There is a small window in my bathroom that peeks out at the eastern wall of the canyon, and I have seen many amazing things out that small window. Deer dancing in the middle-of-the-night, Great Horned Owls mating, a coyote at 3 am, huge buck deer, Wild Turkeys and of course hummingbirds in the summer zipping by.
Day before yesterday, on the way in to use my throne, I saw a young Bald Eagle! It's a fact that female raptors are larger than the male raptors; they end up doing a lot of the hunting for their young. And this Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocphalus) was very large indeed. She's also very close to adulthood, as this eagle is nearly, but not quite an adult.
Nearly braking-stride to the other end of our cabin to get the "big camera" out of the NANUK case, I made my way into the kitchen and flung open the door. After one hundred frames she did something that told me she was going to take flight.....the eagle pooped! No really, they always do and it's a good sign they are going to fly soon; so get your camera ready!!
This first picture is my favorite; she really is an impressive eagle!
This second image is right at the moment this Bald Eagle is going to take wing.
She's a beautiful bird and a great symbol of power; one that should be cherished. It's always a huge thrill to spend time with such a magnificent bird. This eagle was something special caught at a just the right time.
My "big camera" is a Canon 1DX Mark III with an EF 100-400mm L IS II; I love this thing.
All content is produced by Michael John Balog and is protected by international copyright.
I thank you for your valuable time.
MjB
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Walking over to the door to let in some sweet-mountain air, there he was, just relaxing in the cool grass. We'd spotted each other several times already. I knew he'd sit still for some pictures, as long as I didn't push our relationship too far.
I almost ran back to get my big camera and favorite lens combo and then ran outside in my skivvies, walking calmly north on the sidewalk as I shot off a handful of frames; he really was majestic just sitting there: I didn't have to push too close, either.
Back inside reviewing the images in-camera, I realized I just had to have another round with this grand stag. But he had risen and was eating his dinner. As this buck looked up at me it seemed we'd exchanged amusing expressions.
The color RAW images were stunning, but working on two of the photographs in black and white removed distractions and I thought made them even better. It seemed monochrome is more art than snapshots.
You can achieve so much by manipulating color in the monochrome image that you cannot in a color file. In velvet he is a wonderful subject. It was already a quarter to eight when the second set of photographs were taken. His expression is priceless.....
"Any idiot can shoot wildlife with a gun." Knowing this phrase is true doesn't make it any more palatable either. I have experienced hunting closely even at forty-below-zero! Freezing to death with the Tetons in the background....
MjB
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First off you're going need a good camera, and I don't mean the little lens on the back of your phone. I've had five of Canon's digital cameras, and as dumb as it sounds I found out just recently to buy a camera you can't afford; finding out that there is a reason pro-cameras cost as much as they do, the results are much better.
If you are at all serious about photographing wild birds, a great digital-camera will take you farther and you will learn more about Mother Nature than you ever thought you would. Make a commitment and learn something about this planet you live on you never understood. The natural world is fascinating!
You've invested in an expensive camera, but you're going to need a lens that will be able to "reach" those little birds. You'll need at least a four hundred millimeter lens, and don't skimp on quality; do you know how many cheap lenses that I've burned-up? Cheap glass is no bargain at all: trust me on this one. I've got two long lenses that lay unused because they quit working and cheap ones that are good-for-nothing. Lenses like I'm referencing start at 2K and can go up in cost very quickly. That huge white lens you see on TV at the ballgame has a price that starts at ten thousand dollars (the 600mm F/4 costs $16,000) and no, I will never have one.
Purchasing the camera and lens for my art that I honestly never even fantasized owning, or ever thought I would own. I never buy anything without lots of research, and decided on the Canon 1D X Mark III; my new lens is the highly regarded EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6 L IS II. After a couple of months of testing this combination it amazes me! and I've been doing this for half a century. The camera turned out to be grey-market; the firmware was in Japanese! but I saved a bundle of money on my car insurance :-)
Which takes you to the next big step; reading and research, and more reading and research, and yes even more..... I got a booklet sent in from England about my new camera and have read over it maybe ten times; I'm sure I got it down now. Far more important is reading about the birds you will be photographing. Every species behavior is completely different. Starting with Wikipedia is a good start, and I also have a big collection of books. Study, study study, you will need to be prepared.
You need that expensive camera to become so familiar that it becomes something you don't need to think about; it's an extension of you. So don't be afraid to practice, practice, practice.....
If this all sounds rather redundant, it is really. And it's not going to get any easier any other way. Reading and practice will make you a better wildlife photographer. I personally take between 10 and 20 thousand frames a year! Only a very small number of these frames pass my "is-it-art" test. Studying famous works of art is also a good idea: you need to know what looks great after you "crop" your pictures into something memorable. You will need to learn to crop your photographs; birds never ever pose. Which leads me to my lecture on software.
I use Canon for a very good reason, they make everything, from cameras, lenses, cables, printers, batteries, flash, and a software package that is very good: Digital Photo Professional----always shoot RAW. Also, I use Lightroom and Topaz; Lightroom for the metadata on every photograph on my website; HogbatsPhotography.com. No other company makes all this pro-level equipment. But, there is lots of software out there, so use what you enjoy using. I started out long, long ago using Minolta film cameras.
Now the very best part of spending time in nature....observation. Observation is probably the most important thing in photographing wild animals. Reading and research is important, of course, but spending untold hours just watching is a fun way of learning about how these wild things live, and you never know what you will experience!
I used to set up my hummingbird feeders (4 parts water/one part real sugar--no substitutes: I make mine a little stronger) the middle of June because the Rufous and Calliope hummingbirds arrive the first week of July; more or less. But, I observed orioles (Bullock's) drinking my homemade nectar by the gallon. The males arrive first, so the nectar feeders now go up the first week in May; the openings need to be a little larger so they can get their beaks in slightly. We usually have three mating pair of orioles nesting nearby! At this moment we are up to our butts in baby orioles and baby hummingbirds; the nectar feeders empty in only one day and they hold one and a half cups!!
The above picture of a male Rufous hummingbird in-flight was taken yesterday afternoon. I cannot promise that you will be able to image hummingbirds in-flight right away; it took me a long time to get good at it: I've won first -place in Cody three times with my hummingbird pictures.
Camera settings are another choice all together and depends on the type of birds you are photographing and what kind of image you are intending; a portrait or in-flight? My advice is to always shoot faster than you think you need to, because you never know what will happen next. For instance....raptors most always poop before taking off. I'll bet there is something you really needed to know.
As for exposure settings I usually shoot manual----fast, faster and faster still. I am now photographing hummingbirds at 1/8000th and an F-stop at F/8, since this is the smoothest and sharpest point of most quality lenses, and it also gives me some added depth-of-field; but experiment all you can. Get to know your equipment! My ISO setting is either auto or set manually; it depends on my subject and the amount of sunlight.
The very best place to photograph birds is in your own backyard! Purchase a feeder or two (right now I am running 5 hummingbird feeders) and use sunflower seeds and cracked corn. So-called birdseed contains an awful lot of crap no bird eats. But I live in a wilderness, so adjust your birdseed accordingly. Also, your local parks are great for getting pictures of birds that you will never see in your backyard; National Parks are wonderful, if you can avoid the crowds that is.
The above two pictures of baby Rufous hummingbirds were taken just recently; they were born here in the Wind River Canyon. The lower image shows him with his tongue out; maybe a statement?
Photographing wild birds has a satisfaction that is truly beyond measure, it will give you knowledge and confidence, and they can always use the help----join Audubon!
All content produced by Michael John Balog.
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We have had Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) living in the canyon for only three years, and in abundance for only two. Now we have more than two dozen....and it's nesting season. How do you know when it is mating-time? The male wild turkey, also referred to as Tom, will put on a display that is unlike anything else in nature. Their change is quite dramatic and they become very vocal indeed; they are quiet in the winter months.
That weird thing that now hangs down from their "nose" is called a snood. That flappy skin that hangs down from their "chin" is called a wattle. And that wrinkly skin that runs down the back of their necks are amusingly called caruncles. Their heads will also deepen in colors that are wildly red and blue.....yes, blue! The Tom will weigh 30 pounds and even more, it is not uncommon. As big and fat as wild turkeys are, they fly quite well, which is a real wild sight to behold. Seeing a group of them in flight is a crazy thing to experience.
Wild turkeys make so many different sounds that I will not try to explain their vocalizations, but they are a lot of fun. I have spent many, many hours with wild turkeys and have found them to be absolutely amazing birds, and they are great with melted cheese!; just joking, the wild ones are not anywhere near as good as the twenty-dollar ones at your grocery store. Which is why there seems to be so many of them around now.....no one hunts them anymore. Your grandmother couldn't just run down to the store and buy a great tasting domestic turkey. The list of wild animals that eat wild turkeys is long and arduous; everyone just loves turkey.
I've been testing out a new lens that I have always dreamed of owning, and the photograph I got just yesterday made me grin. It is of a Tom in full mating display and the colors are just rich.
Wild turkeys are not endangered, their population is estimated to be over seven million, and I assume that number to be on the low side! They are native to America and we are lucky to have such an interesting and noisy bird around; but do you know how much poop twenty-five wild turkeys leave on my sidewalk?
All content of this Wind River Canyon Blog is produced by me, Michael John Balog, and I live in the canyon and use only Canon equipment. Spend some time experiencing the Wind River Canyon, it's just magical here.
Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for award-winning hummingbird photographs, Bighorn Sheep galleries and over 100 wild birds photographed in the Wind River Canyon here in the state of Wyoming.
MjB
Thank You for your time.....
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Ben Franklin never publicly voiced an opinion about our nations symbol being the Bald Eagle and preferring the Wild Turkey. This idea comes from a letter he wrote to his daughter in 1784. He writes about the "lazy" Bald Eagle stealing fish from the Osprey, and I have many times observed the Bald Eagle feeding on roadkill, too. I have also observed Bald Eagles here in the Wind River Canyon snatching Rainbow Trout right out of the Wind River! It is an awesome sight to behold, and that's a genuine fact.
The Bald Eagle is a raptor and that comes with certain caveats. They are true hunters but will eat something squished on a roadway. Ben Franklin wrote that the Bald Eagle is "generally poor and often very lousy." Now here is a guy that never spent time in the mountains observing and studying eagles! And lets face it, Bald Eagles are beautiful compared to the genuinely really ugly Wild Turkey.
We had last winter the only surviving member of a female Wild Turkey (Hen) and her six little babies (poults) on the back step of our cabin; her and her five poults were all killed in the road here in the canyon! This one lonely female would sleep in the sun on our step. She often would fly to our roof looking for her mom and siblings and make sounds that spoke to her being so alone here in the Wind River Canyon. I felt so sorry for her and said that I had hope of another Wild Turkey showing up here in the canyon to keep her company.
It was late winter that magic happened; five Wild Turkeys showed up in our backyard! Where they came from is a mystery; it's many, many miles to any of their habitat. She now had friends, as Wild Turkeys are very sociable birds----unlike Eagles. We now had six with three hens and two adult males (Toms) and one young male. I wondered out loud what was going to happen in the springtime.
The middle of June the Hens brought down their baby turkeys; twenty-one of them!! What a crowd and what a surprise it was. And of course they brought them to our backdoor for the sunflower seeds and cracked corn that our one survivor had gotten used to; we feed all the little finches and birds. The Hens had them here at our cabin in the canyon every day, and I would often sit on the bench and observe them for hours at a time; the Toms were scarce at this time, but that too would change in time. The video below is a cute glimpse!!!
Now we had over two dozen Wild Turkeys that came to visit and feed, every, single, day! Wild Turkeys are just as opportunistic as Bald Eagles, but a lot friendlier than a raptor. You've heard the saying, "They're so ugly they're cute." Now I know what it really means! And I spent many hours observing their behavior, because that truly is the real joy of living in a wilderness, the learning----and a racetrack running down the middle and idiots for drivers.
What I learned still shocks me to my core. The five adult Toms are the most self-centered living things I have ever studied! They chase away, snap and scare their own young ones to stuff themselves, then go sit under our pine trees.
When I put cracked corn and seed out for their yearlings and the other birds and one small brown squirrel, and some cute chipmunks, the Toms will get up and run over to chase away the eighteen or twenty surviving yearlings and eat some more when I know they cannot possibly be so hungry so soon. If a human father did such behavior he would weigh four hundred pounds and authorities would take away his hungry children!
When I hear an "expert" who has little time in the field say that they just want to pass along their genes, it makes me sick. These are their genetic offspring they are scaring away again, and again. Their motivation is quite simple; they want to survive the winter so they can have sex next spring!!! These are birds----Big Birds, but with birdbrains! Any other behavior that is read into this is just anthropomorphic----period.
Ben Franklin had it all wrong, these are not some noble birds; they are birds. Small brained with basic motivational smarts----smart enough to know whom is dumb enough to give them quality seed when it is thirty-below zero!!! But they are a lot of fun to have around; all they do is eat and poop; and play and socialize. The photograph below was taken day-before-yesterday; it is an image of eleven? or so yearlings and Hens.
And no, after spending a zillion hours observing them, I don't think the Wild Turkey should have been chosen as our Nations symbol; they're just so damn ugly. What kind of symbol would that be?
Thank you for your valuable time.
All content is produced by Michael John Balog.
Personally, I prefer hummingbirds. Visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for images of many, many dozens of birds, hummingbirds, raptors, deer, marmots, Bighorn Sheep and the amazingly friendly Wild Turkeys.
*Below is a photograph of a Rufous Hummingbird from right here in the Wind River Canyon. The white background is not a computer trick, it is a nineteenth-century exposure trick taken early on a warm summer morning.
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Lately, the hits come from places I can't even pronounce, let alone know where these countries are. I do know that hummingbirds touch peoples hearts; as they do mine every summer here in the Wind River Canyon, in the state of Wyoming.
Hummingbirds nest and breed as far north as Alaska, and as far south as Tierra del Fugeo! And they migrate to warmer climates by themselves----unlike the old nutcase that told me, "Oh no, they ride on the backs of geese." Like the aggressive goose would allow such a thing....
There are 135 species native to Columbia and 163 native to Ecuador! I have photographed four species during the summers here in the Wind River Canyon. As a bird species they are the only one that can hover for an extended period of time. In a laboratory, a hummingbird was enticed to hover for 50 minutes! This can never happen in the real world; they're too busy.
The most common hummingbird species here in Wyoming is the aggressive rufous, which has a wing-beat between 60 to 65 bps (beats per second). By comparison the adorable mountain chickadee we have around here can do 25 bps at a full gallop! Hummingbirds have the fastest metabolic rate of any animal, which is why the nectar feeders help them immensely and provide a way of experiencing these magical birds up close and personal. And lets face facts here, what is more wonderfully adorable than a baby anything?
This first image is a baby rufous hummer born right here in the canyon. All of my hummingbird photographs are imaged here in the Wind River Canyon. He's coming in for a landing. All three included pictures were photographed at a mind-boggling 1/4000th of a second; a speed my grandfather couldn't have imagined. I just love the eye peeking over his wing.
All of these pictures were taken from my favorite "high-hide" on the west side of my cabin here in the Wind River Canyon. The next image is an acrobatic pose that is difficult to photograph and is unusual. Take note of the eagle's talons.
This third baby hummingbird image is what I like to call a hummingbird portrait, albeit in-flight, which is just as hard to photograph as you'd think it would be. Trying to do this every summer is a challenge in and of itself.
I hope my love of baby hummingbirds has rubbed off on some of you. They truly are one of the most magical of creatures on Earth, and they are born right here in the Wind River Canyon. There are so many baby hummers around, even now, that I don't know if any of the three are the same or even related to one another.
And speaking of baby birds, I am up to my ears in wild turkey babies. They are cute....in a sort of an ugly kind of way; like one of those dogs. I was so ugly that the doctor slapped my father!
I hope this Wind River Canyon Blog made you think; and laugh a little, too.
I am Michael John Balog and I am lucky enough to live in the magical Wind River Canyon. Visit safely my website www.HogbatsPhotography.com to see birds, hummers and animals that I can guarantee you've never seen in Wyoming.
Oh, and all rights are reserved. Thank you for your precious time that you have given me.
MjB
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The EF-M 55-200mm has macro capabilities that will come in handy and the resolution is quite astonishing when compared to vastly more expensive macro-dedicated lenses. The wildflower photograph below is the Rocky Mountain Dwarf Sunflower imaged right here in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
While sitting under a juniper tree with some tea and this camera-rig, I spotted a butterfly I'd been trying to photograph for years! He was cooperative, or maybe just busy, but the image is sharp and only my knees suffered. It's a nice addition to my "butterfly collection" but he is still flying around, unhurt. This butterfly has a strange name, it's a Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus), which makes sense because I was sitting under a juniper tree!
That's a wild daisy he's sitting on and will give you some idea just how small this butterfly really is. With this lens and camera it was "almost" easy to image him. All that is required is an abundance of concentration; and a lot of luck. But where on earth did he get his name?
While out behind the cabin photographing my wild roses, someone showed up that I have seen here in the Wind River Canyon for twenty years! A very small, little green bee that I thought was impossible to ever photograph. I had to get down on my poor-old-knees again, but it was definitely worth it. As it turns out this quarter-inch flying emerald is a wasp! The research was maddening until finally finding an exact photographic match. He's called an Emerald Jewel Wasp and is a dazzling and unique color even here in the canyon----he seems very small for a wasp though.
This Emerald Jewel Wasp is rare even here in the canyon, as I only see maybe two all summer! If it wasn't for the M6 Mark 2 and the EF-M 55-200mm lens it would have proven impossible to get this picture. Since there is no bug gallery on my website he has landed in the wildflower and butterfly gallery instead. He's an interesting addition to the Wind River Canyon.
The Canon EF-M 55-200mm lens on an M6 Mark II Canon camera is a potent combination that is very affordable when you consider the outrageous price of their R-series camera bodies. I have always loved my Canon cameras, but $4K is completely nuts for most photography hobbyists. A note to Canon----keep affordable mirrorless available for the rest of us!!!
Safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for photographs of Bighorn Sheep, hummingbirds and things I can guarantee you've never seen in Wyoming! Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
*I'm just getting over Omicron 5, and yes, it is yukky!!! Be safe, be smart.......
I'm Michael John Balog and I'm lucky to live in the Wind River Canyon.
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In order to image these wildflowers in the canyon it requires a strenuous hike and something cold to drink, and don't forget that cougars also live here; as if I ever could after seeing those films!
It didn't seem hot down by my cabin, but on the mountainside it was nearly like the proverbial oven; glad I took the stainless bottle of peach tea with ice. Get a good one because while hiking in a wilderness you're going to need it cold.
This first landscape is with the famous yellow Arrowleaf Balsamroot wildflowers (Balsamorhiza sagittata) which are supposed to be edible; I haven't tried them. The plant's tissues contain 30% protein! They bloom in the millions on the canyon mountainsides.
The taproot of these flowers grow deep and can weigh an astounding thirty pounds, and are used as a substitute for coffee when dried. They have been used by Native-Americans for immune support and an oil source.
My next Wind River Canyon wildflower landscape is a much different flower. The Silvery Lupine (Lupinus argenteus) are blueish-purple in the canyon. These flowers are widespread around the world and the seeds have been consumed for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians were known to eat them!
Commonly called lupin beans, they were cultivated by the ancient Romans and helped feed them as they conquered the known world, yet were unknown in America till Lewis and Clark identified them in what's now Montana in 1806. The large seed-pods are opened and the seeds washed and dried to remove the bitter alkaloids and can still be purchased in Europe like pickles.
As I constantly do research, it's interesting what is edible that grows all around us, and what is deadly poisonous. Yet these plants sometimes sprout near each other, so it pays great dividends to read and learn; don't just put that wild plant in your mouth.
Good preparation will make your next hike in a wilderness a safe one. Now get out of your home and let Mother Nature soothe your mind and soul; something we all need in these crazy days.
All content of the Wind River Canyon Blog and HogbatsPhotography.com is created by me, Michael John Balog, a resident of the canyon. Safely visit my website and I can guarantee you will see the wilderness as you've never seen it before.
Thank you for sharing your valuable time with me.
MjB
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As I experimented with the EF-M 28mm macro lens, it opened up a world unknown to even my eyes. What still has us talking is the image of the Wyoming fossil fish that hangs near my main PC. It comes with a story....just hang on.
Fifty years ago I saw this fossil fish in a small rock-shop where my Father did some amazing work with jade and opal. The fossil that owned the shop had this tan rock with tissue-paper under a small, oval piece of tan-colored stone. Under this slim slat of stone was an impression of a fossil fish; he'd tapped it and the fossil fish was magically revealed.
It was unlike any fossil fish I'd ever seen! As a science-nerd it dazzled my mind. Mr. Zim eventually cut and framed the fossil fish. And to make a long story shorter, I ended up with this cherished piece of the ancient fossil record.
When I photographed it with my new macro lens and printed it, we were all astounded; our mouths were open and everything! This little three-inch Wyoming fossil fish was now over fourteen inches long! The detail in this photograph of a fossil fish reveals amazing things nobody had ever seen before....and countless thousands have seen this little stone fish; it was in the office of the little motel we owned and managed that was two hours from Yellowstone National Park. With a magnifying-glass I noticed something in his collapsed fish-eye; his optic nerve was easily visible! Unbelievable....you will see scales on an ancient fossil fish. Blow-up the image and see a fossil fish like you will never see.
Early in April while wandering around the Wind River Canyon where we live, I spotted a very tiny yellow wildflower already in bloom. They only flowered for a few days till it snowed on them; they were only an inch tall and the images where taken on my stomach with the EF-M 28mm macro lens. I cannot find a reference or a name for them anywhere. I've done so many searches....they are so very tiny.
A month later we have millions of a small yellow wildflower that also cannot be named. I'm not exaggerating when I say millions; they are only slightly larger than the aforementioned "tiny yellow wildflowers" so I call them "small yellow wildflowers" that I still don't have a name for. Image is from the 28mm macro on my belly....again.
If you can find a name and a link to the identity of these two Wyoming yellow wildflowers, I will change their generic names to something a little more scientific.
As for this review of the cheap and amazing little Canon EF-M 28mm f/3.5 Macro IS STM lens, all I can say is it works very well; but Canon is stopping the "M" line I read, a bad business decision; nothing like great power that is affordable. The macro lens from Canon I really wanted costs $1,500! But I needed a new garage door........
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
I live in the magical Wind River Canyon; my name is Michael John Balog. Safely visit my Wind River Canyon wildlife website and you will see things I can guarantee you've never seen before in Wyoming.... HogbatsPhotography.com
Think.....
MjB
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Maybe you've seen film of what happens when the lives of people and mountain lions are unfortunately intertwined in suburban neighborhoods; it's not very pretty. Deer wander through manicured gardens and eat expensive flowers and the shrubbery of angry owners. Too near the Grand Teton National Park, workers are paid to trap and remove the wild animals living there, because owners of multi-million dollar "cabins" don't like the wildlife that have lived in that wilderness for thousands of years.
Here in the Wind River Canyon, wild turkeys arrived for the very first time and nested last springtime. We had baby wild turkeys running around our yard and drinking from the creek not far from our kitchen! And wild turkey poop is nearly impossible to avoid, if you know what I mean. They have no other place to go and are chased out of yards in the closest towns; and they were there first. So we have come to embrace their existence here and I study the behavior of one of the most beloved of American birds; even Ben Franklin spoke highly of wild turkeys.
Even in the most remote of wildernesses in our 50th state, homes are built in forests that can only be reached by landing an airplane on a remote wilderness lake; not even electricity, or a flush-toilet. What effect does this have on the local moose population that have lived there for many thousands of years? As I have come to experience personally here in the canyon, wild animals and trucks do not coexist at all. Nothing can explain the sadness of seeing a orphaned fawn trying to survive because his mother was squished up the road.
Both my wife and I have taken dead wild turkeys off the middle-of-the-road here in the canyon, and stag deer so big you've only seen the likes of them in paintings. In parts of Europe they have taken a different road, so to speak. They have given legal rights to mountains and rivers, because it's the only way to keep the people from changing and ruining the wilderness.
In Brazil, vast stretches of jungles (the lungs of our planet) are being leveled so valuable soybean crops can be grown. All over our Earth, wild animals are being forced into extinction. Is this the legacy of human beings on this beautiful blue marble? I'm only asking a simple question.....are we destroying our planet and the future of our own species, or is it already too late? Thank you for your valuable time in reading my Wind River Canyon Blog; enjoy the video. All rights are reserved. I am Michael John Balog and we live in the canyon and experience the wilderness close-up. Safely visit my website about the Wind River Canyon's wildlife @ HogbatsPhotography.com
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It may be the middle of February, but we haven't had a Wind River Canyon winter, yet. The snowblower hasn't been out of the garage, yet. It was a beautiful day as I sat in some tall, dry grass with my feet hanging over the Wind River. To say that it was a bucolic moment is an understatement! What an amazing day it was.......
I imaged many photographs of the ewes with my Canon M6 Mark II and my favorite 70-200mm F/4L Canon lens. Without a tripod, shooting video can be a genuine challenge in the field; this is what happens when you're not thinking and in a hurry. I pieced together a cool video of the Bighorn Sheep Ewes; all handheld.....
The noise of the 18-wheeler behind me sounds like a jet airplane, but it definitely was not a plane; not ever in the canyon. If they seem a little fat it's because all three of them may be pregnant! Bighorn Sheep are the last hoofed wildlife to mate and the last to give birth. They like the minerals on the rocks in the Wind River; it's good for the mother's health. They also eat seaweed from the river! Which is just as funny as it sounds.
The ewe seems to be giving me a funny face; unintentional I assume. My stomach started to let me know that it was afternoon and I'd missed breakfast! I didn't want to leave the ladies. As I tried to get up I slipped and cracked my right knee but good; three days later it still hurts a little and is swollen, but it was all worth the effort. Such a joy to have spent so much time with a few Bighorn Sheep Ewes in the Wind River Canyon; three beautiful ladies and a daughter; what a day!
Thank you for giving me your undivided attention for a bit of time. My name is Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon. All rights are reserved and content is protected by copyright laws....I hope.
Safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for photos and videos of hummingbirds, finches, Mountain Bluebirds, Bighorn Sheep, and wildlife you probably have never seen in Wyoming.
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Wanting something uplifting for a "dead-of-winter" Wind River Canyon blog seems impossible, but I have done it many times before now. While researching my mind's eye, I found an idea that will lift up your spirits: something colorfully wonderful.
In some small way it's my hope that this gallery from my website will uplift your spirits in these desperate times----"Live long and prosper." Oh, by the way----Happy New Year, may it be a sight better than last year.........
All content is produced and created in the Wind River Canyon by me, Michael John Balog; all rights are reserved. Visit my website safely for hummingbirds, Bighorn Sheep, and over a hundred birds! HogbatsPhotography.com
MjB
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]]>Less than a quarter of a mile out of the canyon I caught sight of a bird that we had never, ever observed so near before! I couldn't believe it.....Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis) with a mountain background akin to a painting; like some kind of ready-made video painting.
This is a good time to repeat a fact-of-life, "Never leave home without your camera." I had actually went back to get my Canon M6 Mark II after I'd already started the truck; I am glad I remembered it at this moment.
As I ran through some thick, drying wild grasses, I used an ancient fence post as a lousy tripod; since I had no other option. I held still the camera for an agonizing twenty-plus seconds; I may have left fingernail gouges in the fence post. Such is the life of a wildlife nerd. The video below also includes my gasping for a breath-of-air. As a bird species, the Sandhill Crane has the longest fossil record; direct relative ancestral fossil records of 10 million years! These are very big birds with wingspans of five and a half to seven and a half feet! They can stand four and a half feet tall! There are five sub-species recognized; four in America, the other in Cuba. I still cannot believe they were here at all; my timing was just serendipity (dumb luck).
Wild Turkey Update----last fall at this time we had just one; a yearling that survived from six little turkeys; the mother was run-over in the center of the road. All alone she came round every day, all winter long. We now have at least 15 Wild Turkeys! The two huge Toms put on quite the display....right by my kitchen door; but no, we will never hunt one. I do like a turkey sandwich with melted cheese, however:-)
Thank you once again for reading my true wildlife stories from the Wind River Canyon. Safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for 100 birds, Bighorn Sheep and lots of hummingbirds, too. My name is Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
MjB
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The Mountain Bluebird is a small migratory thrush that migrates to Mexico in winter and prefers to nest @ over 5,000 feet, according to my research. But my photographs were taken in and around the Wind River Canyon here in the state of Wyoming; all @ below 4,000 feet! They live 6-10 years in the wild and they are the state bird of Idaho and Nevada.
I had accidentally found a spot where a beautiful male was guarding his territory, and for three magical mating seasons he provided amazing stress relief. I also know of a "nesting box" where one pair will nest.
The above photograph was published in a bird magazine.
While the male Mountain Bluebirds are stunning in their blues, the females are plain-looking by comparison, but so would you. The image below is of a mating pair.
A Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus) entered into his territory, and the male bluebird was not happy about it at all! He ferociously chased the male Lark Sparrow off.
Their preferred food is a bug of some sort, and here is a picture of a male Mountain Bluebird with a caterpillar he caught and is taking it to his young.
One of the most fascinating photographs I have ever taken was this image below of a male bluebird perched on the horns of Pronghorn Antelope that were nailed to a post. It's an iconic image of an iconic bird nesting in Wyoming.
It's from an old song that Phil Collins sings so well...."When I'm feeling blue, all I have to do, is take a look at you, and then I'm not so blue."
It may seem silly, but a bluebird can make you feel a whole-lot-better; trust me, I know what I'm blogging about.
Thank you for taking the time to read my Wind River Canyon Blog; all rights are reserved. My name is Michael John Balog and I live in the magical Wind River Canyon. For more wildlife photographs from the Wind River Canyon, safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com
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Over many years a bushy wildflower perennial has prospered that blooms many dozens of small, pastel purple daisies in late summer; and no butterfly can resist them. They are the Alpine aster (Aster alpinus) or alpine daisy and they can vary in color, but here they are light-purple.
Photographing butterflies, as I have said here before, can be challenging to say the least. One good image can make all that running around in the very hot sun, very, very rewarding. Or you can sweat loads and get little for your hard earned time; practice makes perfect, remember?
On a very hot afternoon, not long ago, a butterfly known as the Mormon fritillary (Speyeria mormonia) was feeding on the asters. It was a prime specimen and in fine condition, but the sun was cooking the canyon as I ran from shade to sun and back. Out of over sixty frames the image below was my favorite. I used my Canon EOS M6 Mark II camera and Canon 70-200mm F/4L lens; ISO 100, F/4 @ 1/640th.
This particular butterfly is not endangered and is widespread with several different variations across North America. They can get really tattered with time and a good specimen is sometimes difficult to find.
Two days ago, I was out photographing, on the same flowers, a Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) that was flying through the Wind River Canyon. It wasn't quite so scorching and the results were able to put a smile on our faces. Same favorite Canon camera combination and the settings were ISO 1600, F/8 @ 1/400th; I wanted a little more depth-of-field with the larger Monarch.
The fine detail in the image is astounding. The pollen grains on the butterfly's head and proboscis (hollow tube-like tongue) and spider webs demonstrate the Canon M6 Mark 2's great resolution in a small form factor camera @ an ISO of 1600! She didn't hang around for very long though as she has a long trip ahead.
The widespread use of herbicides has dramatically lessened the numbers of the Monarch butterfly. The Monarch caterpillar's only food source is the milkweed plant, and with less of the milkweed we have far less Monarchs; but less weeds.
The nights are getting colder in the mountains now and soon the last of the butterflies will disappear till next springtime, but till then, "Keep your camera ready!"
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon blog about the wild life here in Wyoming. Safely visit my website, HogbatsPhotography.com for hummingbirds, Bighorn Sheep, over 100 species of birds, and more butterflies. All rights are reserved.
Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon
MjB
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The remaining yearling mostly hung around our cabin since it was the only place she knew that was safe; she also liked our sunflower seeds. In the fall another younger hen and three males (toms) seemingly arrived out-of-nowhere. Our lonely wild turkey finally had company and they all spent the winter visiting us.
It seemed obvious what was to happen this springtime. Last week the group arrived with their little baby turkeys in tow. I took a lot of photographs, but a video seemed more appropriate; and more fun. It's one minute and two seconds with a cute jiggle at the end when I hit the off button; I could have edited it out in post-production. This is the very first video ever made of baby wild turkeys in the Wind River Canyon! The wild turkey group (hey, it's what they're called) comes around early each morning for their helping of sunflower seeds. Kids grow up so fast, don't they? That "horn" of flesh on their beaks is called a snood; you just learned something new.
Day before yesterday I had a close encounter with a baby rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) that was born right here in the canyon; as they are each and every summer. Hummingbirds are very inquisitive and this young male baby rufous was no exception. These moments with camera in-hand and hummingbirds are truly magical. It's super-fast photography shot at lightning speeds. If there's a better word than challenging, I don't know what it is. The image below was photographed at 1/4000th of a second with the Canon EOS M6 Mark II!
The acrobatics in-flight are just an added bonus when photographing hummingbirds, and it all takes place in the blink-of-an-eye.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read about wildlife in the Wind River Canyon, here in the middle of the state of Wyoming. All content in my Wind River Canyon Blog and my website HogbatsPhotography.com is protected by international copyright and all rights are reserved.
My name is Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon.
MjB
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There are well over 100 different species of birds that either visit or reside in the Wind River Canyon! A few of them we have seen only once, many nest in the canyon every year, and some just hang around and eat all my sunflower seeds and suet blocks.
Bullock's Orioles (Icterus bullockii) are here every spring; 3 pair nested this year and their young are out right now as I write this Wind River Canyon blog. They are colorful and love my home-made hummingbird nectar from the hummingbird feeders! The hummingbirds are arriving now that will breed this and every summer.
I have included the two galleries of bird photographs as slide shows. There are birds I have observed that could not be imaged; some are impossibly difficult. Some are just too widespread to be of any interest. Then there are those moments of serendipity; wonderful things just happen. I will also include my cherished Hummingbird Gallery; hummingbirds are what started me on this wild quest in the first place.
Hummingbirds imaged in the Wind River Canyon with Canon cameras.
I know that there is a lot of content to digest; 164 bird photographs! Most species are very difficult to observe without telescopic aid. Hummingbirds may just come right up to you for a look-see; this is common among hummingbirds. Other bird species come and go in the canyon like it's some magical race. Many species of birds are seen only rarely, if at all. But, they all have been photographed in the Wind River Canyon.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. I am Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon. All content was produced by me and all rights are reserved. A small Raptors Gallery is below.
MjB
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After residing in Wyoming for nearly a half-century, I can count on one hand the number of times I have even observed a western tanager. I've had only one moment in the rain years ago here in the Wind River Canyon where I'd imaged a dazzling male. Not being satisfied I've waited, and waited, and waited..........
The last week of May, three male western tanagers arrived and fell in love with my suet-blocks that I put out for woodpeckers, chickadees and assorted finches; females of the species were with them. Using our cabin as a blind I happily photographed away with two distinctly different Canon cameras. The three male tanagers were of varying ages and the weather was changing constantly.
This first photograph was taken with the Canon M6 Mark II and the Canon 70-200mm F/4L lens hand held. A yellow bird is the most difficult to photograph in sunshine, which makes this adult-male western tanager all the more amazing.
They spent a week here in the Wind River Canyon wolfing down the suet-blocks while I merrily took their picture over and over. I had a lot of bytes to mull over each day and it isn't easy to choose what is best. But the series of images taken on a partly-cloudy day yielded some wonderful pictures of a dazzling western tanager in a wilderness environment.
The next photograph was taken with one of my old Canon 7D bodies with the battery-grip and the really big Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 (a real mouthful) @ 500mm, F/6.3, 1/1250, ISO 320; mounted on an old aluminum tripod in my kitchen doorway!
The western tanager is one of the most striking and elusive birds in the western United States, and it was a privilege to have spent such valuable time with them here in the Wind River Canyon. The files have been backed-up, as all your work should be, and I will be working on them for quite some time, I am sure. I don't know if they're nesting in some big pine tree high up near the rim of the canyon, or they've moved on. Seldom do I get to know the "rest of the story." Mother Nature can be a bit of a tease......
All photographs, wildlife stories and all post-production is by Michael John Balog; resident of the Wind River Canyon. Safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for many more images of birds, hummingbirds and even Bighorn Sheep, all photographed right here in the canyon.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
MjB
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They also were a food source long ago in the American West; I was told. You cannot deny that they are adorable, especially when they are only three days out of their deep-underground home, as in the photograph below; imaged this week with the Canon EOS M6 Mark II.
For many people, even seeing a big male Wild Turkey in display can be a real event, and here in the Wind River Canyon the photograph in this Wind River Canyon Blog is a real first. They are nesting nearby me and I see them fairly regularly, but to image an adult Tom in display is a unique first here in the canyon this springtime.
The image was taken with the Canon M6 Mark 2, but at a distance of over 50 yards I had to make some adjustments in post-production. He is a big adult male in full display....without stuffing mind you.
While I just love a turkey sandwich, they don't look very appetizing to me either! And you should hear the sound they make. I was told that the Wild Turkey doesn't taste any better than they look!
One of my favorite wildlife subjects to photograph are the many finches we have here in the canyon. In the springtime we have an abundance, and the Cassin's Finch is especially showing off their red-colors this spring. I was using the big Tamron lens, 150-600mm G2 on my old favorite Canon 7D; hand-held, which is good exercise, too. The shadows in the image give it an artistic look and really brings out the contrasts and the lovely reds; he is a real beauty.
The songs of finches can be heard now throughout the Wind River Country, and here by our cabin in the canyon it is a wonderful way to try and forget all the troubles in the world right now. Find a place near you and explore the sounds of nature's songs; you will understand and feel much better; trust me.......
The production of the Wind River Canyon Blog and all photographic images is by me, Michael John Balog, resident of the canyon. All cameras are Canon cameras, of course; most purchased used. All content is protected by copyright including my website HogbatsPhotography.com. Click and safely visit to see wild animals you have never seen, including many hummingbird photographs!
Thank you for your obviously valuable time; thank you
MjB
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The twisted cedar stood there for a longer time then anyone can count and has been the sentinel that has withstood blizzards, windstorms, wildfires, forty-below and one hundred above! Its grey gnarly branches reaching out and teasing even time itself.
I have photographed this ancient dead cedar tree many times over more than twenty years, never being any happier with my attempt. Monday it was 71 degrees, 3 a.m. Tuesday it was snowing hard, Wednesday sunny but cool, Thursday it was 70 again and the snow melted, and yesterday morning we had fresh snow yet again. And the ancient cedar now had a blanket of fresh snow and the contrasts compelled me to try again; this time in monochrome.
Springtime in the Wind River Canyon is marked by drastic fluctuations of weather so severe that it's hard to tell what season it really is. Last week's weather is typical and not unusual at all; it will be 70 again today, Saturday. Besides some grass greening, how does anyone in this wilderness tell what season it really is------without looking!
I know the real signal when springtime sort-of arrives in Wyoming------sort-of. The Marmots pop out of their holes-in-the-ground; they know Spring. The Yellow-bellied Marmots (locally known as Rock Chucks, but they don't eat rocks!) disappeared in mid-August and have been underground since! That is over seven months underground waiting for things to green up!!
The adult males are the first to come up for air and something green to eat; it's been seven months. They're fuzzy and look like little teddy bears; they are no trouble at all, but make for fun photo-ops. If you were stuck in a hole for seven months and now there are a half dozen or so noisy baby marmots----you would need to be the first one out, too.
In all this crazy insanity you need to get out and treat yourself to a wilderness experience; get some mountain air. Let it clean out your thoughts and meditate a little bit. You will be surprised by how Mother Nature can heal a stilted mind.
Live long and prosper...........be smart.
All content production is by Michael John Balog and all rights are reserved.
Visit safely my website----HogbatsPhotography.com for hordes of wildlife photographs, especially my favorite hummingbirds and Bighorn Sheep.
Both images were produced with the Canon EOS M6 Mark 2 camera.
Thank you very much for your valuable time, hope you will visit me in the Wind River
Canyon again soon.
MjB
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Choosing Canon cameras to photograph wild-nesting hummingbirds here in the mountains of Wyoming was no easy task at the time; I've been digitally imaging hummingbirds for a dozen years, now. Digital was just beginning to rise to the level of the Kodachrome I'd loved for so many decades.
It wasn't just the digital cameras and lenses. It meant computers, monitors, laptops, memory chips, expensive batteries, cables of all sorts, profiling those monitors, printers, ink cartridges, special paper, frames, framing, glass, plexiglass, camera bags, pricey software and a very understanding wife that is also a fan of my art.
And art it truly is: I put far more time into a final piece than Picasso ever did; sorry, but it's true. Learning how all of this crap fits together is all self taught; I could write a big book. But the real key was my choice of Canon equipment from the very start. The above baby Rufous hummingbird picture was imaged with a now ancient Canon digital camera; it was my first hummingbird work-of-art.
You see, Canon makes cameras and lenses, but they also make the printers, ink cartridges, fine art printing paper and all the software that makes it all "talk" to one another, including your computer. Of course as time goes on and experience and expertise rise, so do the prices and complications like outside software. And don't forget the cost of getting the works out "there." Galleries need money and they get their cut (30% - 35%)!
The above image is a first-place winner in the Cody Country Art League annual competition of a female Black-chinned hummingbird taken with a Canon 7D. They are still great cameras for wildlife imagery, but resolution has gotten much better since; I still use them.
Canon's L-series lenses are very good and are worth the expense. My personal favorite is the fairly lightweight 70-200mm F/4L, which I now use on my Canon M6 Mark II camera-body. At my age and experience I wanted a challenge and the M6 Mark 2 was a good choice; small, fast and very detailed images, as the photograph below will show.
The photo below is a color-image that shows just how fast technology has evolved and images detailed. It was imaged at F/8, ISO 800 and a shutter-speed of 1/3200th of a second! The picture is cropped from a larger digital file, yet the image is clear and brightly detailed.
This isn't to say that any of this is particularly easy, it is not. Reaction times need to be fast and precise; think video games. But this is the real world and unpredictable from the very start. A wild animal as fast as a hummingbird presents many challenges beyond that make-believe shoot-'em-up video game; this is the real world Neo.
It will be 100 degrees in the shade, sweat in my eyes, but it's a wonderfully magical experience, and completely frustrating at times. I'll shoot thousands of images for that one that dazzles even me; and that's the one. Or, I could shoot thousands of images and get nothing I love. I may shoot ten thousand pictures and have no more than a few finished photographs to print----such is the life of a hummingbird photographer. Then something like this can happen, and it is all worth the effort.
The above photograph is a Calliope hummingbird male that is smaller than my thumb! The sun has come up behind him and has "blown-out" the background; the hummer is in the shade and the manual exposure was set for the Calliope in the shade, making the background appear white; a great trick that took me years to time just right.
