My What Sharp Teeth You Have… I Think

In honor of tonight’s MEGA MILLIONS Lottery drawing I bring you your very own jackpot if you will. That jackpot being a bonus post for the month! I know, I know, a cheap replacement for the millions you could have won with the real drawing, but hey, the likelihood of getting this post was a whole lot better than your odds of actually winning that thing anyway. Truth be told, one of the reasons for the extra post is due to the quality of this particular set of pictures. One of the professional photographers Linda and I enjoying listening to has a podcast we play on our longer road travels. In this podcast, Rick Sammon is always fond of saying “One blurry picture is a mistake, a hundred blurry pictures is a style”. Generally I laugh this off, but in this particular case I’m going with wholehearted truth. In a slight variation, these images are in the STYLE of high grain hand painted mural. Here is a perfect example of this.

What do you think, captivating brush strokes, complimentary colors and that “stand back 20 feet” appeal common in many classic paintings in art history. Any chance you are buying that? thought so. Now a little background. The first time Linda and I visited Yellowstone, we did not get the opportunity to see a single wolf while we were out there. Part of that is due to not making it out to Lamar Valley which is where these wonderful animals tend to hang out (or rather where they are most often viewed). This trip out we had a bold goal to leave with at least one sighting and if a miracle occurred, some photos. On the very first morning we headed out to Lamar Valley with our friends David and Dr. Giselle. There we were met with lots of people with spotting scopes trained on a far distance cluster of trees on the banks of the river – just below the confluence. Thanks to a friendly lady from the UK we learned that the Druid Pack had been in a 2 day standoff with an cow elk who had sought safety in the middle of the river. I cannot give you a good estimate of the distance that was from where we were at on the side of the road, but it was way too far for the Beast to pull in any detail at all. Some other visitors around us were more than happy to give us a look through their more powerful scopes (quite friendly people out there by the way). Sure enough, we could see the cow elk’s head and top of it’s back along with a couple of wolves taking random passes along the banks. I can’t imagine how stressful this was for the participants in the standoff not having eaten in two days in a struggle of life and death. I do not usually take sides in the natural wildlife food chains but it turns out that a group of ignorant tourists decided they have the right to. Later in the day, these idiots decided they would walk out near the standoff and have a bite to eat while watching the event. Well, guess what, both the elk and the wolves freaked out at this intrusion causing the end of the skirmish – the wolves abandoned the hunt and the elk made off. Now one would say that those people saved an elk, but those of us who understand that predators have to kill to feed themselves and their cubs consider this as even more days without nourishing the pack. While were making our final scans, a park ranger came by and informed us that this had happened and he was looking for the morons that walked out there… so we’re not the only ones upset about this (the UK lady wanted them banned from the park immediately).

So one of our goals had been met, we actually saw wolves – Yeah! But the story does not end there.

Hit the jump to read the rest of the goodness and the explanation for the shot above !

Mar272012

Just Standing Around Waiting for the Acme Delivery

There are times when you come upon a particular sight that just makes you laugh. Unfortunately, those times are usually when you are alone and have no means to bottle the memory up to open when you need that little pick me up in the future. This, however, was not the case when such a situation happened on our way back out of Yellowstone. We decided to take the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway on our way to Custer State Park. Depending on the elevation, there was up to 5 inches of snow on the ground providing for some awesome pictures against the Autumn turned trees and … well .. ummm what can I say other than burst out laughing.

I am not exactly sure this was what they were talking about, but nothing says scenic more than a cow butt. The good news is I now have something to turn to when I need a chuckle.

… but there is actually more to this story that fits (almost) perfectly with this month’s theme of Yellowstone National Park wildlife. I say almost because we were technically outside of Yellowstone when the following shots of Canis Latrans were taken.

So, any guesses how these two shots are linked?

Hit the jump to see the answer!

Mar182012

Bear With Me… Almost Through Yellowstone

Good news! Linda and I took our cameras out this morning and did some sunrise and bird shooting at Banner Marsh and then moved down to Emiquon (link here) to finish out the morning. I missed the bald eagle off of Route 8 – it was in hunting mode and spent the time just circling way above the trees. If the rest of the shots come out as good as they looked on the chimp viewer I’ll have plenty of blog fodder for next month – granted I get through the Yellowstone series first.

