some beautiful lights we took off toward Grand Marais. Travis knew of a good place on The Grade with water in the foreground.

2:40am - Turn around and the Milky Way beacons attention

 It’s about 1:00am by now and we are high tailing it down Hwy 61 toward Grand Marais getting there as fast as we could. There weren’t many cars on the road just a few. We passed one car and Travis immediately slowed down to the speed limit, we were using the speed limit as merely a suggestion up to this point. I glanced in my rear view mirror and saw a pair of headlight doing a U-turn and slowly gaining on us. Whoa-boy looks like we’re going to meet the local sheriff. He pulls up behind me and it didn’t take long for his red light to start flashing behind me so I immediately pulled over to the side of the road and sat there watching Travis drive off, lucky guy. The sheriff was nice and to make a long story short ticketed me for not having my proof of insurance but gave me a warning for going 67 in a 55 mile zone. Whew. I’m a wounded vet from the View Nam era and have Combat Wounded Vet license plates on my vehicles. Wonder if that had anything to do with him giving me a warning or not.

2:41am - Aurora meets the Milky Way right overhead

I found Travis waiting for me at the gas station. I told him briefly about my experience before heading up to The Grade. The drive is mostly thru a corridor of trees and it’s very hard to see the horizon so it was a big question for me if we were in luck. Finally Travis slowed down at the river crossing and lo and behold the sky was clear of clouds and the aurora filled half the sky. For the next two hours we shot the aurora on one side of the road and the milky way on the other side of the road.

3:09am - Dawn is approaching, lighting up the horizon

As the hour hand moved past 3:00am the morning light started illuminating the sky. Within a few minutes most of the aurora had disappeared and we decided to call it a night. It was 4:00am when I got back to the trailer. What a thrilling night, one I will remember forever. I knew my camera had some exciting images inside that I was looking forward to seeing when I got home. Back at the trailer I set my alarm for 6:00am so I could get up and head down to Duluth to shoot some Herons in the morning light.

Roger

(-:)

The way I see Taos Pueblo

As I wrote in my last blog post, December Trip West - Day 22 - Taos Pueblo, Taos Pueblo was one of the hilites of my recent trip.  I always felt a Black and White image of Taos Pueblo was more fitting of the way I feel about this place.  I have spent some time converting images From Taos Pueblo to Black and White and I've uploaded them to my website.

Clicking on any of he images will take you to my Taos Pueblo gallery where you can see those that I have uploaded so far.












I intend to upload more and will eventually make this into a folio

Roger (-:)