Oct

31

Bugle Boys

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Shot of the Month – October 2014

 

Elk, Yellowstone National Park-USA (2530)

I highly recommend that you check out the bugle concert series held in Yellowstone National Park each fall.  To be honest, the music is really just so-so — the event is more operatic than philharmonic.  But you will be spellbound just the same.

As the dawn sun fights its way up, through the chilled air the mountains surrounding us slowly ignite with color.  Laden with tripods, cameras, and lenses we clamber over hill and dale in search of the best balcony seats to catch the show.  We wonder when, even if, the event might start as we drive our hands deep into our coats to fight off the cold.

And then, at the edge of the sky, the silhouette of a 700-pound bull elk blocks out the light.

Dramatic entrance indeed.  The melee begins.

Standing five feet at the shoulder, with another four feet and forty pounds of antlers the rogue towers over 9 feet tall.  Wide-eyed, he thrusts his chest forward as he peers down on the hills and valley below.  His body is an endless twitch as testosterone courses through him.  The chemical transforms him into a maniacally focused beast.  He is driven to conquer his rivals and win the right to pass on his genes.

The elk rut has begun.  Each day over the next 4-6 weeks he will repeatedly bugle, unleashing a loud, screech of a wail to attract female herds and warn off other male suitors.  It can be heard for miles.

Elk, Yellowstone National Park-USA (9670)

One of his harem (As he Bugles!)

During this period the bull will eat little, bugle often, and continually……endlessly…..relentlessly chase and test cows for their readiness to mate.  Cow elks only come into estrus for 1-2 days so the male must be ever diligent.  In a word — obsessive.

The dominant bulls will protect a harem of up to 20 cows from competing males and predators.  When necessary, the bulls will fight.   Rivals bugle at each other.  If both are of similar size they approach.

 

Elk, Yellowstone National Park-USA (6104)

No fight required for this mismatch

Males may walk in parallel sizing each other up while trying to intimidate.  If neither backs down then they lock antlers and wrastle it out.  These fights are rarely fatal but they take their toll.

 

 

 

The bulls are frenetic, rarely relaxing even for a moment.  Constantly watching over the herd.  Endlessly chasing and scolding cows that dare wander too far.  Warding off lesser males.  I was exhausted just watching.  During the rut, a bull can lose 20% of his body weight.  After such a tremendous effort some bulls will not recover in time and will perish during the winter.

Elk, Yellowstone National Park-USA (8871)

King of the Hill

Elk, Yellowstone National Park-USA (9334)

Menacing Stare

Elk, Yellowstone National Park-USA (8993)

Even while sitting, he must bugle

 

 

 

 

 

 

For two fortnights, the continual call to arms leaves some victorious, others vanquished.  And for this observer, it left a memory made up of surely more than just sound, but also fury,  firmly etched into my being.

 

The below video, shot in the Rocky Mountain National Park, gives a sense of the bugle boys in action.

 

Nikon D4S, Nikkor 600mm, 1.4x TC, (850 mm) f/5.6, 1/750 s, ISO 400, +0.5EV

Sep

25

Looner Flight – No Small Feat

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Shot of the Month – September 2014

Common Loon, Vermont-USA (9398)

The Common Loon is the epitome of style and grace — most of the time.  Loons spend most of their time on water and their bodies are exquisitely designed to make them powerful and effective swimmers and divers.  Most birds have hollow bones while loon bones are solid.  This extra weight enables loons to dive to depths of 250 feet in search of fish – the mainstay of their diet.  They have large, powerful feet that propel the bird through the water like a torpedo. The bird’s feet are located unusually far back on the body which enable powerful underwater thrusts (imagine the avian version of Michael Phelps and his size 14 feet ).  In the air loons are regal athletes that can fly hundreds of miles and reach speeds of more than 70 mph.

Now for some of those less stylish moments in loon life.

Loons have a very difficult time walking on land given the placement of their feet on their bodies.  In fact, the name, “loon” most likely comes from either the Old English word lumme, meaning lummox or awkward person, or from the Scandinavian word lum, meaning lame or clumsy.  Both of these names refer specifically to how loons look when hoofing it on land.  To avoid such embarrassment loons rarely venture on terra firma except to nest and even then their nests are usually found only a few feet from the water’s edge to make for a short commute.

