Often Seen, Seldom Recognized, Sometimes Photographed, Hardly Ever Easy Once again we have reached that point in the winter when the weather conditions are headed downhill and making it challenging to enjoy being outside. As we travel along on snow-covered roads we often see flocks of “LBBs” (little brown birds) take flight just before …
Sharing When I Can This afternoon I spent time with a young person who is learning driving skills. Since they were going to take me for a ride, I thought we might as well make the trip worthwhile. Midway through the drive we stopped at a local park to do a little birding and …
Gravel Travel Images I would like to explain in this post that I successfully went trout fishing today, but that would not be entirely accurate as most people define the word “fishing.” My day did include trout fishing, but there was no trout catching. There is a big difference between the two, especially for …
Seen Today Before Work Most days I shoot pictures after work. Today my activity flow was reversed…pictures came first, followed by work. Picture #1 shows an adult red-shouldered hawk perched over a small flowage of open water. The cold overnight temperatures iced up several feeding areas forcing this hawk and its mate …
Visual Acuity When I am out and about looking for possible photography opportunities I use skills developed back in the days when I hunted with a bow or firearm. I learned that to be successful spotting game, I needed to look not for an entire animal. Instead, my attention had to be focused on …
Nature Makes Me Smile Imagine having a rather challenging, thought-provoking day at work that ended with more unanswered questions than accomplishments. COVID-19, upcoming mass vaccinations, budget meetings, and public hearings – all weigh heavy on a person. To clear my mind I went for a walk along the Wapsipinicon River. I had already missed …
Determination Before the wind kicked up completely out of control, when it was just blowing sort of out of control, I noticed this irregular shape on the very top of a horizontal structure on a utility pole. As I slowed to a stopped I promptly recognized I was looking at one determined squirrel. Not …
Gray Partridge Squeaks After Pheasants Fly While driving down a snowy road today I noticed a dozen or so hen ring-necked pheasants along the edge of the road and into the ditch a few car lengths ahead of me. The girl pheasants were broken into three groups, with some more skittish than the others. …
From an Idea to an Image For weeks I have been working through an image in my mind that I have wanted to create. I knew it would be involved and take time, but the final product was worth the effort. Initially I was hoping to shoot this picture on the frozen Wapsipinicon …
A “Life Bird” and Then There Were Two! For weeks I have read reports of Carolina wrens showing up at feeders around the state. Normally, the southern part of Iowa is about the northern extent of the range of this species. To have them in many places across Iowa generates questions – is this …