American-Coot, Borrego Springs, California.
I seem to be photographing a lot of birds on this trip. That is about to change to desert wildflowers – a little more rain and finally some cooling should help!
Anna’s Hummingbird
Anna’s Hummingbird.
A male Anna’s Hummingbird in our campsite yesterday. They also have a nest in our campsite, but this guy wouldn’t know anything about that – the female builds the nest, raises, feeds and cares for the young.
Canon 5D III, Canon 100-400 II, at 400 iso, 1/1250 at f/5.6, iso 1250. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California. Backlit by the sun, front lit by light reflecting off RV window.
Alaska Bear Photo Tour
Guests on last Summer’s Alaska Bear and Puffin Tour.
Update: Now all our photo tours for 2015 are full – thanks so much for the huge response! It is going to be a fun year!
Usually about now I’m promoting our 2015 photo tours. This year, they are all full except one, but it is a good one!
We still have 3 2 1 space left for our August Bear and Puffin photo tour. This is my longest running and historically most popular Alaska Photo Tour. In addition to the fantastic bear photo opportunities, last year we had the best puffin photography I have ever had along with an extremely cooperative sea otter that allowed for a really close approach. With its shorter days, August can also provide a unique opportunity for some amazing sunrises and sunsets.
You do not want to wait on this one as I will not be offering an August trip in 2016. In 2016 both of my bear trips will be in June so that I may offer a second Bears, Whales and Glacier Photo Tour in Southeast Alaska.
Hope to have you along in 2015!
White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned-Sparrow
Think I just met the world’s smartest White-crowned Sparrow!
We had a red ant colony at our last campsite, and as you probably know, these little guys are impressive to watch as they are able to haul relatively large loads of food on their backs, and carry them long distances back to their holes. Well one particular White-crowned Sparrow figured this out and would just stand near the opening to the colony and pick the bits of food off the backs of the unsuspecting ants! He did it over and over. Sometimes it would get the ant too, they most not taste too good as the sparrow would quickly spit it out, and then pick up just the piece of food.
It was entertaining to watch, and fascinating to see such a small animal develop a learned behavior. Unfortunately I didn’t capture any images of the interaction, this is a White-crowned Sparrow in camp last night.
Anza-Borrego Wildflower Update 2015
Coyote Canyon, February 13, 2015.
Update: Here are the latest conditions for Anza-Borrego wildflowers along with the latest hot spots.
A steady dose of 80 degree temps is really speeding up the wildflower bloom. A week earlier, this was just a bunch of green plants. Now, there is a fair amount of blooming Sand Verbena, along with a number of other species. So far, it looks to be a pretty good year for Sand Verbena and Desert Lily, and maybe not as good for other photographer favorites like Desert Gold and Brittlebush, although it is still early.
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