az | kritterspix

Lounge Squirrel

Posted on July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 by kritterspaw

You know what they say… when given lemons make lemonade…. or something like that.

I would love to have bear and mountain lions to photograph (or even elk and deer), but with all the rain we have had, the big animals have lots of options for food and drink, making them harder to find.

So, in attempt to keep up my wildlife photography, I did a session with this little squirrel (and a few birds).

This little squirrel seems to be quite content to not be sharing his space with big animals.

Finch

Grosbeak

Woodpecker

Desert Flowers

Posted on March 18, 2015 by kritterspaw

Spring is coming. It’s still a bit chilly in our neck of the woods, but we took a trip down to Phoenix, and the flowers are all a bloom.

We had hoped to see the fields of poppies, but the poppies were rather scarce. I’m not sure whether we were too early or too late. We won’t see the flower blooms up north for a couple more months.

We did see one cactus bloom. The mass cactus bloom won’t be until May, but this little guy was an early flower.

The Squirrels Have It

Posted on February 28, 2015February 28, 2015 by kritterspaw

Nature can be a fascinating thing to witness. I had a kick out of watching this determined squirrel shimming up this tree to get to the new growth on the pine trees.

It’s winter time, and it was a blustery day as his tail swept across his face while he straddled limb after limb to get to this little pine cones.

Antelope Watching

Posted on February 21, 2015 by kritterspaw

There’s something super cool about going to the market in Flagstaff, and running into so many animals. Eagles seem to becoming a more common sighting; elk and deer are certainly common. But it’s more unusual to see pronghorn antelope. We see them occasionally, but less often on the way to Flagstaff (more often on the way to Winslow). We saw quite the herd this week. They were kind enough to pose for me. Someday, I’ll get up close and personal and get closer pix… until then, I was happy to have the sighting… and get a pic.

Workmen’s Creek

Posted on February 4, 2015February 4, 2015 by kritterspaw

Workmen’s Creek is on the other side of Young, AZ. It can be driven to via a long well kept dirt road past Young, off of SR260, or via the longer route past Roosevelt Lake off SR87.

The road to the falls was closed, so we wound up hiking along the closed road the relatively short distance.

It’s certainly worth the short walk. It was very picturesque and peaceful with the running water and babbling brook atmosphere. The rushing creek made for a pleasant place to have a quiet lunch amongst the trees and the cascading water.

Pygmy Owl

Posted on January 7, 2015January 7, 2015 by kritterspaw

I put this photo on my kritterspaw.com site, but it bears repeating.

We saw what we thought was a little bird, huddled up on a branch. It seemed roundish, as it shivered and squatted itself all together during our snow storm. Then it turned and looked at me. I couldn’t believe it. It had that unmistakable face… it was an owl. It wasn’t much bigger than a sparrow… maybe 4 – 5″ tall.

How cool is that!

Apparently it’s a Pygmy Owl. To be specific, a Northern Pygmy Owl. The most common one I could find (in AZ) is from southern AZ (Tucson area). It has been on and off the endangered species list, with only 28 sightings in 2014…. none noted to be in Northern AZ. It’s no wonder really… they are so small.

The pygmy owl eats insects, lizards, rodents, and small birds as large as itself.

I’d love for it to come back, but it may be a once in a life time sighting. I’m so happy we saw it… and got a decent photo!

She’s a FOX

Posted on January 7, 2015 by kritterspaw

On our way to Grand Falls, we saw this great little fox. It was getting toward dusk, and she was looking for a warm spot to soak up what was left of the sun outside of the snow.

Lighting

Posted on January 7, 2015 by kritterspaw

At the risk of stating the obvious, photography is all about the light.

That was never more clear to me than during our visit to Grand Falls this week.

I used to look through the viewfinder and be completely oblivious to the lighting and it’s shadows (what was I thinking?). I’d take all these pictures and come home and wonder what that line was going across my photo. Now I look at that and wonder how I couldn’t see that when I was there.

Case in point… on our trip to Grand Falls, this stark line struck directly through the center of the canyon. The sun was going down, slowing putting all the fall pools and canyon completely in the shadows.

So I was forced to work fast on those areas that were still lit, and forget about the cool looking areas that were in the shadows. Great light makes great photos. Crappy light, well… you get the drift.

Grand Falls in the snow

Posted on January 7, 2015 by kritterspaw

We just had this big snow storm, so we thought we take a trip out to Grand Falls to see if the falls were running. It was good news – bad news. The falls weren’t really running… but they were frozen over and snowy, so they were pretty cool to look at.

Unfortunately, we missed the perfect lighting. We thought we left in plenty of time to get there, but the shadows were already consuming the falls, making it difficult to catch good light. Thus, our pictures were limited. But we did get a couple shots. We’ll just have to go back when there is more water / snow, and earlier with better light. Next time.