Liking your equipment is a good thing, and making it work to your satisfaction takes time, practice and loads of patience; sometimes the patience of a saint. Canon has helped me make my visions come to fruition; awards and sales are just the gravy. Just like Thanksgiving though, there is not enough gravy to go around; revel in your artwork.
Thank you for your time and love of the hummingbirds. My name is Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming and I photograph hummingbirds. All wildlife stories and photographs are protected by copyright and all rights are reserved.
Safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for more hummingbird photographs and Bighorn Sheep, deer, orioles, bluebirds, vultures, eagles.......
MjB
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The other day I was outside to put back some firewood that a wild animal had knocked off "the wall." I noticed this female downy woodpecker "working" on a log getting herself some lunch. Hiding behind a juniper tree, I just watched her hammer away, motioning for my wife to sneak-a-peak, too.
Realizing I had an opportunity to produce some video of her with my Canon M6 Mark II, I made a quick retreat. My Canon 70-200mm F/4L lens seems to spend a lot of time on this camera now, and it happened to be a good choice for a sneaky video documenting her feeding behavior; and yes, it is handheld, and looks like it, too!
The only sound to be heard was my heavy breathing, so I muted the obvious distraction in post-production; it sounded like a "crank" phone call anyway! Our local Rock Mountain Downy Woodpeckers have less white 0n their wings than those in other regions of America; have you ever observed one yourself? They resemble the Hairy Woodpeckers (Picoides villosus), but are much smaller as are their "tough-as-nails" beaks. Because of this difference they do not compete for the same food sources. Even among the same species, males and females have different sized beaks and don't compete for the same food; their only problem is the loss-of-habitat. She is a wonderful and calming distraction in this time of mental craziness.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog this month, I hope all are well. As you would expect to see----All rights are reserved, of course. It is noon at the moment and snowing and only 22 degrees! Looks like maybe winter is back.
My name is Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
Safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for Hummingbirds, Bighorn Sheep and many other videos and images of Wyoming wildlife.
MjB
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A memory of Mother Nature not soon forgotten, but this wilderness wildlife experience is a remembrance that may linger for a lifetime.
The way that wild animal just looked at you is an emotional experience that is yours alone. That single moment in time changes the way we think and understand the wild world; it has changed us.
That single moment of eye-contact with that wild animal felt different somehow----didn't it?
You may not realize just how the wilderness and that wild animal has made you think a little differently; you have been changed by the experience. The wilderness has made a difference in my life, too.
When you looked in the eyes of that wild animal, you knew something had just happened between you. I do not claim to know what just occurred either, but I have felt it many times here in the Wind River Canyon.
Last Wednesday morning, I was on the way into town when I spotted a beautiful buck deer right next to the river. The stag was laying down relaxing in the warming sunshine on a cold early January day. Like your credit card, I never leave home without my camera; I grabbed it from my wife's lap after stopping the truck.
The buck didn't notice my presence at first while I pushed the shutter button. Then those big ears of his belied my existence in his world. The eye-contact was practically electric between us; we could both feel it, I knew. A moment with a wild animal not soon forgotten; he is magnificent.
The camera was my favorite Canon EOS M6 Mark II with my favorite lens, the Canon 70-200mm F/4L; hand held, obviously. Always shooting a RAW file, it was first worked in post-production in the latest version of Canon Digital Photo Professional, then sharpened in Topaz Labs Sharpen AI software, then "touched-up" and finished (metadata) in Lightroom.
Looking into his eyes makes it all worth while, and a wildlife experience not soon forgotten. Get off of your sofa and go for a walk in a wilderness near you, it will change your life............I promise.
All content of my Wind River Canyon Blog and website HogbatsPhotography.com are protected by copyright and all rights are reserved.
*Be smart, be safe, live to tell about it.
I am Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon here in Wyoming.
Thank you very much for your time!
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President Calvin Coolidge
December 25, 1927
In these desperately troubling times, Christmas should be a season of true caring for one another, even among friends we may never meet. Let us all think upon the wishes of others before ourselves this Holiday Season.
All content is produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the magical Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming, and all hummingbird images were photographed in the canyon; all rights are reserved.
*Be smart, be safe, live to tell about it.
Merry Christmas
MjB
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For those of my readers that keep up with this Wind River Canyon Blog the news only becomes more stressful. The Mother Wild Turkey, the only one to ever nest here, was killed literally in the middle-of-the-road on Monday morning, the two remaining yearling wild turkeys are at the backdoor of my cabin each and every morning. Their world is this unusual neighborhood in the center of the canyon with barking dangers all around. They roost somewhere in the back every night. Their mother taught them well, but the winters can be brutal at times here in the canyon; now I'm really involved.
On a very long ride into town to get the mail, which is not delivered into the canyon, I spotted a small raptor early in the morning hunting for breakfast recently. Raptors of any kind seldom cooperate for a good picture. The images were striking and the contrasts were perfect to try something in monochrome; black and white. I liked the way the branches framed the hunter and the contrasting greys were right on.
The color version of the file was pretty, but the monochrome was a hammer blow of an image; time well spent away from the stresses of life....time for more.
I wanted to create some more monochrome photographs of the "departed" Albino Bighorn Sheep known as "Snowflake" on the web. They are images of a unique nature, being that an albino anything is highly unusual and we will never live to see another and, I am the only person on this planet with professional images of this one-of-a-kind wild animal.
There is a picture similar to this first one on my website HogbatsPhotography.com, but this unpublished photo is much sharper and the contrast between Snowflake and the other Bighorn Sheep is striking.
The next image of the Albino Bighorn Sheep is another unpublished group picture of Snowflake. Remember, this is "one-in-a-million" and he is gone now, shot by a hunter.
This image was sharpened with Topaz Labs AI Sharpen software, and it works fabulously; the eye contact with Snowflake is a bonus; the contrasts are terrific in monochrome.
The last black and white Bighorn Sheep photograph is one that I'd always wanted to create, but the emotions have been too strong to argue with. After almost six years you'd think they would've past, but I spent more time with the Albino Bighorn than I did some family. It is an image dear to my heart.....and hopefully yours, too.
When we survive in such interesting times as these, it's best to search out the creative side of your brain and try to forget the stresses of this crazy, historic time and make something beautiful that belies the stress we all live with in this nutty twenty-first century; go......create.
Thank you for sharing your valuable time with me. All images and wildlife stories are produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming and all rights are reserved.
Be smart, be safe, and live to tell about it.
For more monochrome Bighorn Sheep photographs, and pictures of hummingbirds, eagles, bluebirds, orioles and many more you've never seen, safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com
MjB
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The one thing that I haven't tried is the "frame-grab" method of obtaining an image worthy of uploading to my wildlife website, HogbatsPhotography.com. This technological image-making method has evolved where now it can fairly easily be done by software alone. First, you shoot video of your intended subjects, which in my case are the young, fast and shy baby Wild Turkeys; which is a lot more difficult than you may at first think.
I like my turkey with stuffing and sweet potatoes. And that's the real problem here, everyone just loves a Wild Turkey; a little melted cheese on wheat.....Around here they must contend with coyotes, bobcats, cougars and domestic pets! Wild Turkeys are generally elusive in nature.
For those of you that don't keep up with my blog from here in the magical Wind River Canyon, I've finally had Wild Turkeys hatched in the canyon for the very first time! A mom and her baby turkeys have been fattening up on my sunflower seeds; three times a day for several weeks now. While they usually have 8 to 15 buff-colored eggs (according to Audubon), our Wild Turkey was seen with three babies, then one morning was observed with only two. Seems a lot of things love turkey in the canyon!
My videos were shot with the Canon EOS M6 Mark 2 camera and my favorite Canon 70-200mm F/4L lens. The capture software is the "free" (you must own a Canon) software; Canon Digital Photo Professional 4. From there you merely choose a frame that looks good to you and save it; a Tiff file is lossless and the best choice here. I then ran the image through Topaz Labs AI Sharpen software, THEN Adobe Lightroom for post-production; to make it prettier for the eye of the viewer..... and me!
As I am now writing this Wind River Canyon Blog, the Wild Turkeys are here in my yard eating sunflowers seeds, yet again. They still do not trust me completely; hey, I'm the guy with the seeds! I really did have a turkey sandwich for lunch today.....
The photograph below is of the two remaining young Wild Turkeys that were the first to ever be hatched (born?) in the Wind River Canyon; they cannot spend the winter in the canyon, however; it can get wicked out here.
Always suspicious, always cautious, and they run like the wind----just look at those feet; one of them slipped and fell on his butt while standing on my picnic table when I went out with seeds just yesterday, pretty funny stunt.....and yes, they can fly short distances. I have a rare species of small squirrel (just one), that is scared silly of them, and yet the Wild Turkeys especially dislike the Magpies; competitors?
The two little ones have a habit of sleeping on my back welcome mat, and pooping there! In fact, there is now turkey turds virtually everywhere; and it's big. "You know that you live in a wilderness area when you find Wild Turkey poop on your slippers".....funny stuff.
Thank you for reading my stuff. All content is produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon and all rights are reserved; unless you really want it.
*Be smart, be safe, live long and prosper.
MjB
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The mother Wild Turkey is crazy protective; everyone loves turkey; she will give a command that makes her babies virtually vanish right before your eyes and your camera. While I've been following their sojourns for many months and shot-off hundreds of images, they still elude. That is part of the fun of capturing wildlife photographs; the secret, quiet chase. These are the very first images of wild turkeys photographed in the Wind River Canyon.
This next image is of a wild turkey chick taken early one morning here in the canyon going over a stone wall.
Along Wyoming roadsides blooms a wild sunflower that easily propagate themselves and American Goldfinches (Carduelis tristis) just adore. It's a great game observing them trying to get the small seeds from the flowers and capturing images without interfering with their behavior.
Of all the photographs I have taken in the past several weeks of the American Goldfinch doing their acrobatic routines with these yellow flowers, the one image in this Wind River Canyon Blog is an adorable favorite. It's an adult male goldfinch teaching a couple of his chicks that these seeds are incredibly tasty. Like your first childhood memories of pancakes, these young birds are learning quickly. The image was shot before the sun came up (or down?) in the canyon; yellow birds are too highly reflective in direct sunshine.
Not knowing that the American Goldfinch was such a good father and teacher made this nature-study that much more endearing; the image more inspiring.
When Mother Nature touches your heart, you will carry the emotions and forever be changed by your observations. Maybe this explains just some of our country's problems today; too many stresses and not enough of the natural world to soothe our hearts.
Thank you for the use of your time.
All content is protected by copyright and all rights are reserved; all content is created and produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon.
For more wildlife images from the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming, safely visit my website and you will see everything from hummingbirds to an Albino Bighorn Sheep----HogbatsPhotography.com
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By this time the adult hummingbirds are long gone. The daylight hours are getting shorter and they know before we all do that it's time to head south. It gets cold quickly in the mountains around here, and if you're a hummingbird you'd rather not be caught in a freezing storm; it will happen sooner than later. It's hot work photographing hummingbirds, unless it's before eight o'clock in the morning! This first image was taken before eight in the morning when it's still quite cool.
On one of those blistering afternoons here in the canyon I was in my favorite high-hide photographing my hummingbirds, when I caught this young Rufous in-flight. The new Canon EOS M6 Mark II performs wonderfully on crazy-fast hummingbirds, but the electronic viewfinder cannot keep up with the lightning-fast movement of these babies. It looks odd to an old-timer like me; but it works and @ 14fps it is really quick; if you're quick! Imaged @ 1/3,200th of a second @ F/8, ISO 800 in full, hot, sunshine.
Never using flash of any kind when imaging hummingbirds is difficult many times over, but I refuse to subject them to extra stresses during nesting season; which is the only reason they are here in the Wind River Canyon. This next picture is one I rarely give consideration to, but it shows off the wings of an angel @ 1/4,000th of a second, with her tongue out!
This last new hummingbird image is a work of art, or are they all? I put in loads more time and ended up liking the photo in monochrome. The color version is fun, but the black and white (monochrome, duh) is an image that can stand on its own. Because hummingbirds are known for their flashy color, the reductionist monochrome image is curiously interesting. This image was shot Wednesday morning before the sun came up in the Wind River Canyon; he is guarding his food source. When they do this they are deadly serious and fight to retain control; typical male behavior.
At 1/320th of a second and F/4, ISO 1250 the depth-of-field is very shallow. The focus-point needs to be on the birds' eye, the wildflower is not the subject at all, but adds that diagonal line across the image. This is a baby Rufous hummingbird----born in Wyoming!
I'd like to finish this Wind River Canyon Blog with something a little mushy. I've been feeding the hummingbirds here in the canyon for a very long time. There is a special kind of wonderful emotion when watching the way they respond to my homemade nectar; real sugar @ slightly stronger than 4 to 1. All the sugar (25 pounds!), the work and feeders is a very small price to pay for such emotional satisfaction as this. I am not kidding at all when saying that this is a great service to them and will make you feel wonderfully special; they remember and will return next year!
Thank you for spending your time with me and my hummingbirds in the magical Wind River Canyon here in Wyoming. Until next time----be safe, be smart.
All content is protected by international copyright law and is produced by Michael John Balog; resident of the Wind River Canyon.
For more photographs of Hummingbirds, Orioles, Bluebirds, Bighorn Sheep and things you may never have seen, safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com
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It seems impossible that such an unusual and unique natural-rock formation had never been photographed like this before now, but it hadn't. Access to the immediate area is severely restricted because it's inside the Wind River Indian Reservation and the difficulty in even finding the stone-arch.
The genuine truth is, so few people even know it is there at all! Even people old enough to have known Moses personally do not know of the stone-arch in the Wind River Canyon. It's far away from the highway, far up on the canyon's rim, and if you don't know where it is, you will never see it for yourself; yes, it's that difficult. You also need a big telephoto lens and a camera with resolution that until recently has been wildly expensive.
For those of you that roast in the heat of summer, morning temperatures like these in the mountains are quite normal; it's easy to enjoy such beautiful mornings; a good time to accomplish something you love. I woke up my wife, she wanted to go with me; hurry up!
Grabbing the big camera bag (a large contractor's tool bag) and the heavy aluminum tripod, we headed out the door. We were going to "Windy Point" which is less than two miles away from our cabin. I had a feeling this was going to be a perfect morning in the canyon.
Having been to this spot many times before now, knowing about where I should set the tripod up. The traffic was minimal because of the pandemic and work on a bridge nine miles to the north of where we were working; conditions were perfect. Some fluffy clouds moved in and made the shoot play out just the way I could have hoped.
Here's a tip----I used the touchscreen display and manually focused the lens @ 10x on the camera-back to get a more perfect picture at such a dramatic distance; I shot 67 images, this was my favorite.
Eye-of-the-Needle, Wind River CanyonRare-natural rock arch in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming. 1st time ever close-photographed!
This obviously isn't your usual natural stone/rock arch. The first question that came up years ago when I first shot this arch was, "How did this happen?" It appears that a huge spire came down at exactly the right angle....or maybe something just fell away; your geology guess is as good as any other. It definitely is a special geologic event worth seeing for yourself; here's how......
Windy Point is the big, round, dangerous corner in the canyon that seems endless in bad weather; now stop at the pull-off to the north of this; bring binoculars, but you can see it without aid. Now look way up and west; you've got it! Few people have ever even viewed this weird arch. A wonderful teacher was killed by a truck carrying 30,000 pounds of apples @ Windy Point in the winter many years ago; so be careful!
Camera: Canon EOS M6 Mark II w/EVF
Lens: Tamron 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC G2
Software: Canon Digital Photo Professional, Topaz Labs AI Sharpen, Adobe Lightroom
Shot @ 600mm, the equivalent of over 19x power that the camera sees.
Now, get out of the house and get some fresh air. Be careful, be safe, be smart.
All content is protected by copyright and all rights to content are.....mine. Written by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Thank you for your time.
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The air is so fresh with the smell of juniper, cedar trees and wildflowers it excites the senses like a drug supplied by Mother Nature. I just wish it would be possible to include the air in this blog.
The Wild Roses started blooming day-before-yesterday. They're smaller than the domesticated varietals, but the smell of a wild rose is very intense; I promote their propagation; this results in rose hips, which is a great source of vitamin C.
At each end of our cabin are nesting pairs of House Wrens; they are very territorial and must be kept separated. Every morning we are serenaded with their wonderful songs. Females have been seen throwing out another's eggs.
A native plant that has a very long and ancient history flowers right here in the canyon, the Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). It's been a medicine for as long as the written word. It stops the flow of blood and is an antiseptic; used by Hannibal's doctors and native Americans.
The Bullock's Orioles are nesting close by (three pair) and drink my homemade nectar from the hummingbird feeders. And speaking of hummingbirds....there's a mating pair of Broad-tailed hummingbirds nesting and feeding here right now.
If you look over this way you will see the largest butterfly in all of Wyoming. This is the Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) butterfly. Around the Wind River Canyon they regularly have wingspans of six-plus inches! Tiger Swallowtail photography rule number 351----Swallowtails are always on their way to someplace else....good luck.
The flowers are called Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) and are fabulously great smelling. They are also called a gilliflower and are native to Eurasia. They are cultivated around the world and were introduced to America in the 17th century. The green leaves are a valuable source of vitamin C and can be eaten in salads. They are considered an invasive species in Colorado, but I don't know why; they are amazing and all the butterflies and wild bees love them. Wait----there's the hummer.
Since they are just over four inches in length, this photograph shows him off to his best. His wing-beats have a very distinctive metallic sound you will never forget, and it's a sound that is found nowhere else in nature.
When the Wind River Canyon finally comes alive in June it's a sight to behold, and the smells are dazzling to your olfactory senses. Wish you were here..............
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. All content was created by Michael John Balog and all rights are protected by international copyright laws.
For many more wildlife images from the Wind River Canyon, including more hummingbirds, Bighorn Sheep and a hundred birds, many wildflowers and wild animals you've never seen, safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com
Be safe....be kind....be smart
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I slid on my wellies and grabbed a camera that could capture images of the early wildflowers that bloom in the Wind River Canyon. Two of those I knew would be showing their colors this early are favorites of mine. I buttoned up my trusty fave flannel shirt and headed up the mountainside, an early morning mountain breeze caressing my face.
These types of photo sessions in the canyon are very strenuous; everything you would want to photograph is uphill! Knowing where these wildflowers grow and bloom doesn't make it any easier.
Making my way up the trail to a place where no trail exists, I headed higher; the incline is at least 45 degrees! With a camera and large lens, this kind of hike in the canyon is difficult at it's very best, but it always clears my head and makes me smile at myself. After an exhilarating climb I spotted my quarry....Shooting Stars in bloom!!
With the incredible resolution of the new Canon M6 Mark II, what I was after was a macro closeup of the perfect Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia) wildflower. As I was crawling around shooting pictures I spotted the perfect specimen, now lit by the warming sunshine.
My next early wildflower favorite is rarely seen in Wyoming, it's name alone explains why; the Foothill Death Camas (Toxicoscordion paniculatum). All parts of this plant are poisonous; they are beautiful, but deadly. I was lucky to find a perfect blooming specimen, after crawling (hiking?) across the mountain; it was ideal.
One quick question comes immediately to mind; does the ant have immunity from the poison, or does he have a death wish? Do not touch these wildflowers if you see them; fair warning....
As I was imaging wildflowers I spotted a specimen that I knew was not on my website HogbatsPhotography.com----Mountain Bluebells! And a perfect grouping that had just opened up this morning. Here in the Wind River Canyon they grow close to the ground, which in this case was on the side of a mountain! Time for the "belly-roll imaging crawl." Could be a new dance move, but it isn't.
These glorious wildflowers are slightly longer than one inch, and it is unusual to see them in such perfect shape. I snapped off a few frames with the silent, single-shot electronic shutter; best with subjects that don't move....much.
I struggled down the canyon-side to the main trail and finally to the cabin. Thirsty, hungry and in some pain, I was glad to sit down to a sandwich; God, I had a great time! Wish you were here....
All photographs were captured with the new and magical Canon EOS M6 Mark 2; it is truly a 21st century marvel of a camera; I highly recommend it.
Software: Canon Digital Photo Professional 4 (for the RAW files), Topaz Labs AI Sharpen, and of course Lightroom.
All images and stories are true and produced by Michael John Balog (me) - resident of the Wind River Canyon and are protected by copyright.
For amazing pictures of the hummingbirds, Bighorn Sheep and wild birds of the Wind River Canyon here in Wyoming, safely visit Hogbats Photography. Seemingly non-profit................
Thank you for your valuable time!
MjB
Be smart, be safe please.
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The Wind River Canyon has always been known as a magical place; I have felt it's healing powers personally. To find a Bald Eagle flying past your window, or a Calliope hummingbird buzzing up to greet you, Mother Nature has a way of uplifting and healing the spirit in all of us.
Spring has finally begun to touch the canyon. Interesting birds are being seen that haven't been seen in ages; migration is in full swing now. And a fascinating bird arrived last month that hasn't been seen in the Wind River Canyon for years. A Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) macrolopha, the central and southern Rockies species, has been at our feeding stations every day.
This amazing bird has a soaring crest unlike anything else in Wyoming; it's black as midnight. Yet, he sports a blue towards his bottom-half that is nothing short of the best blue sky you have ever seen in your life. They are also known for their personable nature; this Jay gets along with people!
This Steller's Jay has seen me several times a day for nearly a month, and three days ago he allowed me a photo session that I have genuinely dreamed of for years. He relaxed his guard and away we went; my new Canon M6 Mark 2 in hand, of course.
I'd been playing with the silent electronic shutter, but at one frame per push of the button it's not for wildlife photography. Thankfully, I'd been thinking ahead and switched (in the software with the touch screen) to the mechanical one; at 14 frames-per-second it zooms like 6,000 dollar, over priced, pro cameras! I highly recommend this small, 21st century wonder of a camera; wish I had one 40 years ago, duh.
The photography session went very well. He switched poses several times without my worthless help, as I very quietly clicked away. Here is a way of really relaxing at home during a pandemic. This first picture shows off his crazy crest.
My wife Debra advised I use another shot besides the portrait, but the choice was a difficult one indeed. I chose this one because it shows him off without those birdie-feet; who loves bird feet anyway? What a beautiful species of bird to have visit us this fine Spring day.
These are not composites or computer trick photography; he's the real thing. More importantly, I am beginning to love this Canon camera. The resolution of the Canon M6 Mark II is astounding; by any standards I have experienced in a half century of photographing nature, and a few people, too. I don't have hands like Godzilla, but this computerized camera is a small dose of cool. These are also the first pictures on my website HogbatsPhotography.com that were shot at ISO 1600! As I said, this new mirrorless camera is terrific tech. What a beautiful crested bird he really is, and what fun this shoot was.
Lens - my favorite Canon 70-200mm F/4L with a Canon 1.4 extender III; a light and usable wildlife combination on the M6 Mk 2; with the adapter, of course.
Software - Canon Digital Photo Professional 4 & Lightroom; always shoot in RAW.
Thank you for this time you've spent reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. All content was and is created by Michael John Balog; full-time resident of the canyon and is protected under international copyright laws.
Every one stay safe and healthy.
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I have never been able explain these inexplicable and mysterious moments-in-time; and was told by an old American Indian quietly one night, "Don't question these moments you have with the animals, just accept them as gifts." It can drive you crazy searching for answers that have no explanation. He was correct, of course, but why did the Cooper's Hawk that had spent the entire winter hunting, sometimes very near, our feeding stations, suddenly give me the time I needed to photograph him in rare detail?
We had seen him almost every day all winter; he probably had seen us even more with those amazing eyes. At first I tried chasing him off, but he eats little birds, and we have a lot of them; and he is only one raptor, after all. Taking his picture was an effort in futility; Wiley E. Coyote had it much easier.
I knew that he would be leaving soon; mating season for raptors is upon us already. I wanted more than the one photograph, taken from a distance, that was in my last Wind River Canyon Blog. And one day last month, as he was just sitting there waiting after a breakfast victim, I grabbed the new mirrorless Canon M6 Mark 2 and quietly opened the kitchen door; and just walked outside into the deep snow here in the Wind River Canyon.
Sure, he had seen me before, many times. This time he just watched me as I walked slowly over towards him; his bright yellow eyes taking in my every footstep. My wife always tells me the wild animal just "wanted his picture taken." I suppose it's as good a theory as any other.
Did you notice the blood on his beautiful beak? Take another look, and zoom in if you can. This my friends is a true hunter. And I moved in even closer, walking as silently as I was taught. His yellow eyes watching my every step, with vision I can only begin to understand. Does this hawk understand? Why the trust after all these months? He trusted me for many minutes; I actually turned away and walked back inside as he continued staring. I left him be.....
Taking portraits of wild birds is a great challenge. All things must go perfectly and one of those moments would be a big help. The resolution of the new Canon M6 Mark 2 is remarkable. The color portrait is stunning, but I also worked it up in monochrome since the dark and light streaks were too tempting: Which portrait do you like? Color or black and white?
Raptors have been revered since ancient times and with good reason. Noble, strong, swift, agile, and yes.....beautiful. A good hunter was an asset to the community and there are few as magical as a raptor.
Equipment-Canon M6 Mark 2 camera, Canon 70-200mm F/4L with 1.4 extender III; no tripod used; hand held; silent electronic shutter used. Shot RAW and first worked in Canon Digital Photo Professional 4, Topaz Labs AI Sharpen and Lightroom.
Safely visit my website to see hummingbirds, Bighorn Sheep, raptors and many more pictures of the amazing and abundant Wyoming wildlife from the Wind River Canyon----HogbatsPhotography.com
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. I am Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon. All rights are reserved and all content is protected by copyright.
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It was time for a new camera, but I wanted something different and especially challenging, since I'm bored stiff this time of the year. We've had snow on the ground for months already and we're expecting a blizzard with more than a foot and a half expected out here in the canyon! I've been using SLR (digital and film before that) type cameras for nearly a half century. So let us push the envelope a little and go small and mirrorless.
The Canon M6 Mk II is a very small, high-tech camera that technologically speaking could not have existed in the last century or even the last decade. It was released before the holidays. It's smaller than the last paperback book you read; smaller than I expected to tell the truth. The body of this Canon weighs slightly over 14 ounces naked. It has a large touchscreen that is slightly adjustable with buttons, switches and knobs right where I'd want them to be; it's a Canon after all. It contains a large 32.5-megapixel APS-C image sensor that gives clean images @ an ISO of 1600!
Since my main interest has been and always will be the hummingbirds that nest in the Wind River Canyon every summer, I can hardly wait for them to return from their winter in Mexico. I'll be able to shoot at shutter speeds that I've only dreamed of. An excellent EVF (electronic viewfinder) is optional but shouldn't be. A touchscreen is a great way of setting up and changing settings in a hurry, but is not the way to photograph wildlife in a wilderness. The EVF is expensive but worth every penny, but it cannot refresh the screen as fast as the M6 Mk 2 can shoot images @ 14 fps!! But without it you'll be taking important pictures staring at a small TV.
At 14 frames-per-second this shoots photographs as fast as some $6,000 pro cameras at a resolution that's outstanding. Yes, the mechanical-shutter is very, very quiet; the electronic-shutter is totally silent, but is limited to just a one-shot button push....which I'm getting used to. Without overstating this camera's ability, it's a supercomputer that takes pictures!
A little something about the manual that comes in-the-box; it is totally worthless. This Canon M6 Mark II is a very sophisticated, software-controlled camera that the very limited paper manual only barely hints at. Download the real manual from the Canon website----it is 600 pages long!!! And, I read ever single page. If an owner doesn't, they're never going to really use this camera. I did say something about Cabin Fever after all. A cheap mount adapter (EF-EOS M) is needed for those of us that have "normal" Canon EF lenses.
I first mounted the "bazooka" (a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens) to this little gem; it was too much lens and not enough camera for hand-holding such a monster lens, but worked fine on my old tripod. Since wildlife moves easily in a forest (or snow) and a tripod doesn't, I finally mounted my favorite Canon 70-200mm F4-L lens; it was the perfect combination.
This Cooper's Hawk has been feeding around here for well over a month; he eats little birds and my feeding stations are like a cafe for this lightning fast raptor. The silent electronic shutter meant it was easier to sneak around and get photographs of this amazing wild bird. He has more than one leg....the other is being kept warm; which is not at all unusual behavior in this raptor species.
Just 2 days ago I spotted one of the cutest wild animals anywhere in the Wild West from my kitchen window. They're small but so is my new camera; and silent, too. I crept out and shot image after image totally silent. I crept closer like I was taught by the hunters of the wilderness, and got some great shots of a wild animal you've probably never seen----a meadow vole.
Meadow voles live under the snow this time of the year; underground when there is no snow. Their tails are short and they are very fuzzy for warmth. But, are they ever cute and cuddly? He looks like something from the Henson Creature Shop. In color this small fur-ball was just right, but in black and white (monochrome) it made the image cuter by elimination of distractions. On the downside, they are food for just about anything that eats; thousands of them may live on a single acre! And those eyes.........
This new Canon M6 Mark 2 has been in my hands for only a month, but I find that it is a very powerful camera in a very small form-factor. The touch screen is great for quick field software changes, as long as you don't have fingers the size of a cucumber. The shutter speed of 14 fps is going to come in real handy when photographing birds in flight; the silent electronic shutter will get me even closer to the hummingbirds we all love so much. I haven't even begun to touch on all of this camera's features. I recommend purchasing this camera as a package deal; dedicated wide angle lens, EF lens adapter, EVF, battery, charger.....
Photographs were shot RAW, and so should you. Software I used--Canon Digital Photo Photo Professional 4; Topaz Labs AI Sharpen; Adobe Lightroom. This Canon M6 Mk 2 camera is a very powerful little package at a very great price point. It has vastly more resolution than any other Canon I've ever shot before....and cheaper, too.
All content is protected by copyright and created by Michael John Balog (me) and I live in the magical Wind River Canyon.
Thank you for reading the Wind River Canyon Blog
Visit HogbatsPhotography.com to safely observe the hummingbirds, Bighorn Sheep, and all the other wildlife of the Wind River Canyon.
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Personally, I've always hoped for the best, but smart enough to plan for the worst; when that eventually happens. This old-man that lives in the magical Wind River Canyon has a little something that will make you realize that there may be some hope for the future after all----something wonderful, indeed.
This is my new favorite photograph of the Bighorn Sheep that we see in the Wind River Canyon when they grace us with their presence. It was a hard and long fight to get and process the color file; a RAW file in color is the best way of approaching a monochrome finished image. I have so much more control of the final print than my Grandfather did in his darkroom over 60 years ago! It's not any easier now, it just doesn't smell as bad as it did then.
You can work your favorite color picture in black and white, then you will understand the underlying process that leads one to what fine art really is; and you've made it yours.
May all of our dreams come to fruition.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
I am Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon.
Visit safely my website for images of hummingbirds, bluebirds, orioles, finches, eagles and of course Bighorn Sheep; HogbatsPhotography.com
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Monochrome in the 21st century is more of an art than my Grandfather had in his darkroom; it can become quite involved with color-channels effecting grey-tones. Shooting in color and over doing it in post-production, then moving on to converting it to black and white, and working till you have the look you desire is a real labor-of-love; and I do love it.
The most iconic mammals that I get to photograph here in the Wind River Canyon, in central Wyoming, are the amazing and magical Bighorn Sheep. They don't live here, in fact they don't live anywhere in particular----they are travelers, like you and me. I must admit here that I've been influenced by the great work of David Yarrow; his wildlife images are spectacular and I envy his travels. His large, limited-edition prints regularly sell for 70K!!!
Here is a slideshow of my beloved Bighorn Sheep, all photographed right here in the Wind River Canyon, where live and breathe. Merry Christmas to everyone that has ever loved one of mine.............
May everyone understand the love of the Christmas Season. Thank you for your valuable time and viewing my life's pursuit.
Michael John Balog - resident of the Wind River Canyon
To see more of my wildlife photography and my wonderful hummingbirds, visit----HogbatsPhotography.com a safe and child-friendly site.
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paintbrush end-of-his-tail.
The Ermine or Stoat (Mustela erminea), also known as the Short-tailed weasel, turns absolutely snow-white in the fall; their tail-tip stays black, like the end of a paintbrush dipped in ink; they really are quite adorable. But this is a true hunter that never digs its own home; it uses the den of its victims and lines its nest with their fur! Here in the Wind River Canyon their main food source is the vole (voles are the food staple of many predators) and any other small furry animal the ermine can hunt down and kill.
Don't feel bad if you haven't seen one; most people haven't ever observed one alive in nature either. I say alive because their snow-white fur has historically been coveted by many; it is a status of monarchy and power even to this very day! Leonardo da Vinci painted in 1490 the "Lady with an Ermine" which is a beautiful example of the rich pretending to "tame the beautiful hunter." White of course is interpreted as a sign of purity; the thing would have torn her hand off!
The ermine crossed into North America 500,000 years ago and are distributed circumboreal, meaning spread throughout the northern regions; there are considered to be 37 subspecies. In colder climates, like here in Wyoming, they turn white in colder months.
The mythology surrounding this wild animal is truly a volume just by itself. For instance----It was thought that the saliva of an ermine can kill a grown man!! They are a real silent hunter as the photographs below show quite clearly.
The real reason for the rare reference in the title of this Wind River Canyon Blog is that I recently realized that I haven't seen one hunting around the cabin in quite some time. I know and read animal tracks and haven't seen any signs whatsoever. Even with the eye of an eagle I just don't see many around. Lots of voles for food, just not very many Stoats....I prefer the Ermine tag.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog; I am Michael John Balog and produce all wildlife stories and photographs on HogbatsPhotography.com
To see more wildlife photographs from Wind River Canyon visit Hogbats Photography
MjB
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been running around my yard here in the Wind River Canyon. We had two young toms that spent the summer with us back then; and it was a really fun time! One memorable evening picnic had us eating buffalo while they ate corn & sunflower seeds right next to our table; guests you will never forget! Then, just the other day, "Look----Wild Turkeys!"
Sixteen wild turkeys were in our yard eating their way from the creek and headed north!! I limped (a badly injured right foot) out my office door with a nearby camera in hand that had my favorite Canon lens, the 70-200mm F/4L attached. Hobbling around our cabin I sort of met them as they were eating (they do an awful lot of eating) their way towards the rock wall; and what a group of wild turkeys they were.
An adult wild turkey has between 5,000 and 6,000 feathers; and they're bigger than you think! The largest wild turkey weighed in at just over 37 pounds: we know because they are hunted every year, the other large birds are not. And they are native to our country, and they do fly, but usually not more than a quarter-of-a-mile. They live in the wild to an old age of 30 or more; which is an accomplishment when you've got nuts chasing you with guns.
That "thing" on the males beak is called a snood; there, we all learned something new. I can tell you from experience that they make a wide variety of vocalizations that I still cannot reproduce well. And that eating all the time thing....they're omnivorous; they eat almost anything. This probably accounts for the success of the species.
Making my now famous double-whistle brought most of the 16 to a halt, and then they slowly started to leap over the rock wall. One young tom was interested in me and my camera enough to actually come walking over to within less than ten feet; I took over four dozen photographs of him and his friends. Then I did something I advise all people interested in the real world of wildlife to do----set the camera down and enjoy the ride.
You only go around once in life and you shouldn't enjoy it only through a viewfinder; it took me a long time to learn to just "see" an epic event in nature and smile. And an encounter with wild turkeys is always a memorable event. My favorite photograph of the two encounters so far is below.
The RAW digital file was first worked in Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4, and then sharpened with some new software from Topaz Labs, called Sharpen AI; it does a better job at optimizing the sharpening without those annoying black lines; the algorithm is big. The image is then tweaked and metadata added in Adobe Lightroom. Only special photographs get this treatment though.
Now, some historical facts from Benjamin Franklin; he never publicly objected to the Bald Eagle as our national symbol. In a letter to his daughter dated January 26, 1784 he wrote that the eagle was "a bird of bad morale character." I personally have watched a bald eagle eating a road-kill dead cat in the middle of a farm road; a wild turkey would never.
Ben Franklin also said that others objected to the bald eagle because it looked too much like a turkey; and they do. He did write that he wished the eagle had not been chosen, but he never publicly said so. Besides....turkeys just taste so good with gravy and stuffing! And they are just so damn ugly. By contrast the bald eagle is a majestic raptor that is a true fisherman, usually; unless McDonald's is open.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
I am Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon. All content of Hogbats
Photography is produced by me and is copyright protected.
"I want people to fall in love with Mother Nature, not wonder what happened to her."
MjB
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Wind River Canyon or anywhere else in the Rocky Mountains. I had hummingbird feeders out the end of April as always, and on May 1st we awoke to ten inches of snow! The first hummingbird was observed on May 7th @ 6:56 pm and it was snowing on the high-rim of the canyon at the time; he was a hearty Broad-tailed hummingbird. Bad weather in the high-country always chases them down here.
The next morning, May 8th, @ 8:45 the first Calliope hummingbird was observed. He was obviously not habituated because even after 3 days he hadn't learn to sit down----a behavior that takes time to learn, usually from others of which there were none.
On May 11th a beautiful adult male Broad-tailed arrived and another was observed on May 14th and a female Broad-tailed arrived the next evening. The portrait of the male Broad-tailed was taken on a cold, overcast morning later in May.
The very next day, May 16th @ 4:45 pm we had noisy hail of 1 inch in size! I wrote in my journal that we had lots of heavy rain for 7 minutes; it was a cold, nasty time. Two days later @ 4:40 pm I wrote, "cold rain 47 degrees, tough species." On the 23rd of May @ 7:45 am we had cold, wet snow in the high-country, yet, there were the Broad-tailed hummingbirds feeding on my cold, wet nectar. They sure are tough!
Which leads me into my next observation----the male Black-chinned hummingbirds never did arrive here in the Wind River Canyon this year. They'd been arriving each of the past 6 spring seasons in a row----but not this year. I swear I observed a female (or two?) during July through my lens. They are easy to spot as the Black-chinned hummers have much longer beaks than any other species we ever see in Wyoming. The Broad-tailed hummingbirds are very tough little birds, that's for sure; the Black-chinned obviously are not.
The first day of summer, June 21st, it was cold and wet. The temperature dropped 11 degrees in an hour before the storm; 51 degrees and rain. I also wrote, "So far very few hummingbirds!" It was that obvious to this seasoned hummingbird observer.
The first Rufous hummingbird male was seen on July 1, right on schedule, never
knowing what fun he missed in the snow. Five days later @ 9 pm all four hummingbird feeders were very crazy busy; the hummingbird season had picked-up considerably.
On July 11 it finally hit 100 degrees here in the Wind River Canyon, nearly a month later than it has been in recent years. The next day it rained quite hard, which is unusual.
On July 22nd we had a storm roll-in out of the high-country. It was a downpour, no it was more of a cloudburst; it can be a very dangerous situation in the mountains. I noted at the end of the page that the adult male hummingbirds "are gone awfully early." I wrote that the downpour was a disaster for the nesters.
August 3rd was the hottest day of the year....only 101, which sounds hot, but is not. We usually hit 100 in June in recent years and it gets only warmer, but to hit 101 as late as August is strange indeed. I also noted that "not many hummingbirds left; very unusual situation."
Every summer I photograph a baby Rufous hummingbird that is born here in Wyoming, and this year was no exception. He was on my favorite spot, near everyone's favorite feeder. It was just before 6:30 in the morning! A good time to image a portrait of a baby hummingbird. I just sat down less than six feet away and blasted frame after frame when I saw a pose that was what I wanted; the sound of the camera never phased him, and it never does bother hummingbirds. The photograph is below and is an exciting image of a young, and powerful little bird----he will fly down to the mountains of central Mexico----a snow-bird! He will return next July when all Rufous arrive here in Wyoming.
I love the shallow depth-of-field created by the f-stop of 4.5; this was handheld at 1/125th. This little jewel was photographed with the amazing Canon 70-200mm f/4 L-series lens.
On the 13th of August I came down with a yucky summer cold someone brought home for me, that will remain nameless. On the 19th it hit 100 degrees, very unusual this late in summer. On September 2nd it hit 98 degrees, a very unusual temperature as we have had snow occasionally in early September.
This Wyoming hummingbird season was without doubt the coldest in the 20-odd years I've been observing and/or photographing the Hummingbirds-of-the-Wind River Canyon. There were observations that proved there was a lack of hummingbirds and their resulting offspring. What does this mean for winter? Probably nothing....or maybe I need to look into a bigger snowblower?
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog, all content was produced by Michael John Balog and HogbatsPhotography.com and is supposedly protected by international copyright laws.
Below is everyone's favorite Baby Hummingbird photograph: Believe it to be my first one, taken with the now ancient Canon 40D over 11 years ago.
MjB
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I was outside with my trusty tripod before the sun broke the eastern rim of the canyon on a beautiful morning recently. We don't see the sun down here till nine-thirty in the morning during the summers; eleven-thirty in the dead of winter! An early start means observing time till the sun "comes up."
In the shade of junipers I was photographing Rufous and Calliope hummingbirds early in the day when I had one of those feelings. I've learned to respect these moments as they've sometimes paid dividends. Swinging around my monster camera-rig I saw watching me from behind was an adult male Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus). They used to be known as the Rufous-sided Towhee, and some of my books still refer to them as such; they're probably old books---you know, those paper things.
He was beautiful but sitting in the shade, so I quickly lowered the shutter speed and fired away. When I was sure of the quality of the digital file, I just spent some time looking at him looking at me.
And this is a good time for me to make a respectable point about spending time with Mother Nature in the wilderness. Just take some small time to be quiet and take in the sounds and smells and vistas. Too many just shoot through our nations wonderful parks and really never take the time to let the wild forests change our attitudes: To let nature heal our very souls in these troubled times.
I'm sure you've noticed the color of his eyes by now. The big joke around here is they must've stopped in Colorado on the way up. They arrive every spring and nest in the canyon every summer; I've even spotted the spotted towhees mating-in-the-verge.
But it gets even funnier than that....the adults bring the baby towhees down to our feeders where they can fatten up on the sunflower seeds, and then the adults leave! The baby towhees are then under my care and supervision till they finally leave in late October. They're ground feeders and can't even use the two bird feeders at our "seed stations." They are also food for the big snakes out here. And yes, they are here right now just outside the kitchen door, and probably hungry again----I'll stop this and "drop some seeds."
He seems to be eating something that the sun is just lighting at the end of his beak, the sun just a spot on his magnificent breast. But did I get a hummingbird picture? Sure did, and I worked it in monochrome (black and white) which is something I rarely do with hummingbird photographs. In this case I wanted the emphasis on the wings and tail, and not the distracting green reflection of his (a young male) feathers.
The towhee was photographed at 1/250th at F/6.3, ISO 500 at 500mm. The hummingbird was photographed at 1/3200th at F/8, ISO 500 at 329mm. The camera was an aging Canon 7D with grip and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens with both images; no outrageously expensive gear here. Which leads me to a finer point----knowing the operation of your equipment like the back of your hand is more important than that $13,000 lens----if I can quote the Tinman, "But I'd still like to have one."
