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wish I could come up with something witty to say about these cows... I made the image on the last day of my autumn tour and just after I was turned around from trying to cross the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in the southern Washington Cascade Range... snow, turned me around, or rather the snowplow I was following that turned around influenced my decision. So, I had to return south to the Columbia River to get to I-5 and homeward... I met these cows near the river where it had just begun to snow and the cows were wandering as they do... even when they ran, their tracks wandered all over... and that says something... In my experience, domestic animals wander but wild animals take a direct route... follow a pet dog's tracks and you're find that there seems to be no reason to the trail... just this way and that and some more that and return to a former location and then this way and that again... but a coyote or wolf track is unmistakable (beside size) in that they move across the land with purpose, no loitering here or there to visit this post or that mailbox to read the latest peemail... so, how do I know these were domestic vice wild cows? they wandered... plus, I don't think I've ever seen a wild cow. (bovine that is) Tags: animals, snow, wa, white
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...who would think a boy and bear would be well accepted anywhere...well, the bear was wild and I didn't see it dance, but I did see and photograph it eating huckleberries and mountain ash berries, walking down the trail, startling Sally which amused Bronka, and then stopping about ten feet from the trail to curl up under a bush to take a nap. Sally's website with lots of information about Mount RainierThis was one of a few cubs I photographed in the Paradise meadows last autumn. I spent about an hour with this guy including waiting twenty minutes while it snoozed. The cub acted as if there were no people present as it never seemed to look at or acknowledge their presence. A little later, a coyote came down the trail and it also ignored me except that it did step off the trail when it passed. It was in a hunting mode with a vole or mouse on it's mind. Luckily for these animals, they had evidently not been habituated to people feeding them which is really bad for wildlife because they then depend on humans for food and lose their ability to forage. Peace ps ...it's just amazing how fair people can be... (do you know this song?) Tags: -print available-, animals, autumn, mount rainier, people pics, trail, wa
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Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens)
wintering at Fir Island on the Skagit River delta, Washington, USA.©2009 Ed Book Canon 1Ds MkII 500mm L IS lens with 2X teleconverter ISO 1000 1/320 sec @ f/16 Peace Tags: -print available-, animals, bird, nature events, pattern, puget sound, sky, surreal, wa, white
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Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) wintering at the Skagit River delta, Washington, USA©2009 Ed BookCanon 1Ds MkII - 500mm L IS lens with 2X teleconverter - ISO 1000 - 1/200 sec @ f/16 Peace Tags: -print available-, animals, bird, nature events, pattern, puget sound, sky, surreal, wa, white
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Ursus americanus on his own and hungry for desert©2008 Ed BookWhen I was up at Paradise last, I spent the better part of a day photographing along about a half mile of trail following the antics of the recently posted coyote, Steller's Jay, and a couple of bear cubs. The cubs were concentrating on getting as many huckleberries into them before the snows would put them into hibernation. To me, they looked a bit too slim for this late in the season and suspect that they are the offspring of the mama bear that got on the wrong side of the rangers and some car doors... After she modified some vehicles left overnight in the Paradise parking lot and was trapped and later released with beanbags shot at her and a bear dog harassment to try to teach her that humans may give treats but accepting such will come with more hassle than it was worth... almost... she came back and had to be trapped again and then hauled off to some distant location. I think that these cubs may have been hers and also suspect by them not being roly-poly by now that they weren't ready to be on their own. I made a lot of exposures of this bear but it had it's head down in the huckleberry bushes in the majority of them... I never approach bears but instead position myself (at a great distance if the bear is a grizzly) in a comfortable spot for both me and the bear. I talk to brer bear in a calm voice respectfully requesting to photograph it or at least observe peacefully... bears usually balk at the sound of metallic objects like tripods and such and try to observe the rest of their day at a distance from me anxious to get on with it quickly... they run... they tumble... they scud... they make distance quickly... running away... except "park bears" (Google it) I hate it when I run across one of those... especially in camp at night. This bear pretended I wasn't there by completely ignoring me (just like the coyote did a half hour earlier)... it even walked within ten feet of me on the trail, never glancing in my direction... and sleepily curled up in a ball at the bottom of a bush and took a twenty minute nap about twenty feet from me. I waited patiently for it to wake and continue scraping berries from the bushes... While waiting, some hikers passed asking what I was photographing... I motioned toward snoozing bruin but they didn't see it in the bush and doubted my claim until they were returning back down the trail while after the bear woke and was also using the trail. Peace Tags: -print available-, animals, autumn, mount rainier, wa