And while loons are powerful flyers they have a bit of a struggle in the transition up and down.  Loons are unable to take off from land and on the water they need a long distance as they run across the surface building up momentum.  Loons need anywhere from 30 yards to a quarter-mile of running and flapping before liftoff.  In my photo above you can see those large feet in full force as he runs for the sky.  The need for such space for takeoff means that you will never find a loon in a very small pond or lake as they do not provide enough of a runway for Loony Airlines.

And then there is the landing.  Oh boy.  Again, as the feet are so far backward loons are unable to land feet first like your typical bird.  When they land on water they fly in head first and skim along on their bellies until they slow down.  It is a sight to behold.

Incoming…….                                                                                                                                                                     ……Outgoing

Loon Landing (9648)  Loon Landing (9656)  Loon Take Off (9455)

In their formal black and white dress and powerful moves, the common loon has a James Bond mystique.  I have to admit a certain schadenfreude in knowing that these superstars also have their Mr. Bean moments like the rest of us.

Until next month…

 

Exposure:

Nikon D4S, Nikon 200-400mm f/4 (@400mm), f/4.8, 1/1000 s, -0.5 EV, ISO 400

 

 

Aug

31

The Warbler Wave

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Shot of the Month – August 2014

Common Yellowthroat, Baxter State Park-USA (3004)

If bird watching was like surfing, then in mid-to-late August wise birder dudes and dudettes would start paddling hard to catch the rising crest of the next big wave that is coming.  (Click here for the appropriate soundtrack for this posting)

Birding?  Surfing?  Huh?  Let me elaborate on my strained analogy.

In late summer (if you are living in Vermont like me) or early fall if you are living further south, the fall migration of warblers is taking off (so to speak).

What’s a warbler?  Well my dear non-ornithologically minded friend, warblers are a group of tiny (smaller than a sparrow), winged jewels of the bird world.  In the New World we have about 113 species of warblers; of these 56 species can be found in the United States and Canada.  Many of these fellows have striking colors and patterns.  The visual treat is often fleeting as these guys are insectivores –  they are always on the go darting from tree to tree, from leaf to limb, in search of the next bug to munch on. Trying to photograph these minute, energetic fellows is a recipe for hysteria as they flit hither and thither.  By the time you snap the shutter they are gone (I have lots of shots of empty branches if you would like to buy one or ten).  At best you tend to catch a glimpse of a wing, or a tail, or other assorted bird bits….

Back to the wave.  The warbler diet requires that they stay on the move.  There are no insects to feed on in areas that experience winter so warblers spend the cold months in Central or South America (the other 60 or so species of warblers live there year-round).  This constant movement results in two glorious waves of warblers each year in the US — first there is the spring migration as the birds move north to their breeding sites; and then again in the fall as the birds head south before the chill sets in.  The spring migration is a source of rapture for birders who have been suffering through long, mostly avian-free winter landscapes.  The fall migration is also fun as it is like a lottery as you never quite know what migrant might stop by from one day to the next.  This wave is bittersweet however as it is also a signal of the exodus of wildlife from the area for months to come.

Already by mid-August, we started to see the trees in our backyard come alive with shaking branches and flashes of color as warblers began to arrive.  A bird may stick around a day or two but then they continue on their way.  This wave will hit its peak in September and then the action will quickly fade away into October.

In the above photo, we have a Common Yellowthroat (CYT), the masked bandito of the warbler world.  The CYT was one of the first warblers cataloged when a specimen in Maryland was recorded in 1766.  I photographed this fellow in Baxter State Park in Maine.  I made dozens and dozens of attempts to capture this guy before he finally sat in one spot long enough to get this image.  While still numerous, the CYT population has been dropping by 1% per year since 1966 – so the population has declined 33% during this relatively short timeline (source).  This trend is sadly, generally true for many songbirds across the US.

Here is a nice video of a CYT and a chance to hear his song:


Below is a quick guide on the breadth of warblers you might see.  If you are really interested in learning more check out The Warbler Guide.  It is an insanely detailed book on warblers and probably the definitive guide on identifying which bird is which.

Face Quick Finder

Side Quick Finder

 

Surfs Up!  The crest is peaking as I write this.  Grab your board, uh binoculars, and get out there and ride this colorful wave while you can.