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog from right here in the Wind River Canyon. All content in Wind River Canyon Blog and HogbatsPhotography.com is produced by Michael John Balog and all rights are reserved.
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seen a snake nearly as big as me, when to my surprise a hummingbird came right up to me! As I worked, another hummingbird streaked near by!
It didn't take an ornithological expert to figure out these were Rufous Hummingbirds; spelling is correct. This species of hummingbird is known to be the most aggressive found anywhere in the Rocky Mountains! And you can trust me, the reputation is very well deserved.
I'd fallen in love with hummingbirds as a child in the gardens of my grandmothers in the state of Ohio. But the only species in the northeast is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. I was told that you couldn't take their picture. They moved at a speed that no other bird had even thought of, and thus began a life-long obsession with the tiny jeweled birds.
To make a long story short, film was an expensive waste of time as I watched some high school kid not giving a crap as my film came out of some machine he knew very little about! A cool white-haired guy turned me on to an amazing new technology....digital. It definitely wasn't cheaper than film, but now I had the power; and it changed my life as an artist.
You can never really control nature, as recent weather events factually prove, but, digital gave me a power of creativity that I had only known with paint and pencil. I could do so many things with my nature and wildlife photographs, but that Rufous was a bit of a nightmare. I shot so many frames that I wore out my first digital Canon camera! Early one summer's morning a baby Rufous, just out of the nest that very morning, was making his debut. To this day it is considered by some friends, and my doctor, to be my best image; I of course disagree. What I just printed is my best, or maybe the next one? The image is below----
Both male and female Rufous are aggressive and will challenge others for the rights to control one of my nectar feeders. There's a reason that they're the color of Tigers! And something else fascinating that is the result of hours of listening to them with my eyes closed; they have a language....I know, it sounds nuts. But, the warnings that female gives to others as they near the feeder changes depending upon how close they get, or if she has to get up, or fight them! This realization came to me as a strange understanding, on a sweaty afternoon, of something that maybe others did not know, or shouldn't........below is my favorite portrait of a male Rufous in his prime.
This beautiful in-flight portrait won 1st Place at the Cody Country Art League's Cody Art Show. As bizarre as it sounds, this picture represents over 200,000 digital RAW images, almost all of them tossed out because they were not "perfect." I may be nuts for hummers, but my final photographs must be just right. I hate some so much that they are on my website:-) Photograph of one of those females is below----
Besides being an artistic decision, notice how curious these hummingbirds are. This is not by accident, as they find us by pattern recognition. Rufous usually arrive the first week of July in the Wind River Canyon, but they have been known to arrive earlier if the weather is warm and dry through their migration route; this year was cold, wet and yucky.
One of my dentists (i have 2) was high in the Wind River range when a hummingbird came right up to him, face to face as it were. As astonished as he was, this behavior is typical and happens to me all the time; once in a while with a feeder in my hand, which is funny. This type of image is what I love, but seldom get well. Not because I don't know how, because they move like lightning. To capture focus you've got to be quicker than quick with that shutter button.
Studying their behavior is almost akin to a full-time job, but a necessity none-the-less. And one hummingbird behavior is so amazing and took me twelve years! to capture. You see, Rufous males are aggressive no matter what their ages, and this causes interesting confrontations that are impossible to image with any equipment I can afford. But last summer it all came together in a flash of a second, thanks in part to a new, used Tamron lens. I couldn't believe I gotten it, I really was amazed: A young male and an adult male Rufous competing for the same hummingbird feeder. The entire "fight" lasted less than two seconds----three of the pictures from the sequence are below, in order as photographed.
Hummingbirds are fascinating creatures with an ability to fly like no other bird outside the Americas. Why do so many people love hummingbirds even when they have never even observed a living bird? They are super special, and the Rufous Hummingbirds are strong willed with a drive to succeed----just like the rest of us Americans. They spend the winters in Mexico, and I would too if I could fly down like my Rufous Hummingbirds!
Every speck of information in my Wind River Canyon Blog and my HogbatsPhotography.com website is protected by international copyright laws; I hope. So until next time, thank you for reading about my favorite magical creatures. I have many more interesting images of hummingbirds and, now I have four different species on my website, and Bighorn Sheep, and mountains and other things that crawl around the Wind River Canyon, right here in the middle of Wyoming!
MjB
Remember.....this bird is the size of my thumb.....and my thumb isn't that big!
Goodbye from Wyoming
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This year winter's grip didn't seem to want to ever let go. Spring of '19 was cold and miserable, with snow, rain and cold winds; usually all in the same day. We always get a 70's blip in April or even March, but this year....snow. It never got warm and neither did I. And something else happened that I never expected: The Black-chinned Hummingbirds never did arrive here in the Wind River Canyon! The Broad-tailed hummers came and nested here, but they are a very hardy bird species....for a hummingbird.
Black-chinned Hummingbird maleBlack-chinned Hummingbird male violet-flash photographed in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird PortraitPortrait of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird male photographed in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
The portrait of the Broad-tailed Hummingbird was taken this spring! It is disappointing that the Black-chinned didn't make it here this spring, as they have the last six years! Such is life.
The Bullock's Orioles did make it here this springtime, but not in their usual abundance. Usually there are three mating pair nearby, but this year two females and one male that left in a hurry; I didn't get even a single photograph of a male oriole this year, and this has never happened before!
Certain other bird species didn't arrive here or didn't stay for very long. The grosbeaks came and went kind of all at the same time; they always nest here in the canyon. The Lazuli Buntings are not here, and they always are here; they were here for a day or so. I could go on, but it's all too boring describing what didn't happen because of climate change.
So what does a wildlife photographer photograph when his favorite hummingbirds don't show in the spring? Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) are a prolific bird species that thrive just about everywhere; maybe even on your neighborhood golf course, or the park where they hiss at you like a mad snake. I knew a policeman that had them in his front yard. Getting to his front door was a lesson in running a gauntlet; the female was a real nasty bitch, too. One day in a rush I backhanded her as she came at me like a spitting cobra; I was the only visitor that she never bothered again!! Lesson learned....for both of us.
We always have geese that nest just across the Wind River from us here in the canyon. As soon as the goslings can swim, the parents (that mate for life like my wife and I) move the little geese away from the nesting area for safety concerns. Canada Geese have between 4-8 eggs and rarely do you see goslings in numbers of eight; too many hungry things out in the wild. So what do you know? The new photograph in this week's Wind River Canyon Blog is a wonderful example of great goose parenting, I gather. I have never photographed, or even seen, Canadian Geese with nine goslings! Count them.
There are 11 geographical/regional races of Canada Goose. They get smaller the farther north they go, with one rare species existing on only two small islands. They seem pretty big around the Wind River Canyon, and they sure seem to have gotten something really right.
The temperature was 97 degrees yesterday; so summer is finally here in Wyoming. But, I was up on the Beartooth Pass on July 12th @ lunchtime once----in a whiteout blizzard!!! We rolled down the windows and had a birthday snow-party in July! Monday when we got back.....it was 102 down here; such is the fickle nature of weather in the Rocky Mountains.
I hope you enjoyed this Wind River Canyon Blog. Thank you for your time. All content is produced by Michael John Balog and shall not be reproduced without consent. The camera was a Canon 7D with grip and the lens was a Tamron 150-600 G2, my favorite bazooka.
To see more Hummingbirds, and wildlife like Bighorn Sheep and Bluebirds, safely visit my website from the Wind River Canyon HogbatsPhotography.com
MjB
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Someone in the 18th century thought that turkey vultures looked like a lot like wild turkeys.
Imagine their surprise at Thanksgiving! These wild birds aren't just huge (wingspans of six feet!) but could be the definition of butt-ugly. You can see them most summer days riding the thermals here in the Wind River Canyon. They are always watching each other's back; just in case the owner of the dead thing they're eating comes back! At night they lower their body temperature by about six degrees Celsius, so in the morning you may be lucky enough to see them warming up with wings spread wide.
Something fascinating I learned while researching this bird species; they live to be older than you think. Two captive turkey vultures, as of 2015, were over 40 years old! In the wild they probably cannot survive this long; lead poisoning from bullets-in-the-dead are a problem identified by Audubon.
A little over-a-week ago, I got to spend some quality time photographing, in high-definition, a vulture from a perfect blind; my open kitchen door! I set up my favorite wildlife lens, the Tamron SP 150-600mm G2, on my old Giottos tripod. I had the time to change settings and try different shots as the vulture did all sorts of vulture things.
This first image I thought looked like the vulture was posing for a shot. The lens was set to 600mm and was manually focused; F6.3, ISO 500.
The other vulture image in this week's Wind River Canyon Blog I thought was more than fun. He'd been cleaning himself after a meal and was "airing" out his flight-feathers; shaking things off as it were. I swear I heard him say, "Look, I'm an airplane!" Shot @ 500mm @ 1/500th of a second.
You've heard the saying, haven't you? "He's so ugly, he's cute." Like the dog that looks like it's melting? I'm sorry, but, ugly is ugly; and this bird qualifies easily. But all his parts serve a very specific purpose----just look at that beak! Clean and white, just like he'd used that new teeth whitener. That head of his goes into places that I wouldn't want to stick my hand!! His stomach processes deadly, yukky stuff with spellings I cannot even pronounce correctly.
To be able to soar the Wind River Canyon on warm summer breezes with wings bigger than I am would be....well, impossible, but what fun to imagine such a flight!
For many more wildlife images from the Wind River Canyon, including hummingbirds and Bighorn Sheep, visit safely my website----HogbatPhotography.com. All content is produced by Michael John Balog and is copyright protected and shall not be reproduced without permission.
Thank you for looking and reading my stuff.
MjB
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"I cannot believe that @ 37 degrees these Broad-tailed Hummingbirds (Selasphorus platycercus) are comfortable here. It's 6:20 in the morning here in the Wind River Canyon. A male Broad-tailed hummer is on the nectar feeder by my bedroom window in the ice-cold rain. It has been snowing in the high-country all night and the rim of the canyon is fogged-in all around us. The snowline is not far above our cabin; the new emerald-green of spring below the snow."
Later that morning, in the cold rain/snow mix, I was outside taking photos of these beautiful Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. There was a time, nearing twenty years now, that I thought we'd never even see one of these amazing creatures. You want to know about Magical Beasts? These little birds are the size of my thumb, but spend the winter months in central Mexico! And now they are here in Wyoming----and it's snowing.
The sound a Broad-tailed Hummingbird makes when flying is completely unmistakable. It is a metallic humming-buzz that sounds like nothing else in Wyoming, or anywhere else for that matter; it's one of a kind. I can walk outside and without even looking know if there are any in the area and how many; I think there are three mating pairs this year. They are obviously the hardiest of all the hummingbird species (four) that nest here in the Wind River Canyon; they are always the earliest to arrive.
One of the passions I have for wildlife photography is trying to make portraits of wild birds. Not some picture of a bird-on-a-stick mind you (I've done that too), but a real portrait; like I've done for people. The kind of portrait that flatters the subject or gives the viewer an insight into the mind of the model in the photo.
To make photographs like this with a wild bird takes patience that can become numbing beyond boredom; every species is a little different and may require a different approach. I've found observation to be much more of an advantage, and intellectually stimulating, than most dry books on bird behavior. My advice----spend much more time outside watching the birds and getting some fresh-air; taking notes will help; be professional.
You will find some species to be nearly impossible to approach, others will practically come to you! A blind of some kind can help in this photographic endeavor; windows in my cabin are my favorite. If you go slow and let the wild bird get to trust you, then you can try taking a picture----hummingbirds are perfect for this kind of trust. They are approachable with patience and time: I've actually been nose-to-beak with a Calliope Hummingbird, with no fear from either one of us!
The photograph of the male Broad-tailed Hummingbird in this week's Wind River Canyon Blog was taken only yesterday morning! The horrendous spring snowstorm was finally beginning to clear up, with a thin, lite cloud layer that made the light perfect for imaging a wild bird that has feathers resembling a million tiny mirrors. Photographing hummingbirds in full sunshine is another set of skills entirely.
I used a big zoom lens on my old aluminum tripod and was only seven or eight feet away! Hey, it's a really long zoom. This male hummingbird obviously has been around humans before, and is comfortable being near people, as most hummingbirds will trust you with time. Try sitting very still for a long, long time; like you stare at your phone, only even longer than that. Here's my very first portrait of a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird. If I seem crazy excited, it's because it has taken so long for all the stars to align properly; luck and lousy weather helps, too.
If you can zoom-in on this hummingbird's gorget (named after the armor protecting the throat of a knight) you will witness something very special that Mother Nature usually keeps to herself. A blind man once observed, when trying to see a blown-up photograph of one of my hummingbird images, that they resemble the scales of a fish....ruminate over that one once!
Thank you for reading my true wildlife story from right here in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming. All rights are reserved and protected by international copyright laws, which don't mean much of anything these days.
I am Michael John Balog, I live in the Wind River Canyon and all photographs, stories and post-production are produced by.....me.
For many more wildlife photographs of hummingbirds from the Wind River Canyon safely visit my website----HogbatsPhotography.com
Thank you.
MjB
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Last Saturday the mother carried each one of her babies by their butt-fur across my yard to a collection of boulders; they prefer to live deep under the ground below the safety of huge rocks----hence their western nickname, Rock Chuck. They live in family groups and are very clean and quite amiable. Yet, every day Elroy and a baby or three, and or the mother, come into my yard to eat my green grasses and hang-out for the day! After a long and sickly winter it's been nice to spend quality time photographing these wild animals. As always I recommend a sturdy tripod and a long zoom lens.
This first image was exposed for the marmot baby in the shade, the direct sun blowing-out the rest of the image; monochrome (black and white) worked excellently to bring out the wild animal and the rest is just icing on the cake.
Elroy likes to sit on top of the doghouse to get a better view; as they all do. One of the baby marmots tried to follow dad up to the roof, but could only get as far as the century-old wagon wheel; too small. A quick finger on the shutter-button gave me an image that is quite unique; a wild animal in an old wagon wheel. It's a big digital file with lots of detail.
Even here in Wyoming, most people have never seen a deer fawn in person. It's like the kids in South Africa that have never seen a Rhino. But I have to admit that a fawn is at times invisible. You can walk several feet from a fawn and never see him; they blend into the mountain landscape that well. The doe teaches her young to "hide" and not move a muscle till she returns----so if you're looking, you will not see the little deer. If you do see a fawn----Please do not touch!!! The mother doe will return, I can promise you that much. One day just such an epic moment happened to me; the moral is to never go anywhere without a camera.
Last summer a fawn was orphaned just south of our cabin; the result of senseless speed at night. The little guy showed up behind us and hung with some stags that didn't seem to care much, but taught him plenty I am sure. During the rut he followed them across the Wind River where the doe hang out. Early one morning I photographed the fawn with the bucks; a very unusual picture.
Bighorn Sheep can be seen in the Wind River Canyon once more; hunted to extinction in the canyon's ecosystem till they were reintroduced in 1995. They are one of my favorite photographic subjects....when I can find them. The little ones are a real treat to image; they are a joy that I cannot describe. I feel so lucky....at times. Here are several of my favorite baby Bighorn Sheep photos.
American Bison are commonly known as buffalo, and are huge creatures that can be very dangerous to your health; especially the mothers with their young. They are so cute, but the mothers will crush your body till you are a red spot under the sage! Early american settlers found them to be great with melted cheese, but the British wrote that they were "impossible to keep fenced in." We have none in the canyon, but fifteen minutes away I can photograph baby buffalo.
Photographing baby birds is a sensitive subject for the Audubon Society. They and I agree that taking pictures of baby birds in the nest can cause problems for many of them. A disruption that they don't need, or want. Some bird mothers will dive-bomb you or even attack and draw blood; you can look up the videos.
When baby hummingbirds leave their nest for the first time they arrive at one of my nectar feeders here in the Wind River Canyon. Usually they don't even know or care if I'm there or not. The shutter speeds need to be at nosebleed levels that my grandfather would have found astounding! I have always had an attachment for hummingbirds ever since my first observation in Ohio many decades ago at my grandmother's home when I was but a child. They are in my opinion the most interesting of all the birds. Technology is only now beginning to unlock their secrets. Here are a few of "my" favorite baby hummingbirds, born and imaged right here in the Wind River Canyon.
Picasso once said, "I show people things they cannot see." I like to fancy that I provide the same kind of excitement about nature in Wyoming. These beautiful wild animals need our help and protection in a world where nothing matters anymore; not even life itself.
Until next time, keep your camera ready.
All content of my Wind River Canyon Blog is of my own creation and all rights are reserved.
Visit safely my website HogbatsPhotography.com for many more images of the wildlife of the Wind River Canyon here in the middle of Wyoming; the real wild west!
Thank you for your valuable time; I really mean it this time.
I am Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon.
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Springtime in the Wind River Canyon is well known for being more than a bit volatile. But the very best sign that it's the first week of April is mostly an unknown natural phenomenon; even around here. Every single year during the first week of April the Turkey Vultures show up! Every....Single....Year....like they have a calendar or something. The vultures are here for cleanup duty; to clean up after winter-kill, and afterbirth; Mother Nature's mess is their food source. It's disgusting to be sure, but someone has to provide cleanup duty; as long as it's not me!!
On April 9th it was 72 degrees and sunny; a beautiful day in the canyon. That night we got cold rain that lasted all night and changed to icy snow that lasted all day. We ended up with a lot of nasty, hard snow with a thick layer of glass beneath; fun stuff. But all this cold-snow-melting leads to a sudden greening up of the Wind River Canyon. It happens so suddenly that it seems like magic, but the canyon is well known for being a magical place where things just happen.
For instance----I know when the Yellow-bellied Marmots give birth in the springtime. The old males come up for air! The noise and stink down deep where they spend the winter must be bloody awful, so up they come to the greening canyon; they are after all vegetarians. The adorable baby marmots come up to the real world the first week of May; so I haven't seen them yet. Here's a favorite video of a baby marmot that was born last year and now lives under my shed; we named him Elroy.
Another sure sign of spring in the Wind River Canyon is the highly anticipated arrival of the House Wrens. I have a wren house near my bedroom window and they are building their nest as I write this blog. The song of the male is outstanding in every way, and changes over time with the mating cycle. The female will line her nest with the softest of nature's things, and the male will sing songs to her....and us. Just one of the many wonderful things about spring in the canyon. Below is a favorite photograph of a female wren getting her nest ready for her eggs.
Elroy is trimming my grass right now as I write this sentence. I can see him from the old desk where I work and write. "His boy, Elroy!" funny
There is a small spot in my yard, not far from the kitchen, where wild asparagus comes up every spring. We don't eat the small patch, we let it go to seed. This spring we have more than three dozen of the fast growing vegetables, that will eventually produce tiny yellow flowers on a five foot plant that looks like a Christmas tree! Below is a photograph taken on April 13th of my wild asparagus....that I don't eat.
Vultures are fascinating creatures that can smell their food even farther away than that fat guy waddling into the golden arches. I read an article where the aeronautics professor wrote that if all conditions were met....Turkey Vultures could sail the thermals in the canyon----forever! They are that perfectly designed for catching-the-wind.
I'd always wanted to get a great photograph of the vulture's amazing wingspan (over 6 and a half feet!!) but their senses are many times that of ours, and it's usually difficult to approach them without being seen. But lately they (12 of them) warm themselves up for the day's flying very near our cabin. The other morning conditions were absolutely perfect, and I finally got the image I've been after for a long, long time. That is an over six and a half foot wingspan! But they are still ugly.........photo below.
Thank you for reading, and hopefully enjoying this Wind River Canyon Blog. All content is produced by Michael John Balog and all rights are reserved. For many more wildlife photographs imaged in the Wind River Canyon safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com
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During the snowy winters of Wyoming there is a really cute wild animal that makes tunnels and lives under all this snow. Their tail is shorter and their ears smaller than the less adorable Mickey Mouse. They have babies by the dozens (no fooling) and are the food for every meat-eater out in the wild. Many people confuse them with an ugly underground, similarly named, distant relative. When the snow does finally melt I have weird tunnels all over my yard, and all over the grassy hillsides. These little wild animals are the Vole, also called meadow mice. You may have seen Yellowstone coyotes, wolves and foxes hunting them in recent films on our National Park. Here is a picture of two taken close-by our cabin.
One female in a lab setting had over 80 babies in one year! There are over 155 species of Voles. They are very prolific!
Many of the birds I photograph regularly are unseen even by the few people that live in the Wind River Canyon; they don't eat seeds. But the really unusual visitors are those I see only once or those species that really aren't supposed to be here at all. One of my favorites arrived during a blizzard, never to be seen again! This Red Crossbill just sat there and let me crawl on my belly like a snow-snake to take this portrait; he just didn't seem to care.
I grew up in Cleveland and never thought I'd ever see a Blue Jay again, since they aren't nearly as far west as the canyon. Yet one fall day two arrived to fatten up at my feeding stations. It took some cunning and stealth to get the image I had in my mind, and they were only here for two days!
One day a bird was making a racket by the bird feeders! I'd never seen one of these before; what is it? I took lots of pictures while standing on a picnic table, then went to my books for identification. It was a Pinon Jay and was never seen again....
For three years in a row, every spring, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak spent several days here in the Wind River Canyon. He was really out of his home base, as they are never even as far west as central Nebraska, yet here he was, that fabulous color on his breast was magnificent!!
I wish I had ten dollars for every time someone asked me, "How do I find Bighorn Sheep in the Wind River Canyon?" (price has gone way up from that nickel thing) Bighorn Sheep are travelers, as I like to call them. My usual mystic response is, "I don't find Bighorn Sheep in the Wind River Canyon, they find me."
When I go out and search for them, I can't find a single Bighorn; where are they? But as I keep an eye constantly open for wildlife, there are Bighorn Sheep down by the Wind River! Look, there are eight on the hillside----look, there's several females, called ewes. They travel constantly which makes finding them problematic in the huge Wind River Canyon. Below is a selection from my Bighorn Sheep gallery on my website, HogbatsPhotography.com. All these Bighorn Sheep were photographed here in the Wind River Canyon.
The littlest wild animals in America are seldom seen except for a mere glance that lasts only seconds at the very best. These tiny birds are loved by everyone. Most people cannot identify individual species of hummingbirds, yet they breed here in the canyon every single summer. I have documented baby hummingbirds born here every year, and the FOUR species that are seen in the Wind River Canyon. Here are photographs of the four male hummingbird species seen in the canyon; females and baby hummingbirds are very difficult to tell apart from one another.
I could go on and on and on, but it would be much more educational for you to visit my wildlife website; it is very safe and I guarantee that you will learn and see things that you didn't know existed or haven't ever seen for yourself. Click on this safe link for more wildlife from the Wind River Canyon in wild Wyoming----HogbatsPhotograpy.com
Thank you for your valuable time and reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
*Post Script: Every year I receive a flu-shot, and this year I got the flu and it nearly ended my time here. I've not written or photographed a thing in quite some time, and the winter has been really nasty here in the canyon. After nearly three weeks I finally made it to my doctor, then stopped off for one of those expensive hamburgers; that night I had to deal with terrible food poisoning from a tasty, pink, under-cooked burger that I pointed out at the time to my wife! With my resistance all messed up a rhino-virus has tried to run me over, too. But it looks like I'll make it after all......
]]>To create a portrait of a wild bird presents many obstacles, the least of which is the technology used to make the image. Every species of wild bird is a learning experience for me. I have many reference books and I always use a famous online encyclopedia; as in all things, knowledge is the key to understanding. But you must put that new information to good use, which in the case of the male Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus), turned out to be much more difficult than I first thought it would be.
Winters in Wyoming can be a very difficult place to photograph anything, especially a woodpecker that is well known for disliking humans. The Downy Woodpecker looks amazingly like the Hairy Woodpecker, except for size they are very much look-a-likes, yet are not related; a process called convergent evolution. The Hairy is much bigger in every way and when you've seen them both it becomes easy to differentiate the species; but the Hairy doesn't like people.
I'd go out, I'd come in, I'd freeze my butt, I'd go out, again and again. Observe, enjoy, freeze my pecans off. At times it seemed like both male and female were playing some kind of hide-and-go-seek with rules I didn't understand; since last Fall! Monday afternoon, the 11th of February, while playing this shy, hiding game with me, I finally got some sharp images I could really work with. Now, the magic of 21st century computer post-production.
Portrait of a Hairy WoodpeckerPortrait of a Hairy Woodpecker male imaged in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
Don't be afraid to edit out the extraneous parts of the image. Keep it interesting and of course the "rule-of-thirds" should apply, or maybe not! Break some rules if it moves you, which is what art is all about. What does your picture say, what do you want it to say? If you like it, that's what is most important. It's easy to overdue things like saturation and sharpness, but again, it's yours. Lecture over.......
A few years ago, I was using one of my favorite "hides" in our cabin, when I spotted a mother Hairy Woodpecker feeding and teaching one of her sons. It was unexpected and a real surprise; it was early morning in the Wind River Canyon. A real beautiful moment that I was wildly lucky to witness and image.
Hairy Woodpecker, Mother & Son-Wind River Canyon,WyomingHairy Woodpeckers in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
We still have a lot of snow here in the canyon and a lot of birds that rely on us here. North and south of us the snow is practically non-existent. I am still looking for a hint of springtime; the Goldfinches are beginning to turn their colors yellow. Below is a photograph of the notoriously friendly Downy Woodpecker for your comparison.
Downy Woodpecker_female, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.Downy Woodpecker photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Look a lot alike? Everyone thinks so, too. Notice the much smaller beak on the Downy. The different beak sizes means they will not compete for the same food source. Even males and females have different sized beaks, for the same reason. Both the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers are found most anywhere there are forests----where they are left, that is.
Thank you for your time and reading my true wildlife stories from the Wind River Canyon. All content is protected by international copyright laws; hopefully.
Michael John Balog, Wind River Canyon Blog, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
"I want people to fall in love with Mother Nature, not wonder what happened to her."
MjB
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This first wild bird isn't even rare, and you've probably seen them if you "feed the birds." They are scattered across America from coast to coast, but are not native, even though I thought so, too. They were first introduced "back east" in the 1940's. They are listed in my older bird books as Red House Finches, but are now listed in references as just House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)----but they're still red.
I'd been out in the deep snow here in the canyon trying to get a decent photograph of the other bird in this blog, and shot this image of a beautiful, male House Finch in a juniper tree. It was Wyoming cold outside! My boots are rated to 80 below and my coat was made for the Swedish military, so only my fingers and batteries got cold. It may be Ground Hog Day, but it's winter here, baby!!
The other wild bird was the one I was really after with my cameras, because we had never observed one in the Wind River Canyon before this winter. And was it ever tough to get a decent image of this crazy, fast moving little brown bird. Hand-held with the big zoom lens (Tamron 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2) it was way more difficult than a video game, and just as frustrating.
A Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), also known as the American Treecreeper, is a wild bird that moves like no other in the canyon. It's herky-jerky movements, up and around trees, is really wild to try and follow at 500 plus millimeters of lens. It was a real workout in the cold with that coat, and I must admit, a lot of fun!
Take notice of the curved bill, it's really unusual. Brown Creepers are not interested in my sunflower seeds; they are interested in my suet blocks and the bugs in the trees. This particular picture was the best at showing what these small wild birds (5.25 inches from beak to end of tail) really look like; in this case in the snow----I love the tilt of the head.
The way this little bird runs up and around the trees at nearly the speed of lightning is a riot to try and follow with binoculars, even from a distance. But I had little luck in getting great images when he was on the trees; which is the kind of challenge I relish, even in the winter.
The "new" software I am now using for the RAW Canon image files is their free Digital Photo Professional; it's now closer to Adobe Lightroom, which I still use to tweak the final photographs.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. All photographs, wildlife stories, and production of Michael John Balog's kid-friendly website HogbatsPhotography.com is protected by international copyright laws.
For photographs of native-born Wyoming Hummingbirds and the Bighorn Sheep that visit the Wind River Canyon, click above to visit my safe website.
MjB
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This tiny baby hummingbird is the smallest bird in the North American wilderness. He will grow up to also be the smallest of birds, yet he will migrate the farthest of all the wild birds we know in our land. This hummingbird is so small that few people have ever witnessed one in the wilds of Wyoming, but they are here even if you do not see them for yourself; yes, he is that small!
This baby hummingbird was born in the month of July, when daytime temperatures are at their warmest, but in the mountains it can get quite cold at night. Hummingbirds have always nested in this golden canyon in summer, because every living mammal needs a protein food source to grow up. Hummingbirds are here for the bugs! the greatest of all of Mother Nature's yukky protein foods.
This tiny baby hummingbird, born near the golden cliffs of the Wind River Canyon, is a bird that we are told shouldn't even be here at all; but they are born here none-the-less. We don't need a drum-roll for this introduction. This littlest of hummingbirds is the bejeweled Calliope (Stellula calliope) Hummingbird; a shy, quiet little wild bird, unlike the other species of hummers that mate in this Wyoming canyon. They are not aggressive like the Rufous or the Black-chinned, or even the Broad-tailed Hummingbird that makes that metallic buzz here in this canyon during the summer's heat.
At times this shy little hummingbird is bullied by the other little buzzers, but their nesting is obviously successful because they return each and every summer. The Calliope is not the first hummingbird to arrive in the canyon, or even the second. The first to be seen is always the Broad-tailed in the month of May, followed shortly thereafter by the unreal Black-chinned. The Calliopes will arrive in the canyon in the month of June, like the very aggressive Rufous Hummingbirds, that bully nearly everyone else.
Because the littlest hummingbird is so small it makes for a difficult photographic portrait; it helps to get close, which takes patience and loads of time. This particular hummingbird portrait was imaged on July 30th of last summer, yet was only finished this week in new software and just test-printed yesterday!
The print is sitting right here by my usual workstation here in the Wind River Canyon. It didn't really take this long for post-production. In this very cold and deep snowed winter I was bored out of my skull, which gives me time to work on photographs that I never had the time for in mid-summer. I shoot thousands of images of hummingbirds during a typical summer; many are overlooked because I have to sleep sometimes----not very often----just sometimes.
The littlest hummingbird grows up to be a jewel that is smaller than some we've all seen recently on celebrities. If you look at the rare ruby and emerald colors on this male Calliope Hummingbird you will understand why people like us get so excited by the most wonderful and magical wild animals on this or any other planet. They move like lightning, yet look like the jewelry in those Robin's egg blue boxes from Tiffany's.
This final image is not a computer software trick, even though you may at first think so. The canyon is lit by the blazing summer mountain sunshine, yet, the Calliope male is in the shadow of my home, but only for several minutes! The exposure is set manually for the hummingbird sitting in the shade and this means the entire background is blown-out by the sun and results in total white!
Timing is also key to this photographic image. The Wind River Canyon must be completely in total sun, but the hummingbird has to be in the shade; I only have a few minutes before the one thousand miles-per-hour spin of the Earth ruins the image. In full sunshine it is impossible to get this kind of sharpness and resolution of a hummingbird, because the way many of their feathers are constructed it results in what looks like pictures of a mirror. I designed this idea for pictures of hummingbirds years ago, and it took me years to get the timing and exposure exactly correct. The green color on his breast is the reflection from the nearby pine that is still in the sun----but only for a few minutes more! The gold in his wingtips is the filtered golden canyon light.
How small is he really? They are smaller than my thumb; and yours, too. I have been so close to a male Calliope Hummingbird that we almost touched "noses"; I know them well and cannot wait for their return. And for all the snow to melt!
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. For many more intimate pictures of hummingbirds and the wildlife in the canyon, safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com.
Michael John Balog is a resident of the Wind River Canyon here in the state of Wyoming and is the writer, photographer and producer of all content and is protected by international copyright laws.
MjB
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We got blasted with well over a foot of snow with winds that howled in from the north all night long, then flipped directions as the blizzard moved on! At 3 o'clock in the morning I swore a train was coming through the Wind River Canyon; it was just the wind trying to carve stone with snow; the sound was incredible. Drifts of snow swirled around our cabin with whipped cream peaks of three feet by morning! A two foot drift ran 85 feet all the way down the back of our canyon home and had the consistency of cement; the temperature was twelve below zero!!!
The Wind River Canyon was closed and wouldn't reopen till late in the morning of the brand New Year----we couldn't even get out of our yard without the help of the good neighbor with the bulldozer.
In the winter here in the Wind River Canyon wildlife activity slows to a halt. This gives me time to go through photograph files that I never had the time for in the summer, because I'm too busy with my hummingbirds. Usually these pictures are shot during times of inactivity. I may look at them or do some preliminary post-production, but the hummingbirds always get first priority. While we were stranded by the deep-snow I found some photographs that stirred my creative juices, which is good because I have a lot of juices and I couldn't go anywhere anyway.
Showy Milkweed Flowers and a BumblebeeShowy Milkweed flowers and Bumblebee photographed in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
The wonderfully complex wildflowers are Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) at their absolute height of bloom. These wildflowers are considered to be some of the most complex of flowers and are comparable to Orchids in their complexity. This image was photographed after a rare rain shower (look very closely) as the sun emerged. Most species of Milkweed are toxic, yet it is the only food for Monarch Butterfly caterpillars! I encourage their growth here in the Wind River Canyon. These Milkweed wildflowers are some of the most wonderfully sweet smells anywhere in nature.
Bumblebees have always fascinated me. These furry, chubby little things buzz around doing their job and are friendlier than you'd first imagine. First, it takes a lot to piss-off a bumblebee; they are usually easier to get along with than family:-) But they have stingers without barbs, so if you make one mad he can sting you over and over and over.....the stinger doesn't stay in and the bumblebee doesn't die like a honeybee.
That fat bumblebee only lives one summer; they all die but the Queens. Around here they bury themselves in the ground and go dormant; a time called diapause. They reemerge in warmer months to start a new generation; they also make other young Queen bumblebees as well as drones.
Here in the Wind River Canyon it gets quite cold on late summer nights. By early morning, even in mid-August, it may be 45 degrees Fahrenheit----the perfect temperature for petting bumblebees! I know this sounds a bit nuts, but it's loads of fun. A bumblebee will be stranded on wildflowers because of the temps and the cold makes them nearly immobile. They "vibrate" to warm themselves up, no real danger there. It's crazy fun to pet bumblebees, and I have taught others this weird pleasure of Mother Nature's magic.
Milkweed, Wind River Canyon, WyomingMilkweed photographed in black and white in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
It's definitely winter here in the Wind River Canyon, we've had two good snows that will be with us for a seemingly long time. On the other hand, the icefalls in the canyon are the best in years; stop and take a look with your binoculars if you are near.
Here's some good advice, go back and take another look at those pictures; you'll never know what you find when you've been stranded by a blizzard on Mars.
Thank you for your time and reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. For more photographs of the wildlife from the ecosystem of the Wind River Canyon safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com.
All content of Wind River Canyon Blog and HogbatsPhotography.com is produced by Michael John Balog, a resident of the canyon, and all rights are reserved and protected by internationally recognized copyright laws. And if you believe that, I know this guy that has a bridge for sale.
Happy New Year to everyone who loves and helps the wildlife; they really do need your help.
MjB
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The tune is called "Under the Mistletoe." The black and white portrait of the Bald Eagle was photographed on November 27th: I wanted it to look like it was done with a charcoal pencil in art class. Thank you for your time and attention-----Merry Christmas from Michael and Debra right from "deep snow" Wind River Canyon, right in the middle of Wyoming.
All the birds in the Christmas picture gallery were photographed in the Wind River Canyon by Michael John Balog. For more galleries filled with wonderful wild animals from the canyon's ecosystem, visit my safe website-----HogbatsPhotography.com
A Merry Christmas to Everyone!!!
MjB
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If you think chasing around kids with a camera is tough, then a bird in the wild can become a real challenge that will tax your patience.
Some wild birds can be approached easily; you can walk right up to a Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli), and photographing other species can become a goal that may never be reached; the Golden Eagle comes to mind. At times it seems that a bird just wants to have it's picture taken, which is ridiculous; it's usually just curiosity, take advantage; there is no substitute for building trust. And photographs of some birds happen by serendipity----things just start to happen and I just go along for the imaging-ride; like the shoot with the Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) one winter's day. I crawled on my belly in the snow!
Quite recently, I had just such quality time with a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). A long-telephoto lens and a sharp eye, and his weird trust, led to an exciting photographic adventure. Working the image as I would for a person seemed appropriate, and flattering; even though the bird will never know it. I've gotten pictures of Great Blue Herons in-flight, and that's tough enough, but this bird-portrait is a fascinating character study.
Any quality camera with a good telephoto lens will do the trick. My personal favorites are the 70-200mm f/4 lenses; they are light in weight and super sharp. The newest infatuation is the modern-marvel Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. A long, long time ago a lens that can do what this lens does would have been a fantasy; and was. Big lenses are heavy and they can be a real workout, for your body and your wallet!
Now, the lecture on why we shouldn't irritate the birds, even though sometimes you must. It's wrong to interrupt someone's dinner, but a celebrity (like a Bald Eagle) is fair game. I'm sorry, but those are the rules. Nesting birds are off limits, period; how would you feel? And that's how I handle shoots with wild birds; I try to be nice and tactful. The patience of a saint would help, yet sometimes things just explode and a fast finger on the shutter button gets the job done.
Some birds seem brave, others never will be. Some wild birds just don't care you're there, others you may never see but for a moment. Try to learn as much as you can about all of your portrait subjects, be they birds, Bighorn Sheep, or your kids playing baseball. How will your photographic subject react when they see you with a camera? Hummingbirds are my absolute favorite wildlife to photograph here in the Wind River Canyon; they move at the speed-of-light and have little fear of man.
It is interesting to note that the famous painter of birds, Mr. Audubon, painted pictures of birds that where dead! Some species where sent to him from far away. When you photograph a wild bird with your digital device, the bird still lives----that is something to discuss.
I've said it before, "When you make a connection with a wild animal, you touch the face of Mother Nature." Several years ago we had two Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) that spent the summer with us. I moved cautiously as I introduced myself----this took days. When they obviously trusted my presence, a special portrait was in order. But there is a question, "Who decides who is ugly?" Ben Franklin and most hunters will tell you that Wild Turkeys are smart, but nobody said they were at all cute.
Every snowy Wyoming winter I look forward to spring and the arrival of the House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon). They're great singers, and are nearly as fearless as Chickadees; they are great fun to photograph. I love listening to their songs in the morning while still in bed; interesting portraits abound.
As winter sets in, the American Robins (Turdus migratorius) gather together here in the canyon in unlikely flocks. They are rowdy and eat lots of juniper berries, and the first name of their Latin-family name is completely true. Wandering around these fragrant pines one late winter's day, a robin let me approach to an even more unlikely distance; it's still the best robin portrait I've ever gotten to this day!
It would be easy for me to let this blog go on and on, but it must end somewhere, so lets end it with the marvelous Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides). I've got this secret spot where they come to nest----and wow, what a color!!
I hope this Wind River Canyon Blog uplifts your Holiday Season wherever you are. Sit and watch the wild birds....it's good for your health. And thank you for reading my work.
All my wildlife stories are true----my name is Michael John Balog and I live in the magical Wind River Canyon in snowy Wyoming. All content in this blog and my website HogbatsPhotography.com is protected by international copyright laws recognized throughout the known universe, except by Klingon's.
MjB
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The temperatures weren't just warm this early autumn, it really was t-shirt weather in the Wind River Canyon. We had very dry conditions and no snow to speak of; which is really weird. Because of this the fall foliage colors were at their rarest display. This wild fireworks of colors is really quite unique, and occurs maybe once in every ten years!
The Wind River Canyon doesn't have an abundance of deciduous trees, but we do have a million leafy plants in a wide variety of colors. Most years these autumnal colors are never seen by anyone until conditions are perfect. In this one ideal fall few will ever stop to see these beautiful displays of autumn, and not a single person can even get close to the best of them. To photograph these autumn colors in the Wind River Canyon requires extraordinary timing; the peak of color doesn't last very long.
The photograph below was taken on October 9th and captures the absolute peak of this beautiful display of nature's colors in the Wind River Canyon. I've been up to this place only a few times; it's that hard to get up there. The pine tree in the center is a beauty designed by Mother Nature herself. The dramatic autumnal colors are shown as I saw them and not exaggerated----this is a Wyoming Landscape at it's finest!
This landscape of fall colors probably will not be repeated anytime soon, but with the reality of climate change, who knows? The photograph was taken with a big, telephoto lens since it's the only way of capturing such a large beast from such a distance. Mounted on a tripod the picture was taken from my yard; it's an amazing explosion of nature's colors....revel in it.
Update: For those of my readers that are wondering about the Orphan Fawn, he's just fine, now. The little deer is on the other side of the Wind River here in the canyon; he followed the stags across the low-level river to mating grounds; this fawn is a survivor. For those people that didn't see the photographs, here he is not long after his mother was killed just up the road from here; his spots are long gone now.
I wish this little miracle of Mother Nature's all the luck in the world----we'll be seeing him again, I hope.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog!
All content in my blogs and my website----HogbatsPhotography.com are protected by international copyright laws and all rights are reserved. And if you believe that, I'll tell you another funny one.
My name is Michael John Balog and I live in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
MjB
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birds in the magical Wind River Canyon that choose to spend much of their lives....upside down.
As the leaves of the Wild Rose turn a beautiful dark red here in the canyon, two little wild birds migrate into one of Wyoming's most spectacular places. These two species of birds are known as nuthatches----the Red-breasted Nuthatch, and the slightly larger White-breasted. They are cute, friendly little birds that can easily fit into a child's hands, but seem to move like lightning from one branch to another juniper in a wink.
Twenty years ago we never saw these birds around here, and ten years ago only seldom. Now we are observing them here in the Wind River Canyon much more frequently; is this the "Final Frontier?" But more importantly, why are they upside down so much?
They forage for seeds and bugs that hide under the bark, but upside down? I've watched and photographed them for hours, and you'd think they'd get dizzy and fall down like spinning children, but they never do. This is why their nickname is the "Upside Down Birds." How do they do this? I don't have a rational explanation, but it's fun to watch them as they feed. This also makes it fun to photograph them.
On a cold October morning a Red-breasted was trying to keep warm, and the fluffed-up image has always been a favorite of mine; the photograph is below.
Early in the morning this week, as the sun began to turn the Wind River Canyon's cliffs a wonderful golden color, the first White-breasted Nuthatch arrived. I dropped my coffee and grabbed a camera and shot out the door, and entered into a morning much colder than I realized. No time to waste now, butch-up and take some shots while the opportunity is presenting itself; thank the imaging gods for eight frames-per-second!
The picture below is one that's a bit different for me. It was influenced by "you-know-who" and captures a White-breasted Nuthatch in his native environment as he sits still for a second, and only a second! As it was a cold, fall morning I worked the white-balance a bit cooler, and it brought out wonderful colors. These little birds have their breakfast here along with us every morning, all winter long.