But on that front we are really getting close. After this one I believe there are only two more animal series and then one for water landscape and another for land landscapes and we’ll put a bow on it. Sorry about flooding you with these, but this is my sweet spot for photography and I really enjoy the post processing and posting almost as much as taking the actual shots in the field – well, truth be told, out in the field is a lot better than post processing but what good is pressing the shutter if you are not willing to put the time in to make them look their best? Now “best” in this particular series is not as tack sharp as we strive for in our work. The lighting was not the best (I know, old excuse, but it’s the truth) and the Beast was being pushed to its focus maximums. Employing higher than usual ISOs are the answer to this, but this typically gives rise to that that evil demon we call Noise. The shots were put through the ringer in Lightroom to pull out as much detail as possible, but there is point when it works against the shot to do much more.

So today’s topic (if you couldn’t surmise from the title) is all about the Bear. In particular, the Black Bear. We have been very lucky on our two trips to Yellowstone in that we captured bears both times we were there. To see the other set go here. Most of those were actually of the cinnamon brown variety, but our first bear sighting on this trip was the uber-rare grey variety.

Am I crazy or does this look exactly like a black bear laying in the grass? Granted I may be biased, since intriguing rocks are always acceptable fodder for my photo outings. So you might be asking yourself “How does he know it isn’t a Grizzly Bear? – giving some credit that you were aware there was a difference) It is actually pretty easy to tell. Grizzlies have a prominent hump on top of their shoulders…since it was missing from the gray specimen above, it must be a from the Black Bear family. At least if the rest of the week proved fruitless in the search for bear we could say we photographed one.

But alas, we did stumble upon a real live Black Bear on our way back from checking out the wolves in Lamar Valley. Shot was transitioning in and out of light and even with the Beast at full 400mm it still fell short of really bringing it in tight.

Oh, and was actually had the black fur.

Yes, it was clearly a younger specimen, but this is not the time to get choosey – just getting a chance to see one or two while you are out there is a thrill in itself. These shots were taken from the side of the road looking back into the hillside. There was an opening where this particular bear was rummaging around. The tree shadows and traversing through multiple light levels made it difficult to get a decent exposure while keeping any definition in the black fur.

Hit the jump to see more picture taken of the Black Bear (the live one)

Mar172012

Where the Buffalo Roam

We are now at the third in the series of Yellowstone (and Custer State Park) Ungulates… and if I remember correctly this will be the last in the set (unfortunately no moose were to be found on this trip). Similar to the Wapiti in the previous post (link here), these beasts are so large they have two names. Using once again my staple for all things researchy, I headed over to Wikipedia to get some details on these once common roamers of the Great Plains. Surprising to me, the name I usually use for them, Bison, is actually a newer name than Buffalo. I would have bet all my Double Jeopardy money on the reverse. This particular Bison appears upset that I didn’t know that.

Bison actually comes from the Greek work for ox-like (originating around 1635). On the other hand, the name Buffalo comes to us from French fur traders in the 1774 timeframe. Strangely enough, they failed to give the name Native Americans used for one of their dominant food sources. What appears to be one of those tragedies from a lack of conservation principles, these animals definitely took a hit from hunting practices (skin market driven more than food source) which just about drove them to extinction – Wikipedia also indicates that this was a US Army endorsed activity in order to impact the Native Indian living conditions. The good news is conservation efforts have been bringing them back and now listed as near threatened.

Linda and I have had the privilege of photographing these creatures at three wonderful places. You can fill all your digital cards up with Bison shots at either Yellowstone National Park or Custer State Park. They are so abundant there you eventually start ignoring them about halfway into the trip. I always joke that trips there start out with “oh oh a Bison” proceed to “wow, look at that one over there”, then “eh, let’s keep driving” and finally “hey, get the hell of the road so we can get to the wolves!” Now in truth, we may progress through this transition to disinterest at a faster rate than most. We actually live about 10 minutes from Wildlife Prairie Park which has a very nice collection of Bison and other native animals to the Great Plains. You can read more about that park on a previous post (link here). (looks like I already used the two name bit on that previous post – looks like I need to get some original material.)

Here is one of the local residents of Custer State Park.