 

Nikon D4S Nikon 600mm f/4; 1.4x TC (850 mm), f/5.6, 1/1000 s, ISO 2800

Jul

31

Fleeting Magic

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Shot of the Month – July 2014

Snow Sculpture, Targee National Forest-USA (2598)

This month a visual “snow cone” to help get you through the dog days of summer.  As the sweat runs down your back, soak in this image and let the cooling begin.

Creating snow sculptures out of trees requires juuust the right sequence of weather events.  First, you need a lot of snow.  This image was taken at Targhee National Forest in Montana which is right next to Yellowstone National Park so the snow part was not too hard to come by in January, when this photo was captured.

Next, you need the temperatures to stay below freezing to keep the snow from melting.  And lastly, you need the clouds to move off so you can have clear, blue skies.

Mother Nature smiled upon us and the elements all fell into place near the end of our one-week stay.  On the last day of our trip, we climbed 9,000 feet to the top of Two Top Mountain and found this spectacular, Daliesque winter scene.

I have never seen a sky so Blue.  Nor Whites, so white.  As the morning sun rose, so did the temperatures, and the magic quickly began to melt away.  But for a few hours, we had the fortune of visiting a special place that only exists, ever so briefly, when imagination and meteorology become one.

Until next month…michael

Nikon D4, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII (@ 78mm), f/16, 1/350s, ISO 200

Jun

30

Redy to Fight

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Shot of the Month – June 2014

 

Nikon D300s, Nikon 200-400mm, 1.4 TC (@500mm), f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO 200Whoever named the Red-winged Blackbird (RWB) didn’t take much time at the task.  Sure, the name is accurate, but come on, really?  By that measure, the American Robin would be called the Orange-bellied Thrush.  Where’s the creativity?

A more interesting nom de guerre perhaps?  How about the Spartacus Swamp Sparrow?   Yes, that has a certain ring to it.

Let’s Break it Down (Hammer style?):

Spartacus:  RWBs are the gladiators of the cattails.  During the breeding season, a male spends at least a quarter of the daylight hours defending his territory.  Each day the male finds the highest nearby perch and rigorously calls out his claim on the surrounding little piece of the Earth as he provocatively flashes his red epaulets for all to see. (To be completely accurate, one must acknowledge that the epaulets often have a yellow or orange  border)

Check out this video to hear and see one in action.

Females are attracted to the males with the brightest and biggest epaulets (hmmp, typical).

Red-winged Blackbird and Bald Eagle (7807)

From his perch, the male aggressively defends the nest from all adversaries.  These guys are known to take on animals, and certainly birds, much bigger than themselves as you can see here. This bald eagle apparently came too close to the RWB’s home turf and Spartacus came at him with a vengeance – I have a whole sequence of images of the RWB dive bombing and circling the eagle.  Alas, the eagle never took notice of the robin-sized warrior.

Such an antagonistic attitude is well founded given the dangerous world RWBs live in.  Just about every North American raptor preys on RWBs — short-tailed hawks are particularly fond of dining on them.  Even barn owls who normally prey on small mammals are in on the take as are Northern Saw-whet Owls who are barely bigger than the RWB!  Crows, ravens, magpies, and herons sometimes prey on blackbird nests.  Other predators of the nest include raccoons, mink, foxes, and snakes.  Marsh wren will destroy the eggs and peck the nestlings to death.  You can see why RBWs have a chip, albeit a colorful one, on their shoulder.

Swamp:  RWBs prefer wetlands and can live in both freshwater and saltwater marshes.  That being said these guys are adaptable and can be found in just about any open grassy area and can even be found in dry upland areas where they will live in meadows, prairies, and old fields. They have a massive range and can be found as far north as southern Alaska and as far south as the Yucatan peninsula.  Those living in the north will migrate to the southern US and Central America in the winter.

Sparrow:  RWBs are not really in the same family as sparrows –  I took some artistic, alliterative license with that one. In my defense, however, the female RWB looks like a large sparrow.  The bland colors of the female allow it to blend in nicely and not draw any undue attention to the nest.

 

Given the relentless onslaught from predators and rivals, from both land and air, one has to admire the plucky Red-winged Blackbird.  In my book, he has definitely earned his stripes.

Until next month….m