Someone already asked me, "why didn't you photograph one upside down?" My answer wasn't really supposed to be funny. "It's hard enough to get a picture of one right side up." So there he is, the "Upside Down Bird Right Side Up."
Maybe that should be this winter's project, to get an image of an upside down bird upside down.....huh?
All content of my Wind River Canyon Blog and my website HogbatsPhotography.com is protected by copyright and all rights are reserved. But what do I know?
Thank you for looking at this Wind River Canyon Blog.
My name is Michael John Balog and I photograph and write about the wildlife in the Wind River Canyon ecosystem.
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Late last week after lunch, one of those glances out a cabin window brought those Rams closer to my computer. On the west side of the Wind River there were two adult Bighorn Rams! No time to waste, get the adrenaline fired up and grab the Canon with the big telephoto lens, and get going!!!
It was warm and sunny and I ran out the front door with the bazooka attached to my favorite camera with the battery-grip; it was going to be a great photo-op with lots of good cardio. I followed a game-trail that the big stags have been matting down, lifting the big-rig above the sagebrush as I made my way down the hill and across the roadway, huffing and puffing and gasping for oxygen along the way.
Two fishermen were just sitting down for lunch as I made my way down to the Wind River, which is quite low at the moment. The grass that grows down by the river is taller than me, literally "high as an elephants eye." But there's a path through this jungle made by who knows what, and every so often an opening above the wide Wind River. I sat down in one of these grassy openings and thus began another incredible time with the Rams of the Wind River Canyon.
The Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) were huge adult males with a ewe in tow, well fed and fat on the thick, west-side tall green grass; Rams exceed 300 pounds! Bighorn Sheep are the last wild animals to mate in the Wind River Canyon; they haven't even started crashing their heads together yet. Rams are strong, majestic beasts that are curious; as curious as me at times. As they would eat and move I would move down river with them; I knew they could see me.
When a wild animal makes eye contact with you and acknowledges your existence, it's a high like no other in the world. You've made a connection with the wild world where free has a different meaning. They aren't tied down to payments, homes and credit cards. Theirs is a kind of freedom we will never quite understand; freedom to survive a Wyoming winter. When the temperature dips to 30 below zero and the wind is howling, they will be just fine.
In my experience here in the Wind River Canyon, Bighorn Sheep are travelers. They go where and when they want, they have no time schedules. You cannot ask a Ram to pose for you, or to turn "that way." You get what they give you, and the real magic happens later, in my computer. It used to be said that, "The real magic happens in the darkroom." And I guess it still does. By the time I made it back to my home, I'd shot over 350 frames! What a fabulously stimulating afternoon I had.
The photograph below is very unusual, as far as Bighorn Sheep pictures go. The Rams were in an area with lots of leaves that had the colors of fall. The Sun was right and the colors just came alive; I couldn't have planned it, or even imagined it. I just love this picture of Bighorn Rams in the Wind River Canyon.....
It's a genuine privilege to spend such intimate moments with such fascinating wildlife as Bighorn Sheep Rams in the Wind River Canyon. To be able to capture such amazing moments and to able to share these true nature stories and pictures with you is a real internet honor.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
Safely visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for more photographs of Bighorn Sheep, and hummingbirds, bluebirds, orioles, and all sorts of beautiful wildlife that live in the Wind River Canyon here in wild Wyoming.
All content is written and produced by Michael John Balog and is protected by copyright and all rights are reserved, which doesn't seem to mean much on this side of the galaxy.
"I want people to fall in love with Mother Nature, not wonder what happened to her."
MjB
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The gallery below contains the only professional photographs ever taken of Snowflake, the Albino Bighorn Sheep. All the photographs were imaged in the Wind River Canyon, which is in central Wyoming. All the images were taken and produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon. The photographs were taken over the years of his adult life.
"I knew that the many, many hours spent following Snowflake and his friends around the Wind River Canyon over the years were something very special. An honor I cannot ever repay Mother Nature for such memorable times."
All content is protected by copyright and all rights are reserved.
Click on Michael's website----HogbatsPhotography.com for safe viewing of wildlife photographs of hummingbirds, orioles, bluebirds and over a hundred other birds and mammals that live in the magical Wind River Canyon.
Thank you.
MjB
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Despite this warm mountain weather, all the hummingbirds are long gone from the canyon; this is the Rocky Mountains and it may be 88 right now, but it could snow tomorrow. Any smart hummingbird is on their way south!
This morning I was awake long before the Sun. As I finished shaving all the important things, a glance out the window shocked me back to reality----one of my Great Horned Owls was still hunting, even though it was after 5:30 in the morning! How I managed to put on some clothes so quickly is a mystery. I grabbed the Canon with the 70-200mm f/4L lens and raced out the kitchen door.
Never did observe the owl again, but near the spring-fed creek were the three big stags having an early breakfast, and with them was our little, orphaned Bambi. He was still with the big buck deer, and they didn't seem to mind having him around. The little fawn really doesn't have any other place to go, and it's heartwarming to see them putting up with the little orphaned fawn.
I'd wanted to photograph the four of them together, but usually mule deer feed at night and I had gotten absolutely nothing up till this morning. Setting the ISO to 1000 and the shutter speed to 1/60th, f-stop was f/4; I hand-held multiple shots in the dim light; it was 5:44 in the morning! The best of the bunch I worked in black and white, because color doesn't register on the sensor in such dim light, and a flash unit would have scared them off permanently! I was finally able to document the orphaned fawn with his adopted trio of stags.
3 Stags and the Orphaned FawnThe three Mule Deer Stags and the Orphaned Fawn.
For those readers that wonder if the little fawn can keep up with his big-buck baby sitters, have no fear, I've watched Bambi easily keeping up with these powerful stags. Honestly....it's kind of a wildlife miracle, right here in the middle of the Wind River Canyon.
The true-tale wildlife story about this poor, orphaned Bambi can be seen and read in the Wind River Canyon Blog of September 1st----hit either safe-link to read about this fawn on my website, HogbatsPhotography.com.
Thank you for your time and reading my true wildlife stories.
All content on my website HogbatsPhotography.com is protected by copyright and ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED!!! Which unfortunately doesn't mean all that much in the 21st century.
All photographs, videos and wildlife stories are produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon for two decades.
MjB
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Several weeks ago, my wife informed me that on the way home she saw a deer dead just south of our cabin. When you're driving in-the-dark in the state of Wyoming you are gambling, and the payoff is nothing short of horrid. It was a female mule deer...known as a doe, and she'd been nursing! The fawn was nowhere around.
Then one warm canyon afternoon there he was, his white spots practically glowing in the blazing mountain sunshine; our Bambi, the lost fawn. I sneaked out with the big Tamron lens, and while hiding behind some wild roses snapped off a few photographs. I watched this lost fawn for quite some time. You will never see a deer fawn out by itself, never.
The very next morning this little spotted fawn was out eating greenery again. It was a little too early for a fawn to be weaned, but this little one had no real choice in the matter. Our little Bambi eventually wandered up into the junipers for some sleep. I saw the fawn, out by itself, nearly every day and I always took some pictures while hiding behind those same wild rose bushes.
Orphaned Fawn in the Wind River CanyonFawn who's Mother was killed in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
Late one night under our mercury light the big stags were down. These big bucks are huge, well fed stags that are never hunted in the Wind River Canyon, so they are friendlier than deer almost anywhere else in Wyoming. And guess who is with these mountain stags? Our little Bambi, the lost fawn, found some relatives. You would think that this was a great solution to the fawn's problem of having no mother, but buck deer are notoriously lousy mothers.
The fawn tried to nuzzle up to the largest of the three stags and was shoved off several times. A younger stag didn't seem to mind as much, but the biggest of the bucks actually turned, and under the big light shoved the little fawn away with his monster velvet antlers! Bambi didn't seem to mind, and he walked back to the youngest. I watched these stag deer with their tiny, spotted follower several nights in a row.
Then last weekend I came down with a terrible cold-virus; thought I was gonna die. I tried to keep an eye out for our lost fawn and was more depressed when I didn't see any deer at all. If anything is dead around the Wind River Canyon in warmer weather the vultures show up for dinner; none of the ugly vultures gathered. I hoped that this was a sign our little orphaned fawn was still alive, but I hadn't seen him; he has two little nubs on his noggin.
At six o'clock this very morning the stags were eating breakfast, and there was our little orphaned Bambi right beside the youngest of the bucks! I watched from the kitchen door with an old pair of astronomy binoculars, then walked outside in my underwear! I flashed an old Indian sign I'd learned from an old Indian, and the huge stag deer and I just exchanged eye contact; I had known his father, the buck on my website, HogbatsPhotography.com. He had lost an eye fighting during the rut, and probably died of an infection.
One advantage the orphaned fawn has is the protection he will inadvertently receive from these big buck deer. He will learn from the stags the very best places to eat, and where to sleep in safety. He may have trouble keeping up with the stags, but this too will make him stronger. But as winter sets in he will not be able to follow the bucks up into the high-country. As the mating season begins later this month, they will all run into a group of doe; the females will take him in I am sure. Another true story of survival in the Wind River Canyon.
Thank you for reading this week's Wind River Canyon Blog. All the photographs and true wildlife stories on my blog, and on my website are protected by copyright laws that are ignored throughout the galaxy. All rights are reserved anyway!
All content is produced by Michael John Balog who is a resident of the Wind River Canyon for two decades.
MjB
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Broad-tailed Hummingbird In-FlightThe first time a Broad-tailed Hummingbird has been photographed in-flight in Wind River Canyon in Wyoming!
On May 17th @ an early 7:39 a.m. the first male Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) was seen on the feeder near my favorite high-hide. While the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds may or may not nest in the Wind River Canyon, the Black-chinned Hummingbirds come into the canyon to nest and make little hummingbirds; a species unknown in central Wyoming 20 years ago! The new photograph below shows the elusive violet-flash of the Black-chinned Hummingbird's gorget; take note of the longer beak.
Black-chinned Hummingbird maleBlack-chinned Hummingbird male violet-flash photographed in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
The first Rufous Hummingbird, a male, was observed on June 27th @ 9 a.m. The aggressive Rufous arrive in the Wind River Canyon a week earlier then they did two decades ago. This summer the hummingbirds would arrive here in abundance. We had more hummingbirds mating/nesting here this hummingbird season then we had seen in many years; they were emptying two-cup nectar feeders in a single day!
The Rufous are a successful species of hummingbird because of their adaptability and aggressiveness; they are widespread and nest throughout the Rocky Mountain region. The photograph below was taken this mid-July and is not a computer trick; manual exposure and manual focus while the bird is in shade, and the canyon is blown-out by the early-morning sunshine.
Rufous Hummingbird, Wind River CanyonRufous Hummingbird male on a branch in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
The last of the four species of hummingbirds that are seen in Wyoming and nest in the Wind River Canyon are the diminutive Calliope Hummingbirds (Stellula calliope). They are North America's smallest bird, and the bird that actually migrates the farthest of all the birds in North America! The Calliope has always been a favorite of mine; they are the smallest in class and the one most easily picked on by the big guys.
The new photograph of a male Calliope shown below was taken with the same manual settings as the picture of the male Rufous above, but was a real surprise. I was trying to get an image of a baby Rufous when the male Calliope sat down for me; it was almost like he wanted his picture taken, too! It's a sharp-focus photo of a very small bird indeed; he's smaller than 3 inches, like the end of your finger!! His gorget is an amazing wine-red; the lite-green on his lower breast is the reflected green from a nearby sunlit pine; he is in shade.
Calliope Hummingbird, Wind River CanyonCalliope Hummingbird photographed in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Dramatically changing weather conditions (storms & hurricanes) and habitat loss effect not only us, but also endanger the lives of the smallest and one of the most-loved of all the birds in America. I believe that the hummingbird may be the metaphorical "canaries in the coalmine." They are small and usually adaptable, yet, are easily effected by forest fires and loss of nesting habitat, just like people. They are probably the most anticipated of all the birds around here, but the Black-chinned are breeding here each summer because of forest fires/loss of habitat in southern Colorado many years ago. In conclusion, I'd say that summer 2018 was the best year for hummingbirds in quite some time in the state of Wyoming.
Thank you for reading my new Wind River Canyon Blog. All content on HogbatsPhotography.com is protected by copyright and ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED.
"I want people to fall in love with Mother Nature, not wonder what happened to her."
Michael John Balog is a resident of the Wind River Canyon
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Definitely hot and sweaty work; like a video game in the desert your reactions need to be fast and precise. In portraiture photography the eyes need to be in sharp focus, even when your model moves at the speed of lightning; shooting over a thousand frames a week is not uncommon. Each digital file needs to be looked at, just in case; the nights can be long.
July thirtieth was blistering as usual in my hide, but I was to finally capture wild animal behavior that always seemed to be impossible. I ought to know, as I've tried to catch hummingbirds fighting/jousting a million times, it just happens in the proverbial blink-of-an-eye.
Anyone who has observed hummingbirds knows full well that they compete for food sources, and this competitiveness looks like a knockdown fight. At times, like the knights of old, it even looks like they're jousting with those tremendous beaks; we've seen a male Calliope hummingbird that was blind in one eye; he disappeared quickly----probably ran into a tree!
Photographing this behavior is next to impossible, as it happens so quickly, and without a single warning "all hell breaks loose." And in a fraction of a second it's over, and you didn't even get to pull focus. I've never gotten close to what I had in my minds eye. No image of this fighting behavior was as good as what I'd wanted, so I kept trying, a thousand times over; it all happens so quickly.....
Last week I finally made it all happen and the three photographs in this week's Wind River Canyon Blog are a genuine thrill for me. After the fraction of a second the camera unloaded it's burst of speed, I knew there was something special inside. Something that I'd tried getting an image of for nearly two decades!!
All of the fighting/jousting behavior that hummingbirds do is also quite essential. Besides the obvious physical and flight development of the young (the hummingbird @ the bottom in the above images) they will compete for food sources the rest of their lives; a tagged female hummingbird was seen 12 years in a row!
You don't need a camera that costs 6,000 dollars to shoot images like these (it was an old, used Canon) and the lens was not a 14 thousand dollar lens; a factory refurbished Tamron 150-600mm G2; the tripod and ball-head are nothing special, either. All it really takes, I'm guessing here, is nearly two decades of constant dedication to my favorite sexy models----the Hummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon.
All of the photographs, videos and wildlife stories in the Wind River Canyon Blog and HogbatsPhotography.com are produced & directed by Michael John Balog and are protected by international copyright laws ignored internationally.
Thank you.
Until next time, "keep your camera ready."
MjB
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This situation of many hummingbirds needing and wanting to eat all at once leads to what is called by Shark Week, a feeding frenzy. Imagine a dozen hungry sharks, or a dozen hungry tigers that are not interested in eating you! Oh, and they are only the size of your thumb!!
Late in the evening I like to spend some quality time with my hummingbirds (I am running 5 nectar feeders right now) and can stand two feet away from the busiest and experience this "hummingbird feeding frenzy" up close and almost scary. I've taught others that the hummingbirds know how to fly, so don't flinch or be scared, at all; it can get really crazy, but it's loads of fun.
This wildlife excitement only happens when the light is lousy to shoot video. I wanted to share this wildness with everyone. The camcorder captures more light and color then my own eyes are capable of, but, the video isn't exactly Disney ready. The hummingbird video below was shot with a Sony FDR-AX53 4K camcorder at 8:40 p.m.; just twenty minutes from complete darkness here in the Wind River Canyon in central Wyoming. Just how many hummingbirds do I have in the canyon during the summer? Multiply what you see by almost five! The above video was shot last night. It will let you experience some of the excitement of "hummingbird season" in the Wind River Canyon. You will see four adult male Rufous (a rare event itself because of intense competition) and many babies and females of different species; keep your eye out 2/3 of the way through the minute-plus video to catch a glimpse of an adult Calliope Hummingbird in the top-left. This is my 20th summer with the Wyoming Hummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon; it's been a hell-of-a-ride.
Everything you will read or view in my Wind River Canyon Blog and my website HogbatsPhotography.com is protected under copyright laws ignored just about everywhere.
Thank you for your time.
Michael John Balog - Wind River Canyon
MjB
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Of course, these amazing birds would still be here without me; I'm just the hired help after all. I guess I just make things a little bit easier, as should we all when it comes to the wild things. There are so few unspoiled places left for wildlife to survive without the destructive nature of mankind, and that's my lecture for today's Wind River Canyon Blog.
Two days ago, Thursday the 12th of July, I was in my favorite "high-hide" trying to take photographs of our hummingbirds. It was so hot that the sweat was dripping in my eyes, making it difficult to see my hummers. I tied a bandanna to my forehead and kept shooting away with my Canon on a tripod.
It is hot, laborious work....and I love it! In between gulps of my cold-tea and maybe a dozen hummingbirds and a hundred frames, it started to happen. One of the Rufous males was putting on a display; most likely not for me, but it seemed that way at the time. With the Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens on the tripod set at 500mm, I let go with a burst @ 8 frames a second; and that's how long this hummingbird's display lasted----one second!! One particular image was exactly what I had in my mind's eye; the photograph is below.
Early this morning, Saturday the 14th of July, with the hummingbird-feeder near empty, I cleaned it, filled it with homemade nectar (pure-sugar water), and sat down with a camera and my old-favorite lens, the 70-200mm F/4L Canon.
After loads of patience and a few nasty words under my breath, I'd gotten the pictures I wanted of a male Rufous Hummingbird. I shot these two photographs (because we couldn't decide which we liked more) with manual exposure settings & manual focus! He was sitting on an ancient basket handle in the shade, the Sun blazing down on the Wind River Canyon behind him.
It took few extra brain cells to make these exposures of the bird correct, but dammit if it didn't work: these pictures were shot and in post-production this morning! They both show off the male's gorget (named after the neck-piece that protects a knight) to full affect. Because we couldn't decide, both photographs are shown below.
Some people wonder why there are still manual settings on cameras, but this is a case in point. As sophisticated as these cameras are, it couldn't get the exposure even close to being correct----I had tried that first! The background is white because it's blown out completely by the sunlit Wind River Canyon, but it looks cool that way, doesn't it? Five minutes later, with the Sun lighting him, these pictures would have looked completely different!!!
Take notice of this male Rufous Hummingbird's tattered tail. He is a knight, fighting other knights in the Wind River Canyon for the privilege of the company of a lady....or two. Of the four species of hummingbirds we see in the Wind River Canyon, the Rufous is the most aggressive and dominant. There seems to be a reason that the males are the color of the Tiger......
Thank you for your time and reading my Wind River Canyon Blog from the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming. All photographs and wildlife stories are protected by copyright laws ignored throughout the known universe.
*For many more hummingbird photographs and pictures of a hundred other species of Wyoming birds and Bighorn Sheep all photographed in the magical Wind River Canyon, visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com.
Michael John Balog----Wind River Canyon----Wyoming
Thank You
MjB
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As you may, or may not know, House Wrens are more than a little opinionated as to where a birdhouse for them is located, and of course what it is made of, and the size of the entrance; and the inside better be nice and clean! The hole must be one and a quarter, no more, no less. Natural wood is preferred, but the right wren house is the right birdhouse. It's really about location, location, location; which is all any real estate agent needs to know.
You cannot have two Wren houses any where near one another----period! They are very territorial and will fight, and dispose of the competitions eggs and young on occasion----photos below are testament.
Very early one morning, at a time when we dream, I awoke knowing the perfect place to put the birdhouse; it had to be mounted under the eve within sight of my bedroom window. Every year before spring arrives I unscrew the bottom panel and clean out the mess. For many years now I have two families reared in this wren-house each season. The male House Wren sings his lyrical song every morning in the Wind River Canyon while I dream to his music.
I have photographs of baby wrens and even their parents feeding them. I have photographs of the female lining her nest with feathers she found nearby....and every year I try for an image that has plagued me for ages: a photograph of a female wren with a spider!!
This spring I was determined to fulfill my yukky desire to photograph a wren with a spider that will make some people cringe. I'd shot images every year but hated each and every picture, but this year I had an edge....a longer lens, oh, and more determination! I hate spiders so this was not a labor of love; not at all. The photograph below is the result of years of shooting hundreds of photos....and I still absolutely hate spiders!
My caption for this photograph would be----"Oh, Mom....spiders again!"
The baby House Wrens that were raised with the help of this big spider have already left the nest, and the male has another girlfriend already; all within the span of several weeks! And every morning his brilliant songs continue.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. All wildlife stories and photographs on my website HogbatsPhotography.com are hopefully protected under copyright laws that are routinely ignored throughout the galaxy.
Michael John Balog- wildlife photographer/writer
"Keep your camera ready!"
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My left hand had landed on a small (hand sized) Yucca plant! Native Americans used the sharp tips as sewing needles!! I hollered some four-letter word and looked at my palm; it was covered with tiny, red pearls of blood; about nine or ten! Apparently, I had received Mother Nature's acupuncture. After slapping my hand to my yellow shirt, I looked at my palm and there was no more blood; I was surprised. The rest of the way down was difficult but uneventful. It's also called the soapweed, because with the roots you can make soap; a useful plant, and sharp!!! The image on the left is a large Yucca (Yucca glauca) in bloom. Deer just love the flowers.
This is a photograph from that same morning of the famous Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja linariifolia). It's kind of a semi-parasitic wildflower, because it cannot survive without the sagebrush and it's extensive root system.
A lady once asked me why she couldn't buy seeds for the Indian Paintbrush flowers for her garden; she didn't like the answer. Another woman told me she dug up paintbrush flowers and planted them in her garden; she wanted to know why they died; she didn't like the answer any more than the first dummy did.
This is the Sego Lily (Calochortus nuttallii) which is about the size of those small oranges; they are a real standout in the springtime. The bulbs are edible; please don't eat them....there aren't that many around.
This is the state flower of Utah and is also called the Mormon Lily.
The Sego Lily is a beautiful wildflower in the Wyoming countryside.
This is one of my favorite Wyoming wildflowers, because it blooms in my front yard early in the spring. It's name is the Mouse-ear Chickweed (Cerastium arvense). The flowers are about the size of a thumbnail. This image was taken right after a mountain rainstorm.
*If you click on any image it will open full-size in my website!
This weird looking thing grows down by the creek that runs through our property, here in the Wind River Canyon. It took forever to figure out what they are, because it wasn't what we thought they were!
It's the Smooth Horsetail (Equisetum laevigatum). Believe it or not, teabags of this is available from Amazon. The Horsetail has medicinal qualities and has been used since ancient times for things like hair-growth and arthritis, but be cautious, it can have some real nasty side effects from what I've researched. It was also used for scrubbing pans!
This bizarre plant is the seedpods of a most unremarkable, small yellow wildflower. I always thought it looked like it came from Mars! Even with three books it was impossible to identify without the use of searches, and searches, and searches.
This is called the Alpine Bladderpod (Lesquerella alpina). It's weird and it's out here in Wyoming....
These beautiful wildflowers bloom on a hillside next to the creek not far from my cabin. They are maybe ten inches tall and bloom early in the springtime. These massive blossoms are the False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum). They are "false" because they don't have the medicinal qualities of it's cousin.
They bloom on a hillside and it's challenging to photograph them; it requires some cheesy gymnastics....and not far from those are....
These wildflowers grow not far from the above plants, but they stick to the more shaded and damp areas; they are the Star False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum stellataum). The "star" part I get....They are few and far between and hard to find in the Wind River Canyon.
Putting together an album of wildflowers for my website is more of a challenge than you'd think. First is the photography itself, which takes some walking, climbing and maybe some bleeding! To be honest, this is the part I like best of all. All that fresh air and hiking is good for your mind and soul.
Second, identification can take many, many hours of research; I still don't know what some flowers are after years of wondering. And most books have lousy photos or are difficult to find something in particular you're looking for. A Kindle book on "Wyoming Wildflowers" is a jumbled mess, but still a good read; sort of.
The real kicker is timing; there is always something blooming in the Wind River Canyon and Wyoming----you just have to be in the correct place at the right time. Most of these wildflowers don't bloom for very long, and some are food for wildlife: Deer just love the Yucca flowers; and no, I haven't tried them for myself. If my timing is wrong, then I'll have wait till next year! And to be perfectly honest with you, some wildflowers in the canyon I've never seen blooming; I know they're there but have never seen them for myself----right place, right time.
I am going to try and write a blog about some more Wyoming wildflowers photographed in the Wind River Canyon----if I can get the timing correct. One of my favorites is the Monkey flower, and it's blooming right now down by the creek.
My sage advice....get up....get out....and go for a hike in beautiful Wyoming; and stop to smell the Wild Roses, which are still blooming right now!
All the nature stories in the Wind River Canyon Blog and the photographs therein, and all content of my website, including wildlife videos, are produced and directed by Michael John Balog and all rights are reserved.
Please visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com for photographs of hummingbirds, bighorn sheep, bluebirds, orioles, and many, many more of the wild animals that live in the magical Wind River Canyon.
Thank you for reading my work.
MjB
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blooming, birds are singing and building nests, the buzz of hummingbirds can be heard, wild roses scent the morning breeze, and a tiny wren sings by my bedroom window. The beautiful orange orioles are always a welcome sight each spring. But most important of all, the babies of wild animals are glimpsed by the sharp eyed, or the very lucky.
Everyone feeds the wild birds, yet sometimes there are unforeseen consequences. We attract birds here in the canyon that may not be observed anywhere else; a Rose-breasted Grosbeak was seen here yesterday!
It really isn't our fault that others are attracted to the goodies we put out for the birds, even if they are really, really cute.
After living with and photographing wild animals of all kinds for twenty years in the Wind River Canyon, something's changed. While I'm not exactly Dr. Doolittle, I have been know to "talk to the animals" with my own unique sound and whistles. Many birds come to know and trust me, and this is inspiring, to say the very least. For the past two years I've been working with, and getting to know, the Marmots that live in the area. It has taken untold hours of patience to get them to trust me even a little bit. I suppose they have good reason not to trust anyone; they've been systematically slaughtered for over a century.
Marmots are the most inoffensive of creatures; they're actually chubby ground squirrels. They never seem to fight, even for a food source. When the food is obviously limited, they never compete or argue, they share equally all the time; even in mixed age groups. They don't growl or hiss competitively like domestic household pets. Marmots share in a way that is atypically human, and they don't smell bad. They seem to enjoy company and greet each other affectionately. An older adult Marmot is always watching for trouble, and gives a crazy-loud whistle to warn the others of danger.
Imagine our surprise when they found the sunflower seeds we put out for the wild birds. They're vegetarians and just love the seeds, and dry dog food that is mostly ground corn; which we thought was funny.
Last night I set up a photo-shoot with the baby Marmots that were born just a stone's throw away from my cabin door. I worried that they might be frighted by the big, black lens and camera; stay calm and move slowly. These young, baby Yellow-bellied Marmots just came out of their deep underground nests the first week in May. They obviously trust me as I was only ten feet away; a place I've sat before with them and the adults.
It was a lot of fun and a real-life natural high that only nature's wild things can deliver. Living here in this magical canyon is a gift and sometimes even a surprise or four. These baby Marmots are about the size of an eggplant, but a lot more adorable. I used to "hunt" them, too; and I feel real guilty about that now that we are "Living with Marmots in the Wind River Canyon."
Thank you for ingesting my Wind River Canyon Blog. All wildlife stories, photographs, and videos on my website, HogbatsPhotography.com are produced by Michael John Balog and are protected by copyrights that are recognized throughout the known universe.
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haven't had the snowblower out since the middle of February! That in and of itself is a bit strange, but not that unusual in this century. Little old ladies used to tell me about snowdrifts over their homes. As kids they would sled down from the rooftops! But this was a hundred years ago. Now it is so warm that a little hummingbird is one of the first migrating birds to arrive in this golden canyon of Wyoming.
Sure, there are birds that migrate into and through the canyon sooner; huge Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) always arrive in the Wind River Canyon the first week of April, but they are here to clean up nature's yucky mess.
Having learned long ago to put up the hummingbird feeders the last week of April for the Bullock's Orioles (Icterus bullockii); weather permitting. Late at night I would see a hummingbird darting around in near darkness, a ruby flash of a gorget barely visible. I would glimpse one this close to the
night, but never really see one: I hoped to live long enough to photograph one here in the Wind River Canyon.
The days of May are warm in Wyoming; in the mountains 70's are like a magic trick. The nights even now are in the low 40's in the canyon, with deep snow in the high-country. You'd think freezing temperatures would discourage a bird as small as your thumb from even getting near Wyoming in the month of May, but you'd be wrong!
On May 8th @ 12:36 p.m. a Broad-tailed Hummingbird male (Selasphorus platycercus) was eating lunch on the nectar feeder by my bedroom windows. He hung around for a few brilliant days to "garbage up."
A few days after his arrival, a female was observed on another of the feeders. Even though
this particular hummingbird species is the largest of the four that nest in the Wind River Canyon, they can be the most shy and are bullied by the others at times; is this why they need to arrive earlier than other hummingbirds?
It's a real challenge to photograph any living thing that is shy, let alone a bird that is faster than your car and smaller than a salt shaker. But hummingbird photography is what got me into documenting the wildlife in the Wind River Canyon in the first place.
It's amazing that a hummingbird that winters in Mexico even wants to come to Wyoming when blizzards can and do happen, but, here they are. This morning while having coffee, we enjoyed the company of a Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) male having his breakfast after a cold and very rainy night. The Broad-tailed now arrives before the buntings, the grosbeaks, the orioles.....even many of the Snow Birds!
Last summer, after nearly two decades, I finally got the photograph of a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird in-flight that was my fantasy. I got the picture of him from my favorite "high-hide." It's a secret spot that has yielded three first place awards at the annual Cody Art Show! I feel that it is a privilege to be able photograph these incredible hummingbirds, in this, one of their nesting places in Wyoming.
He was imaged @ 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 400 with my old-favorite Canon 70-200mm f/4L; a lightweight and super-sharp lens. Honestly, I've shot many hundreds of frames to get this one that I can work in post-production and love enough to put on my website HogbatsPhotography.com.
The other two hummingbird species traditionally have arrived in early in July; Calliope (Stellula calliope) and the Rufous (Selasphorus rufus).
The Calliope Hummingbird (upper photo) is the smallest migrating bird in North America, the Rufous Hummingbird (duh, lower photo) is three and three-quarter inches of tiger attitude; hence the color, I guess. We won't be seeing either of these species till mid-June at the earliest. They have both been migrating into the canyon earlier than a decade and a
half ago. Even at the smallest level climate change seems to be effecting the behavior of wildlife; these are my own observations in the Wind River Canyon.
For those readers that have never seen a Black-chinned Hummingbird up close and personal, here is my favorite picture of a male; remember that he is the size of your thumb!
To steal a phrase from a favorite film; hummingbirds are magical creatures and it is easy to become fascinated by them, and I hope you will, too.
Thank you for reading this week's Wind River Canyon Blog about a few of my favorite things. All wildlife stories and photographs are the creation of Michael John Balog and are protected by international copyright laws recognized by everyone but crooks.
MjB
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While watching this raptor scan the field for prey, he opened his wings and sailed down like a parachute, almost in slow-motion. My mouth dropped open as I lost sight of this hawk; a beautiful winged display to be sure. A very short time later, I don't know how long, he reappeared in the air, huge wings catching the afternoon canyon breeze.
I couldn't do much through a window at that distance, and I was mostly naked, and that's sure to scare away any raptor. Slipping on some slippers and grabbing my favorite flannel shirt, I headed for my big-rig camera case; which is near a backdoor of the cabin. Making some quick adjustments to my camera (ISO and shutter speed) I raced out the screen door still half undressed.
It was a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and he landed on the top of a pine tree about half-way between where he'd been and my back, which was up against the house. Setting the Tamron 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 @ 500mm, I watched this gorgeous raptor as the image-stabilization kept the image sharp in my mind, too. Even after chasing raptors with cameras for twenty years now, my heart still races at the sight of these fascinating birds.
This raptor saw me as I watched him through the lens; it seemed time for him to leave; I was ready with my finger on the shutter button. It's said on Wall Street that timing is everything, and it's the same for wildlife photography. As this spectacular bird took to the air, I let loose with a burst of 8 frames per second till the hawk was too far away to be of interest.
Of the more than a dozen frames I had, only two blew me away! The first two digital files of this hawk taking off were really cool, and I worked them in my usual wildlife manner; Digital Photo Professional, then Lightroom. Couldn't decide which photo I like better, my wife couldn't either, so I printed them both large (12" by 13") to get a real look @ the pictures.
This morning we were watching pine tree pollen swirling in the Wind River Canyon, like smoke from a forest fire, as the sun broke the eastern rim of the canyon; puffs of it rising like a blown-out candle. The Red-tailed Hawk in the photographs has knocked off a couple of these tiny pods and the lens/camera captured these very small modules of allergy induced sneezes in my wife. The tail of the hawk in the second image is in fine display, and his wingtips like fingers touching the canyon wind.
In summation, real wildlife photography is not something that poses for you. Wild animals are working for survival in a world that's more difficult for them than ever before. They are assaulted from all sides by our civilization; many will not be here for our grandchildren.
Thank you for your time and reading my Wind River Canyon Blog. All these true wildlife stories and photographs are created and produced by Michael John Balog, and are protected by copyright laws recognized throughout the galaxy.
Till next time...."keep your camera ready." Maybe keep some clothes nearby, too!
MjB
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Nearly twenty years have already gone by since I took up residence in the Wind River Canyon, and the title of this weeks' Wind River Canyon Blog is an interesting one for me, as I have always had a keen interest in the psychology of all things: Do Birds Kiss?
Up until my college years I would have probably laughed at the title of this blog; maybe your smiling right now. But the implications of animals having emotions and even sharing those feelings with another seems alien; think about your favorite pet. People read all sorts of emotions into their cats and dogs, but are they real?
We had a big sled-dog named Elvis that was smarter than some people I know, and he knew what he wanted, but was he really showing emotion when this 122 pound sled-dog wanted to "snuggle" or when he would bring his leash over to me? Does that big hairy cat really truly love you? My grandma swore that her little dog was trying to tell her something----"Get me out of this damn dryer!" I contend the dog wanted to be bitten by that rattlesnake!
Over 115 species of birds spend some of their lives here in the canyon, and I've observed instances of feelings and emotions in some of these birds. Some show a crazy-keen interest in their young (i.e. Bullock's Orioles come to mind), others seem to care little for their offspring; any of this sound like someone you know? But, kissing.....?
If they weren't sharing a sunflower seed, then what were they doing? I've witnessed this behavior in finches here in the Wind River Canyon many, many times. Sometimes the behavior seems aggressive, but most of the time, not. A lot like the kids in the backseat at the prom, it's hard to tell what's going to happen next. But what are these birds doing anyway!!
None of this conjecture really explains what these two finches are actually experiencing at this moment. It's springtime and mating season is here in the Wind River Canyon again, which could easily explain this kissing behavior, if you can believe in that sort of thing. It seems to be tender enough, considering that those beaks can crack open a seed.
This old man now feels the rhythm of nature in ways I could never have imagined before I sat down by the creek and let time slip away. Untold thousands of hours have been spent observing and photographing the behavior of the wildlife and rhythms of the Wind River Canyon. The canyon is showing green again, after a very mild winter here.
I had the Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 on a tripod, and was using our cabin as a blind last week, when I finally photographed a pair of Cassin's Finches in the act of bird-kissing. A lot of patience and a fast finger really are a big help.
Find a wild green-place near where you live and sit down and try not to think; hard to do? Now, just observe and keep quiet as the field mouse. What do you see, now? What do you hear? Listen closer and you will hear and see impossible things; beautiful things. This is how I first found a place where Mountain Bluebirds come to nest. An unexpected thrill each and every spring. I'd like to think some birds kiss....and you?
All photographs and wildlife stories on HogbatsPhotography.com are protected under galactic copyright agreements and can only be used by permission of Michael John Balog.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
MjB
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Observing these chubby members of the ground squirrel family that live near our cabin is fascinating and sometimes quite amusing. This Wind River Canyon Blog is about the hidden life of the Yellow-bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris); a ground squirrel that can weigh twelve pounds!
They have been poisoned, shot to pieces, their homes bull dosed over, and as I found out from many of my American Indian friends....."very tasty if cooked right." And the answer to your next obvious question is NO, I haven't eaten any "Rock Chuck"; the colloquial name for these fat and furry animals.
A famous woman in a nearby town asked me pointedly one day, "Where do they go in the winter?" I told her that they really didn't GO anywhere: Yellow-bellied Marmots spend three-quarters of their life underground and hibernate for eight months! Later that day, when I was mulling over the information I'd given her about the life of a Rock Chuck in Wyoming, it seemed a lot funnier if I would have told her they took a bus to Arizona in the winter:)
Spring after spring and year after year I'd try to get a good picture of the Marmots wrestling or dancing together; a behavior others have witnessed but never photographed. It looks like they're wrestling but it seems more fun to think of them as dancing. Young and old alike participate in this "dancing" and it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with dominance behavior.
I've witnessed uncounted times in the green field, two rock chucks doing a wrestle/dance together. Different ages, different sexes and different sizes, they all do this slightly wild dance. It sometimes seems a little violent but there is never any blood, just this wild dance number without a tune. It's intimate to be sure and nigh impossible to photograph because it is always too far away and it's all happening to a quick beat. But this all changed with the monster Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens; now I could peek in on them with out being in the way.
Hiding behind some wild roses last week gave me the chance to try once again to image these cute, little ground squirrels doing their morning dance. If you've ever been to a big city dance club, it looks like that; violent but isn't really; they're just having fun. The "Tamzooka" was hand held, because that's the way I like to work, besides, it's just a good workout.
The lens was zoomed in at 450mm, 1/640th @ f/6.3, ISO 400. Tamron's image stabilization worked flawlessly and helped me concentrate on my models dancing instead of the image dancing in my viewfinder. For those who think IS is just for low-light situations, it isn't....it is very helpful when you are studying just such a wildlife situation with a telephoto lens; it holds the image still so you can concentrate your mind on the animal's behavior instead of the wobble in the viewfinder.
One final bit of information about these cute, ground squirrels; their lifespan is fifteen years. They dig giant holes in the ground near boulders for protection from predators, and will try and eat the veggies you're growing in your garden; now, if I can only keep them from digging huge holes in MY yard!!
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog direct from Wyoming. Until next time, keep your camera ready.
All photographs, images, and wildlife stories are produced by Michael John Balog and Hogbats Photography and are protected by copyrights known throughout the galaxy.
MjB
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The finches have just started to sing their songs, and bird migration into the canyon hasn't yet started. The snow is mostly gone except for those hidden, northern hills where the sun cannot reach; every night everything freezes. As I write this Wind River Canyon Blog it's mid-60's with a mind blowing blue sky this afternoon. All this great Wyoming spring weather has given me time to work-out with (test) my new zoom lens.
Just in time for this warm Rocky Mountain weather came a certified-refurbished Tamron SP150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 zoom lens....and I'm only going to write that long name down this once! The price was great even if the warranty wasn't; such is the life of the starving artist. It's honestly a real thrill to have a monster lens like this in my old, arthritic hands. At one time a lens like this would have been unimaginable, or rather, just a dream.
This super-zoom Tamron seemed real heavy at first in the field; the lens itself weighs nearly four and a half pounds! After several weeks of daily use it all seems somehow lighter now. Does this mean I'm getting stronger, or am I just getting used to carrying this tech-log around the canyon? In any case, it slowly became easier. Bottom line----used correctly, in steady hands this monster lens is a modern marvel, but it does take a commitment.
This first picture is of one of my favorite wildlife models. He is a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that I've known and photographed since he was an ugly, brown raptor. He was photographed on the morning of March 16th @ 1/1600, f/8, ISO 400.
The eagle was photographed on a tripod, which is highly recommended with the Tamron 150-600mm lens. The zoom was locked in at 500mm, which is a great feature. He is a real beauty!!
This next bird picture was imaged last Wednesday afternoon and was hand-held @ 400mm, 1/1000th, f/7.1, ISO 400 and is one of our favorite birds that reside all year long in the Wind River Canyon, a Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi), the most northern of the mountain-forest thrushes. They eat juniper-berries in the winter here in the canyon, and can hover when they are feeding on their favorite food....flying bugs! This photo is crazy sharp thanks to the new Tamron.
As I wrote in my last blog, this Tamron is a heavy beast of a lens for the casual user, but a real magic trick of technology that at one time would have seemed impossible at any price, let alone the low price I paid. And as summer very slowly approaches, I will practice every day in anticipation of my very favorite time of the year....hummingbird season!
Thank you for reading about the wildlife and photography from the Wind River Canyon in wonderful Wyoming. All content of Wind River Canyon Blog and HogbatsPhotography.com are protected under copyright and is produced by Michael John Balog.
We could use some snow!
MjB
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After the amazingly lucky incident with the Bobcat here in the canyon last month, I knew that it was time to acquire one of those new super-telephoto zooms. Six months of research and guy-drooling led me to the one lens that was a cutting edge design, but affordable. The big prime white lenses from Canon cost as much as a late-model car (example - 600mm f/4 = $12,999.00). A week and a half ago I received a Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC G2----a real mouthful and a handful. I settled for a certified refurbished that was just over 1K; a real bargain.
With a half-century of experience, I can truly say that this new hyper-telephoto lens is a 21st century marvel; it is also a real commitment. This is not a lens for the casual photographer, as online reviews show quite clearly. It is very heavy compared to anything the weekender would need or want to carry around. At 500 and 600 millimeter it is a magical beast that will wear-out the arms of anyone but a muscle-boy. My shoulders were pleasingly sore after the first afternoon; I already feel my muscles getting stronger.
I opened the boxes at my doctors office and went outside to test the lens for a few minutes on a dog and some buildings. After some intense acupuncture I headed home to my cabin in the Wind River Canyon. A male Red-tailed Hawk adult was on an electric pole and took flight when I exited the truck. The underside of their wings are unusually beautiful and the photograph below is from that shoot; I had the new lens in my hands less than 10 minutes! The zoom setting was maxed out at 600mm----1/1250, F/6.3 and ISO400.
It's the time of the year when raptors are defending territories. A Red-tailed Hawk has been terrorizing small game in my section of the canyon and rebuilding the nest up on the "cliffs near the clouds." Needing to keep "an eye peeled" at all times isn't convenient but does reap rewards. Doing most of my photography handheld means exercising my arms and shoulders with the Tamron. Keep in mind that the lens gets longer like Pinocchio's nose when you zoom higher!
Yesterday morning he was hunting voles near the cabin, so I quietly ran out a backdoor to a juniper that I knew from experience would hide me till I took my shots. I slid left and let the camera do it's thing. RAPTOR SECRET #2 ---- birds of prey always do "number 2" before they take flight! The best frame is below and shows him in-flight. For those tech-geeks, the vignettes were added by me in Lightroom and is not present in the RAW files. Lens was set at 500mm, 1/1250, F/11, and ISO 400.