Hit the jump to see the rest of the Bison collection.

Mar132012

Wapiti – Not The Sound of a Spinning Window Shade

Keeping with the theme of ungulates and that home away from home they call Yellowstone National Park, I bring you the big boys of the park – the Cervus Canadensis which is sooo big they have two names. Thanks to European settlers we have the moniker of the Elk where are native Americans (according to Wikipedia specifically the Shawnee and Cree) we have “it which has a white rump” or Wapiti. Since the first days of hearing this original name I’ve always associated it with a snapping window shade – do those even still exist? If you recall, when one of them recoiled (typically never when you want it to!) first you will involuntarily twitch as the piece of wood in the bottom goes whipping past you and then your ears are barraged with Wapi Wapi Wapi Wapi as it cycles around the cylinder. Ironically, whenever I get the opportunity to see these creatures I also twitch except in this case it is with excitement. They are fairly docile (at least in Yellowstone) and are great subjects for us wildlife photographers. Here is a younger one that was more than happy to pose for me.

If you haven’t noticed yet (which means you haven’t been looking close enough at about every animal set featured in this blog), I’m partial to the turn back across the body pose. Just my thing I guess, but it is something I set out to do on each outing. Personally I think it quickly distinguishes the prey from the predator.

If you can see the full eye, you should feel a little more at ease since you are not looking at an aggressive animal. I also find that Elk have a tendency to pose which is a self serving description of animals that tend to have an intense curiosity. Case in point.

Hit the jump to see a whole bunch more pictures of Yellowstone Wapiti

Mar102012

Frankly My Deer, I Give a Damn

Hold on, just give me a second or two to swat these cobwebs out of the way. It’s been awhile but truth be told I’ve been doing a lot of post processing to get ready for this month’s round of posts. Not to let the suspense down, but this month will (hopefully) be the final push to get through the remaining animals captured during our Yellowstone National Park vacation Linda and I took back in October. The weather is finally starting to cooperate with my running schedule allowing me to hit the pavement for my training runs (YES!). Last Wednesday’s 5 miles and today’s 7 miles (both in the hills) were an excellent start. In honor of that, I figured it would be fitting to start with creatures that must laugh at the running (in)ability of humans – the ungulates. For the city dwellers, that is a fancy word for mammals that have hooves (although that definition has a varied past) – charge up that Volt drive 24 miles outside of town .. charge it up again overnight and then drive another 24 miles further out (repeat until you can see stars).

Let’s start with the only decent shot of an Odocoileus hemionus I was able to get in Yellowstone. On our way back from checking out the wolves at Lamar Valley, this particular mule deer was found grazing among the evergreens. Lucky for him the wolves were preoccupied with a cow elk they had trapped in stream at the confluence.

Mule deer are slightly different from the deer we have around here. They tend to be a little more grey than our white tailed deer but the most distinguishing feature is their ears. They are significantly larger than those on the white tail which tends to make them less appealing than their brothers. I do sympathize with them having to go through their childhood with large ears probably taking abuse from all the other animals in the park (except of course the rabbits). Note, light was starting to fall when this was taken making it an ISO battle – I think it cleaned up okay, but would have liked another shot at it.

On our way back from Yellowstone, we stopped into Custer State Park to check out the wildlife opportunities there. For the longest time we were the only car to be seen providing a good opportunity to shoot Odocoileus virginianus Yes, that would be the White Tail Deer. The first group we stumbled on were pretty cautious of our arrival and preferred to stay in the safety of the forest.

Hopefully you noticed the smaller ear size than the mule deer. Living in the country in Big Buck territory of Illinois, we have the opportunity to see these animals nearly every day. At times they’ll come through 10-12 thick in search of fresh acorns and saplings (unfortunately, that includes a fondness for our landscaping which is why we have no problem with a controlled hunting program).

I have to give Linda credit for the following crop selection. I was debating back and forth and she walked in, looked at it for two seconds and then made an excellent recommendation. Kicking myself for not taking the time to move a couple steps closer to push out the close evergreen branches (blurred items at the bottom) – not sure the doe would have stood for that though having already become agitated at how close the camera was already.

Hit the jump to see the rest of the deer set.

