I thought it was an eagle… but apparently, after closer inspection it’s an osprey. We did manage to capture this large bird sitting on it’s nest. Unfortunately I never saw any little head bobs. This large bird of prey is a hawk with a diet of primarily fish.
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
Maybe you knew this… but I recently learned it, so I thought I’d share.
Somehow, I assumed those sunburst photos I saw in magazines were Photoshop’d. I thought they had some filter or plug-in that they applied to a sun to give it that starburst effect.
Not so! Set your aperture on f/11 or f/16 and point at the sun. (I know, we were all taught not to point at the sun… someone’s been keeping this cool trick from us!). Hide the sun behind a piece of tree to obstruct the full blast of the sun, and move around until you see the starburst. Click!
My www.krittersmenu.com has a category, It’s What’s For Dinner. In the terms of my foodie blog… it’s what we have for dinner and recipes and ideas worthy of sharing.
On this photography blog, it’s not so much what we had for dinner… but what our fair weathered friends did, making for a photographic story of nature and the food chain. Case in point, this blue heron in search of a meal.
The hunt
The target identified
The catch
Gulp!
It’s What’s for Dinner.
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.
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.
I spotted these birds the other day in the midst of our rain storm. They seem to come by when the weather is cold and adverse, particularly mornings and some occasional evenings. We don’t see them on the sun shiny days, nor on a regular basis.
I’m struggling to figure out who they are. I have searched my bird book, and the closest I can come to discerning their species, is a Cassin’s Finch.
Yet it seems awfully cold and off season for finch, but maybe not for this variety, which I have never seen before now. Anyone have any idea what they are?
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.
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!
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.
kritterspix 