Taking wildlife pictures in Wyoming can be a challenge; everything you want to photograph is a mile away! The new Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC G2 lens is terrific and a delight to use. The features and sharpness are professional and will come in handy here in the Wind River Canyon. And I can feel my biceps getting stronger every day!
The Wind River Canyon Blog and all the photographs on HogbatsPhotography.com are produced by Michael John Balog and are protected by international copyright laws.
To see Wyoming Hummingbirds photographed in the Wind River Canyon just hit this link to visit my gallery of hummingbirds on my website----Hummingbirds----you will see things you've never seen before....I promise.
Thank you for your time.
MjB
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Glancing at the clock, I walked over to the door and took a look. The gauge looked fine and plunked back down into the couch and told him he probably could try starting his truck. When he finally came back inside he just stood there for a moment; I asked him, "Did it start-up?" My friend said yes, and that he was going to take his dog for a ride. I hadn't been out of the cabin in days, except to blow the snow out of the driveway, so I bummed a ride with his black-dog that has no tail!
Grabbing my favorite lens we headed south, which is up-river in the Wind River Canyon. It was late-afternoon but portions of the canyon were already in shadow, this being the dead of winter.
As he drove through the three tunnels and past the camping area, I saw a large mammal with a fuzzy tail on the other side of the Wind River; it was hunting! I photographed a coyote a few days earlier across the river from the cabin. My assumption at that particular moment was really, really wrong; it was not a coyote!
When the lens snapped to focus, I realized just as fast that I had serendipity on my side again; this was a big, male Bobcat!! He was hunting voles in the deep snow as the sun was threatening to disappear behind the canyon's rim. Boy, did I ever luck out! In nearly twenty years living in the canyon I had never seen a Bobcat; less than five minutes and sixty frames later it was all over, way too soon.
I cannot afford one of those giant, crazy-expensive super-telephoto lenses, and I just hoped my 70-200mm f/4L Canon with the 1.4 extender would be enough to document such an amazing wildcat. I knew that there was a lot of computer work ahead of me, one way or the other.
Bobcat in The Wind River CanyonBobcat photographed in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
A Bobcat (Lynx rufus) is one really big kitty. The largest wild Bobcat weighed in at an astounding 49 pounds, with unsubstantiated reports of 60 pounds! They are 4 feet from head to the base of their stubby-tail, and usually hunt during twilight. This male is just over two feet at the shoulder. The oldest wild Bobcat lived 16 years, and a zoo-captive lived twice that; which goes to show how difficult living in the wild can be for wildlife. A Bobcat has large retractable claws and have been known to take down prey as large as a deer!
As I got back into my friend's truck I told him, "That was stupid lucky to see a Bobcat like that in the canyon!" He said, "Like hitting the lottery?" I told him quietly, just over the storm of the engine, "Yea, like that...."
All wildlife stories and photographs in the Wind River Canyon Blog and my website HogbatsPhotography.com are produced by Michael John Balog and are protected by copyright laws observed throughout this galaxy!!!
Thank you for reading my blog about photographing wildlife in the Wind River Canyon in the wilds of the state of Wyoming.
MjB
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When you live in the mountains it's best to keep a pair of binoculars near every window, and I grabbed the ancient-monster pair of 10 by 50's on the speaker. He was a long way away, but it was definitely not a Red-tailed Hawk; this one seemed bigger. I didn't recognize the species of this raptor, but it was now hunting in our stretch of the canyon.
Over the next week I spotted this raptor several times a day here in the Wind River Canyon, but seldom did it come hunting close enough for my meager lens. At the moment I'm still shopping for an affordable lens with a long reach, so I loaded up the best thing I have available; an L-series 70-200mm Canon with a 1.4 III extender. It doesn't have the reach but it does have great sharpness....it'll have to do I told myself.
I had a handful of photographic opportunities over the week of it's presence here, but identifying the species of this hawk turned out to be as difficult as photographing him. I had several great shots in which to i.d. this raptor; it was a late-stage juvenile, Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus).
This particular image is one that illustrates how raptors have adapted. It's more interesting than the usual in-flight photo, which I also took during his time here in the canyon. This is a large bird with a wingspan over 4 and a half feet! It seemingly hovers when hunting the voles that live all through the canyon. This hawk showed almost as much patience hunting for his food as I did hunting for a picture.
About a week of observing this raptor hunting our area of the Wind River Canyon and I noted one afternoon this hawk had moved on. No raptor has ever stayed and hunted this stretch of the canyon for very long; it's not for lack of small game, that's for sure! It seems to me that if you can fly on such wings, you should travel far.
As a side-note....early this week, from this same window, I watched a female Bighorn Sheep moseying down the Wind River, eating and drinking along her way as she moved north in the Wind River Canyon.
This Wind River Canyon Blog is produced by Michael John Balog and all rights are reserved, as are all of the wildlife photographs & true wildlife stories on my website-----HogbatsPhotography.com
Thank you for your valuable time.
MjB
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The above weather report is a definition of the hearty birds that reside in my ecological niche of Wyoming, specifically the Wind River Canyon. Sure, we do get scary storms driven by mountain winds that can kill, or you could go snow-blind without your sunglasses. And trust me when I say that frostbite hurts like hell itself. Camera batteries quit, lenses frost over, and the color of my fingertips became an odd shade of blue!
The most surprising bird that spends winters in the canyon is our American Robin (Turdus migratorius). I couldn't possibly have come up with a funnier Latin-name! They spend the winter here because of the easy food source; millions of juniper berries. One winter afternoon I had one that allowed me to get stupid close; it's a favorite photograph of mine.
American Robin/Portrait ~ Wind River CanyonPortrait of an American Robin-Photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
One of my favorite Wyoming winter birds is the Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi), because their whistle and song can be heard all winter long. Their winter food source is the same as the robin; juniper berries. In warm months they catch bugs in mid-air. They also can hover in mid-air while snatching flying bugs or snagging a juniper berry. While it's only for a few seconds at best, it really is a sight to see; and so far impossible for me to photograph. The photograph below was taken right after a blizzard swept through the Wind River Canyon.
Townsend's Solitaire-Wind River Canyon-WYTownsend's Solitaire with Juniper Berry in Wyoming.
Several finch species spend all year in the canyon
Cassin's Finch, Male in Bloom, Wind River Canyon, WyomingCassin's Finch, Male in Bloom this Spring, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
eating sunflower seeds from my bird feeders, but in winter they are surprisingly dull in appearance. The House Finch, Cassin's Finch, and American Goldfinch are regulars at my bird feeders. In springtime the male's plumage blooms, but in winter they make boring models. Here is a male Cassin's Finch in full spring bloom.
I purchased a clear-plastic bird feeder that attaches to a window with suction-cups. For months there was no interest in it at all, no matter what I put in it. As the weather turned to snow several of the finches now use it as their breakfast spot, and we have our coffee two feet away; they've learned not to fear us.
One day after an especially nasty blizzard a bird showed up that even I had never seen before in the Wind River Canyon----a Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra). I ended up on my belly in the snow mere feet away, so close that a portrait of him was now easily possible. I had never seen one before and have never seen one since.
Red Crossbill_A Portrait, Wind River CanyonRed Crossbill portrait photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
In winter, Canadian Geese (Branta canadensis) can be seen from the windows of my cabin overlooking the Wind River. They are a common bird and seen nation-wide, so an uncommon bird-photo seems appropriate. I had in mind the work of a popular woman artist, and this was the real challenge; work the software accordingly.
Canadian Geese, In Flight-Wind River Canyon,WyomingCanadian Geese in flight in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
My favorite winter bird is the famously brave Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli). They don't seem to be afraid of much, and sit impatiently nearby as I refill their feeder, calling to me to hurry up; everyone loves a chickadee. When I'm bored, cold and lonely it's great to spend time with them----it's better than a cup of coffee.
Mountain Chickadee - Wind River Canyon, WyomingMountain Chickadee in the Snow-Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
On a winter's day, if you are sneaky, you may be able to catch a glimpse of a bird digging a hole in a tree or maybe even in the ground. They are in the woodpecker family, a family of birds that may be seen in Wyoming and the canyon. Woodpeckers are not in the abundance they once were, mainly due to loss-of-habitat. The species that I've seen and gotten to photograph in the Wind River Canyon are the Red-shafted Flicker (Colaptes auratus), the Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus), and my personal little favorite the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens). If you listen closely and are very lucky, it's possible to hear them hammering away at a tree in the Wind River Canyon.
Northern Flicker, Red-Shafted - Wind River Canyon, WyomingNorthern "Red-shafted" Flicker photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Hairy Woodpecker, Mother & Son-Wind River Canyon,WyomingHairy Woodpeckers in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Downy Woodpecker (m), Wind River Canyon, WyomingA beautiful male Downy Woodpecker in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
I've never really attempted to photograph ducks in the canyon, due to cost considerations of giant lenses, and honestly a lack of interest on my part. But this all adds up to a yearly winter's obsession of mine; trying to photograph Bald Eagles in the Wind River Canyon. While they don't nest in the canyon, they do hunt for fish up and down the Wind River; and this is the challenge. They sometimes fly right over my house, yet try and find one when you want one, which is the real trick in photographing Bald Eagles in the canyon. Keep an eye open at all times, and hope luck is on your side; and it won't be. Here are a few Bald Eagle photographs that are favorites.
Bald Eagle, Wind River Canyon, WyomingBald Eagle in-Flight photographed in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Bald Eagle, Wind River Canyon, WyomingBald Eagle in The Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Bald Eagle, Valentine's Day, Wind River Canyon, WyomingBald Eagle photographed in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming, by Michael John Balog - HogbatsPhotography.com
One winter we had a rare-bird show up and he spent the entire winter with us. He was really out of his usual territory, and it surprised the daylights out of us. Every day we would look forward to seeing him at our feeders. Anything blue in the winter is exciting, except those fingertips. It was a beautiful specimen of a Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri).
Steller's Jay-Wind River Canyon, WyomingSteller's Jay photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Some winters we see them, some winters we don't, and we don't know why. They're small and cute and fun to photograph. They really like the suet blocks I get for the birds, and they are not much bigger than my real obsession, hummingbirds. I'm blogging now about the adorable Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), we also have the White-breasted Nuthatch, but I have never seen one in the winter. They are known as the "upside-down bird" for a reason; they are acrobats on the pines, running up and down the branches and trunks.
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Wind River CanyonRed-breasted Nuthatch male in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Red-breasted Nuthatch-"October Morning"-Wind River Canyon, WyomingRed-breasted Nuthatch trying to keep warm on a cold morning in October, photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
This isn't every winter wild bird I've ever seen in the Wind River Canyon, and I probably skipped over somebody in this Wind River Canyon Blog. I enjoy winter here in the canyon; it's amazingly beautiful, but eventually it's always nice when spring finally arrives!
All photographs and wildlife stories are produced by Michael John Balog and all copyrights belong to the artist. Visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com for more images of wild birds, Bighorn Sheep and hummingbirds all photographed in Wyoming and the magical Wind River Canyon.
Thank you for your valuable time!
MjB
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It has been a decade since I'd first heard rumors about an albino Bighorn Sheep in and around the Wind River Canyon where I live. While photographing Bighorn Sheep one afternoon, a retired game warden, who had been involved with their reintroduction in 1995, said he'd heard about one that had been born nearby. He wondered if I'd seen this albino Bighorn Sheep....I hadn't. Then one day, there he was with the other Rams he ran with!
This group of Rams came and went with the wind, and if I searched for them they seemed invisible. I like to tell people that, "You don't find Bighorn Sheep in the Wind River Canyon, they find you!" When they would make an appearance I'd dash out the door with a camera of some kind, and spend as much time as I was able----it was a crazy thrill!
In the middle-of-the-night, after an especially exciting cession with this albino Ram, I had a dream. It was so vivid that it still haunts me to this very day. This Albino Bighorn Sheep was to be called "Snowflake." I went to visit a wise Shoshone Indian I knew for answers.
This American Indian listened to my dream and saw the photographs I'd already taken of this very rare Bighorn Ram. His sage advice was indeed wise, he said to me, "Don't question this gift and where it came from; accept this dream as a gift." This Albino Bighorn Sheep was known thereafter as "Snowflake."
One day I received an email from an acquaintance, and I knew from the link what it was. A well know Wyoming newspaper had a photo of the woman that shot and killed Snowflake, his bloody body draped across her lap! I didn't take the news very well; I cried like a child. I'd spent more time with this Albino Bighorn Sheep and his friends then I'd spent with some family members. And now he was dead, and I had the only professional photographs ever taken of Snowflake the Albino Bighorn Sheep.
It has been just over three years since Snowflake was hunted down. I still don't understand how a person could kill a Unicorn. This is the only Albino Bighorn Sheep (take notice of his pink nose and hooves) any of us will ever see in our lives. It was a very rare privilege to have spent so much time with such a unique wild animal.
All photographs and wildlife stories are produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming, and are protected under international copyright laws.
For more wildlife stories from the state of Wyoming-----visit Wind River Canyon Blog or my website HogbatsPhotography.com.
*Thank you for indulging me with your time.
MjB
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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the magical Wind River Canyon.
Thank You to everyone that visited my website in 2017!!
The music you hear during the Hummingbird Slideshow is "Under the Mistletoe"
*Click on this link to visit Hogbats Photography in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming!
*Click on this link to read my Wind River Canyon Blog.
All photography and wildlife stories are written and produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon, and all rights are protected by international copyright laws.
Thank You!
MjB
*The Wind River Canyon Blog will return right after a very Happy New Year!
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I knew what the little bird was right away. But my photographing this species a thousand times didn't help this poor, little guy. This bird-in-distress was a Red-breasted Nuthatch; a cute little bird species. Running out the front door and heading down the steps I witnessed something even I had never seen----another Nuthatch flew down and landed close to his injured "friend." It was just a moment, but the reaction from the other bird is was one that seemed to indicate the advanced trait of empathy....maybe he was just worried.
Kneeling down, I picked up this little male and gave him the "Woodsman's Once Over" and his beak was perfect, and his eyes undamaged; a birds' eye often times will sustain an injury and will even swell-up shut: His eyes were clear and fine. He seemed a little loopy, but his neck was not broken; the usual cause of death from smacking into a window.
Holding this Red-breasted Nuthatch in my hand was a real treat, but the circumstances surrounding this first meeting could have been a bit better for him. Nonetheless, I whistled to him and enjoyed our first "talk." After too short a time I placed him on a nearby boulder and raced into the house for a camera.
What surprised me the most from the resulting photo-shoot was how much he hated the click of my Canon. Most birds and wildlife tend to ignore the sound, or barely take notice, but this male Nuthatch just hated it! I took my time, and all too soon our time was up; he had to go....and I knew it.
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Wind River CanyonRed-breasted Nuthatch male in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
The first thing you'll notice are the size of his feet! Red-breasted Nuthatches spend most of their life running up and down trees....upside down. They are a quickly moving, acrobatic little bird and rather difficult to image well, so this was a real treat of a shoot. The darker "red" color is indicative of the male; the blue-grey is not over-saturated. They eat bugs, seeds, my sunflower seeds, and they just love a suet block (available anywhere birdseed is sold).
Speaking of suet blocks, I put mine in a plastic-coated wire cage that are relatively cheap and come with a small chain for hanging them up. Our Wind River Canyon raccoons took a liking to the suet blocks! One morning I found ours on the ground and empty! The small chain had bent from the weight of the fat raccoon, so I reloaded another block and bent the chain back. I figured everything would be just fine. The next morning the chain was still attached to the tree....but the new suet block and cage holding it were long gone! A long search didn't help.
After buying a new cage for another suet block, I engineered it a little differently. I mounted it upside down to the tree by screws after removing the soft-metal chain. Now I could hang on it and the suet cage would stay put! Several weeks later the suet block cage is still on the old, dead tree where the bird feeder is also hung, and I locked it closed with a small climbing link. The claw marks from the raccoons on the tree trunk are very funny. And yes, they have knocked down the bird feeder, too.
Back to the Nuthatch wildlife story....they were first named in 1766 by Carl Linnaeus, and are small at 4.5 inches from "head to tail." They weigh just a third of an ounce! About the size of a very, very, fat hummingbird. But the real story is the close-up I wanted to capture of the feather structure of his wings. I worked the digital file like an art project, as I do most everything now. The result was so cool I uploaded it to my website----www.HogbatsPhotography.com.
Detail of Red-breasted Nuthatch, Wind River CanyonClose-up detail of the feathers of a Red-breasted Nuthatch, Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
All too soon it was apparent it was time for him to leave. I took the camera from my eye, and watched him fly. I stood there for a moment in thought, then turned and went inside to finish my writing.
*Thank you for reading the Wind River Canyon Blog. All rights to the story and the photographs are protected under international copyright laws and created by Michael John Balog and Hogbats Photography.
MjB
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Wyoming, Wind River Canyon, Chimney RockChimney Rock in beautiful Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
I saw the Wind River Canyon, for the first time, in my fourteenth year. Coming from the suburbs of Cleveland, "The Heart of Rock & Roll," it was like moving to the Moon. The old-folks thought if the kids couldn't hear or buy rock music they could all be brainwashed; it didn't work, of course. Late at night there was a radio-station in Oklahoma that jacked-up the power and played searing rock: I would fall asleep with a radio under my pillow!
Wyoming is a different place entirely, and that may be my best description. The air is clean and the people are friendly in a way that can be disarming to travelers. An editor at the Cody newspaper once asked me, "Why are people so friendly in Wyoming?" I told him, "It's the altitude....lack of oxygen to the brain." We both had a good laugh.
There's a freedom to the air, a freedom to the open-spaces, and the mountains free your heart like few places in this country. Mother Nature isn't just on display in Wyoming, she lives out here somewhere. All you have to do to find her is to spend some time in the high-country; mountain air cleans out all the stressful crap of the 21st century.
Wind River Canyon Landscape with Tepees, WyomingThe Tepees in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
From that late-day in July so many years ago, I knew that someday I wanted to live in the Wind River Canyon. It was even written in a book I have...."The Wind River Canyon is a magical place." And truly it is quite special. The weather can change dramatically, and I mean dramatically.
It has been unseasonably warm for late-November and early-December, yet it has snowed three times this fall in the canyon. We've seen 35-below zero in the canyon, with winds that could run you over, but today we could see temps near 60. Next week my tongue could freeze to the fence-post, or I could get a sunburn, but what my tongue would be..........
Early in the morning the cliffs are painted with gold, the air whispers the scent of juniper, and the creek sings it's tunes just beyond my backdoor. I've photographed and cataloged more than 110 species of birds in the Wind River Canyon, and stupid-lucky enough to have spent lots of time with Bighorn Sheep: Including the rarest of the rare, an Albino Bighorn Sheep named "Snowflake."
Rufous Hummingbird, Wind River Canyon,Wyoming - 1st Place - 48th Cody Art ShowHummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming, 1st Place-48th Cody Art Show.
I've watched the Aurora wash across the canyon's dark sky; the Moon in eclipse framed by the cliffs, and this summer's fabulous, total solar eclipse. The mountains of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, the great Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula and too many deep-sky objects to name individually have all been seen from these darkest of skies. And yet the tiny hummingbirds that come to nest in the Wind River Canyon every summer are my real favorites to photograph.
*Hummingbirds are not my interest, they are my obsession.
When I'm not feeling well and my colitis is flaring up, there's a special place down by the creek----my favorite spot on planet Earth, that seems to make me better. The spring water brings life not only to the canyon, but to me. This spot makes me feel better no matter what the cause, and I've witnessed many wonderful things while sitting by the rushing waters.
Big stags were seen relaxing in my front yard this fall, and raccoons, ermine, owls and many creepy, crawlies are seen often. Bald Eagles fly over my cabin and I've heard the cry of the Golden Eagle echoing here. Life is abundant in the Wind River Canyon.
Wind River Canyon Landscape - Monochrome with TrainMonochrome Landscape of Wind River Canyon with Train, Wyoming.
The sound of the trains rumbling through the canyon makes me smile, a love I got from staying with Nana and Gramps as a child in Ohio. The sound of an owl hooting at 3 o'clock in the morning is amazing. The sound of a hummingbird gets my heart to racing. The sound of thunder echoing back and forth in the canyon should be witnessed, but right now it's as quiet as the field mice I see at night.
Chipmunk, Wind River Canyon, WyomingPhotographic Portrait of a Chipmunk in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
As I've been known to say, "The Wind River Canyon is a dynamic place to live." Landslides, slippery roads, "Chief falling rock", blizzards, dumb drivers, no mail, 103 degrees or below zero, it all makes the canyon an interesting place to live. If the day's news gets you down, as it always will, go for a walk in the canyon. Clear your mind of troubles, and you will find Mother Nature at your side....or a chipmunk!
Don't for a moment think I'm rich, the land values around here are low----and I'm not rich. It's difficult to make a great living when you live out here, in the "middle-of-nowhere." But I get paid in ways few can ever really understand, my images just hint at this. Nature will change your life, just give her a chance.
All images and stories are the property of Michael John Balog and Hogbats Photography and are protected by international copyright laws, such as they are.
Visit my website, www.HogbatsPhotography.com for many more wonderful wildlife and nature photographs from the Wind River Canyon and Wyoming.
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
MjB
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Wild Turkeys, Wind River Canyon, WyomingWild Turkeys In My Yard, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Everyone has heard about the elusiveness and intelligence of the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), and it's common knowledge that Ben Franklin admired this unfortunately tasty wild bird. I've met many hunters that have never even got a shot off at one, or saw one for that matter. Yet on a warm day in April in the Wind River Canyon, several years ago, these two showed up in my backyard here in the canyon.
I wasn't just surprised, I was startled; Wild Turkeys had never been seen in the Wind River Canyon in the last half century, or so I was told. I have a lot of respect for the Wild Turkey: I had a knockdown fight with a huge, male Wild Turkey a year earlier that left nasty, red welts on my chest! These two monsters in my yard did scare me a bit....so, I was admittedly cautious at first.
With any wild animal it's important to know all there is about your prey; like to stay far away from wildlife that can eat you! Eventually, going out the front door seemed like a good solution. They could see me coming from quite a distance, and I would have lots of cement to run-off in my Nike's. But my very first meeting didn't turn out that way. These two Wild Turkeys were friendly towards me....weirdly so. We quickly became fast friends.
Wild Turkey, "The Big Show" - Wind River Canyon, WyomingWild Turkey strutting his stuff this Spring in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
These two led a charmed life that summer; traffic would stop as they crossed the road in the morning, and me with my heart in my throat watching from a window! A big cup of sunflower seeds shaken, and my "famous" double whistle, and they would literally come running up the driveway. We went through this feeding ritual twice every day, with me sitting right next to them.
One very memorable July evening, we barbecued two Buffalo fillets, and our two Wild Turkeys ate their dinner right next to the picnic table where we were having ours. It was a crazy, exciting summer's evening.
One of my favorite things to photograph are portraits of birds. Some birds cooperate, some will never, ever; so you use sneaky tactics, like hide yourself. With these two it wasn't even a challenge, it was more like photographing well behaved children. I made the most out of the sharpness and color; to make my model really shine!
Wild Turkey, "Portrait of Tom"-Wind River Canyon, WyomingPortrait of a Wild Turkey, Photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
One afternoon I thought it would be cool if I could capture a wildlife photograph that was the "essence of attitude." You know, the tough side of my friends, the Wild Turkeys. There were moments throughout the summer when it was obvious they needed time alone, and that was the pose I wanted----that look. Keep the image-stabilization on and concentrate on the expression of your subject, be it child or wild animal. As it turns out, again, it wasn't all that difficult; I was sitting four feet away!
It's true that all good things come to an end, and I knew that these two were going to have to leave the Wind River Canyon for safer winter lands. We were left with wonderful memories of two of the most amazing wild creatures on this planet; like the afternoon a male Rufous Hummingbird and a Wild Turkey met for the very first time in wildlife history!
As the hummingbird buzzed from above the outstretched neck of the Wild Turkey, they stared at each other. No Wild Turkey had ever been this close to a hummingbird, and I am sure that no Rufous Hummingbird had ever seen a Wild Turkey! My jaw dropped as I watched these two crazy, different birds look each other over. What were they thinking? They're both birds, but one weighs as much as a nickel, and the other could feed an entire family for a week!
My wife talked about how she hoped they would return to the Wind River Canyon to visit us, but we never saw them again. A semi-truck insanely plowed through a large flock of Wild Turkeys that winter on the far-western side of Hot Springs County, killing many, many birds. To this very day it's hard to forget "The Summer I Spent with the Wild Turkeys."
Wind River Canyon Blog and photographs are produced by Michael John Balog and all rights are summarily reserved, or so it may seem.
*Thank you for your time. And yes, I still like a good Turkey sandwich.
MjB
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A quick blizzard came blasting through the Wind River Canyon last Thursday morning, it was quick and cold with hurricane force winds to accompany the snow. It really didn't leave all that much snow, but as these kinds of storms always do, it drove migrating wildlife down into the relative safety of the canyon.
The Wind River Canyon in central Wyoming runs north-south. Birds often use the canyon as a "rest-stop" on their migration, so we sometimes see birds that probably shouldn't even be here at all! Also, some species are expanding their territories. This is usually because they are thriving and flourishing, or loss of their historical habitat forces them to "adopt" newer lands to breed and feed. Sometimes we can't even figure out what a bird is doing here at all, or how they got here.
As the storm made a fast, cold and windy exit late Thursday morning, I noticed a flash of blue out of the corner-of-my-eye. We don't have birds that are royal-blue in the Wind River Canyon this time of the year. Now, here is a reason to get my butt off the sofa! What was that?
I didn't have to wait long at all for the answer. It was a bird that has never been seen in the Wind River Canyon before! I couldn't believe my luck....I haven't seen a Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) since my childhood growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio! Everything I read, and all of the literature and maps showed that Blue Jays shouldn't be this far west. I did find professorial information that stated that Blue Jays are moving westward....guess they are, or at least these two tried. They are still here Saturday afternoon as I write this week's Wind River Canyon Blog.
Blue Jay in Wind River CanyonThe first Blue Jay ever photographed in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
I spent all day yesterday photographing these spectacular Blue Jays from one of my favorite hides. After ending up with over 100 good image files and three long and cold sessions, I was going to have my hands full in post-production. Just like photographing a human model, I had so many dozens of poses....how do I choose just one?
*This is a question all photographers face at one time or another----which is the best image, and how do I pick just one? The structure of the image itself eliminates many of the pictures; is the pose right? Do other elements in your photo add or subtract from your subject? Can I chop them out? Rule-of-thirds? Can I cut or splice the image into what my mind would like to envision? Is there a catch-light in the eyes of my model? This is a most important artistic element and lends life to your subject. Is the lighting right? Is the color right, or can I fix it in post? Is the face and eyes sharper than sharp? Nobody likes a blurry anything. Does your model look alive? Does the picture stop and make you look? Will others like my picture? Will others like my picture.......
After the first million times, these decisions about your photographs don't get any easier; the questions just get a little easier to ask. Did I make the right artistic choices? Will you? I find that never being satisfied helps, but this too seems a little nuts at times. Wildlife photography started being an "art-project" a long time ago for me; it's also a huge learning experience that I really enjoy. This has all brought me much closer to my understanding and acceptance of the way Mother Nature really works; it's not a mystery....it's a beautiful thing.
All content in the Wind River Canyon Blog, including the story and images, are protected under international copyright laws and was created by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon.
For many more photographs of beautiful birds and wildlife imaged in the Wind River Canyon ecosystem, visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com.
Thank you for your support!
MjB
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When you live in the wilds of Wyoming, you can let your yard "go wild" and not feel too guilty about it; it does have many advantages. My back feels all the better for it, and on my fabulously, great smelling milkweed we get Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus).
Up until last Wednesday I'd never found a chrysalis: I'd looked for them in vain over the years. When I wasn't searching for anything in particular to photograph on such a warm fall day....there was a chrysalis hidden under a golden milkweed leaf!
This was an opportunity too good to pass up, and now I could shoot video of a Monarch born in the Wind River Canyon. While photographing the chrysalis, a juvenile American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) was making it clear he wanted attention, or at least it seemed that way at the time. The creek is only ten feet away from where the chrysalis was, and he was making a racket! I had my boots on, so I hopped into the icy creek and got the best pictures ever of a Dipper.
On Thursday, I checked up on the chrysalis and nothing seemed to be happening, so I started work on the chrysalis and Dipper photos. Wow, what a beautiful, warm day in the Wind River Canyon! Maybe I should check on the chrysalis....all too late. She, and it is a female, was already out of her confinement. I ran up from the creek to get the camcorder, shot some scenes, then ran back up to the cabin to get my "finger pinching" antique tripod.
Ending with over forty 4K shots after the Sun disappeared over the rim of the canyon, it was getting cold and fast. I left the Monarch where she was for the night. In the morning the butterfly was right where I'd left her. She was getting her stout wings ready for the long migration south, which could cover "thousands of miles!" I wanted one more photo....just my beautiful, Monarch butterfly with her wings spread.
Wind River Canyon Monarch ButterflyA Monarch Butterfly just out of her chrysalis in the Wind River Canyon.
With over forty scenes shot in 4K video, the post-production editing was going to be a bigger job then I'd ever tackled before. It took me over six hours yesterday just to edit and compile the video! This one minute and four second "nature documentary" has twelve cuts. None of them over the ten second edit rule: Keep your edited scenes short and try and make a story out of them. Enjoy, I know I did.....the sound in the background is the cold, rushing creek.
Wind River Canyon Monarch ButterflyA Monarch Butterfly just emerged from her chrysalis in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Around noon my little Monarch butterfly left the creek-side on her amazing trip south. I wish her all the luck in the world. This morning, Saturday, October 14th a blizzard blew into the Wind River Canyon with a vengeance; as I write this Wind River Canyon Blog the skies are clear and blue again.
The canyon is a magical place, and this is just one more wildlife story among the many I have witnessed over the years. Yet, large corporations are inadvertently killing the milkweed these Monarch butterflies must have to survive. This isn't an argument.....it is a question.
Thank you for your valuable time.
All content in this Wind River Canyon Blog, including photographs, video, and story were produced by Michael John Balog and all rights are reserved.
MjB
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As I was going through some digital files from this summer, I came upon something quite unique and special. In two decades, I've never seen anything quite like this in the Wind River Canyon. I'd actually finished it and forgot it just as fast, in my usual rush to capture images of the breeding hummingbirds before they leave for their winter digs.
Orioles nest and breed right here in the middle of the Wind River Canyon every year, and I always enjoy the "hunt" with my camera. Bullock's Orioles (Icterus bullockii) are somewhat shy by nature, and not at all easy to photograph well. They relish the homemade nectar in my hummingbird feeders, and there are weeks that both orioles and hummingbirds compete at the same feeders. At times it can get a little weird around here. The orioles are much bigger, and the hummingbirds don't like it, but the competition doesn't last long.
Bullock's Orioles, The Twins (f)Two Bullock's Oriole females born in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
This forgotten image is of two young female Bullock's Orioles that were born right here in the canyon, not far from our cabin. The parents show the kids where they can get something to eat, and then head for points south, leaving the young birds to fend for themselves. These two sisters hung around together and I saw them many times, every day; competition usually keeps them apart and competing for food. In fact, this was the last day they came to their favorite feeder; the next day they left on their long migration.
To all the people who read my Wind River Canyon Blog....thank you!
All images and wildlife stories in the Wind River Canyon Blog and Hogbats Photography are produced by Michael John Balog and all rights are reserved.
Till next week, "Keep your camera ready!"
MjB
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In the nearly two decades that I've been photographing and studying the hummingbirds that migrate through or nest in the Wind River Canyon in central Wyoming, Summer 2017 was the longest "Hummingbird Season" by far. A written journal of such things was not my idea, but it was a very good one.
Ten years ago I didn't put out the hummingbird feeders till mid-June, and that's when we'd see the first hummingbirds. I started to put them out the first week of May when I realized that Bullock's Orioles wanted to use them long before my hummingbirds even arrived: Bullock's Orioles now nest nearby every year!
Hummingbirds started arriving early also, and subsequently each Spring they seemed to be here in the Wind River Canyon a little bit earlier. As in all of Wyoming everything is weather dependent, of course. As the weather starts to break I noticed we were getting more hummingbirds migrating through the canyon.
My first observation of a hummingbird in 2017 was on May 6th @ 6:15 p.m. It was no more than a glimpse; it was a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird! This was nearly two weeks earlier than previous sightings, but it was not the last. Even with the cold and wet Spring they were in the area. Snow in the high-country always forces birds down into the Wind River Canyon, and my hummingbird feeders now provide an excellent depot along their migratory route.
On the 19th of May @ 2:08 in the afternoon I observed the first of the Black-chinned Hummingbirds to arrive in the canyon. Males always arrive first to establish their territories, and this year was no different. Four days later I made notations on both male and female Broad-tailed and Black-chinned Hummingbirds; this was the earliest I have ever witnessed breeding hummers in the Wind River Canyon! I wrote, "I must be doing something right."
The rocket-like back and forth display of the male Black-chinned Hummingbird is an amazing thing to witness, and it happened right in front of my living room window on June 4th @ 7 p.m.
Historically, its been noted by myself and a few people in the town of Thermopolis, 12 miles away, that the Rufous and Calliope species of hummingbirds don't arrive till the first week of July, but this is no longer the case in the Wind River Canyon. The first Calliope Hummingbird, a male, was observed on the 14th of June! This is crazy early, but there was a time when the hummingbird feeders wouldn't have been put out yet. The first Rufous Hummingbird was noted in my journal on the 27th of June, and they have never been seen in the canyon this early....ever!
*My advice to hummingbird lovers everywhere is this----"Get your hummingbird feeders out early, much earlier than you think necessary." They may be migrating through your area and you don't even know it.
The photograph at the top of this Wind River Canyon Blog is a realization of a fantasy from my "bucket list." I never thought I'd ever even see a Broad-tailed Hummingbird in the Wind River Canyon! Imaging a male in-flight was more fantasy then any reality I could imagine, but on August 7th all things came into focus: The first photograph of a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird in-flight ever taken in the Wind River Canyon; maybe even Wyoming?
Learning through experience to leave the hummingbird feeders up and clean past Labor Day weekend, we would always see migrating hummers every day, but not for very long. This year we saw a young female Broad-tailed waiting for a cold, rainy storm to move through. We saw her every morning while having coffee, even when the temperature was only 40 degrees and there was snow on the rim of the Wind River Canyon! Last Wednesday the 27th of September she stopped by her favorite feeder for the last time....the weather had cleared.
In case you haven't read last week's Wind River Canyon Blog, the video below introduces the canyon and this cute, little hummingbird; all in cold, nasty Wyoming weather. You learn an awful lot when you live out in the wilds of Wyoming, if you're paying any attention at all. I've learned to put out the hummingbird feeders the last week of April, unless it's snowing down in the canyon! Leave them up late, later than you think....books say to leave up the hummingbird feeders two weeks after you see the last one. Please keep the sugar water clean, as things can grow in your homemade nectar in the hot sun. If you put in your time, you will be paid back a million times over, that's a promise from a "hummingbird fanatic."
*Below I included something new for the Wind River Canyon Blog....a slideshow of my Hummingbird Gallery from my Hogbats Photography website, all photographed in the Wind River Canyon.
All content of the Wind River Canyon Blog is created by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon, and all rights are reserved.
Thank you.
MjB
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Tuesday night at 11:30 I glanced out my bathroom window as I always do. Something dark in the tall, dry grass; I can't make out what it is. Grabbing the nearby binoculars, I see under the lights a huge, buck deer laying down and looking my direction; his antlers nearly filling my field of vision. He rises a few minutes later and meets up with his nearly identical double. And under the distant reach of my mercury light, I am treated to these two bucks jousting near midnight!
Watching these two bucks, now rivals, sparing in the canyon was an epic event I hope never to forget, but probably will as my hair continues to fall out.
This morning it was 40 degrees down here, and snowing up on the rim of the canyon. At 8:30 this foggy, cold morning over coffee we see a fat and healthy hummingbird (young female Broad-tailed) on the dining room nectar feeder! I leave them up to help out the late migrating hummers; but this late? It's bloody cold and we still are seeing hummingbirds, and have been.
I already had on my favorite flannel shirt, so after putting on a pair of wool fingerless gloves, I headed out into the cold with the camcorder on the finger-pinching tripod. I almost forgot to put on my old cowboy hat.
Moving as close as I've learned I can get away with young hummingbirds, I shot scene after scene as she ate breakfast and zoomed back and forth to her "favorite spot." After moving inside to warm up, I watched her zipping around this cold Wyoming canyon till she continued on her long, epic journey: Here is a little 30 second video of a foggy, cold September morning in the Wind River Canyon....and a hummingbird, too! Even to this day, mail is not delivered to the Wind River Canyon. Blizzards move in like a herd of wild horses, and the landslides/mudslides are still easily visible. But Bald Eagles and Hummingbirds share the same flight paths, and Bighorn Sheep were in my backyard two weeks ago! The Wind River Canyon is indeed a dynamic and magical place.
Till next time...."Keep your camera (and camcorder) ready!"
The Wind River Canyon Blog and all its contents are under copyright protection. This week's video and all contents of Hogbats Photography are the creation of Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Thank you.
MjB
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Without really looking I tried to put on a pair of shorts, and couldn't pull them up! I'd gotten both feet in the same leg hole in my haste. After yelling out a few chosen phrases, I rearranged the shorts and put on a "quiet" shirt (grey). Running down the hallway I grabbed my 4K camcorder and headed out a backdoor....quietly.
Hopping over the wall, and standing by a few juniper, I opened the EVF (electronic view finder) and started videoing the mother and daughter Bighorn Sheep. The little-one is a female that is three months old; they are born in June; latest of the hoofed wild animals in Wyoming. With my heart running a race and my breathing trying to keep up, it was difficult to keep the cam as steady as I wanted in telephoto; forgot to grab a tripod! I shot some more "footage" then ran back into the cabin to retrieve one.
Mental note----use a tripod with the camcorder when shooting something with the zoom lens in telephoto anything. The tripod is a 1960's iron finger pincher that someone gave me, but it works. Shooting as much as I could till the ewe and her baby decided it was time to leave, I bid them a fond adios. You will just love these two Bighorn.... As I've said before, "I know why movie editors get awards." It's a long, creative process that yields results; in this case 46 seconds of it. It was very hot for the first-half of September, so take note of the "heat waves." Also notice the yellow butterflies flying around.
Why this ewe decided to take her baby Bighorn down into my neighborhood is a mystery, as so many things that wildlife sometimes do. It's a thrill being able to video these amazing wild animals in the Wind River Canyon. I wish I could for the next thousand years....c'est la vie...."such is life."
For those that need to know, the 4K camcorder is a Sony FDR-AX53.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all of its contents are copyrighted and protected under international law and was created and produced by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Thank you for your time.
MjB
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Over a half century of playing with cameras I've worked in nearly every genre, and nothing moves with the speed of a single bird. Kids run around and yell, but they usually understand some sort of language; or a stuffed animal. Family portraits and weddings are notoriously
stressful, but they can be cooperative with a little help. Portraiture and landscapes just sit there and don't move much. But nothing challenges eye-hand coordination, and your sanity, quite like trying to image a bird in-flight.
My favorite birds to photograph are the hummingbirds, as anyone who has seen my website can attest----HogbatsPhotography.com. But there is nothing like getting a great image of a raptor, especially in-flight. Their power and grace are unmatched in nature: Just look at history to see how many nations have used raptors as symbols of their power and influence. Just finding a raptor can be a real challenge, which of course is your first challenge.
Finding a raptor may be your first problem, some others seem obvious. A camera that can shoot many frames-per-second is unfortunately a lot of help. That twelve thousand dollar telephoto lens I fantasize about is not really necessary, and I do with a lot, lot less. The pictures in this week's Wind River Canyon Blog were taken with a Canon 300mm f/4 L-series that was purchased used, and has since quit working after years of use. What was the name of that repair service?
A shutter speed of 1/1250th was used for these Red-tailed Hawk photos; faster is always better with birds....or running children. The exposure should be on the raptor, as all else is unimportant to you at that moment. Secret Tip #1----raptors almost always poop before they take flight! Hey, lighter is better when you gotta fly.
Personally I never use a tripod in these circumstances, as I find they just hinder my ability to "get the shot." My preference is the old-west sheriff's way; just be a good shot. This kind of eye-hand coordination takes practice. So practice on anything that moves....a flower in the wind, that bee, that butterfly, a moving car, a running child; anything that moves can be good practice. This will also make you a much better photographer. And holding up that telephoto lens will give your muscles a workout!
Every teacher of photography wants you to shoot his way. I'm here to tell you that what works for you is the correct way. Image-stabilization is something I use every day here in the Wind River Canyon. I find that holding down the shutter button half way helps me concentrate on my subject, be it bird or kid; it's also faster to the shot. Yet, shooting hummingbirds in-flight it is nearly useless!
As for software, I suggest first using the manufacturers software that came with your camera, as it is made for their RAW files; always shoot RAW....it's much easier to manipulate your images that way. Don't be afraid to cutout the parts of the picture you don't like: Too much sky....cut it out, too much of that tree....cut it out. Make your images great. I prefer Adobe Lightroom for post-production, your preferences may vary. Make Your Work Art!
Practice makes you better. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all images are the work of Michael John Balog, Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming, and all rights are reserved. Thank you for reading the Wind River Canyon Blog this week.
MjB
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The Calliope Hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) is the smallest breeding bird in the United States, yet they're considered to be the tiniest, long distance migrating bird in the world! Their migration route may take them over 5,000 miles each year!
What's even more amazing is their metabolic rate increases over 16 times when they're hovering, and they're smaller than my thumb! What's really cool is they nest each summer right here in the Wind River Canyon, where I get to try photographing these "little jewels."
The Calliope had a previous scientific name of Stellula calliope and can still be "Googled" by that name alone; Stella means "little star." In Ancient Greek, Calliope means "beautiful-voiced" and was the muse of eloquence and epic-poetry. The Greek philosopher Ovid refers to her as the "Chief of all Muses" and she was believed to be Homer's muse for the Odyssey and the Iliad.
These amazing little hummingbirds are actually quite territorial; I've seen them chase off Robins, Magpies and even Chipmunks. Yet I've been so close to a male Calliope that we almost touched "noses." That beautiful reddish-magenta gorget (a piece of armor protecting the throat) can be flared in a mating display that is truly epic.
Hummingbirds are crazy difficult to photograph, and that's no exaggeration, but, Calliope hummingbirds are one of four species we observe in the Wind River Canyon, and they are not the most aggressive; that title belongs to the Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus). Their population is estimated to be 4.5 million birds, which sounds like a lot but isn't. All of them winter in southwest Mexico in the pine forests of the mountains, while I sit and watch it snow!
