In Focus Daily

There is something really special about the morning reflections on Pond #1 at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona. The trees and shrubs that surround the pond are turning to oranges and yellows. As the sun climbs, it lights up the colored foliage and that is reflected on the ponds. Yesterday morning, a small group of Black-necked Stilts was hunting in the shallow waters of the pond and as they walked across, they passed from one band of color into another.

As this adorable Vermilion Flycatcher turns to look behind him, he’s probably thinking “Are you following me?” and the answer would be “Yes! We are!” I’m at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona. We had a marvelous first day here, ending with the Vermilion Flycatcher who to our delight, returned again and again to a particular perch, much of the time one like this in full view and without obstructions. He would leave the perch in pursuit of small gnats and tiny flying insects only to return to the same perch over and over. Then, as the insects moved on, he’d fly to another perch that afforded him the perfect view and flight path for catching his dinner. And, we would follow as he left one tree for another then another. Lots of people visit the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch and our tripods and long lenses attracted attention from some of the visitors who asked questions like “what is that bird?” which we were happy to answer. Through all of that, the little flycatcher went about his business of catching flies, having become fairly acclimated to the people passing under his trees

Bighorn Sheep bed down in the grasses and plants they feed on. The seeds and buds and stems from the plants attach themselves to the sheep’s coat, dotting it all over as in this image. This ram was enthusiastically chewing a stem of something that had a small dollop of snow that made it look almost like a flower. It wasn’t until after I took the photograph that I realized it was a dollop of snow and not a flower bud. These magnificent ovines can be an endless source of fascination and entertainment in Yellowstone.

Tracking Common Ravens has shown them to be incredibly competent when it comes to navigation, responding to sounds and remembering sources of food. In Yellowstone, the Common Ravens are where visitors stop. They know how to open hatches on snowmobiles to access visitors’ food and how to enter a snow coach when the windows are down just enough to find any tidbits left in the open. This Raven was perched atop a rock with its mate when we stopped to watch as it played with what appeared to be a partial wing of some type of bird. This Raven has leg bands and a GPS tracking device affixed to its back. The study of Ravens in Yellowstone and surrounding areas is conducted by a research team that uses an App that lets you track the locations of the Ravens based on the color and leg position of their bands. When I searched for this bird based on its leg bands on the Animal Tracker App, it appears to be #7645, white over dark blue on left leg, green over silver on right leg. What I found interesting is that according to the App, this bird has not been tracked or documented recently and it was last documented about halfway between Livingston and Gardiner, MT three years ago. That may mean I misidentified the colors of the bands, that the GPS tracking device has died, or that reporting is spotty or inconsistent. We spotted it about 60 miles south of where it was last documented, now inside Yellowstone National Park. Their research shows that Ravens travel long distances so that is not an unusual occurrence.

Last evening, the Board of Directors of the Placer County Photography Club convened for a delightful evening of good food, good friends, and good wine at Pam’s home overlooking the North Fork of the American River. What a delightful evening it was with a memorable sunset that was the perfect backdrop for this almost empty glass of Zinfandel. Once the photographs were taken you can rest assured that I refilled it.

Sometimes it’s the subtleties in a photograph that make the difference. I love to photograph Bighorn Sheep and when this ram settled down into the grasses in front of me just outside Yellowstone National Park, I couldn’t resist firing off a long blast to capture this serene moment. After downloading the RAW images to my computer, I viewed a group of these images together. At first glance, they all looked pretty much the same, so I picked one of the last of several that I reviewed to finish. Although these two images look identical, they are not but I didn’t realize it at first since I’d been focused on checking for eye sharpness, something critical to a wildlife photograph. It struck me that something wasn’t quite right, that this image was different from some of the other images I’d reviewed. When I looked at the other images again, I realized the difference was the ram’s ear. In the first image, he has twitched his ear back, almost obscured by the curl of his horn. Images I’d taken seconds earlier showed his ear forward as in the second image. Generally, when an animal puts its ears back, it means they are focused on listening in whatever direction the ears point and it is often a signal of alarm or distress. I don’t know what might have caused this change in ear position but there were several people out photographing this band of sheep and some of the photographers weren’t respecting boundaries. After reviewing images again, I decided that I prefer the second image with the ram’s ear in full view for two reasons; first, the ear is identifiable as an ear; second, the ram does not appear stressed.