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an almost mature Bald Eagle
at Big Beef Creek on the Hood Canal
Puget Sound, Washington©2008 Ed BookHelp, my lens is too long and the bird is too close. I didn't have time to take the 1.4X teleconverter off the 500mm lens for this guy. Although this bird looks like a mature, it was still replacing it's immature and ragged feathers. An adult bald eagle wouldn't have approached as close as this guy did, demonstrating a foolish carelessness that may entail a steep cost if it doesn't become much more wary of largest adversary, man. Canon D1s Mk II with 500mm f/4 'L' Image Stabilized lens and Canon 1.4X teleconverter, ISO 400, 1000sec exposure @ f/6.3 (image cropped to about 1/3 full framePeace Tags: -print available-, animals, bird, clouds, kitsap peninsula, puget sound, sky, wa
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immature Bald Eagle (Aquila Haliaeetus leucocephalus) practices aerial acrobatics©2008 Ed BookToday low tide on the Hood Canal was a minus 2.5 so I went down with my long lens to see what I could record of the Bald Eagles that surely would be feeding on trapped fish as the outgoing tide isolated them in the shallows. I was in luck with a bright day (fast shutter speeds with fairly low ISO) and a contingent of at least a dozen eagles. Most of them were immature with about half of their fledgling feathers replaced with adult plumage. Still displaying adolescent, foolish, clumsy, behavior and flying ineptitude, they're learning though and don't pass by any opportunities for practice. There were a few of us there burning in the sun but anxious to record anything we were fortunate to find. I chatted with a new friend and watched patiently as the eagles sat forever and then launched when we weren't ready playing us. Photographing eagles isn't easy with the long lens (Canon 500mm f/4 'L' Image Stabilized with 1.4X teleconverter giving an effective focal length of 700mm on the full size sensor Canon EOS 1Ds MkII camera). Making photographs consisted of standing with hands on the gimbaled-tripod-mounted camera ready to react and hoping that I could follow the bird's motion. If the focus point shifted off the bird, the lens would quickly shift focus to infinity and the bird would become a blur if even visible. I would have to get the blur lined up with the focusing square to again bring the bird into focus all the while the bird was moving. Concentration was the key and exhausting after a couple hours. I managed to record about 12GB of images and am importing them into Photoshop Lightroom as I type. Working in my office today with two computers, four monitors, ten hard drives all pumping out heat on this probably one of the hottest days of the year. If there's interest, I'll post more from today. Peace Tags: -print available-, animals, bird, blue, kitsap peninsula, puget sound, sky, wa
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Mz Quilcene llama at Nika Trail©2007 Ed Bookllama wool = excellent insulation Quilcene was on a mission in this image. She walked all over the pasture looking for something. It wasn't food as I give them more bale alfalfa and llama vigor (a suppliment which they consider candy) Corn/Oats/Barley (for energy and to add fat in winter). If you know llamas you will probably know what she's intent on finding. What is it? another poll... Poll #1112676 What was Quilcene looking for in the pasture?
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: Friends, participants: 41 New Text Question (the answer can be seen after you answer)Peace Tags: animals, llamas, nika trail, snow, wa, white
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a few years ago, Bob was mountain biking in the Capital Hills near Olympia and found that he was being followed by an emaciated looking very young and obviously lost husky. The dog couldn't be chased away or dissuaded from following. After about eight miles of trail, Bob decided that he had found a new friend, or rather, vice versa. Luka went home with Bob and they've been together since. Here, we see them on the trail enjoying the snow. Luka is strong and loves to run and run she does and wow is she strong. While I was talking to Bob, she sat patiently waiting but obviously eager to get up the trail. I turned and went up the trail a little way to photograph them coming up the trail toward me and behind me heard Bob yelling for Luka to stop. I turned to see that Bob had fallen and Luka was running full speed, dragging him behind, flailing in the snow...
 ©2007 Ed Book Peace Tags: animals, blue, forest, mount tahoma trails, people pics, snow, trail, wa, white, winter
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