Feb122012

Book Recollection: Lost in My Own Backyard

It’s all about the reading output this month! Still kicking myself for a pretty poor performance on last year’s reading stack. Normally I would be optimistic about going into the new year, but this holiday (and birthday) season brought some great additions to the stack. So, this year I’m being a little more conservative and hoping to get through at least one book a month and then crank through three or four during vacations. That is actually a great lead into this book recollection post. The recent trip out to Yellowstone has rekindled my fondness for all things Yellowstone. I must give Amazon some credit here because they recommended Tim Cahill’s Lost in My Own Backyard based on all the related purchases I had over Christmas. At some point it went on my Wish List and sure enough Linda came through for my birthday.

When the wrapping paper was removed I was first a little shocked (for reasons which will be explained below) but quickly turned to anticipation to getting some time to start in on it. It definitely had the feel of Bill Bryson’s Walk in the Woods which I thoroughly enjoyed, but unlike the Appalachian Trail I am actually pretty familiar with our (and later learned the world’s) first National Park. One excellent feature Tim provides is a map of Yellowstone printed on the hardbound front and back cover of the book. Whenever he referenced an unfamiliar place it was a simple task to flip to the closest cover and look it up. The concept of the book is various experiences and thoughts Tim has encountered during his numerous hikes in the park. Tom Murphy was his companion on some of these adventures. I am familiar with him being a well known Yellowstone Park photographer … double bonus! Tim’s book is divided up into small chapters/topics perfect for reading before hitting the sack (as mentioned in a previous post, it is much easier when you do not have to carry plots and topics across multiple days – getting older means the mind is wandering more and more). Based on his highly entertaining (and quite humorous) descriptions of sights and experiences on his back country jaunts I’m getting the bug to take some longer hikes the next time we get out there. Of course, now I am much more likely to stop off and pick up a can of bear spray! It would also be prudent if I could find a nurse to go with us (as Tim was lucky enough to do) in case something bad happens. One thing for certain, I will not be publishing a book which describes how to get to or has the audacity to give names to the natural features that I discover- there is some serious angst directed toward the authors of a Yellowstone waterfalls book (which Linda owns and really likes). I also now want to capture the moonbows (night rainbows) Tim experienced (and learned about from Tom Murphy) on one of his hikes.

In summary, I thought this was a great read and would recommend it to anyone that likes to spend time in the woods. It is written in a very comfortable style and should bring a few smiles (if not all out laughs) during the course of the read. Unfortunately, there was one downside I need to share. Remember when I mentioned there was some initial shock at first sight. The reason for that is … hit the jump to find out why along with my takeaways (what a tease)

Jan162012

A Walking Frigidaire or ???

Against my best wishes, January continues to fly by. It is already the middle of the month and I am behind on a number of tasks I set out for myself for 2012. Part of that is due to finally initiating Project Aunnauld – this one is going to take awhile so don’t look for posts on that for a few months (at least). In my spare cycles I’m still trying to make it through the Yellowstone shots so guess what? Yep, another post. Unlike some of the previous ones, this set is what I consider sub-par. There are times when it is fulfilling to just be able to slap the mirror and say you captured the moment whether it is tack sharp or not… which is usually photography speak for “I blew it”. This set is more of the former based on being closer to a miracle than a failure. If you have spent time on this blog at all you should be aware we invested in a rather large glass we affectionately call The Beast thanks to it’s beefy structure. It is hard to actually demonstrate the reach this zoom glass has without first experiencing it through the viewfinder. This set might just help out in this area… let’s begin shall we?

So here is a shot of the mountainside at 80mm which is the low end of the zoom on our workhorse glass.

Are you seeing anything of interest in that shot.. maybe some large animal(s) out for a stroll? Hint #1 – remember on the previous post where I mentioned that we spent the week scanning for butts in the horizon (link here)? well, that pretty much came into play here.

Still not seeing anything of interest? Hint #2, I chose not to go with the Rule of Thirds to make it a little easier on you.

If you give up, hit the jump for a huge clue.