The hummingbird-portrait photograph on the left is a female Calliope in-flight. It was accomplished by manually focusing on a spot she comes and goes from a nectar feeder, then shooting away. A camera with a good "burst-rate" is a must, but be forewarned, in fifteen years of digitally doing this, it's the best picture of a female Calliope I've got! She has better things to do than pose for me.
It's September 2nd and all the hummingbirds have left the Wind River Canyon, except for a few young birds migrating through. I always feel a little "let down" when they leave for their long trip south, but I know that they will be back next Spring, to nest and breed in the magical Wind River Canyon.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all it's contents and photographs are protected by international copyright laws....which don't really mean much anyway.
All photographs and writing by Michael John Balog, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Thank you for reading and viewing my work.
MjB
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Taking astronomy in college seemed like a given, but I majored in psychology. At one point in my life I owned an observatory with two Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes. I've been planning for the August 21st Total Eclipse of the Sun for longer than most of you have been on this planet, but where to view it from?
Living in the Wind River Canyon, in the state of Wyoming, meant we would get slightly over 90 seconds of totality right here at our cabin! Wanting a little more time in totality was one thing, but we would have to leave the canyon for traffic problems never experienced in Wyoming. I naturally planned for the eclipse-of-the-sun right here in the magical Wind River Canyon: I made the correct choice.
A keen interest in solar science led me to a glass solar-filter and hydrogen-alpha filter sets years ago, and of course my hummingbird and wildlife photography experience would be loads of help in hopefully imaging this once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event.
Ending up with almost 200 photographs that needed many hours of work, I enjoyed every, single minute. Working the best images in the Canon software, then Lightroom, I ended up with several phases-of-the-eclipse. My observant wife suggested I make a panorama: I used Canon's Photo Stitch. I tried to make the photograph interesting.
The photograph on the left was designed to accent the red hydrogen-alpha prominences; the middle image was worked to accent the sun's corona, and is actually in black and white; the right image is the best of the diamond ring effect. I was very surprised how easy it was to see the red, solar eruptions with the naked-eye.
All this being said, the Total Eclipse of the Sun was a very moving experience. And YES, I am planning for the next one.....where?
The words and photographs in my Wind River Canyon Blog are copyrighted and protected by international law----big deal.
All work by Michael John Balog of the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Thank you for reading and viewing my Wind River Canyon Blog.
Till next week, "Keep your camera ready!"
MjB
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When you think about the state of Wyoming, and you make your top ten list, hummingbirds probably don't even come to mind. Yet, Wyoming is an important ecological niche in the nesting, breeding and migration of hummingbirds. I know this for a fact after nearly twenty years of photographing hummingbirds in the Wind River Canyon. No other person in Wyoming has spent as much time with hummingbirds and their young as I have.
Lesson #1 - Hummingbirds have a language. This revelation startled me one afternoon a few years ago. Doing something unusual while standing near a favorite nectar feeder on a hot afternoon watching the adult female hummingbirds....I closed my eyes and just listened.
The adult female, that was controlling this particular feeder, made a different sound that depended on how the others approached "her" hummingbird feeder. If the approaching hummer came near, her warning was different than if the bird tried to sit down, and different still if the bird just swooped by. If she had to stop eating and chase the other bird away, it was a completely different set of "clicks and chirps." That afternoon I counted four distinct warnings.
Lesson #2 - Hummingbirds must to learn to sit-down and eat. It's easy to tell if a hummingbird is "wild" or "domesticated." They must hover while feeding from wildflowers in nature, and learn to sit-down at my hummingbird feeders; and there is a learning curve; and just like in humans, some are slow learners.
If you watch hummingbirds closely, it's easy to tell which have been born near man-made feeders, and which are too stupid to sit down. They'll be hovering while the others are sitting and then maybe there is that moment. During migration, which is going on right now, it's easy to observe which hummingbirds haven't been using human-made feeders, and which have.
Lesson #3 - Hummingbirds are very curious and fearless little birds. I always supposed that speed and agility gave them their bravery, but after spending two decades of summers with them I've come to believe it's much, much more. Unlike so many of the hundred-plus species in the Wind River Canyon, hummingbirds will come right over for a look; me, you, the dog, wild turkeys once, and even their own reflections. Pattern recognition is how they learn to return to this canyon every year, so they look at everything. Nothing can eat a hummingbird, so what's to fear?
Lesson #4 - Baby Hummingbirds are easier to approach than you'd think, and they don't just eat my homemade nectar. A baby anything is afraid of everything, but not hummingbirds. A young Rufous Hummingbird wants and needs to control a food source, you on the other hand are not food. All mammals need a protein source. Hummingbirds are in the Wind River Canyon for the little bugs; a good protein, but not to my liking.
Lesson #5 - Photographing hummingbirds is a lot like playing video games. Reactions need to be lightning quick, so you must know your equipment without glancing down. I'll shoot hundreds of frames in an afternoon, for that one that may be special. Yet, my favorite part of summer in the canyon is photographing baby hummingbirds----go slow and concentrate, and do it again, and again, and again.....the two baby hummingbird images below were imaged this month.
Rufous Hummingbird Baby Summer 2017A Rufous Hummingbird Baby imaged Summer 2017 in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
Hummingbird Baby Born in Wind River Canyon-Summer 2017Baby Rufous Hummingbird born in Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming, Summer 2017
These are two different Baby Hummingbirds that were born right here in the Wind River Canyon. They were photographed in the wild and are not "set-up" shots; I shoot images of them wherever they sit. I do not "put up sticks" for them to sit on, and I have never needed to use a blind with a young hummer. They are baby Rufous Hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus); they were both imaged early in the morning. Because they are Rufous they are usually the species exhibiting this behavior, but not always. A book is the only way of trying to I.D. a species, and sometimes even I am confounded, since interbreeding is apparently common in nature.
Lesson #6 - Hummingbirds are not in Wyoming and the Wind River Canyon because I make nectar and religiously keep the feeders clean and full. This is a great place to raise your young if you are a hummingbird, and my "sugar-water" (4-parts water/1-plus part real sugar) is just a nice way of helping them and being a part of their "life-cycle." I don't interfere any more than I have to, and they don't seem to mind a bit!
Lesson #7 - Hummingbirds and their young do indeed migrate very long distances, and they don't fly on the backs of geese; as one crazy insisted to me one day! Geese don't come up this way in the hot summers, hummingbirds do. When we see geese migrating north in the Fall, the hummingbirds are already far to the warmer southern states. They are incredible little jewels of a bird, and have amazing capabilities.
It would be very easy for me to go on and on about hummingbirds, as there is nothing else in all of nature that rivals their beauty and flying skills; enjoy them I do, and so will you. The video below, if you haven't seen it, is of a young hummingbird just outside my place in the Wind River Canyon. All content in my Wind River Canyon Blog was created by me and all rights are reserved.
Michael John Balog, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Thank you for reading and viewing my work.
MjB
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Having a "bucket list" is all well and good, but in my wildest photographer's dreams I couldn't have imagined where my Wind River Canyon hummingbirds would take me. Winning numerous awards, and my website HogbatsPhotography.com, reviewed in Shutterbug magazine no less, was more than I could've even dreamed up.
My dedication to the nectar feeders brought in nesting Rufous and Calliope Hummingbirds. But late at night, here in the canyon, I caught glimpses of hummers that weren't supposed to be here at all; at least according to the experts in the books! A flash of ruby-red near dark was all we ever saw, but I knew what these hummingbirds were; Broad-tailed Hummingbirds (Selasphorus platycercus). I hoped that someday I could get them to nest in the Wind River Canyon, which has come true, but a good image of an adult male Broad-tailed has always eluded me.
The Broad-tailed Hummingbird is emerald-green with a ruby-rose gorget that makes him stand out from the crowd. They are a shy species that are easily dominated by the Tiger-colored Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), whose name and color identify it's attitude. Yet, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird's wings make a sound that dances in the mountain air like bells. I wanted to capture an image of one, but never even had much of an opportunity. With the good breeding population of hummingbirds down in this canyon, we hardly got more than a glimpse of a male Broad-tailed.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird Waving HelloThe wings of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird imaged in the Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Monday afternoon my fortune changed while waiting in one of my favorite spots to photograph hummingbirds. A male Broad-tailed was stopping by the feeder near my bedroom at regular intervals; mainly to avoid confronting the young, male Rufous' that are everywhere this time of the summer. After almost two decades of photographing hummingbirds in the Wind River Canyon, didn't I deserve a break?
When you try and photograph hummingbirds in the wilds of Wyoming, without the aid of flash-units, you take what these magical, little birds give you. Somehow you will never get what you really want....take what it is they give you. This is wildlife photography rule number 74!
When the little four inch darling (he's the size of your thumb) would swing around for a snack on my sugar-nectar I was ready; or so I thought. The clatter of the mirror slapping up and down on modern DLSR cameras is enough to frighten your grandmother; hummingbirds aren't too happy about that sound, either. But, nineteen years and a lot of four letter words later, I finally got a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird in-flight imaged right here in the Wind River Canyon! As a very rich car salesman once told me, "Sometimes I amaze even myself."
Broad-tailed Hummingbird In-FlightThe first time a Broad-tailed Hummingbird has been photographed in-flight in Wind River Canyon in Wyoming!
Everything must be going right for you to photograph a hummingbird in-flight. Lots of sunshine, a steady hand, video game-like reflexes, and more patience than seems humanly possible. I can't afford one of the new silent mirrorless, magical pro-cameras that shoot 20 fps; I have a couple of well-used Canon 7D bodies. As a very old and very famous photographer wrote, "It's not the camera you use, it's who's behind the camera." I'm living proof that you don't have to be wealthy to photograph wildlife; just very, very persistent.
*Live for the moment & maybe a hummingbird will fly into your heart.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all photographs are the property of Hogbats Photography and Michael John Balog; oh, and all rights are reserved----"not that that mean a hill of moose muffins."
MjB
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The American Goldfinch is the only finch in the subfamily to completely molt, which is why I have such a hard time differentiating them from other finches in the Wind River Canyon winter months. They are one of the strictest vegetarians of the bird world according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. These small, yellow finches are granivorous; they prefer to eat seeds, like that skinny girl up the street. There are four subspecies in America. If you want to bring in the American Goldfinch into your yard, they prefer Niger seeds; commonly and wrongly called thistle seed.
I ran into an interesting fact while doing some final research into the life of these little finches: Cowbirds are known to lay their eggs in other species nests, devastating the life of the other bird's young. Yet Cowbirds cannot successfully grow up in an American Goldfinch's nest; it's thought that the seed-based diet is not nutritious enough!
American Goldfinch in the Wind River CanyonAn American Goldfinch eating seeds from a flower in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
Yellow is the most difficult color to photograph in the sunshine. It will overwhelm a digital sensor quite easily, which is only now why I finally have a good photograph of an American Goldfinch. Sure, I would photograph, or try, every summer in the canyon; I never liked the results enough to put one on my Wind River Canyon website Hogbats Photography.
Just the other day, I was having coffee under the juniper when guess who appeared? As I've written repeatedly in this Wind River Canyon Blog----"Keep your camera ready!" Mother Nature will always be willing to give you something interesting, so be ready. The above image was shot with manual settings, to get the yellow correctly exposed: Settings were 1/800 @ f/10, ISO 400, shot with my favorite 70-200mm L f/4 Canon lens.
Basically, I just sat on my homemade bench and shot away till I finally got it right. Which is a good lesson in persistence, as I've been trying to get a good picture of the great American Goldfinch for (I'm embarrassed to say) a decade and a half! I have other pictures of him up-side-down wrestling seeds from the flowers from this shoot, but I needed an identifying photo, not one that was cute or funny. They will probably end up on my Twitter feed @Hogbats.
Hope you learned a little something from this week's Wind River Canyon blog. Now, get out of the house and go visit Mother Nature! It's been proven by science and technology to lessen the stress of 21st century science and technology.
All the written words and photographs in my blogs are protected by U.S. copyright laws and all rights are reserved, but that doesn't amount to a hill of Buffalo muffins, so spread the word!
Thank you once again for taking the time to read about wildlife in the Wind River Canyon in the state Wyoming.
Michael John Balog-Wind River Canyon-Wyoming
MjB
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The canyon has become a breeding-nesting area for four different species of hummingbirds, largely thanks to my psycho-dedication to these magical creatures. Rufous, Calliope, Black-chinned, and Broad-tailed hummingbirds are all seen and photographed in the Wind River Canyon here in central Wyoming. Audubon says that most of these species are not supposed to be here....but, I'd like to inform you that they're here to party every summer in the canyon!
Yesterday morning, just after six o'clock, I set up the video rig to get some fresh footage of a male hummingbird baby acting like the tough-guy in the neighborhood. They're loads of fun when they try to be the canyon hooligan, and they're quite vocal about it, too.
In this new wildlife video you'll see this young, male Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) give warnings, scratch an itch, stick out his tongue, fly-in and take-off twice, ruffle his feathers and give a huge stretch; oh, and poop!
It's very early in the morning, and the colors are of course a bit muted....almost pastel in nature. The early morning summer traffic through the Wind River Canyon can be heard from time to time. My new hummingbird video has more cuts in it than any I've tried before, and it's a chore! But, my subjects are beautiful and vibrant, and full of life.
Please keep in mind, while watching this new hummingbird video, that he is the size of your thumb! This assumes you don't have a thumb like Shrek. Watch for how his breathing shakes the limb he's sitting on, and the cute little shuffle he does. I hope you enjoy this baby hummingbird video as much as I love Hummingbirds. This new hummingbird video is produced and never directed by Michael John Balog. This Wind River Canyon Blog is written by Mike and all rights are reserved.
For many more photographs and videos of hummingbirds, Bighorn Sheep, and other wildlife from the Wind River Canyon visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com.
This hummingbird video was originally shot in 4K with a Sony FDR-AX53 camcorder on an ancient 1960's, finger pinching, metal tripod.
*Thank you for your interest in my beloved hummingbirds.
MjB
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As they say, my heart went into my throat; I started to panic. Waking my wife Deb, we streaked (ran) out of our home to watch the forest fire. This isn't my first forest fire, I was here in 2000 when hundreds of thousands of acres burned. That fire was stopped by the railroad line going through the Wind River Canyon, and strangely enough, no wind. This forest fire was a gunshot from our beloved cabin!
It was another cool night in the canyon, and that was a good thing. We sat and watched the fire burn juniper and cedar trees, throwing flames and sparks seventy feet into the night! As we sat and ate our stress like a midnight snack, we made plans as to what was going to be thrown into the old truck. Times like these are when difficult decisions need to be made; do I have to leave the "dirty magazine" collection? It is fun to laugh about it all now.
Around three in the morning it became obvious that we may have been spared the worst of all home owner's fears. This forest fire was "laying down" way faster than we could have hoped....could it stay this way? Could I even get any sleep?
Early this morning, while shooting video of baby hummingbirds, I realized I could have shot video of the forest fire at night! It never even occurred to me...."the sum of all fears." "Maybe next time" seemed like a stupid thing to even think, let alone say out loud.
This morning a helicopter started dropping water from the Wind River onto the smoldering pines. I put this video together tonight, because, this is the first time anyone has ever seen a chopper dropping river water on a forest fire in the Wind River Canyon. I pray we'll never have another chance like this again. Here is the minute and a half video of today's events in the Wind River Canyon....right here in Wyoming. While living in the Wind River Canyon, I've experienced hail as large a lady's fist, floods, landslides, forest fires, mudslides, boulders splashing into the Wind River at one in the morning, an earthquake, screaming blizzards, and the only road closed for four days! It is a dynamic place to live, that's for sure! And I wouldn't have it any other way; we just love this magical Wind River Canyon....well, except for the snakes!
Wind River Canyon Blog, photography and videography by Michael John Balog; all rights are reserved. Visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com for more videos from the Wind River Canyon, and many photographs of hummingbirds and wildlife from the canyon and Wyoming.
Thank you for reading my real-life stories from the Wind River Canyon.
MjB
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This summer is a completely different story all together. We have a hive near our cabin in the canyon, and baby bumblebees are literally everywhere! They may scare the hell out of people, but in my experience bumbles are easy to approach. Lately, I've been teaching people how to "pet-a-bumblebee." All it takes is a steady hand and a lot of bravery; I've never been stung or even threatened by one. They have a lot of work to do and, stroking their "bee-fur" is outrageously good fun. It's also a great introduction to the weird world of entomology; you know, the study of bugs.
Over 250 species of Bumblebees are known, but due to loss of habitat and pesticides their numbers in the wild are declining. They are such good pollinators, but not good honey producers, that over a million bumblebee nests are produced each year in at least 30 factories around the globe! You may have heard that bumblebees cannot fly. Bumblebees can fly, because their wings encounter dynamic stall in every oscillation cycle.
In the Wind River Canyon, the bumblebee's favorite summer wildflowers are known as Horse Mint, scientifically as the Nettleleaf Giant Hyssop (Agastache urticifolia). A member of the huge mint family of plants, the horse mint is very prolific in the canyon, and will bloom into November, even with snow on the tiny flowers!
The nature video below was shot, edited and produced early this very morning, before our Sun rose over the rim of the canyon. And yes, I did "pet" a few bumblebees today. This nature video and, the Wind River Canyon Blog, was written, directed, edited and produced by Michael John Balog, and all rights are reserved by the author. Please respect the work of others.
For many more videos and photographs of the wild animals and birds of the Wind River Canyon, including many hummingbird photos, visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com.
Once again....thank you for reading about the wilds of Wyoming.
MjB
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Obviously, it was a Bullock's Oriole (Icterus bullockii) that wanted the sugar-water from the hummingbird feeder. He couldn't get his much larger beak in the tiny opening of the feeder I'd purchased, but he gave it a valiant try anyway; I just sat and starred, amazed at this beautiful orange bird, and his little darting tongue. I knew that I needed to come up with a solution for him.
After purchasing a plastic hummingbird feeder with larger openings, my little oriole came to visit many times during the day; and someone else showed up! The bird was yellow and silver-grey....stately and stunning; it turned out to be the female Bullock's Oriole!
Old wives-tales still survive to this day that say female birds are drab, and I would just like to say that the female Bullock's Oriole definitely isn't. When researching this "new" bird it was a shock to know it was a female oriole.
Now, nearly twenty years later and nearly four hundred pounds of sugar have gone by, and the orioles breed in the Wind River Canyon every year. We always have multiple nesting pairs in this part of the canyon; this year is no different.
Bullock's Oriole,female-Wind River Canyon, WyomingPortrait of a Bullock's Oriole female in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Bullock's Oriole,male-Wind River Canyon, WyomingPortrait of a Male Bullock's Oriole, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Despite the fact that observers across our country saw things differently, the books listed Bullock's Orioles in the same Baltimore category. They may have interbred in the Plains of America at one time, but the species are distinctly different and are now listed as separate species. You will never see a Baltimore Oriole in Wyoming, or a Bullock's Oriole east of the Mississippi.
The nests of our orioles are fascinating, suspended and woven wonders of nature's architecture. They survive horrible wind and rain in the Wind River Canyon that you might think would destroy their nests; they survive even canyon weather disasters. They are lined with fur from my sled dogs. The video above is a rare treat....a female oriole singing a tune....just for you!
I now put up hummingbird (nectar) feeders the first day of May, sometimes earlier if weather permits. And wouldn't you know, an oriole and hummingbird arrive almost simultaneously now, but they will never, ever eat at the same table; the tiny hummingbirds are intimidated by the "huge" size of the orioles: Like me trying to eat at the same table with a Denver Bronco's lineman.
Bullock's Oriole-Wind River Canyon,WyomingBullock's Oriole male photographed in Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Every year we are amazed at the marvelous beauty of these animated birds; at times they seem like they should have "made-in-china" labels on them. But they are truly one of Mother Nature's most beautiful aviators. And they nest and breed every year in the Wind River Canyon....right here in Wyoming.
*Wind River Canyon Blog, and all photographs and videos are produced by Michael John Balog----all rights are reserved.
For many more wildlife photographs from the Wind River Canyon, including Bighorn Sheep and hummingbirds, visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com.
And thank you for your time.
MjB
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Hummingbirds (Archilochus alexandri) nest in the canyon and have for many years now!
I guess it all started when their usual southern Colorado nesting sites were devastated by forest-fires years ago. All of a sudden a few Black-chinned Hummingbirds arrived in the Wind River Canyon, and I was more than just thrilled; I never thought I'd ever be able to photograph this species in the canyon. They weren't supposed to be in Wyoming!
The first Black-chinned Hummingbird male (male hummingbirds always arrive first) to arrive in the canyon this year was observed on May 19th at 2:08 in the afternoon; very early even for them. If they are successful in reproducing, and they are less than half the time, they will return the following year. I must be doing something right after all.
Living in the Wind River Canyon with wildlife thriving all around is great fun. You observe behaviors that remain unseen by almost everyone; it's like knowing and learning a secret language. Black-chinned Hummingbirds, for instance, are a shy species, yet are sometimes stupid curious. Every year I have instances where a male will come right up to my face and hover for a few seconds; an eternity in the day of a hummingbird that has spent the winter months in Mexico!
In most species, and not just hummingbirds, the female is the easiest to get acquainted with, and the best place to start doing wildlife photography: Things that can eat you are the exception!....don't forget this valuable rule. Anyway, female hummingbirds are always great fun in the Wind River Canyon. I even won a 1st Place Award @ the Cody Art Show with a female Black-chinned Hummingbird in-flight a few years ago.
The very first year that the Black-chinned Hummingbirds nested in the Wind River Canyon
I knew that I was on an important mission----try and photograph the first baby Black-chinned Hummingbird to be born in the canyon!
After weeks of waiting and daily planning an opportunity presented itself. This tiny bird, born right here in the Wind River Canon in Wyoming, was waiting for me one day. I know that this baby-hummingbird wasn't posing for me, but it sure seemed like he was.
Not being enthralled with the results didn't matter; I documented an important first: The first Black-chinned Hummingbird born in the Wind River Canyon!
Other hummingbirds arrived in the canyon early this year, too. A Calliope Hummingbird male was first observed on June 14th, much earlier than their usual "first week in July schedule." And the aggressive Rufous Hummingbird was first seen on the 27th of June, and they never have been observed in the Wind River Canyon this early! What this early arrival of hummingbirds in Wyoming means is a mystery.
Hummingbirds are fascinating creatures, and they are real and living and mating right here in Wyoming! For many more photographs of hummingbirds taken right here in the Wind River Canyon visit my website----www.HogbatsPhotography.com.
All my photographs and the Wind River Canyon Blog are protected by copyrights and all rights are reserved. Please respect the artwork of others..........
Thank you for your time!
Michael John Balog, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
MjB
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photograph a Mountain Bluebird that was in my favorite "secret spot." The sky-blue beauty was there, because I'd spotted him the evening before. And to be honest....this area is the best place to observe the famous Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) near the Wind River Canyon or the nearby town of Thermopolis that I know of personally.
I've photographed Bluebirds and paintbrush wildflowers at this hidden place for years, with results that speak of the wild nature that lies so close to civilization, yet remains relatively unknown to most people that live in town. It's a quiet place near a lot of summer craziness.
It was a blistering late-morning, and too hot for any self-respecting Bluebird to be chasing bugs around. But not far away was someone I'd heard rumors about lately, a Pronghorn Antelope (Antelocapra americana).
Without any doubt the Wyoming Pronghorn Antelope is the fastest land-animal in North America, and one of the most interesting evolutionary adaptations. Everything about an antelope is designed for speed. From their padded hooves and lightweight skeletal structure, right down to their hollow fur, they are built for speed. Their horns are aerodynamic like a jet; they look and run like a Corvette through the sagebrush. But they are running from an enemy that no longer exists in Wyoming. You see, they are running that fast from a Cheetah! And no, there are no Cheetahs in Wyoming....anymore. Now they run at over fifty miles-an-hour because it is fun to go fast.
A trick I picked up hunting with old-men long ago proved it's worth once again. Antelope are curious by nature, and I know this to be true. You walk at an angle towards your prey, not directly to them. You will get closer to the wild animal without disturbing them; closer for your shot. And this Pronghorn was more nosy than most I've had experience with. He was also in the "Buffalo Pastures" where antelope are seldom seen. It was exhilarating good fun, but was all over too soon.
"Any idiot can shoot wildlife with a gun." I've seen it a thousand times in the twenty-odd years I owned a motel in Wyoming, including some very unpleasant ones that still stick in my memories. It's way more satisfying to shoot wild animals with a camera; just educate yourself, and be cautious.
The new antelope photo was shot with my favorite lens, the Canon 70-200mm L f/4 @ 1/800, f/7.1, ISO 200. Software was Canon and Lightroom.
All photographs and experiences written about in the Wind River Canyon Blog are by Michael John Balog: All rights are reserved!
Michael is a resident of the Wind River Canyon for nearly two decades.
*For more wildlife photographs, and especially hummingbird photos, click-on this link to my website....Hogbats Photography.
Thank You!
MjB
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I had never noticed these Wyoming wildflowers growing anywhere else in the canyon's ecosystem, but they had to exist somewhere; they tend to blend-in to their environment and remain unseen.
These fascinating wildflowers turn out to be Orchids! Bog Orchids (Platanthera aquilonis) are their name. I was a little disappointed.....their name could have been cooler!
The photograph below was taken by me on the icy-cold creek the other day. The small spider gives some context to the small (1/4th inch) size of these orchids; and they smell wonderful.
Early this morning, I shot some video segments of Bog Orchids blooming by waterfalls that very few people have ever seen. The editing was finished only a short time ago. This is an amazing, isolated spot in the Wind River Canyon, and a short-documentary I thought you'd enjoy this great day in mid-June.
All photography, videography and writing of the Wind River Canyon Blog by Michael John Balog----all rights are reserved.
Visit the Hogbats Photography website for many more wildflowers, hummingbirds, wild animals, and birds of the Wind River Canyon.
Thank you for reading and viewing my Wind River Canyon Blog this week. And remember to "keep your camera ready."
MjB
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The weather had been cold and wet at times, but I made it my goal to try and get close to these Marmots, or as they are known in the Wild West, "Rock Chucks." They don't like the cold, so
when I would see them out of their den it was an opportunity. I donned my "outfit" and used my double-whistle to identify myself each and every time. The big male left immediately after the yearlings came out for their "first-light," but the mother was always on patrol-duty.
After a loyal month of being wet and cold, I'd made an acquaintance. This one little Marmot was curiously friendly towards me, and I took lots photographs of the group: Many more are on Twitter @ Hogbats.
It didn't take a palm-to-the-head to realize that putting together a video had to be next, if given the right access to his time. I've learned quite a bit after my time with the "Chucks": Males are only good for one thing; big surprise there! All good mothers all over this blue-marble are something to admire. Kids are always curious about most things. It's bloody-cold in the morning in Wyoming....even in June! Marmots have several places they will live and move often: The video below is of my new acquaintance. Marmots in the west have not been treated very well, as I've written about their slaughter in another of my Wind River Canyon Blog. Without a healthy predator population they will over-populate a nice neighborhood; there is no perfectly, easy solution. Yellow-bellied Marmots spend most of their lives underground, and are cute; what more do you need to know?
Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog, and watching my new wildlife video.
All photographs and videos are produced by Michael John Balog, all rights are reserved.
See Wyoming Hummingbirds and other wildlife photographed in the Wind River Canyon near my cabin----hit this link Hogbats Photography.
MjB
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A local McDonald's has the best WiFi around this "dark-side-of-the-Moon," but just try and write a short story down there! Forget the smells, which are distracting enough, or the crowds, which seem to come in tsunamis. As I was finishing up a short story that took longer than expected, the internet started going on and off with the regularity of a button-pusher! It was irritating to be sure, but made me laugh out loud; and reach for another fry again....and again; which is another problem altogether.
Feeling defeated by the lack of technology, and I really like to work at my little desk in the Wind River Canyon, I did the human thing....I took time-off. You could say that I gave up, but I really needed a break after writing a weekly short story for two and a half years; so I gave it up.
We finally received a much needed hardware upgrade by HughesNet early this week, and I now have an internet speed that I'd only dreamed of for many years....it still costs way too much----"such is life."
Black-chinned Hummingbird, Portrait, Wind River Canyon, WyomingBlack-chinned Hummingbird Portrait.
Now for the real reason I write the Wind River Canyon Blog; life in a Wyoming canyon and all the fun stuff of living in the mountains of the Wild West. It's very green and lush right now in the canyon, and the wildlife are busy. Black-chinned Hummingbirds arrived early this Spring, I saw the first one May 19th, a male on my dining-room feeder. A female was spotted only four days later. I've observed Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, but, I don't know if they're moving through or nesting here like the Black-chinned, or the Rufous and Calliope Hummingbirds that arrive the first week of July.
We watched with friends and family as melting Spring snow brought down large boulders with loud, echoing crashes throughout the Wind River Canyon last month. But the Bullock's Orioles are here as always, and are nesting close by the cabin. And I worked every single day with 4 cute, little Yellow-bellied Marmots that popped out one morning within sight of my kitchen windows. I use my notorious double-whistle to identify my presence, and one little "Rock Chuck" in particular responded with curiosity. Just yesterday afternoon I whistled near his new "townhouse" and the others scattered into their deep-holes, but he came out to see me with a trust that is very unusual.
Yellow-bellied Marmot yearling, Wind River CanyonYellow-bellied Marmot yearling in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming, also known as a Rock Chuck.
The Wind River is very high right now as they ready Boysen Lake for the huge snow-pack melt to come from the Wind River Mountains. This time-of-the-year the canyon vibrates with life and the river and creeks attract wild animals and birds of all kinds. Yesterday's hike up a nearby trail was intoxicating. The smell of juniper, cedar, and wildflowers gorging the clean-air with an air-freshener better than any from a can! Drive through the Wind River Canyon....and stop! Take a little of your precious time and see what amazing things that Mother Nature is doing in the Wind River Canyon.
Writing and all photographs by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming----all rights reserved.
Visit the only documentation of the hummingbirds and wildlife in the Wind River Canyon @ www.HogbatsPhotography.com
Thank you for reading my blog....I really mean it....thank you.
MjB
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While photographing the snow being torn from the Wind River Canyon's rim, another of these "magical canyon moments" just starts to happen.
I see Golden Eagles all the time here in the Wind River Canyon, always up high, hunting the places no person has ever seen. It's cool watching the snow being driven off the mountain cliffs, the eagle flying into the frame is just pure Mountain Bliss; god it's cold here!
All photography and writing of the Wind River Canyon Blog by Michael John Balog; Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming....all rights reserved.
Visit Wyoming & The Wind River Canyon on Twitter----@Hogbats
]]>There were five of the Ewes (females) out for an afternoon together. It was about time I got to really use the new 4K cam in-the-field with time pressure. The new Sony works well, even under stress and a "can't-miss-this" video opportunity. I shot a dozen video segments @ 100mps; which will probably mean nothing to you. The resulting files are HUGE, but the resolution is very good considering the lens is "small." By small I mean compared to my white telephoto lenses for my DSLR cameras.
I still cannot get to the programming for my website through my Hughesnet connection in the Wind River Canyon, and I have NO other option. So here I sit, freezing to death, at the McDonald's twelve miles away!
This video, that I edited together late yesterday, is the best Bighorn Sheep-in-the-Wind River Canyon film ever put together. It was an emotional experience to sit in the deep grass by the Wind River and film such lovely wildlife. I've had many people ask me how they can see the Bighorn Sheep in the canyon. I can't find them when I want to......but now I have a new video for all those people, like me, that think the Bighorn Sheep are invisible most of the time!
I wish I could include the emotions that course through my body and mind when such wildlife moments happen in the canyon. But as good as today's technology is, the feelings are your own. Watch how a little Bighorn Sheep finally notices me on the river's edge. These are amazingly rarer moments on this blue marble than ever before. I fervently hope that future generation can enjoy these "wildlife moments" and not just see them in old videos. All writing of my Wind River Canyon Blog and photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming----All Rights Reserved. Visit my website www.HogbatsPhotography.com
Thank you and, I hope your summer is going as good as mine.
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Last week, I uploaded a really cool video of a Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar to my YouTube channel. I shot it in 4K with my new birthday present (to myself), a Sony FDR-AX53 camcorder----review to follow; at some later time. It's done in a macro-look, and the caterpillar is obviously hungry; a Towhee wild bird and my old sled dog are singing in the background. I then opened a Twitter account and, got the shock of my life, when I got a "flood" of email about the nature video! I'm hooked on Twitter already, and I can get to it at the cabin in the Wind River Canyon; some good news, at least.
The Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar video is only 30 seconds long....don't miss clicking on it below. These blogs are obviously going to be a bit shorter: I don't want to spend an eternity around those amazing french fries; I wasn't even compensated for blogging that! I would sincerely like to thank all my readers that have stuck around though my technical disappearing act the last few weeks. We have a flood of hummingbirds this year and, they are all very early this season. I hope to use my new 4K camcorder and get something interesting.
Michael John Balog, Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
MjB
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Thank you goes out to all my readers; will be back!
Michael John Balog
Everyone in the country saw the fires rape the land that year down there. It devastated beautiful pine forests and homes; destroying prime habitat for many wild animals. People will rebuild, but where would the wildlife go? Forests take many years to reach a point where they can support certain bird species again----and I wondered.
I didn't have to wonder for very long where the hummingbirds would migrate. One day in the month of May a little male hummingbird showed up; on the surface not too surprising. But our hummers (Rufous and Calliope) don't arrive until the very first week of July! He sat
on the electric wire to our little cabin here in the canyon, not far from a popular feeder for the Orioles. I looked up as he looked down, then he broke the sound barrier as he came over to get a little of my home-made nectar.
It must have been some sight as I sat there with my mouth hanging open. I'll never forget the rush of emotions as I sat mere feet away from the very first Black-chinned Hummingbird to ever visit the Wind River Canyon! What startled me was that this tiny little hummingbird, the size of my thumb, had no fear at all of me. He wasn't afraid and we slowly got familiar with one another; it was a magical summer, that's for sure.
Would they be back next year? Would they find someplace closer? Was the Wind River Canyon a favorable spot for them? I read that Black-chinned Hummingbird nesting and reproductive attempts fail nearly two-thirds of the time, mostly due to predators and people's
cats. We saw the baby hummers on our feeders that very first summer----they were successful, but would this be enough to encourage them to return?
With many, many long hours at my favorite "high-hide" photographing hummingbirds, I got an amazing image "in-flight" of the very first Black-chinned female hummingbird to nest in the canyon.
This photograph took first-place honors at the Cody Art Show the following summer. The month of May, that same year, the Black-chinned Hummingbirds returned----they liked it here! and they have returned every year since. They are here, and nesting right now, as I write this week's Wind River Canyon Blog.
In my 14 years of experience documenting hummingbirds digitally here in the canyon, I find that of the four species that nest and reproduce here, the Black-chinned males are the most curious of the hummingbirds. This tiny, little piece of flying magic will dart right up to me, and look me up and down. This happens every year, and it's a startling experience to have this little jet airplane blast over to see me. Other people have experienced this here, too.
When a wild creature shows this much curiosity and lack of fear, it gives people a nice, warm feeling about Mother Nature. My wife says that they are trying to thank me for giving them a fine place to spend the summers. I like to think we started a trend; the picture above is a Black-chinned baby hummingbird---- the first born in the Wind River Canyon!
All photographs, wildlife stories, and the Wind River Canyon Blog by Michael John Balog, Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon....Wyoming; all rights reserved.
For many more award-winning hummingbird images, visit my website, www.HogbatsPhotography.com
Thank you
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It's a big surprise that those lovely, white wildflowers are actually called Foothill Death Camas. It took me several days to finalize the identification, and make sure of the I.D. But, Foothill Death Camas? This can't be a good thing, and it isn't. All parts of this lovely, white wildflower are poison, even the dark colored bulbs are poison. Wildlife avoids these flowers, as do livestock, because they taste bad! They may be pretty, but they're a deadly addition to the wildflower catalog of the Wind River Canyon.
As you can see, they are a group of white flowers with yellow stamens that are quite prominent; the stems always being light-green. They usually stand above most other wildflowers in the area, and there is nothing else that resembles them in the way they grow; a tall/dome-shaped growth pattern. The real lesson here being, "Don't just pick up a weed to chew on!"
Our next Wyoming wildflower is one of my personal favorites, and a flower that is truly a western dazzler. They are widespread in the west, but were unknown till Lewis and Clark cataloged them in 1806 in Montana. They are tall, blue and gorgeous (like aliens from that movie) and should not be missed. These are the Silvery Lupine wildflowers. Silvery Lupine blooms are a foot tall and catch the early sunlight in a magical way. There's not much more to say about these pretty wildflowers, but, don't confuse them with the tall, purple things; these are blue with a touch of red----here, in the Wind River Canyon.
The Chokecherry is a food for many wild birds and furry animals in the Wind River Canyon, but they were also a food staple for many Native-American Indians. When these pretty, white flowers turn to red berries, they look great, but taste awful. When the berries turn very dark, then, they are ready to pick....if you can beat the birds! The Chokecherry is a large bush with the flowers forming a "short hotdog shape." They grow best in shadier areas with access to water, like we all do, I guess....
Here is a surprising fact that came up in my research on the Chokecherry----when the green leaves dry they release cyanide! you read that right----cyanide!!! Ten to twenty pounds of the dried leaves can kill a horse; I can only imagine how this information came about. So, the next time you're out picking Chokecherries, tie up your pony someplace farther away. The photograph below was taken in my own Wind River Canyon yard, down by the creek.
Every time I finally make an identification of a wildflower that is giving me oodles of trouble, I photograph three more that are not in my three ebooks! The Foothill Death Camas took me a week till I was absolutely sure; I mean, it is poisonous, I had to be sure. Other wildflowers are known to just about everyone, some growing in the Wind River Canyon have never been imaged before: A few shouldn't even be here at all. I have three right now that are driving be nuts, because there is no photo or description anywhere, but eventually technology will triumph----or I'll upload another book.
At the moment, we have hummingbirds and orioles on our nectar feeders; they are nesting here in the Wind River Canyon. It's fun to sit with coffee in the morning as the Sun breaks the eastern rim of the canyon, a Black-chinned Hummingbird coming in for breakfast. Our Bullock's Orioles just love my homemade sugar-mix (one-part real sugar/four parts water), it seems to make the orange of the male and, the yellow of the female, even brighter; it sure makes them crazy.
Thank you for reading this week's Wind River Canyon Blog, I hope we all learned something this week. Till next Saturday's blog...."Keep your camera ready!"
*All images and real-life stories by Michael John Balog/Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. All rights reserved.
*Visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com for award-winning hummingbird images and much, much more of Wyoming's wildlife and wildflowers.
MjB
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Our first new wildflower can be seen throughout Wyoming, and will continue flowering throughout the summer. They are a member of the sunflower family, and are quite photogenic; they are known by a number of names because of their widespread nature. These are the Yellow Salsify or more commonly known as the Goat's Beard. If you've been lucky enough to have hiked around the west, you've probably seen these flowers. Their seed pods resemble giant dandelions and are fun to "let fly" into the wind. They are not known as being edible, though the roots can be eaten; they are considered to be an invasive species.
Our next flower is also yellow, and is blooming right now in the Wind River Canyon. Native Americans and early-settlers found all parts of the plant to be edible, especially the large tap-roots. They bloom early in large clusters all over the mountainsides here in the canyon. The Arrowleaf Balamroot are large wildflowers that attract bugs of all kinds. They are easily mistaken for Mule's Ears, which have thinner petals and shiny leaves. The large leaves of the Arrowleaf Balsamroot are fuzzy and light gray-green. This example sports a bug that is zoned-out on pollen.
Let us now enter the world of the unknown wildflowers. I find and photograph a wildflower here in the canyon, and of course I don't know what it is. The three ebooks I've uploaded from Amazon are absolutely no help, yet they are about wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains! A search of epic proportions yields nothing, but I don't give up. For two weeks, I look at pictures of wildflowers and cannot find out what the hell this bloom is. This very morning at six I can
not sleep; the pink flowers look like miniature orchids, the plant, however, does not. So I sleepily search again, and again.........today, I finally figured out what this unknown wildflower is called----a Red Dead-nettle.
Dead because the fuzzy-leaves do not sting like other nettles. The young leaves are edible and can be used in stirfry or salads as a spring vegetable. The tiny, pink flowers do look like orchids. But I must say that it doesn't really look all that appetizing, but they are pretty. The Red Dead-nettle is blooming at this very moment down by the Wind River here in the canyon. They seem to prefer a spot in the shadier areas near the river. Nothing else in the Wind River Canyon looks like these wildflowers!
I am very slowly becoming an expert on the wildflowers of the Wind River Canyon, but there are several that cannot be identified at this time. It drives me nuts that it's so difficult to find what the names are. The research I do is usually quite extensive, but I'm no botanist. It's the "art-of-the-wildflower" that interests me.
Next week I will blog about three more Wyoming Wildflowers from the Wind River Canyon, till then, "Keep looking down!"
*All photographs and writing by Michael John Balog/Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming----all rights reserved.
MjB
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of Yellowstone National Park. While not exactly a destination, except for the few real fishermen, it's widely considered to be the most beautiful ride through a canyon in the state. The Wind River runs wild and clean, the fishing obviously blue-ribbon. Most of the Wind River Canyon is located inside the Wind River Indian Reservation and special permits are required. Whitewater rafting is available, and I can tell you from personnel experience that it's a trip not to miss, it's an amazing experience; this from a guy that lives in the canyon. Most people, however, never see any more of the canyon than a fleeting glance as they blast through at 70 mph.
It's too bad that everyone is in such a hurry, as the Wind River Canyon ecosystem is unique to central Wyoming.
Bring along a good pair of binoculars and just maybe you'll spot a family of Bighorn Sheep. The Bighorn are travelers and I've spent many, many dozens of hours hiking and photographing them in the canyon. In my experience Bighorn Sheep are difficult to spot and only mildly interested in humans. To spend quality time with such spectacular wild animals is a privilege and a real rush. Certain days past are singed into my memory, and not forgotten; if you're lucky enough to see them for yourself, you will understand.
Depending on the time of the year, Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles may be spotted by the keen-eyed visitor to the Wind River Canyon. These wild raptors are difficult to find and even more difficult to photograph; I've spent an eternity chasing them around in the cold. In the summer our vultures can easily be mistaken for eagles by the uninitiated. Unlike eagles, vultures are rarely seen alone in the canyon, and closeup one is regal, while the other----not so much.
I've photographed more than 120 different species of birds in the Wind River Canyon, and I am sure there are some I may never get to. My favorites are the four nesting species of hummingbirds: My summers are planned around their breeding cycle. A few of our favorites are the Lazuli Buntings, Bullock's Orioles, hawks, owls, woodpeckers, eagles, vultures, Mountain Bluebirds.....well, you get the picture.
It's been written the Wind River Canyon is a magical place, and I can personally testify to this. But to experience this wild place requires you stop and pull over. Breathe in the clean mountain air; hike down to the Wind River. Maybe you'll spot the funniest bird in the canyon, the American Dipper; he dances better than you.