I joined the Lincoln Hills Photography Club a month before I moved into my new home there last year. It’s an interesting and lively group and there are always lots of things going on. The Flash Mob events are really fun because it’s all last minute and you don’t have to think too hard about anything. An email comes the day before announcing the Flash Mob event and location and if you’re available to go and it’s something that interests you, you grab your camera go. I joined my first Flash Mob in March because the rookery behind the nearby Lowe’s shopping center was active and the Great Egrets and a few others were building nests. A dozen or more people joined the group. We had front row seats to watch the birds flying to and from nest sites. This Great Egret is in full breeding plumage with its lores a bright lime green.

While the mittens at Monument Valley are the instantly recognizable features of the landscape there, the sky at sunrise is what really gives them star billing. No matter if there are bald skies or monsoon clouds, the intense colors of the sunrise make anyone seeing this phenomenon stare in wonderment. I’ve been to Monument Valley twice; on my first visit, there were bald skies but I watched in awe as the orange orb of the sun rose and appeared to rest briefly atop East Mitten’s thumb. (Click here) to see that shot that appeared in this blog in 2021. This past August, there were monsoon clouds and the colors at sunrise were magnificent. Click here to see a double starburst that appeared on either side of East Thumb’s thumb. In this image, taken just 8 minutes prior to the double starburst, the sky is more intensely red and the sun is still beneath the horizon and the sky steals the show from East Mitten.

We stopped for sunrise outside Yellowstone National Park a couple of weeks ago. The winds had picked up and gusts swept the snow off the peaks in the Absaroka Range. As Bob Dylan once said, it was really blowin’ in the wind.

When push comes to shove with the Bighorn Sheep rams.

Thanksgiving in Redding with my family was great fun. All of the West Coast members of the family were together for the first time in a number of years. Sadie and Bella, the family Goldens were also both in attendance and although I was not successful in getting any shots of them playing together, I did manage to capture a couple of Sadie when she finally calmed down enough to sit still for a few seconds.

Happy Thanksgiving. I am forever grateful that these magnificent Bighorn Sheep are thriving in Yellowstone National Park and that I have been given the opportunity to photograph them in their natural habitat.

A few mornings ago, we stopped for the sunrise on the way from Livingston to Yellowstone National Park. The intensity of color and the increasing clouds over the Absaroka Range was simply spectacular. What a great start to any day!

I just love Bighorn Sheep. Every time I come across a band of Bighorns I am delighted by their actions. The rams, especially, have an affiliation that is wonderful to witness. They bunch close together, often touching heads and horns, and pawing at each other. This looks like a very important post lunch discussion.

A small band of Pronghorn grazed along the snow-covered grasslands along the Old Yellowstone Trail. This young buck strode across the field to meet up with the rest of the band, watching us standing on the side of the road. His horns have not developed into their characteristic heart shape but in time, the small prongs will grow and he will stride with confidence sporting a beautiful heart-shaped crown.

The snowstorm from the previous day had blanketed Soda Butte and much of Yellowstone along the Northeast Entrance Road in a layer of white. Soda Butte is not actually comprised of soda (sodium carbonate) as early prospectors thought. The name stuck, however, and it is still called Soda Butte despite the fact that it is actually a deposit of Travertine (calcium carbonate) like in Mammoth Hot Springs.

The weather on our last day in Yellowstone National Park was overcast, foggy, icy cold, windy as hell, and generally gloomy. The bright spot in our day was the last hour as we drove out of the park to find the band of Bighorn Sheep we’ve watched and photographed all week. I lost count of the number of rams we saw in what I call a scrum, as they all cluster together in a big group and agitate, butt the occasional head, and just be rams. I captured this image of three of the mature rams lined up looking somewhat regal. I call them The Invincible Trio because their haughty appearance seemed to meet the definition of invincible: unconquerable, undefeated, and unsubdued. With their heads held high, the inclement weather seemed not to deter them from their mission to mate with a ewe, although none of the ewes we saw wanted anything to do with any of the rams.