Jan072012

It's Not a Bird … Nor a Bear

As you are aware, there was a big push to get through the “Birds of Yellowstone” before the end of the year. The reason for that is I wanted to get to the larger mammals inhabiting that incredible national park. Rest assured, my camera wasn’t just pointed at our feathered friends (well, at least not ALLL the time). Nope, we were constantly on the lookout for those animals we do not get to see much back here in Illinois. Let’s start with those fleet of foot Pronghorns. This is somewhat in tribute to being the first animal to greet us as we passed through the Yellowstone Arch. Immediately off to the right, grazing in the fields, was a couple of Pronghorns pretty much oblivious to our presence.

The above shot is actually on of my favorites from the Yellowstone collection. It was taken in full on Beast mode (400mm) letting us reach out and virtually touch them. This is one of those poses that I affectionately call “The Predator’s View”. For those people locked in the concrete world or worse, PETA members, the eye position gives away the disposition of the animal. Forward eyes generally signify the predator (find a mirror) where the prey have eyes positioned on the sides to increase their field of vision. It may be pointing towards a companion, but it definitely knows where we were. Note, I was also pleased to get some glint in those big black eyes.

A close second in the favorites category is the shot below. Once again you get a feel for it’s field of vision yet it was content enough to continue breakfast while we were busy snapping shots. This lack of interest is probably due to being acclimated to the two legged creatures, although the fact that it can out run my ass without breaking a sweat probably gives it more confidence than your average turtle. For the record, they can run at 30mph for 15 miles with a burst of up to 70mph. According to Wikipedia, this makes it the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere.

At first I thought the antler nubs above the eyes in the previous picture indicated it was a young male. Not being an expert when it comes to non-feathered animals I did a little research. Turns out that females actually have horns as well (up to 3″) where males tend to have larger ones (up to 6″ and then another 9″ during summer fall which it sheds in the winter). The other distinguishing feature of males is a small black mane. Based on that I will have to go with this being a male.

Hit the Jump to see the rest of the Pronghorn pictures

Dec302011

This One is Hard on the Nuts

I have decided to OCCUPY the MAN CAVE with my AMAZING and GINORMOUS Yellowstone photo collection reading about Beyonce’s BABY BUMP and wondering what the BLOWBACK will be on Katy Perry’s divorce. All of this has led me to believe that being a PET PARENT is going to be the NEW NORMAL even with all the SHARED SACRIFICES that comes with it. But enough of this rambling, let’s go out and WIN THE FUTURE through deception and TRICKERATION. Oh, and THANK YOU IN ADVANCE for all your comments!

Whew, my apologies for that opening. I was scanning the Internet and came across this years list of banned words from Lake Superior State University. They do this every year to save our sanity from over-hyped words. With only a few days left I wanted to make sure I used them all at least one more time. Having done this now (some for the first time ever) I can assuredly say they will not be missed. Here are a few other words I’d like banned for 2012 based on the shameful over use in the media

Slam (and all derivatives)
Bashes
Crash
Grills
Undecideds
Outrage
Weep
Obamacare
Gallup
Facebook

Have I distracted you enough to forget this is really another bird post from our Yellowstone trip? Well, I tried. This is the last of the bird posts from Yellowstone and with a small bit of sadness, the likely last post of the year (there may be one more depending on when my year end summary gets done) – where has this year gone?! The reason I left this one to the end is thanks to our favorite orthopedic surgeon Dr. Giselle there was no need to spend a lot of time rifling through reference books to identify it. As soon as the shutter went off on this bird…

Dr. Giselle immediately identified it as a Clark’s Nutcracker. Having never seen this bird before, I was very appreciative of the assist. Per the reference books, this particular bird prefers open coniferous forests in mountains. A big checkmark on that – I left this wider shot with the evergreens as validation of that. It is a member of the jay and crow family but chooses to walk like a crow than hop like a jay on ground (do scientist actually get paid for these observations?). As is the custom here at Lifeintrigued, let’s bring that bird in for a closer look.

Hit the jump to learn more about the Clark’s Nutcracker

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My What Sharp Teeth You Have… I Think

Just Standing Around Waiting for the Acme Delivery

Bear With Me… Almost Through Yellowstone

Where the Buffalo Roam

Wapiti – Not The Sound of a Spinning Window Shade

Frankly My Deer, I Give a Damn

Book Recollection: Lost in My Own Backyard

A Walking Frigidaire or ???

It's Not a Bird … Nor a Bear

This One is Hard on the Nuts

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