Last week I saw our buck deer in velvet, the older buck lost a left eye since I last saw him in the fall, probably from sparring. Even with his one good eye he remembered me; nature can be cruel. There are beaver in the Wind River Canyon, but they don't like mid-day sun. Elk can be viewed with binoculars when the herd is near Boysen Peak; we've stopped counting at 60 when the herd makes their rounds several times a year.
When the weather is not freezing, something is blooming in the Wind River Canyon. There is always somebody flowering here, including flowers that I still haven't been able to identify. I have two flowers in photographs that are not in either of two books on flowers of the Rocky Mountain Region. The challenge now is to somehow figure out what they are.
My personnel favorite wildflowers are the Shooting Stars, especially the more rare white. The Shooting Stars are blooming right now.
I've blogged recently about caves in the canyon, and many can easily be seen, but many will never be seen by human eyes. You're not really supposed to climb here, but there really is nobody to stop you, and I've never been questioned. You certainly cannot miss the landslides/mudslides that occurred last year, they changed the Wind River Canyon forever, but this is how the canyon was formed in the first place; I was here, and yes, it was frightening. It was a fascinating thing to witness....and live through.
At the northern end of the Wind River Canyon, the Wind River magically changes to the Bighorn River; it's called the "Wedding of the Waters." It really is the same river, just the people over there didn't know it was the same river as the one over here, and nobody wanted to change their mind; I think it's funny. At the southern end of the canyon is the Boysen Dam and the lake; it's a big lake, so bring your boat, the fishing is great, too. But most of all, this is what the Wind River Canyon is all about............
Of course, there is Chimney Rock to look out for, and others that have no name at all. There is a large stone arch, easily seen, at a place called "Windy Point." It's known as the "Eye-of-the-Needle" and is on the other side of the river. There are three tunnels for cars, and tunnels that trains blast through.
I wish that space allowed for me to write all about the wonderful things that the Wind River Canyon has in store for you. Just take some valuable time and stop to enjoy one of the most exciting wild places in Wyoming. And just maybe you will see one of my hummingbirds.
*Wind River Canyon Blog and all photographs by Michael John Balog/Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. All rights reserved.
*Visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com for many more wild bird, wildlife and landscape photographs of the Wind River Canyon.
MjB
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In the Wind River Canyon, where I live and write the Wind River Canyon Blog, it's spring when certain birds start to migrate into the canyon. Yesterday, Friday the 13th, I observed the very first hummingbird of the season, a Broad-tailed female, on one of the nectar feeders; this is the earliest I've ever seen a hummingbird in the Wind River Canyon! She was driven down into the canyon by the extreme cold of the high-country; it was just before 5:30 in the evening: She is actually on her way north. Two days
earlier, the first Orioles (Bullock's Orioles-male) were observed on these very same feeders. I always put a couple out on the 1st of May for these very special bright-orange birds.
Bullock's Orioles are fiercely territorial, both male and female will defend their ground and a certain nectar feeder will remain their own. They love the sugar/nectar that I make in my kitchen, but the feeders must have openings that are large enough for them to shove their substantial beaks into. The male's song is great, but nothing to write a blog about. Here is a short video of a young female Oriole on a hummingbird feeder giving us a beautiful little song; give her a listen, it's less than a minute! The Wyoming state bird, the Meadow Lark, has without doubt the loudest birdsong in the state and can easily be heard from quite a long-distance; they're singing right now, so get out of the house and go for a hike. I've never seen one in the Wind River Canyon, and I couldn't begin to explain why; I've had many people ask me. Their recognizable birdsong is loud and wonderful.
In my crazy-long experience in the field, usually with a camera, my favorite birdsong has got
to be the male House Wren. Just the other day, I was sitting with my eyes closed listening to the singing talents of an energetic little Wren. In between his vocalizations he was trying to make another male leave the area....at warp-speed! For hours they will chase each other around at speeds that defy all logic; it's easy to mistake their territorial flights/fights as a hummingbird's, they move that fast. Yet, once it started to rain/snow they gave up all territorial behavior, and nest building by the uninterested female stopped cold: On this cool Saturday, the 14th of May, none of the three Wrens are around at all. Once it warms up next week all singing and nest building will begin again.
The male Wren's birdsong is wonderfully complex, and changes slightly when a female chooses his birdhouse; it changes slightly again when the young are in need of protection; he warns others off with his singing talents. Yet, they're a trusting little bird that you can sit nearby and close your eyes for a listen, too. Here is a video of a male House Wren doing what he does best....give it a listen....or come visit me in the Wind River Canyon to hear one for yourself. All over America birds are singing right now, with many more to come. Find a nice wilderness area near you, wherever you are, and just sit and listen. The call of a wild bird, or even the hoot of an Owl, will enter your soul with a magic beyond understanding. You will be different somehow, and this is the real power of Mother Nature----the power to make us all better caretakers of this little blue marble we call Earth. Take the precious time to let a birdsong entertain you, and see for yourself how a little bird can make all the difference in brightening your day.
*All photographs, videos and writing of the Wind River Canyon Blog by Michael John Balog/Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. All rights reserved.
Thank you.
MjB
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I'd planned on trying out my panorama landscape idea for yesterday, but wildfire smoke from Canada put an end to that great idea, then it started to rain! It poured sometime after midnight this morning, and is still raining right now as I write this Wind River Canyon Blog. The canyon is wonderfully green right now, and the migrating birds are starting to arrive. I motivated myself right out the door this morning in the rain; camera under my jacket as I drove the truck up the Wind River Canyon.
You really should use a tripod when putting together a panorama image, but I've made them without one! My favorite, which is not on my Hogbats Photography website, is of the Buffalo in Lamar Valley in Yellowstone; it too was hand held. Without a tripod you need steady hands and an idea. It also pays to understand the way panoramic "stitch" software works, and I'm no expert----so here goes.
I took three photos side-by-side of my intended Wyoming landscape this morning, overlapping the images ever so slightly. This is harder to do effectively when hand-holding your camera, remember; I shot RAW as this is the best way to manipulate the files. I opened the picture files in my camera's software (Canon Digital Photo Professional in this case) and worked the landscape images the way I wanted them to look----but, you must work all the photos exactly the same way or the panorama "stitch" software will not recognize the adjoining pixels from image to image. I read recently that the panorama software accomplishes millions of computations when putting together the three pictures! I saved in a tiff file, then worked each of the three files in an HDR (high-dynamic range); also included in Canon's software; now you have three huge files/pictures.
Canon's supplied software also includes panorama "stitch" software that is effective, simple, albeit crude. The tiff-file panorama Wind River Canyon landscape image that resulted from this morning's wet and beautiful shoot was over 212 megabytes!! I then opened the tiff-file in Adobe Lightroom to tweak the image further, adding sharpening and dialing down the bright upper-altitude fog. The jpeg image saved is still over 42 megabytes! Remember, this was photographed just this very morning in the Wind River Canyon, here in Wild Wyoming.
You can see some of last spring's landslides that are active again, even as I write this week's blog, the high-altitude fog and rain giving the image/picture a "fresh-look." I wish I could include the "smell-of-the-air" in this panorama landscape: It awakens the senses like some kind of drug, all supplied by Mother Nature. The ancient canyon-stone foundation on the left-side (from the early 50's?) is the only one like it in the entire Wind River Canyon. If you can zoom-in on the panorama image, you may also notice certain anomalies left by the movement of fog and software goofs where the pictures are "stitched" together.
We had a family medical emergency that stopped my daily photographic routine the last couple of weeks, and I just couldn't find the motivation to write the Wind River Canyon Blog last week; hopefully everything fine.
Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you learned a little something. Try a panorama of something, you will be surprised at the results----trust me, it's easier than it sounds.
*All images and writing by Michael John Balog/Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for award-winning hummingbird images and many more wildlife photographs documenting life in the Wind River Canyon.
MjB
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With newly fallen snow in the upper reaches of the canyon, and fog swirling through the valley, the Sun was like a laser at times, which makes for uneven exposures. I've got blue sky and now I don't, there's the Sun, now it's dark. Weather changing by the second is challenging even for digital photography. I had blues deep and dark, and whites beyond bright, all in the same photograph. What I really wanted was that mysterious fog swirling around the pine trees, with the tall canyon cliffs in the background.
Going through all the digital files later-in-the-day revealed one picture that caught my artist's eye; this file had potential for mystery. It had all the elements I'd searched for in thousands of files over the years, but it didn't move me! I played with the sliders in my camera's software till I tired and finally went to bed. At it again the next day and, trying black and white, revealed possibilities. A green filter brought out the hidden trees on the far cliffs, and made the closer trees stand out more. I took down the brightness of the fog a little and opened up the shadows, then took down the contrast and brightened the entire exposure----saved as a Tiff file and quit for the day.
Yesterday I opened up the picture in Lightroom and sharpened the image a little, then hit the button for B&W Contrast Low. Tweaking the black and white sliders revealed details in the image and the swirling fog. The pines on the far canyon cliffs can be seen through the high-altitude fog. The photograph shows a bit of the magic the Wind River Canyon has in abundance. Why did monochrome (black and white in photographers language) please the eye? Why does it work this time and not all the time? How do I know when to use black and white?
A black and white image has always been easier to accept as fine art. When taking portraits of people I always work my favorite file in monochrome, and it's amazing what black and white can reveal. There's a timelessness to a black and white image, be it nature or person. We all know black and white pictures are from long ago, and this it seems is the real magic, and the reason for the resurgence in the popularity of these images.
Courses on photography and film always start out in the age of black and white; many schools still teach the ancient photographic art of black and white with all the stinky chemicals. In the twenty-first century a black and white image is different, and you notice it, and this is what advertisers just love and why you are seeing monochromatic pictures more than ever before. But is it ART and who gets to choose if it's color or black and white? Since it's common knowledge that everybody is a critic, the answer is everyone!
There is no ART RULE #6 that can teach you when to use b&w, sometimes it just seems appropriate and works great, and then there's those other times. You may be wrong, but you'll never know unless you try it. I personally love the monochromatic image, but without color the black and white images would mean nothing; they wouldn't be special anymore.
Always shoot in color, and this is for two good reasons. If you shoot pictures in black and white you cannot make the image in color later, even if you want to. A color file can be worked both ways, a monochromatic image cannot. The other reason is that most "experts" teach that the color digital file makes for a better black and white image. Depending on how severe you work the color file the monochromatic image will change appearance; you can add as much mood as you want for the b&w conversion later. Experiment with monochromatic images for yourself and lets see what happens.......but is it art?
Wind River Canyon Blog and all images by Michael John Balog/Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com for award-winning hummingbird photographs and other birds and wildlife images from the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Thank you for taking the time to peruse my work.
MjB
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The great Wizard sat and thought deep thoughts under the garden junipers. He knew the King's special gift should be the color of the bluest sky, yet everyone in the magical mountain kingdom should be able to enjoy the gift, too. And then suddenly it came to him........
As the Queen opened the rainbow-box, with the ribbon of the purest gold, she wondered what gift the King had given her this year. Almost silently they rose from the rainbow-box, birds the color of a springtime sky! They weren't just the blue of the sky, they were all the blues of any beautiful sky anyone had ever seen----they were the Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides), a gift so very special, indeed.
I know of a very special place where Mountain Bluebirds nest. This place is not far from the
Wind River Canyon here in central Wyoming. I've known of this nesting spot for several years, and it's apparently a secret. A back-road that is seldom traveled runs nearby, and no one seems to notice the sapphire-blue Mountain Bluebird at all; just me and my out-of-place telephoto lens. Yet, spending lots of time waiting and waiting, and following around this stunning male Bluebird has been entirely a huge thrill; as it always is.
I love those moments when he comes near to me for a visit----male Mountain Bluebirds are so very curious and friendly. It could be he's just wondering who's invading his large territory, but it's a visit none-the-less. I've had many, many encounters with these fascinating birds, and it never ceases to amaze me just how easy it is to observe one, yet very few people have ever seen one for themselves; maybe this is for the best----the best for my Mountain Bluebirds.
Deb and I were on a date-night when we stopped for a visit with my Mountain Bluebirds very recently. The beautiful male came right over, then behind me as I spun around for these photographs. He sat and "posed" for these images, to my utter amazement. Deb said he seemed to know his picture was being taken; I'm sure he wasn't afraid of me, or ever has been. The picture of him in-flight was me being prepared for his "stage-left" exit by leaning on the shutter button, when I sensed his moment-of-departure. This is a combination of learning and practice, with a lot of luck thrown in.
Moments like these cannot easily be explained, and shouldn't be. When you're out in nature, and wildlife is as curious of you as you are of them, revel in it. Be aware that a curious Mountain Bluebird is not the same thing as a curious mother Buffalo. A thoughtful wildlife observer learns best; the others learn the hard way----learn about nature & be safe! Till next week, thank you for reading this week's Wind River Canyon Blog.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all Photographs/copyright 2016/Michael John Balog, Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
MjB
*equipment - Canon 7D w/Canon battery-grip; Canon 300mm f/4 lens, tripod ring in-place as a thumb-brace; Canon 1.4 extender III; hand-held/no tripod used. Canon Digital Photo Professional and Adobe Lightroom used for basic adjustments.
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the largest birds to ever "walk" into the canyon. In fact, they are the largest wild bird in North America, and when these two came into our lives it was absolutely, crazy nuts. I'd spotted a group of Wild Turkeys moving through the Fall before, and got one good picture in the middle of a nasty storm. They had never been seen in the Wind River Canyon, but these were Wild Turkeys, and they were in my yard! All too soon they were gone, and we thought that was that.
The following Spring two Wild Turkeys just showed up at our cabin and started eating the sunflower seeds, so I carefully tiptoed and threw out some more. I had a knockdown match with a male during mating season years earlier: The rich lady with the mansion wanted him and his harem out of her yard, and he didn't want to leave; he left me with some well deserved welts on my belly. So I approached these two with lots and lots of caution. Using the same
techniques one would use to approach a dog, I moved slow and low and never made eye contact....at first.
The two Wild Turkeys were gone after they were full, but were back that same afternoon; this was my one chance to snap some photos, or so I thought at the time. My heart was racing at a thousand miles-an-hour as I got so very close, and they seemed almost tame! The next morning they were at our backdoor looking for food. They came around every single day, sometimes twice; and this went on daily for six months. They nearly got killed in the roadway several times as I held my breath, but somehow the "geniuses" survived a Summer in the canyon, and I got acquainted with two of the most amazing creatures on this planet.
These two Wild Turkeys were friendly and even lovable. When I would see them coming down the driveway all I had to do was shake the cup of seed, and they would run over to me and make sounds that seemed to indicate they were happy. Cracked corn was also one of their favorites....they were almost members of the family----heck, we saw them more than family.
We had picnics that Summer with those two Turkeys; as invited guests of course. And I got to photograph Wild Turkeys from three feet away, nearly every day! I shot some video and got some portraits, and sat mere feet away as they slept under a juniper in the heat of the afternoon. But when the weather started to turn colder, they were gone. They didn't return last summer, and they were missed by everyone. Ben Franklin was right....they're really cool!
Early last year, early in the month of May, I was outside with a camera on a cold afternoon when I heard a familiar squawk. Not a squawk that anyone had ever heard in the Wind River Canyon mind you, but a bird sound that reminded me of the Blue Jays of my youth in Ohio; but here in the canyon? It couldn't be. And it wasn't----he was lighter blue and even noisier; I didn't even know what species he was. I shot away with my camera, and at one point was standing on top of the picnic table for a better angle, in dim, lousy light. I got the frames I wanted and more, as he stuffed himself for his voyage to who knows where.
That night as I uploaded the picture files I looked him up, turns out he is known as a Pinyon Jay. Not exactly rare in Wyoming, but never seen around here. Will he return this May? Will we see him again someday? No one knows for sure, but I'll keep an eye peeled.
And that's it for this three-part series about Unique Birds of the Wind River Canyon, I hope somebody learned something. I've been spending quality time with one of the most beautiful birds in Wyoming this week, the fabulous Mountain Bluebirds. So, next week my Wind River Canyon Blog will contain two brand-new photographs of the bluest thing flying anywhere.
These magical moments are brought to you by Mother Nature and lots of luck. I would like to take this time to thank all my regular readers----please pass on all that you have learned.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all images by Michael John Balog, Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming----all rights reserved.
MjB
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We had two species of hummingbirds nesting in the Wind River Canyon at that time, the aforementioned Calliope and the famously aggressive Rufous. But very late in the evening, close to darkness in the dry heat of summer, I would see a Broad-tailed Hummingbird at one of my feeders. At first I wasn't sure if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. It was all over too soon and I had to wait until next summer, ten months from then! You see, hummingbirds are in the Wind River Canyon for just two months, maybe a little bit more----it's a long wait. My fervent wish was that someday I could get them to nest here.
Then forest fires ran across southern Colorado and the Black-chinned Hummingbirds had
lost their historical breeding grounds. Suddenly in June of 2013, early for hummers, a male Black-chinned Hummingbird arrived in the Wind River Canyon; I was beyond ecstatic. Every book told me they shouldn't be here, yet here they were drinking my home-made nectar! That summer I made friends with a breeding female Black-chinned. She trusted my presence and I made full use of her trust in me----her in-flight portrait won me 1st Place at the 2014 Cody Art Show: Her photo is the one on the right. Now, the Black-chinned Hummingbirds nest in the Wind River Canyon every summer, but the Broad-tailed hummers still teased my eyes so late at night.
The following summer my insane wish finally came true, along with the Calliope, Rufous and Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds came, too! I couldn't believe it, but what got them to finally stay here and nest? I'd like to think is was the great conditions I provided for them to party the summer in the canyon....but I'll never know. As is usual with hummingbirds, a female was ready to have her picture took. She would come in for a landing at my favorite photography-hide and I saw the photo I wanted in my head long before I ever
captured the file in question. Whether you use paint and brushes, or digital medium, the best pictures are those you "see" in your head; it's a kind of goal that makes for better art.
The photograph lacked a certain something, it needed a classic-look to make it timeless and not just some over-saturated file. After all, this was the very first female Broad-tailed hummer the canyon had ever seen. A rare, old darkroom technique called a selenium-print seemed appropriate----in digital, of course. She won me another 1st Place at the Cody Art Show last summer, but before that win the photo was mentioned in the March 2015 issue of Shutterbug magazine. This picture explains why some people are so crazy over hummingbirds----or maybe it's just us.
My goal was to photograph a portrait of a male Black-chinned Hummingbird; this means getting very close, and this takes patience and time. This was a curious male that had probably been breeding in the canyon for three years, and this meant he was aware of my presence.
Hummingbirds hate the click of a camera's shutter, this too takes time, and a faster shutter-speed, of course. He is smaller than a grown man's thumb, but just look at the confidence in that tiny bird.............
This week I had to write about the unique and valuable jewels in my life in the Wind River Canyon. If I could afford to, and I can't, I'd chase my hummingbirds up and down this western hemisphere, just so I could see the far flung places these little birds fly.
*The first Vulture arrived in the canyon just this morning----for their annual clean-up duty.
To see many more hummingbird photographs from the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming----visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com
All images in this Wind River Canyon Blog by Michael John Balog, Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming----all rights reserved.
Next week, in part 3 of Unique Birds of the Wind River Canyon, we'll be discussing the Wild Turkeys that I made friends with a couple of years ago, and then they vanished! And no, I get my turkey from Oscar Mayer; less feathers, less attitude.
MjB
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The very first avian that comes to mind when discussing birds that shouldn't be in the Wind River Canyon was the winter we spent with a wonderful Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri). I'd never observed a Steller's Jay outside of Yellowstone National Park, when one afternoon
something odd was with a group of Magpies. It was only a glimpse, nothing more than an eye blink, but I thought I saw a flash of blue among those Magpies. It was late fall and it's never unusual to see those black and white personable birds. We never have anything blue around here that big! My eyes are my best asset, and I trust my observations, but what the heck was that!?
A couple of days later, I had my first photographic encounter with the first Steller's Jay that had ever been seen in this isolated ecosystem. They are a foot from head to tail with with a blue that defies description, and feathers as black as night. This is the only western jay that has a crest; and boy what a crest! It was the first of our daily encounters with this beautiful bird, yet we have never seen another. As springtime approached he got an urge that only a female can satisfy, and none can possibly be found in the Wind River Canyon....and bang, he was gone, and never returned.
For three consecutive springs we had a bird stop by on his way to who knows where; this
adult breeding male was really out of his usual domain. This was a bird that no one could possibly miss, and they are seldom seen west of central North Dakota! His rose-colored breast patch was something I'd only seen in pictures. How'd he get way out here? And he made great appearances for three years, the last one with a female. This bird was the gorgeous Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus).
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are a little bit bigger than a blackbird, with a beak made for opening things. He was not especially friendly, and it took years (all 3) for me to get a photo I was proud of. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are never seen in Wyoming, or shouldn't be anyway, but here he was again. How did he make this isolated canyon part of his route, and where was he going? We'll never really know, but the gift was ours to share with others.
Early last winter I had a close-encounter with a bird never seen before in the Wind River
Canyon, and for good reason. The Red Crossbill (Loxia curviostra) has an unusual beak that is specialized for the opening of pine cones. Most of the trees in the canyon are cedar and junipers, with few pine cone bearing trees, and those at higher elevations. On the ground, by my backdoor, was this reddish bird with a crazy bill trying to open sunflower seeds with a strange sideways tilt of his head.
This Red Crossbill hung around the cabin for a few days, and was quite patient and friendly with my camera and me. He either tolerated my presence or didn't care, so I crawled on my belly in the snow till I could get one of my bird portraits. It's a striking image of a wild bird not much bigger than a finch; the afternoon winter sun brings out his fascinating colors.
I don't want to overwhelm the readers of my Wind River Canyon Blog, so this blog will be the first of a short series about Unique Birds of the Wind River Canyon; next week Part 2!
*All images by Michael John Balog & Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming----all rights reserved.
For more beautiful portraits of birds and wildlife from the Wind River Canyon ecosystem, visit HogbatsPhotography.com.
MjB
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There is a particular twisted old pine tree that has teased me for the last fifteen years. I see it every day from my cabin windows here in the Wind River Canyon. This ancient pine tree is all but inaccessible to everyone but the birds. He grows on the high cliffs on the other side of the Wind River here in the canyon, perched on the very edge. Even if I were to hike over and up to this old pine, I couldn't photograph it the way I envisioned this tree in my mind. If I had a dollar for every picture I've taken of this twisted old tree, I'd have a heck of a lot more money than I do now. It's twisted, dry ancient branches speak of long decades of terrible winds, forty-below temperatures, and Summer Sun scorching the Earth at over one hundred.
Just yesterday afternoon, the realization that I could image this ancient tree with a long telephoto lens was enough to motivate me; but I needed to plan this one out. Three hundred millimeter lens with a one-point-four extender on my DSLR, this heavy-weight mounted to a solid tripod. Because this old pine could only be shot by birds, I needed the best sharpness, not the ultimate speeds I use when documenting the breeding hummingbirds here in the Wind River Canyon; this twisted, old pine at least couldn't get away! I worked the file in what is known as HDR (high dynamic range) to bring out colors of the artist; Monet would have approved of the results....my wife did late last night.
It has always appeared that this pine is trying to keep from sliding over the edge of the cliffs, it's "arms" reaching out for support, lest is fall. Down the Wind River from here is a collection of trees that even in Wyoming is not to be found. Some are native and some aren't, but if conditions are absolutely perfect, the rainbow display by these trees is very unusual in this state; in fact, very unusual for the canyon. Only once in the last seventeen years have conditions been this perfect.
I was hiking around Yellowstone National Park in a cold Fall rain, when I came upon a poor pine tree that was trying very hard not to fall into the deep canyon far below. The agony of survival this tree displayed struck me. It was an emotional moment, standing in Yellowstone in the rain, this little pine tree asking me to document his survival; it's been a popular photograph and one that still moves me. The very last blue mountain ridge is the northeast rim of the caldera, so his survival is no more promising than ours.
The last tree image we will be discussing, in this week's Wind River Canyon Blog, is a photo I saw finished the moment I'd rounded the corner. It was a cold Winter's day, bleak and dreary, all the good life has faded away. The cold picnic table empty of joy, that uncomfortable man-made stone jutting into our photograph; we'd all like it to be removed, but it cannot be. I've had people get angry it's there at all....those are the ones that missed the point. The title of the picture has always been.......The Soul of the Enemy. Does the photograph of this lifeless tree now take on a different meaning for you? Do you feel the emptiness conveyed in this black and white image?
Wind River Canyon Blog written by Michael John Balog - All photographs by Michael John Balog and all rights are reserved.
Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for award-winning hummingbird images and wildlife photography documenting life in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming.
*If you've gotten to the very end.....thank you for your time.
MjB
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The surest sign that Spring may not be too far away is the first emergence of the Yellow-bellied Marmot, or as he's called in the Wild West, the "Rock Chuck." These large, hairy beasts are much like the Ground Hogs "back East"; only ours are much, much cuter, of course! They live deep underground and spend three-quarters of their lives in that hole-in-the-ground; they're vegetarians. The first Rock Chuck that I saw was last Wednesday afternoon----hey, Spring must be here!
The adorable little Chipmunks are out and searching for seeds much sooner, but they don't
know any better, anyway. We always see the chubby males leaping through snow early in the year; no sign of Springtime when they are first seen (this year, February 16th). The Rock Chucks, on the other hand, are interested in soaking up the warm rays of the Sun, and you'll never see them when it's even a little bit cold.
Chipmunks are very friendly, and easy and fun to photograph; Rock Chucks are near-sighted, a little more wary and difficult to approach, and not as lovable as a Chipmunk----ever seen a group of Rock Chucks starring in a movie? Me neither........the above picture is a Wind River Canyon Rock Chuck (on a rock); the photo to the right is a Chipmunk, and the star of a few films you may have seen.
Over the course of this Winter, I've been making a new and rarely seen wild animal friend here in the Wind River Canyon. You can find a squirrel just about anywhere, but they are very few in number here in the canyon. My extensive research tells me that they are more snack size, and not as prolific as say, chipmunks or voles. Unlike your neighborhood park squirrels and chipmunks, these mountains are home for wildlife that eat these little vegetarians.
This little squirrel has a thing for the sunflower seeds that my finches eat. I used my double-whistle to let him know I was around again; yesterday, I decided to shoot a funny portrait. When he (or she?) was scrounging for seeds, I went out with the "white cup" with some sunflower seeds, which looks suspiciously like my 70-200mm, white Canon lens. I'd already been close with the cup, so tricking him into posing for a goofy photo was a matter of concentration on my "pretty model." Shutter speed was 1/320th @ f/5.6, ISO 400, and I was crawling around on my knees to get the shot I envisioned earlier. You can come up with your own funny caption:-)
I hope the early signs of Spring bring a little smile. Go for a hike and look for the change of seasons near you; trust me, it'll cleanse your mind and soul. Till next week's Wind River Canyon Blog...."Keep your camera ready!"
*All images and writing by Michael John Balog, Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for award-winning Wyoming Hummingbird images, and many photos of the wild animals and birds of the Wind River Canyon.
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Nothing like this short-video documentary of the Bighorn Sheep in the Wind River Canyon has ever been put together before, and for good reason. They're here or they're not, and you cannot just go out to see them for yourselves. I've spent uncounted hours hoping to photograph them, and to no avail, then all of a sudden they're here! I had a dozen videos to cull for the four shots in this 50 second video. No added doofus music or special effects, just the Bighorn making their trek through the Wind River Canyon and the landslides of last Spring. Enough of my dribble.....here are a family of Bighorn Sheep in one of Wyoming's most beautiful canyons. For more videos and award-winning hummingbird & wildlife photography visit my website HogbatsPhotography.com. All the writing and photography of the Wind River Canyon Blog by Michael John Balog - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
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One of the big Rams and his extended family were making their way through the canyon; I'd spotted one of their big, white rumps flash in the afternoon Sun on the other side of the Wind River. There were ten Bighorn Sheep including three adorable yearlings! Now understand that Bighorn don't really live here, or anywhere else for that matter. Bighorn Sheep are travelers and never, ever sit still for very long. I can drive up and down the Wind River Canyon for hours on end and never see a single Ram. Suddenly, there they are on their next trip through the canyon, on their way to where? That is the mystery of Mother Nature and the wilderness of Wyoming.
This particular Bighorn Ram has got to be the luckiest male on the entire planet, with the possible exception of Mr. Hefner. This male Bighorn has his favorite ladies with him, and a few of the most adorable little Bighorns you've ever seen. They're so cute it shatters my heart like a brick through glass. You'd like to hug them....but nature doesn't work that way. Instead I grab the camera with the big lens; I'm packing 642mm at the the sensor; lug the heavy tripod and throw it all with some water in the truck. But I'm only going across the street!
I observe but I do not interfere. Sure, I've been very close to the Bighorn in the Wind River Canyon, and I have pictures to prove it. But they belong here, and are free in a way that I cannot comprehend. That male Ram goes wherever he wants, and has no mortgage or car
payments to worry about. He has no boss that he resents, and no one can order him to do anything, or stand in line at some store with ungrateful, underpaid help. These Bighorn eat when they want, and take naps in the Sun when they want----I watched him take a "cat nap" Monday afternoon with the kids sleeping nearby. These Bighorn Sheep, that I get such a thrill out of, are the real definition of what real freedom is all about.
If you're reading my Wind River Canyon Blog this week, and are one of the bazillion people that live in and around a city, it's time you got out and experienced what being free really feels like. Nature and freedom is not far away....go for a hike! Visit a wild place near you, or plan a trip to Wyoming and come see what mountains really look like up close. And just maybe you'll get to see some of our residents that are more free than me......or you.
After several hours, I had 350 digital files and a dozen short-form videos to lug through on my way to even begin writing this week's Wind River Canyon Blog. Out of all those new images of Bighorn Sheep, one set in particular caught my artist's eye. The late afternoon light in the canyon can be strangely magical at times, and it ripped across the golden mountain lighting up four ewes in just the right way. The little ewe nearest to you is the daughter of the ewe next to her (say that three times real fast); she really is lighter in color than all the other Bighorn.
If I can figure out my new video software, then next week maybe we can finally have some video of Bighorn Sheep in the Wind River Canyon; after many, many requests. Till then, remember to "keep your camera ready."
For more Wyoming wildlife images from the Wind River Canyon, click on this link to my website - Hogbats Photography.
All content of the Wind River Canyon Blog and HogbatsPhotography.com created by Michael John Balog, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Thank you!
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A cave is described as a hollow opening in a hill, cliff or mountain large enough for a human to enter. The study of caves is called Speleology, which is where the popularized word spelunking comes from. The formation and development of caves is called speleogenesis; the largest cave complex is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, which runs more than 400 miles! The largest cave west of the Mississippi River is the Jewel Cave in South Dakota, and it's length is over 166 miles! I've personally been in Jewel, and it's definitely worth going out of the way for.
The first cave in the Wind River Canyon we will be looking at in this week's Wind River Canyon Blog will be the famous "Indian Maiden" cave. The nickname of this cave was told to me by several old American Indian friends of mine. It's funny and a bit off-color, but I didn't make the name up, I just pass on the name that the local American Indians have called it for generations. I have been in this small cave, but so have many others. The upper opening is actually a "rose window" of sorts. This cave is easy to spot as you drive south through the canyon (it's on the east-side), and a fairly easy hike. When you see it you will understand just how this cave got it's nickname.........
This next cave is one that cannot be seen from the road through the canyon, and has never been entered, and has an icefall next to it....weather permitting. The cave and icefall can be viewed from an eastern, canyon hillside. The photograph was taken from my cabin with a telephoto lens eight days ago, but recent warm weather has destroyed most of the icefall. Few people have seen the weird aquamarine color the ice takes on, early in the morning, as our Sun breaks the eastern rim of the Wind River Canyon.
The last photograph of a cave here in the Wind River Canyon, in this week's blog, is probably the largest, and most likely part of something much larger in nature. It's located on the other side of the Wind River, high up near the rim and just south of "Chimney Rock." I met the old man that was the last person to visit this huge opening in the mountainside.
He and his friends were just boys out for an adventure when things went horribly awry. They were young with no real equipment and no knowledge of what they were getting themselves into; one of the boys got badly hurt and had to be rescued....with a railroad handcart! (like in the old movies) This was at least 60 years ago, maybe closer to over 70 years; time has a way of compressing memories. If you look closely, or can zoom in on the photograph, you will see more than one cave. The largest takes a nose-dive down to inky darkness....I've shot this cave several times under differing light, but the inky-dark shaft tells us nothing of what lies deep within this cave; or is it part of a complex, or is there a McDonald's down there?
There really is no information about this largest of all the caves in the Wind River Canyon, which is unfortunate. Calcite crystals are common in the canyon, and can be found by the discerning eye. What is to be found in these caves?
These caves, and the Wind River Canyon, are part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, and it's supposed to be illegal to climb and explore. This is just a fair warning, and a way of covering my butt; but Christopher Columbus broke a few rules, too.
The writing of the Wind River Canyon Blog and all photographs are by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
For more landscape images of the Wind River Canyon, and award-winning Hummingbird photographs, visit HogbatsPhotography.com
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owned and managed a small motel two hours away for twenty-one years. I even cleaned the bathrooms everyday for fifteen years and I have knee problems to prove it. And that's not even the funny part. The very best part is meeting all the cool people from around the world; hearing their stories and making them laugh at mine. In over two decades as an innkeeper you hear so many crazy things, and answer a zillion stupid questions, that there's a lot of funny crap in there somewhere.
The middle of June on a hot afternoon, in walked a blonde mother in short-shorts and a cropped t-shirt. This pretty mother of two filled out the registration card for a double room, and told me that, "We're going camping in Yellowstone!" I looked her up and down, several times, and said, "I hope you brought something warmer than that." She gave me a smile that would've melted ice, and said, "But it's 85 degrees outside!" I giggled and told her that it would be less than 50 tonight and really cold in the park, and maybe she should buy some sweatshirts....she didn't believe a word I said.
Several days later, guess who walked into my motel office with a smile, sexy shorts and a story to tell----that's right, the blonde mom. They needed a clean room and TV. She said that her son had left a Pepsi outside the tent one night, "...and in the morning it was frozen solid!! Is it always that cold in Yellowstone in June?" I said, "No, sometimes they get snow, you were lucky." I'm not sure she believed that either; but others would learn about life in the mountains the hard way.
On a cold day in early June a fella walked into the office for a room. He'd been in Yellowstone National Park and they'd kicked everybody out of the campgrounds; a snowstorm had blasted it's way through the park and left over a foot of snow! The rangers had made everyone leave their trailers and scram. He wanted to know when him and his wife could retrieve their trailer. I smiled, and in my best Woody Allen told him, "Oh....sometime in early July, maybe." The poor guy went nuts...."We can't afford to wait that long to get our trailer out of the park!" I calmed him down and told him it was just for a laugh; give them a couple of days to plow it clean. Forty-eight hours later Yellowstone was open and he was smiling again: A bored motel owner has to get his laughs when he can.
After early September, Yellowstone National Park begins its swift and steady march towards an early winter. Fall in the park was my father's favorite time, and you can see snow anytime you're in the high country....or, you can get a suntan. One evening a senior woman asked me a question about Yellowstone. She asked, "What are those tall sticks they're putting up all over the park....we were just there....do you know what I mean?" I said, "Yea, tall sticks maybe 10 or 12 feet high, with yellow or orange tops----those are so they can find the road in the spring when they plow the snow." She looked at me with this vacant expression and shot at me, "No they're not, what are they really for!!" I explained what they were for....again. She didn't believe me....again; she seemed to think I was lying, or pulling her leg. Real snotty she said, "If you don't know what they're for then say so!"
Those tall sticks at the sides of the roads, that are being put up late in the season, are really for finding the road in the snow....snowdrifts 30 feet high have been reported on the road to the Old Faithful geyser basin. Heck, we've had drifts nine feet high, and eighty feet long, right behind our little place here in the Wind River Canyon; right now it's 60 degrees, windy and the snow is finally melting----thank you.
I spoke with a guy whose job it was to keep people away from the Elk near Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone. It was the fall rut, and the Bulls were making their stand. You'd think a wild animal this big would obviously be a deterrent; it isn't. He said people get hurt all the time; how do I get his job?
Wind River Canyon Blog written by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
For more photographs of wild animals, and beautiful birds, visit HogbatsPhotography.com
Thank You.
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When we entered the state capital of Cheyenne there were no mountains like I'd expected there to be; I was told there were mountains in Wyoming. The eight-hour drive from the state capital to a very small town called Shoshoni is eye-opening; there didn't seem to be any trees; a bazillion acres of dry, tall grass, but no trees!
It was the last day of July and it was 102 degrees in the shade; I didn't know it got that hot anywhere but the dessert. No wonder forests don't grow in all that empty space. Then, we made a right-turn at a western town in the middle-of-nowhere, and my life was changed forever.
There, a dozen miles away, were the purple mountains my sisters and I were promised more than 1,500 miles from this very spot. Even to this very day, more than four decades later, the ride past the lake into the Wind River Canyon is one of my favorites. We had heard stories of the canyon, and even saw a few lousy snapshots of it, but nothing can prepare you for your first trip through the Wind River Canyon.
The chasm opens at the dam to reveal the famous Wind River far below; I had never imagined such a place could exist. The mountains soared to the clear-blue skies like the skyscrapers in downtown Cleveland; but the air didn't have that funny smell. There were tunnels in the canyon, and golden-cliffs taller than any building I'd ever seen. "Look, there's a
cave!" Spires of stone and mountains reaching skyward was exhilarating after a million miles of boredom. She had me in her grips, the Wind River Canyon did that hot summer's day.
I made a secret wish for myself that very day....someday, I was going to live in this magical place. It took over thirty years and many things had to fall into place, but my dream came true; I'd made it happen----I live in the mountains.
An old college friend once asked me if I'd ever leave the Wind River Canyon. I said, "Yes, in a zip-lock bag." It's a line that's meant to be funny, but it also gives you some idea of how easy it is to fall in love with the Wind River Canyon and it's charming personality. I started writing this edition of my Wind River Canyon Blog at 4:30 this morning; it's now after seven and our Sun is painting the highest snowy peaks a pastel orange.
We got another foot of snow this week, for the third time this winter. The town of Shoshoni, only twenty miles south of our cabin, still has no snow on the ground at all! South of the canyon is one of the driest places in Wyoming, yet we've gotten nearly three feet of snow so far this winter in the "Heart of the Canyon." And the biggest snowstorms always happen in what the rest of America thinks of as springtime. So, the smartest thing my wife Deb has ever purchased, a snowblower, stays ready for action.
All this incredible beauty and magic of the canyon is easy to see and appreciate,
but it's the little things, that people never see, that is where the magic really is. Did you know that 4 species of hummingbirds nest and have baby hummingbirds in the canyon? I have an adorable little female Downy Woodpecker that I see every day. Just the other day a Bald Eagle flew by my living room window carrying a trout in his talons, and my heart went into overdrive!
Which leads me into my next hurdle----er, project; I'm in the early stages of filming a documentary about the hummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon. I'm reading a book by a famous cinematographer, and I've got video software installed. I've even written a script, a story really, and have started a "shot list." But as I told my doctor, the acupuncturist who keeps me on my feet, some of the shots I envision for my film could take years. In the meantime this short, little science-geek gets to live and work on his art in one of the most amazing places on this little blue stone.
*Wind River Canyon Blog written by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
*For many more wildlife and nature photographs from the Wind River Canyon and Wyoming, please visit my website----HogbatsPhotography.com
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"If we cannot save the few remaining Wild Places, then what are we doing here anyway?"
"The wilderness is the destination for finding what makes us human beings."
"Must we destroy those things that help us to feel our humanity?"
"What is left of Mother Nature's finest creations should never be ruined by anyone."
"Did human beings evolve by God's hands so we could destroy Mother Nature?"
"They must save what's left of the wilderness, so we can save our humanity."
"John Muir was right, there needs to be Wild Places where people can go and reconnect with what's truly important; finding something that makes us feel human again and, to touch a part of ourselves that has been lost in this 21st century. More than ever before in human memory, it will become increasingly important for mankind to experience Mother Nature in all her green and pine-scented glory, and the animals that have lived in the forest for eternity. There are few Wild Places left that haven't been ruined by the hand of man, and we must save the Wilderness, or loose a part of ourselves that can never be reclaimed."
Nature & wildlife photography/writing by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
*For more award-winning hummingbird and wildlife images----www.HogbatsPhotography.com
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Winter in the Wind River Canyon can be a mild one; so far we've had two good snowstorms that have left drifts over three feet deep; big deal. But, our Sun doesn't reach us till after 11 o'clock in the morning, and before 3:30 the Sun dives behind the western rim. Snow and ice don't melt in the canyon when most of it gets barely four hours of sunlight. Winter Blues? A few extra minutes of Sun in the afternoon is immediately noticeable down in this freezer. When I was pondering subjects for this week's Wind River Canyon Blog, it seemed maybe bringing in a little gift of sunshine would be appreciated by everyone.
The Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) is my idea of what Spring is all about in the
Rocky Mountains. Just seeing that little sky-blue wonder is enough to make this old photographer's heart soar. You can't help but love a bird that is the color of a mile-high blue sky. But, try and find one.............as it turns out, they don't grow on trees. In a dozen years of shooting digitally I've discovered them nesting in only two places. In my experience they are a friendly and trusting species that are fairly easy to approach, if you can find one. You'd think birds the color of a sapphire would be easy to find, but they're highly territorial and finicky about their nesting site. The above photo is a much better identification than any description I could write; this is what a male Mountain Bluebird looks like, and he's maybe 7 plus inches beak to tail. Mountain Bluebirds also have the unusual habit of hovering above their prey (mostly bugs); it's an amazing thing to witness.
While cruising around last Spring looking for anything new growing, running or flying around, I spotted a mating pair of Mountain Bluebirds in a fairly isolated cliff side. With a little patience, and practiced slow movements, I was able to gain a little access into their lives, once the male trusted me. That's the trick with this bird species; if the male trusts you, you're in. I would work my way slowly to a cliff's edge, and sit down and wait. In a short time trust was built and they accepted my presence: All I wanted was the two of them in the same frame on some weird rock. Never did I spend more than a couple of hours with them at a time, and rarely on successive days, so as not to be a hindrance to their nesting behavior; don't overstay your welcome with any wild animal; good advice when visiting friends and family, too.
One of my favorite Mountain Bluebird pictures was taken at a mansion by the northern end
of the Wind River Canyon. Antelope horns had been mounted to the birdhouse post, and it apparently made a convenient perch for the male as he was patrolling his territory. If you take time to watch and analyse the behavior of your target wildlife, you will find photo-ops that will make more interesting photographs. I have spent over a decade taking notes on the behavior of my Hummingbirds; once you understand their behavior, it makes for better photographs. This works for shooting sports, children, weddings, portraits, and wild animals----the better your understanding of the subject in the lens, the more your work will show your new-found knowledge and interest. Get to know all about who or what you're planning to photograph; knowledge is king.
