Sage Grouse Lek

Sage Grouse Lek
Originally uploaded by jga154

Well we did get our Sage Grouse shots. Also many other great photos.

Our weather was pretty good, at least the first day, Friday. After the grouse we found a Great Horned owl nesting in the refuge and took turns photographing her on the nest. To cause the least disturbance we had one person go in and set up a tripod and lens. We then each took turns with our camera bodies on the lens. Good thing we all (4) shot Nikon.

Saturday the grouse decided to display too far from the road for photos. So we went down into the refuge again. The Sandhill Cranes did not want to be photographed much either. We did get some Red-wing Blackbird shots and a pheasant.

Later we drove the Diamond Loop. Photographed a mule deer buck with his antlers still on while the fellow nest to him had nubs of new antlers coming. Kinda weird.

Frank and I photographed the inside of the old Peter French round barn, built in the 1800's. Then we drove out to the Diamond Craters. Some good photo opportunities there but it started to rain. We went home and ate diner.

Should have stayed out though. As usual the rain broke and the sunset was beautiful.

Sunday morning had a slight skiff of snow so we started home early. We stopped on the way to take a few snow, sagebrush and weather shots.

We had a great trip took a few thousand images and made it home safely.

Malheur Trip

4am Thursday, we leave Palo Cedro, CA for the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon. A trip to photograph sage grouse on a lek. I hope they are there...I hope it doesn't rain/snow...If it does rain/snow I hope we can photograph something else. Well there's hope anyway.

This is a shot in my yard. It must be getting close to spring...Maybe I'll have more to say when I get back.

Flicker - Bird Photography Weekly

Flicker
Originally uploaded by jga154

With my wife driving and me shooting out the back windows on a too busy county road, I managed to get a few good photos of this flicker. It must have had something wrong with the left eye (the one towards the camera of course) because in most of the shots the eye is half closed.

Water Falls on Kabyai Cr.

Kabyai Cr.
Originally uploaded by jga154

Saturday Garry Bagula and I took a trip to the north side of Shasta Lake to see if we could find any moving water or waterfalls to photograph. Wow, did we find some. This is just one of many little beautiful streams we found.

This falls is only about six or seven feet high. The blue water below though really caught my eye. Then I noticed the red/orange bush in the upper left. I hoped it would make a pretty picture. I think it did.

We spent the whole day back in there taking several roads. Our intent was to drive clear through to Fenders Ferry . The snow caused me to chicken out. I don't have aggressive snow tires just 'highway' snow tires on my truck. At one bend I decided it would not be prudent to go further....I hate putting chains on to get out!

All in all it was a great day. Good photography, beautiful scenery, and sunny skies.

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Horned Lark Bird Photography Weekly #27

Horned Lark Bird Photography Weekly #27
Originally uploaded by jga154

Mary and I went for a little ride this afternoon out to Millville Plains and found a flock of Horned Larks. They sure don't sit still much. I think I took a couple hundred images to get a few that were sharp.

We also found a Flicker willing to be photographed for several minutes. It was barely in range but came out pretty good. Of course there was a White-crowned sparrow on a berry bush that was very willing. I got frame filling shots of it. The other photos are posted on my Flickr site.