My last little gift of sunshine from the Rocky Mountains is a picture of a male Bluebird imitating a rocket ship, or at least that's what I've been told by kids. It truly wasn't planned and was the result of "putting the hammer down." Holding down the shutter button and using those fps (frames-per-second) you paid for yields unseen and unexpected results. Your camera can capture what your eye cannot, let it work for you. Try it on the kids football game, or a child coming down a slide; up your shutter speed and practice, practice, practice. A little good luck is always nice, too.
Till next week...."Keep your camera ready!" I guess we should have bought the snowblower instead of that new lens:-)
All the words and pictures by Michael John Balog-Hogbats Photography-Wind River Canyon-Wyoming
*For more bluebirds, hummingbirds, mountains, and wild animal photographs from the Wind River Canyon, visit www.HogbatsPhotography.com
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One early morning, before coffee, my wife asked me a question that made me smile, "Were you hooting last night?" My response was probably a caveman grunt, but I do remember a giggle that probably wasn't. Her window had been open to allow the crisp mountain air into her dreams, and keep her cool. One of our Great Horned Owls had been sitting on the wooden
beam outside her window. It's his habit to let the Wind River Canyon know he's around, and I've spent many nights watching owls and listening to their "hooting." When she realized I wasn't being a jerk, we both had a good laugh over her "owl story."
In the Fall, our Great Horned Owls bring their young to hunt under the only mercury light, near an open field, in the Wind River Canyon; the one in our yard. Every once in a while this makes for some crazy nighttime events right outside our cabin door. The best one was when I sneaked out a door to observe a yearling owl chasing field mice under the light. I was "peeking" around the corner of the garage with my left eye, trying not to be seen by this cute little owl. Not accounting for his amazing hearing, he must have heard me breathing, because he turned around and looked right at me! The jig was up, I stepped out from my lousy hiding place so he could get a good look. This young Great Horned Owl was not happy about the interruption. He flew up to a nearby boulder and gave me an "Owl dirty look."
Are there Cougars in the Wind River Canyon? The simplest answer is yes, as we've seen their tracks in the mud within a stones throw from our backdoor. I've also seen Cougar tracks in the freshly fallen snow far up in the canyon cliffs. These big cats are the most secretive of all the wildlife in Wyoming; most people will never see one in the wild, unless they're hunting for a Cougar with dogs. But at three in the morning, on an unusually warm June night, I was awake and thirsty for ice cold water. As I entered the kitchen in the pitch dark, something on the wall outside caught my eye. With juniper all around it was impossible to make out what wild animal was visiting. I grabbed the nearby binoculars and readied myself to turn on an outside light, and to my astonishment a young Cougar was standing on the wall watching the nighttime field mice activity!!
To this very cold Winter's day, I am not sure how long we looked at each other on that dark June night. I know it wasn't a dream, and it couldn't have lasted anywhere near as long as it does in my mind now. That single moment of the young Cougar, staring at me through my old binoculars, hovers somewhere in my subconscious. Try and get to sleep after something like that.
Every time I get up in the middle-of-the-night to do my man thing, I look out the bathroom
window that overlooks the lit field. You'll never believe the things I've seen in the nighttime here in the canyon, like the time I saw deer "dancing in the dark." One particular night the biggest Coyote ever just cantered right by, as if it was just his regular route. Watching the owls hunting is something I really love; so big and silent.
Wyoming Mule Deer are very large wild animals, and unfortunately are out at night. I've lost amazingly large bucks to traffic, even here in the Wind River Canyon. One cold Fall night two of our big bucks were eating their way by our cabin. I put on my nasty old cowboy hat and big brown coat, and headed out the backdoor to try an "old Indian trick" I'd been taught.
I made my way as silently as I could to the corner of our garage. Sticking my hands in my
pockets, I then "turned to stone." The smaller of the two bucks came from behind the juniper into the mercury light, right in front of me! He looked around, but didn't seem to see me; he walked twenty feet more. Then out from behind the pine tree came the buck deer that is on my website. His magnificent antlers thrown back as he scanned the area, lit by that weird mercury light, he didn't seem to see me; I was invisible!!! The trick worked, my silence and patience giving me a really cool wildlife tale; all true, I swear.
I'd really like to document some of the nighttime wildlife activity here in the Wind River Canyon, but that technology is out of my reach. If you want to watch big bats, deer and owls in the dark, or one of our startling moonrises, then the canyon will blow you away....in the dark.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
*Go to HogbatsPhotography.com for more wild animal photographs.
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in the isolated ecosystem of the Wind River Canyon photographing it's hummingbirds and wildlife? Coming from a family of hunters, I was taught to handle a firearm before I could ride a two-wheel bicycle. But, hunting is a yucky business, and best left to those men who have a need for such things. Eyes that were surgically corrected got me taken along on every hunting adventure that the old men could dream up. I could hike mountainsides like the mule deer and antelope they were after, and so often couldn't see; they took me along because of my eyesight. But, men with guns often do stupid things with them; even the best of hunters.
I'm going to leave the above paragraph without detailing the traumatic, horrific events that sometimes accompany a hunt gone bad. For a young impressionable boy that would rather
have been at the art museum, some of these hunts belong at the Saturday matinee. "Any idiot with a gun can kill a wild animal." That dentist in the mid-west that shot Cecil is a prime example; he was smart enough to know better; enough said.
My access to historic art started at a very young age, as Cleveland is known for having a great museum, and the schools took us there each year. Even in elementary school we went to see the art teacher, who believe it or not taught art.
Having an art teacher that can open the creative hemisphere of a child is like a magic trick; you can watch them blossom. Regular trips to the wonderful zoo was something always to look forward to, and I spent many hours observing the wild animals from around the world.
One Summer's day, in Grandma's Pleasant Valley gardens, I spotted my very first hummingbird. That one single moment under those fruit trees, surrounded by so many fragrant flowers, stuck in my head and remains to this very day. I was told you couldn't take their picture, and this fascinated me all the more. I even wrote reports about hummingbirds with pictures I'd drawn. Oh, the Pleasant Valley nature of childhood.
As I was in my teenage years, my parents moved us out to Wyoming, which was just a big place on my sister's wooden map puzzle. Didn't seem to be many trees, or art teachers either; in fact, the High School had no real art teacher at all----she was the girls P.E. teacher. And yes, culture shock set in when the click of cowboy boots was heard in the halls; and they smelled of what!?
Even in elementary school I learned that artists didn't fair too well; my reports on them told me that much anyway. I wanted to be an artist first of all, but didn't dare tell anyone that deep secret. Besides, so many of them were miserable, starving wretches with a substance abuse problem. I so loved to paint and sculpt, and even assistant professors liked my artwork; and they're the worst critics.
A family business purchase, and the mounting stress of a 24/7 life, led us to a canyon I'd
fallen in love with the very first time I saw her. Living in the Wind River Canyon has been a dream come true, and that comes straight from the heart. The very first Summer I started to paint the trim on our little cedar home, a hummingbird flew by while I was high on a ladder; and that is the single moment that started all of this artist crap again----laugh if you must, but that little male Rufous Hummingbird changed my life.
The gift of an ancient Nikon film camera was frustrating; I couldn't get the final picture to satisfy the image of the hummingbirds I'd had in my mind. I was complaining about film and it's limitations to a smart, old man with a white beard who suggested I look at digital cameras. A dozen years ago they still seemed a little primitive, or so I thought. Digital imaging equipment didn't come cheap then, or now. My hardworking, understanding wife is my biggest fan, and that's encouragement for any creative pursuit.
Living and working as a wildlife photographer in the middle of the Wind River Canyon has it's drawbacks; there's no city services, other than electricity. Our mail is more than a dozen miles away! No phone service, and now we have three satellite dishes on our little cedar cabin: How else could we find out if the world ended? Heck, I can't even get a pizza delivered way out here! Every thing I need has to be shipped in from Earth. I could use one of George Jetson's flying cars about now----what happened to those?
In a book that's still somewhere in a basket by my throne, it's said that a wildlife
photographer gets paid in sunshine; and the writers weren't kidding. There isn't much of a budget for people to buy artwork, and I seldom make more than a couple of K a year. But I'm not really complaining, I'm just surprised at the outcome.
Photography in the 21st Century is more art than my shutterbug Grandfather could ever have understood. I "see" photographs in my head, sometimes many years before I can realize a framed award-winning hummingbird picture. I'm freezing my fingers, or dying in the Summer heat, for that eye-blink moment. I spent thousands of hours, last hummingbird season, for a few fleeting seconds of adrenaline: The photograph of the Rufous Hummingbird on the right is one I'd imagined in my mind a decade ago, and last Summer I finally captured that thought on my sensor.
The obvious question is, "Why do this for no money?" Honestly....it moves people's emotions, and that will connect them to what's really important in my work----the wildlife and the amazing gifts of Mother Nature should be cherished, not hung on a wall.
*Photography and Wind River Canyon Blog by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Thank you for all the wonderful support.
MjB
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Google images from Alfred Stieglitz, and you will see New York City like you've never seen it before. His photographs captured the city so wonderfully that these images have been copied and used as inspiration by generations of photographers. He was instrumental in the acceptance of photography as a fine art; at a time the chemicals could probably kill you!
Half a century of interest in Art History has taught me that putting that metaphorical "frame" around anything in our world changes it; your interest is focused on the subject in the "frame" not what is lost from sight. When that shutter button is pressed, you've captured only a small piece of the world around you. Your image of that reality would not be the one I might have, if I were standing right next to you. That rectangle has now changed everything you've seen; your creativity has changed the real world.
But what is real, and will you see it as I do? Now we have at our disposal software that can make my photograph into anything my creative cells desire. You want to put purple flying pigs in that stunning mountain landscape? Maybe the sky should be green and the flowers as tall as buildings. You've seen the news reports of how editors "Photoshop" famous people thinner, well now you can, too!
The creative process of photography, in the twenty-first century, is now limitless; limited only by your imagination. Yet, a writer in a Popular Photography magazine recently complained of landscapes looking not real. It's time to face the facts of what photography was, and now more than ever in its long history----photography always has been more art than a boring copy of someones idea of what should be. The writer's photograph of geysers in Yellowstone National Park have yellows and shadowed blues that the human eye cannot see, just as those fantastic astronomy photographs from NASA are also not what you or I would see if we were that close to the Orion Nebula. We see only greenish galaxies and nebula through my telescopes; because that's what your eye is capable of visualizing.
So, is it wrong to "go too far" with your photograph of that tree, or mountain, or that wild animal? Should you try to keep it just as you think it was, or should you let your inhibitions run with the artist in you? Creativity is the fuel that drives our nation, and always has. The critics didn't like Monet, Renoir, or that crazy Vincent guy who's work I love so. My advice has always been to channel the little artist in your head; that creative character is the one that will make you feel like an artist.
Every hummingbird season, in the Wind River Canyon, I get real creative with a photograph or two. Most of these wildly artistic hummingbird pictures never see the light of day, because I want people to "Fall in love with Mother Nature," not my artistic rendition of her. But recently a certain artistic rendering of a Calliope Hummingbird (photographed July 2015) caught the imagination of a few people close to me----here he is..........
This little male Calliope is the size of your thumb, and we know each other well. I was experimenting with slow shutter speeds to catch movement and streaks of color. There were two frames that caught my eye. As he was coming in for a landing I'd make a series of bursts with my camera and 70-200mm f/4 lens. He didn't care, and this went on for days.
This particular pose was cool, and I went to work with my subject. I wanted a widescreen look, since scientists tell us this is how we see. Cut away this, chop off that excess green, and get rid of the feeder. Don't forget the rule-of-thirds; my elementary art teacher Mrs. Powers would have approved. Now saturate the colors, and bring up the ones that speak to me; sharpen this, and more contrast; I like the digital grain, it reminds me of the texture of a painting. A vignette will focus the viewers attention on his eyes, and make it more painterly. The color of his gorget was brought up to its outrageous wine-red reality.
I loved this artistic rendition of my Calliope, but I was afraid to put it on my website----HogbatsPhotography.com. He's beautiful, but not what I'd seen through my viewfinder; the entire image was tilted sixteen degrees to give him a more pensive look. Reactions to the print made me realize that my artistic hummingbird photograph was worth offering up, I hope you enjoy it. Shutter speed was 1/160, the f-stop was f/4, ISO 500; photographed just before eight o'clock in the morning, with no light in the bottom of the canyon that early.
As I've said in my Wind River Canyon Blog before, "Once you push the button, the picture is yours." Go ahead, feel the artist in you, bring the lazy bum out and see what happens. Make that photograph yours....make it sing. And as someone told me recently...."don't be afraid."
*Happy New Year from the Wind River Canyon in the heart of Wyoming----it was six below this morning with a nasty, strong wind and sapphire skies. May the New Year be a safe one for all of us. Thank you for reading my labor of love.
Michael John Balog----Hogbats Photography----Wind River Canyon
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In the heart of the Wind River Canyon, where I live 24-7, the weather is unusual, even for the surrounding area. As a friend said, many years ago now, "You live in the mountains!" This causes all sorts of strange meteorological effects, and this week was absolutely no exception to this Wyoming rule.
The town to the south of our cabin is Shoshoni (pop. 650), and it's only 20 miles away; they got no snow at all this week. The town of Thermopolis (pop. 3038) is just 12 miles to the north, a few miles outside the canyon; they got ten inches of snow this week. Right here, in the heart of the Wind River Canyon, we got two and a half feet of snow this week! We had drifts over four feet high that were driven by fifty mile an hour winds. It's definitely going to be a white Christmas in the canyon.
In fact, this year's weather was memorable in many crazy ways. The most historical event was the landslides here in the canyon. They happened Sunday of Memorial weekend, and no one alive had ever seen anything like it, or hopefully ever will again. I personally witnessed massive mudslides right across the Wind River from us----they shook the ground like an earthquake; the road north was closed for four days. There were so many landslides in the canyon, I could not begin to count them all. They will alter the Wind River Canyon forever, but not the abundant wildlife that make their home here.
My website, HogbatsPhotography.com, was featured in the March 2015 issue of Shutterbug magazine; the article written by the notorious Joe Farace. I won a first place award at the Cody Art Show again this year for one of my hummingbirds in flight; this makes three years in a row my hummers have won me firsts. And in between all this insanity, an art lover purchased a massive portrait of the Bighorn Sheep I had done on aluminum. A thirty-percent commission kind of takes the high out of that sale, but I still haven't wiped off the grin yet; thank you.
But you can't do wildlife and nature photography for the money; I get paid mostly in sunshine and exercise. Awards and a few sales don't pay the bills, my wife does----thank you, sweet cheeks! Why do I do this then? People need to see the wonderful things, that are unseen, in the Wind River Canyon. This place is so alive and vital it's intoxicating, yet the abundant wildlife and hummingbirds had never been documented; the locals knew nothing about this amazing and isolated ecology. I try to reach out and teach the only way I know how, through my art. I know that I've already made a difference, and that alone is more pay than anyone deserves.
I've been writing this Wind River Canyon Blog every week for 30 months now; we had several minor hardware failures. The knowledge I've gained, and tried to pass on through my work, is far more than everything I ever wrote in nearly six years of college! Every day I learn a little more about Mother Nature's rules, and myself by proxy. But this blog has never been a lesson on good grammar or punctuation. I'm proud to be able to open some of Mother Nature's beautiful secrets.
*Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone that has appreciated my art this year, read this blog, or helped my friends the Hummingbirds. So I can spend some uninterrupted Holiday time with family and friends, my Wind River Canyon Blog will return January 2nd, with a lecture on creativity and a brand new Hummingbird picture!
Very Sincerely...........Michael John Balog.
MjB
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but she makes my heart beat a little faster whenever I see her; she's beautiful and free, what could possibly be better than that?
Last week I stopped by the local hardware store (11 miles away-nice ride though), and bought a suet-block for our little woodpecker. She really likes it and it's a joy to see her eat breakfast while I enjoy my Starbucks; it's good I'm stocked up on both. They're not expensive, and I highly recommend a suet-block if you have woodpeckers in your neighborhood. Getting to spend time with a Downy Woodpecker is a rare treat, even in Wyoming.
Then it dawned on me the other day----you know, that tiny light suddenly went on. I should be shooting some video of this woodpecker; take advantage while Mother Nature provides such an opportunity. This wasn't going to be easy at all; like me, she can't sit still for long. I wanted a real up-close and personnel video clip. Packing up the old monster tripod, and the longest lens setup (300 f/4 and 1.4 extender), I headed out into the cold mountain air. Figuring around half a minute of screen time would be what to aim for....I got to work.
As it turned out, she made a good model and the afternoon light was good. Spending as much time observing her as I've had, she allowed me to get as close as I dared with the black spider-like rig. In post I added some saturation, and after some editing for jiggle, I had twenty-four seconds of a gorgeous Downy Woodpecker video from the Wind River Canyon; enjoy her rare beauty. I like that she doesn't look directly at me, or even notice I'm alive; her screen exit is unique, that's for sure. What she is looking at is a mystery. My fantasy is she finds a boyfriend next year....keep your fingers crossed!
*Photography, videography and writing by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, in the heart of Wyoming.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
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These cold, grey conditions are not conducive to the art of wildlife photography, and she has challenged me on many, many occasions these past weeks. I've spent many hours observing our new found friend, and lots of time freezing my buns off. One thing to remember----batteries don't work well in the cold mountains, or anywhere else for that matter; be prepared! Over three hundred frames have been shot so far of this little Downy Woodpecker. As I wrote in last week's Wind River Canyon Blog, she makes a lousy model, but she is beautiful.
While in town getting acupuncture for my knees, I picked up a suet block especially for her, and put it in an old bent-wire feeder (after straightening it out). I hung it on the limb of the old-dead juniper that she, and all the other birds visit every day. Struggling to zip up my new parka, it somehow took an inch long furrow out of the back of my hand! I noticed the bloody mess as I reached for my forty-below boots.
And sure enough, as I was trying to stop the gushing (oozing maybe), my pretty little Downy was back, and the light was good. A camera was on the kitchen counter, so I wrapped my hand in a paper towel and went back out into the snow. Now keep in mind, this woodpecker has seen me nearly as many times as I've seen her. I knew the afternoon before that she was letting me get inside her "personal space." As long as I didn't slip and fall in a bloody mess in the snow this was going to be an event.
I was less than six feet from our little Downy Woodpecker, my favorite 70-200mm f/4 luckily the one I'd grabbed on the way out. Working my way up the snowy hill towards her was exciting; her letting me into her world was something else. Your heart speeds up at times like these, and learning to control this "buck fever" is the real trick.
Take long deep breaths, and concentrate your mind only on the behavior of your subject; be it lions, tigers or bears....or pretty woodpeckers. Knowledge and observation cannot ever be replaced by crazy expensive cameras; learning about the wild animals is what this is all about: Knowledge will get a person safely close to wildlife----guts could get you killed.
After three weeks of being frozen, and a bloody hand, I finally got the photographs I envisioned when I first saw her; a portrait of a wild bird that is more free than me; and much prettier, wouldn't you say?
She's barely more than half a foot from beak to tail, yet look at those talons! These birdie feet are made for climbing trees, nothing to be afraid of here. Notice too, the depth-of-field caused by the f-stop of 5.6; a fine place for a portrait at this close a range. The important stuff for a portrait is in-focus, our subject shown at her best. If beauty is truly only skin deep, than what lies beneath?
*technical information----camera was a Canon 7D, the lens stated was an L-series Canon; bloody handheld. Large RAW file worked in Canon's supplied and updated software, then tweaked in Lightroom.
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Wind River Canyon Blog and all photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
Thank you for reading my blog, and Happy Holidays!
MjB
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The first major snowstorm of the season came crashing through on Thanksgiving Day, with our first snap of temperatures in the low teens. With the wind-of-the-storm the snow seems to tear at your face. But there is a wonderful benefit to these horrendous winter storms; wildlife is forced down nearer to us, and icefalls begin to form.
I've had three shoots, in as many days, with a very pretty female Downy Woodpecker that doesn't cooperate at all. She makes a lousy model as I sneak around trying to get "the shot" I see in my head. Out of the nearly 200 frames shot so far, I have one that I really like----sort of; she may or may not make it to my Hogbats Photography website; it may be up to her at this point.
Winter in the Wind River Canyon creates one of Mother Nature's most intriguing formations, the famous icefalls. These waterfalls of ice are a winter favorite, and most are completely inaccessible. This belies the fact that it's illegal to climb them, because we are surrounded by the enormous Wind River Indian Reservation. They are difficult, if not impossible to get near, but are a rare beauty in winter. My favorite icefall is just around the "Bend-in-the-Wind" from our place.
Early in winter this particular icefall (one of dozens) takes on a flower-like appearance, and will morph with storms and the usual mid-day melting. You will notice the geology and how water has sculpted the cliff. Also notice the huge crack that descends the left side of the icefalls. What will the future of this formation look like?
Most of the icefalls in the Wind River Canyon are not easily visited. They are usually far from any parking and it's going to be a long, cold hike; even colder on the way back, or so it will seem. Camera batteries become useless unless kept warm, as do my fingers! On one occasion last Fall my fingertips were blue by the time I made it back inside my cabin. I wasn't going to be out that long, and damn it was colder than I thought!
If your one of the brave that drive through the Wind River Canyon in winter, then congratulations are in order; it can be a dangerous place. It has taken the lives of people I respected. Slow down and take a few pleasant moments, and discover a few of the beautiful icefalls in the Wind River Canyon for yourself; and don't forget the binoculars.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
HogbatsPhotography.com/Wind River Canyon Blog and Photographs/all rights reserved.
Thank you once again for your time.
MjB
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A little bird that doesn't fly away when you come near is unique. I'm big, he's little, they usually fly away, but this little red guy sat and continued to eat sunflower seeds. Minding my manners as you learn to do in the wild, I kept my distance and sneaked back into the cabin for a camera. I didn't really need to hurry as it turned out, he's been an easy model all week; paid in sunflower seeds.
In nearly two decades we'd never seen a bird with a beak like this one. When I looked at the photos on the camera-back his beak looked crossed; huh, what's this? A reddish bird of six inches with a crossed beak, this won't be easy to find in a BIG BOOK on birds of North America. You'll never guess what his name is....this newest addition to the Wind River Canyon bird list is a Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra). Wasn't that hard to figure out, now was it? Some things in life are obvious, even for Sherlock.
The little wild bird, with the raptor-like crossed beak, was easy to get to know. At one point this week I was on my stomach, in the melting snow, photographing him from a few feet away; it's a male of the species. He seems to be the only one in the canyon right now, and I've seen no others ever before. This photo is something I really love doing here in the canyon with wild birds, if I can manage it: A portrait of a bird in the wild. This takes patience, time and a willingness to get a little dirty and wet at times. Then there are those fleeting moments with wildlife when things just happen, and the perfect wild bird portrait is right there.
The Sun is low now in late November, and the afternoon light in the Wind River Canyon is like a photographers beauty-dish flash; strong, brilliant and perfect for portraiture. My little Red Crossbill gave me the perfect pose in good strong sunlight. His feathers under these lighting conditions take on an amazing red-orange color; I didn't mess with this color in post-production.
Keep in mind this is no raptor, he eats seeds and is only half a foot tall! The lens was my favorite 70-200mm f/4; it's lite and easy to wield in the field and is sharp as a razor. This bird with the crazy beak is still here in the Wind River Canyon eating my sunflower seeds. I've photographed over 120 different species of wild birds here in the canyon, how many more haven't I noticed....yet?
Wind River Canyon Blog and all photographs by Michael John Balog.
Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!
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The new little bird was very white, with markings like a Red-breasted Nuthatch, which we've had here before on occasion. The new little bird had none of the red at all, just white feathers where there should have been that rusty color; and the markings were black instead of the blueish-grey of the Red-breasted. I've been spending a lot of time photographing this little bird that likes to be upside-down....sometimes while eating my seeds. It turns out this little bird, that had never been here in the Wind River Canyon before, is a White-breasted Nuthatch; now we have both!
The reason the Nuthatch is upside-down so much is this bird is hunting for bugs, just like the woodpeckers do. But these cute little birds also like seeds. They are brave little birds, but not quite as friendly as the chickadees. They are fast and fun to photograph; a real challenge much like a video game. Here is the very first picture of a White-breasted Nuthatch ever photographed in the Wind River Canyon.
Since my Wind River Canyon Blog is about learning something, this should be a lesson in contrasts, so here is a cute photo of a Red-breasted Nuthatch from the canyon. He's not as fat as he seems....he's just trying to keep warm on a cold Fall day here in the magical Wind River Canyon. Take note of the color differences between the two species of Nuthatch. And yes, they do seem to have an attitude!
These are small birds, the White-breasted Nuthatch being just five and three-quarters; the Red-breasted Nuthatch is smaller at just four and one-half inches. Small, fast moving birds make for challenging photo-shoots, and quick reactions are a prerequisite. Get to know the birds in the forest, they could use a few extra friends.
Wind River Canyon Blog and all Photographs by Michael John Balog.
Visit Hogbats Photography for Award-Winning Hummingbird photographs, and more wildlife pictures and stories from the Wind River Canyon, right here in Rocky Mountain country.
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When the electricity went off I didn't even know it; I was outside photographing some beautiful, ethereal mountain light again. Fall in the canyon is a wonderfully colorful time of the year, and early mornings are especially fragrant. The smells bring back long forgotten memories of childhood under the huge oaks of Ohio. I was jarred back to reality when my wife wanted to know, "What happen to the electricity!?" I didn't even know it was off, I told her.
It became obvious we were going to get cold in a hurry. Do I build a fire or wait for the Sun to break the eastern rim, and warm things up down here in this giant tear in the earth? The light was great and it was warming up, so we let the Sun warm us up under the junipers, down by the creek.
The lite snow melted almost instantly the Sun lit it up, and those crystal-clear mountain droplets just hung there on the branches of the pines. I saw our star shining through the drips and wondered if I could take advantage. You need to stop your lens down to narrow the aperture, and this will make our Sun a real star!
I processed the RAW files in the Canon software, since they should know best....right? Then on to Lightroom for some finishing touches; more saturation, sharpness and some noise reduction. Maybe a little more yellow and a bit of red, and that will do it. Then add all the metadata, which takes some patience and typing. But I'm told by "experts" it's important to some giant entity; any guesses as to whom? Our favorite file has a magical appearance that Tinkerbell could fly through at any moment. The colorful plant is known as the Red Willow by Native Americans. The stars are not caused by some filter or special effects.
A larger monitor will enhance the appearance of the stars and the color of the leaves. This is no software trick; anyone can do it with a quality camera and some practice. Perfectly melted mountain snow and canyon light not included. Have loads of patience..........
Wind River Canyon Blog and photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
*Visit Hogbats Photography for award-winning Hummingbird photographs and more from the Wind River Canyon.
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amazing, flying creature dies in your hands.
Ages ago, when the first young Robin expired in my warm hands on a summer's morning, I was devastated. I sat on my cabin steps and cried big crocodile tears. Now it's a hardship that we live with, and try to avoid using assorted techniques. But I still feel a sadness when I know it's my window that killed that little bird. In this week's Wind River Canyon Blog we will not be looking at photographs of dead birds, no matter how beautiful they were in life. I don't do this to photograph death, I do this to celebrate life in this Wyoming canyon.
Let me run some unbelievable numbers at you for just a moment. From a 2014 report that accumulated data from 23 studies, it was determined that over a million birds die every single day in America from flying into windows! This respected study found that between 365 million and 988 million birds die annually from window strikes. A million a day? Now you know why we don't see as many birds as we think we should.
Yet, some of the most mind-blowing moments I've had in this remote canyon have been from the coolest birds that lived. Like the afternoon a Loggerhead Shrike crashed into a window while hunting prey. He was alive all right, with talons that dug into my leather-gloved hand. His black, raptor-like beak looked ferocious. But he just gripped my hand and stared into my eyes, drawing a little blood from my hand, I never noticed, till he went off his merry way. He seemed awfully curious about me, and I him.
Another incident from my personal journal; the time a little female Downy Woodpecker flew into the living room window, while I was ignoring a boring football game. Nursing a sore back the journal said, I ran out into the snow and saw her lying face down in the deep stuff, the white feathers from her downy breast matching the color of the mountain snow. A woodpecker's neck is strong, and has to be, because they drill holes in trees! She gripped my sweatshirt with her strong talons, and eventually moved to my upper-back. She fell asleep there, on my back. When she was ready to resume her life in the wild and flew to a nearby juniper, I photographed her beauty close-up. Here is her amazing portrait from my website.
Most of the time the little birds live, but sometimes they don't. These are buried under the trees they loved. But one early morning on a cold fall day, as I was standing very near a big glassed door, an older Peregrine Falcon was chasing a younger Peregrine Falcon out of her territory. The adult Peregrine missed the corner of the cabin. The young falcon hit the middle of this large pane of glass, and it rung like the gong behind that rock band. I couldn't believe what happened in front of me with coffee in hand. The young falcon was dead, curled up with those powerful wings at his sides. This is a sacred bird to many native Americans. I hiked up the mountainside and placed his remains under a cedar. Let Mother Nature have this little rocket ship back.
At other times these widow crashing victims are living memories that can change a persons life; like the time a young female Oriole hit very early in the morning. She was just out of the nest and didn't know her way. I thought she was dead, but she proved otherwise.
This little yellow and silver-grey lady sat in my hands for over an hour, till she regained her senses, looking into my eyes the entire time. She seemed so sure I wasn't going to eat her; she seemed so confident and regal, yet curious. In time she too had to leave and go her own way, and I was glad to see her fly away. This little Oriole was downright gorgeous, and they've become a favorite of ours.
We hang crystals in the windows, and that seems to reduce the number of fatalities. I've tried plastic lizards with suction cups, and that amuses friends and hummingbirds; they fly right up to take a look! Yes, both of those species. They make stickers of all kinds that sometimes work, and sometimes don't.
Some birds just cannot be deterred from killing themselves, but the real killers are the skyscrapers in cities. These giant walls of reflective glass are the worst culprits. Technology should provide a solution, but at a cost. The billion-dollar Vikings stadium will have over 200,000 square feet of glass, yet they wouldn't fork over a lousy one-million more to protect the birds. For the next generations that are reading my blogs....what will you do to help save what remains of our wilderness and her beautiful residents?
Wind River Canyon Blog written by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon in the state of Wyoming.
Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for more award-winning bird and wildlife photographs from the Wind River Canyon.
Thank you.
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In this week's Wind River Canyon Blog I'll be covering five new wildflower species that haven't been on my Hogbats Photography website. Let me say before we get started; I've got two species of wildflowers that will not make the list because I can't identify them! Two books downloaded from the "jungle store" haven't helped to ID them, and they're both on wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains. They can't be that rare, or can they? Stay tuned for further information, assuming I ever figure out what they are.
This first wildflower is something that you would not immediately think of as a flower. It's actually a popular vegetable that you've probably never seen blooming like this before. In all the years that we've let them flower near our cabin, only one person knew what they were! The adult plant looks like a six foot tall Christmas tree with little flowers that hang like ornaments. They're about three sixteenths of an inch long. And you'd never guess in a million years that these dainty wildflowers are actually Asparagus that have been left to grow to adulthood. Asparagus are beautiful flowering plants that you've never seen except on a plate. Don't be surprised, as I didn't know what they were either when they began to grow and bloom years ago!
Our next wildflower also blooms early in the Spring, and is a hardy plant that starts as a green mat before it throws blooms. It prefers cooler conditions here in the Wind River Canyon; this photo was taken on the 18th of April. This specimen is known as the Cutleaf Daisy and blooms higher up in the hills above us. The gold and orange lichens on the boulder are just colorful additions to this picture. The flowers are 3/4 of an inch across.
The next wildflower is an early Springtime favorite of mine, but is not widespread. They are small half-inch white flowers that bloom on reddish stems. These magical wildflowers shoot out of the cold-morning mountainsides in mid to late April; weather dependent of course.
The name itself suggests a special wildflower. These are the Woodland Star wildflowers, and are half-inch blossoms that seem to explode, announcing warmer weather in the Wind River Canyon. They are delicate looking, but hardy plants that need to survive the cold nights here in the mountains. The green leaves appear palm-like in an otherwise cold morning. The Woodland Star is a beautiful but uncommon addition to the canyon.
Our fourth wildflower is one that I've really only seen once, and didn't know existed till this year in June. This particular wildflower was the reason I downloaded the books. Tufted Evening Primrose is it's name, and it's the largest of today's wildflowers at four inches across. These large beautiful wild blossoms are very delicate, and wither in the noonday sun. They start to bloom in....the evening, hence the name, but the Wyoming heat makes them disappear.
Our fifth and last wildflower of this blog is the ever popular Prairie Flax. It's also known as Blue Flax or Lewis' Flax. As you may have noticed I've left out the Latin names for today's wildflowers, because it's all Greek to me.
The delicate way the thin blue petals are nearly transparent makes them take on an ethereal quality, yet these flowers are not rare in Wyoming; you can easily find them for yourself if you get up and go for a hike.
The Prairie Flax was named after Meriwether Lewis (Linum lewisii) and that itself is the only reason to remember it's scientific name. If you don't know the tragic life of Meriwether, of Lewis and Clark fame, then please Google him. He had an amazing life worth reading about.
I've always felt that there's no reason to describe what a wildflower looks like when you can see it for yourself in a good photograph. The two books on wildflowers I use for reference are at times useless; the photos being of poor quality. Certain encyclopedic sites are also of value when trying to put a name to a wildflower you've seen, and hopefully didn't pick----because all of my wildflower photographs are taken out in the field. I don't damage the specimens at all, because nature should be left to the wild.
*Wind River Canyon Blog and all photography by Michael John Balog, Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
"Keep your camera ready!"
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Getting an interesting landscape photo is going to require some work and some planning, and in the canyon it's going to require some leg work and some lingering pain later on. I knew where I wanted to shoot pictures of the canyon, I just wasn't so sure that getting down to this particular spot on the Wind River was going to be easy; and it wasn't! It's the narrowest spot in the Wind River Canyon on the northern half, not far from Chimney Rock and the monument. It also happens to have a beautifully green, and grown over, ancient mudslide. The opportunities for a good long shot of the canyon seemed endless, but getting down there didn't thrill me.
Less than 48 hours ago I finally put my plans together. You need to pack lite; remember that whatever you carry down there, will need to be hauled way back up there! One small camera bag about the size of a large lunchbox will do; snap the shoulder-strap back on and empty out all the crap you won't need. Camera with short and lite lens, and make sure the battery is okay. A little extra padding was a great idea....glad I thought of it.
About five miles north of my cabin is the parking spot for this little adventure; I drank some
cold tea, but didn't bother taking the bottle. Walking over the guardrail and looking down was enough to make me wonder what I was thinking. Don't think about it; find a way down, and try avoiding the poison ivy. In the Wind River Canyon this time of the Fall the poison ivy is a beautiful sight, and the most colorful plant in the canyon right now. It's red and orange and pretty and makes me itch just thinking about it----avoid it at all costs. Around here it grows as a large bush....a large pretty bush. It's everywhere and quite prolific, but as you can see it's colorful.
Loose rock and boulders halfway down was my route till I came to a jumble of huge, squarish ones. The only way was to backwards crab down between two of these big boulders, but first I had to drop my camera bag the last five feet! Remember the padding and the sling-strap? They came in handy after all. The last thing was to jump off and try missing the poison ivy....it's everywhere! Wow, I'm fine and it's wild down here, and it occurs to me that in the last decade maybe a very small handful of people have been here. But what on earth would they have been in this isolated spot in the canyon for anyway?
The Wind River in this spot is running low right now. The boulder I was standing close to was covered in moss all the way to the top, and it's more than two feet above my head! That means July's river level would have been more than eight feet higher where I was standing. The river dives quickly down to inky blackness, far deeper than the easier to reach popular fishing spots. The only sound you hear is the Wind River rushing it's way north through the narrow cliffs. It's difficult walking on the moss covered rocks, so pay attention or you and your camera will take a header; this isn't the spot for a stupid move.
Spending quality time at this isolated spot in the Wind River Canyon is nothing short of exhilarating. I sat with clear insight while shooting photographs of this magical canyon, knowing that this has probably never been done down here digitally before. Take the time to breathe in the clean canyon air; let Mother Nature take you in her arms. These were moments I will remember forever, and will repeat when my back stops hurting.
Not knowing how many pictures I'd taken was the bonus, I'd just enjoyed my time in this isolated Eden. Not knowing what time it was, or how long I'd been down there was interesting, but all too soon I realized I had to leave; it was getting colder. Oh, but the hike up seemed daunting while standing there looking up! I looked for the shortest spot with no poison ivy and made my way up the nutty-steep hillside. There was one moment I thought I gotten myself in trouble; my shoes had little to grip. The alternative was a headline of the kook that got smooshed in the canyon.
Two days later my back still hurts and my knees ache as usual. Having over one hundred photos to go through was not a surprise, I thought there'd be more. The ones I liked the best were worked in the Canon supplied software, Digital Photo Professional. Using a one file HDR (high-dynamic range) gave me some real artistic choices without the usual five or more bracketed photographs. I couldn't have taken the big black tripod down there anyway, or gotten it back up for that matter. Chimney Rock is on the left, the pointed spire is unnamed as far as I know. I used Lightroom only for sharpness and clairity, then added all the metadata to the digital file for the SEO.
The grassy shoreline is an ancient mudslide like the ones created this Spring in the Wind River Canyon; the blue sky reflected off the river. It was a beautiful day for an adventure, and I cannot wait for another, but it was just another day in the magical Wind River Canyon.
Thank you for your valuable time, and I hope this inspires you to explore Mother Nature's gifts for yourself. But remember to always take your camera, just in case the aliens land, you don't want to be the one that forgot the camera.
All photographs and writing by Michael John Balog----Hogbats Photography----Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
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When a wild animal acknowledges your existence, and doesn't crawl, run or fly away in a burst of fear, I feel something deep inside. It changes me in some small way, and I think how lucky I am to live in such a world as this. Whether it's that deer in your yard, or the one you saw in the park, when you've made eye contact with that wild animal, did your thoughts suddenly change? Mine always seems to stop, if only for a moment. Did I share something, or am I daydreaming again?
Living in a wild place like the Wind River Canyon has it's weird advantages. Good phone
service is still nonexistent, and you don't get mail or your garbage picked up at the curb (there is no curb). But, throughout the year I come face to face with a myriad of wild creatures. And yes, a few would like to bite me. Then, every once in a while a wild animal and I come face to face. We make eye contact, and in the case of a certain buck deer it lasts for minutes on end.
Those long moments I've shared with one of our big buck deer have been nothing short of magical. He's so curious, and even comes closer and closer to me. We look each other over and time seems to stop in the canyon. It's an excitement that calms me and makes me think deep thoughts; yes, just like the Scarecrow. His photographs are on my website, here is just one. One time, when I hadn't seen him in quite a while, there he was looking at me through the big glass door! I went out for a visit.
I'm an award-winning Hummingbird Fanatic photographer, and my year revolves around the coming and going of these amazing birds. Wyoming Hummingbirds are my specialty, and we have four nesting species here in the Wind River Canyon. Dedicating sixteen years to our hummingbirds has been a labor of love. And there are always those moments with these highly curious birds that can change a person forever.
Every summer in the canyon the Rufous and Black-chinned Hummingbird males will come right up to say hello. Early in the season they will buzz right up to me while I'm cradling a camera. They look me over, up and down, and we make eye contact. At times they seem to search me out if I'm not close to a nectar feeder, and this has happened to others that visit here. The curiosity of the female hummingbirds in the Wind River Canyon is legendary; friends have left here speechless in the summer.
When a hummingbird is mere inches from your nose, and they turn to look you straight in the eye, something magical happens. To me it feels like some kind of electric current. A shot to the heart, if I can use that song title. It feels different when that four inch flying jewel turns and looks you in the eye; it can change a person, I've seen it happen.
As time stands still, you visit with this smallest of all the birds in America. What exactly has transpired? Should I even question or search for answers? Or as an old Indian friend told me, "Just accept this gift, and don't drive yourself crazy looking for something more." The first time a Bald Eagle looked me straight in my eye I almost fainted! With the hummingbirds it's more of a calming of your emotions. They seem to have an effect of calming your nerves, as grandma would have said.
The Bighorn Sheep that visit the Wind River Canyon will sometimes look you straight in the eye. They don't search out people the way our hummingbirds do, but I've had some fleeting moments that will live with me forever. I'm speaking of the Albino Bighorn Sheep that used to live in this area. I'd spent more than twenty-five hours with him over his time here, before he was shot and killed by a dumb hunter that had to kill the unicorn.
A few wild animals of the wilderness you may not want to come eye to eye with. The Grizzly and the Rattlesnake come to mind immediately. These meetings don't always come off well, and even if they don't, why risk it. The famous conservationist John Muir wrote about his first meeting with a Yosemite Grizzly. It's very funny reading and I highly recommend taking the time to read this hilarious account, with a wild animal long gone from that very popular National Park; you can download free copies from the jungle store.
The sad part is many wild animals of the forest are scared of humans, and they have every right to be. Many have been hunted or poisoned to extinction, and continue to be. The highly intelligent Magpie of Wyoming is an example. They had a bounty on them in the 20th Century (a pair of their feet got a kid a thin dime). For those readers of a certain age, a dime could get you a good loaf of bread, or a load of candy and some more bullets. They're frightened of humans now, and people still hate them. Yet, they're frighteningly intelligent, and Northern Europeans keep them as cherished pets. I've made friends with the Black-billed Magpies that live here in the canyon; it's the only bird that never flies into a window here in the Wind River Canyon! Our hummingbirds don't either, but I've seen photographs in Audubon of those that do, in other locales.
I'll leave you with a chance to have eye contact with the rarest of all the animals of the Earth. He was one a kind, one in a million as it were. I chased him and his running mates for hours on end, and still grab a camera when Bighorns are near. Most birds fly away, but the Bighorn Sheep that visit the canyon are afraid of nothing in particular. They want to tell me something, I can sense it. I just don't know what they're trying to tell us; do you know?
Wind River Canyon Blog & all Photographs by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
For taking time out of your day to read my labor of love.....thank you.
MjB
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But, last Saturday it still seemed as if it were summertime. I was indoors writing my weekly Wind River Canyon Blog; was at it for several hours and needed a lunch break. When you live in the mountains, binoculars tend to be available at every window, and I'm always on the lookout for anything interesting flying, walking, climbing or hopping around the canyon. No one had seen Bighorn Sheep around here in quite some time, and I'd been asked about them frequently by locals and tourists alike....when, there they were!
Of all the places I'd wanted to photograph our majestic Bighorn Sheep, first on my list was the new islands created by the mudslides. As serendipity and luck sometimes collide, there were Bighorn Sheep on the largest of the newly created islands in the Wind River....right across the street! My wildlife photographer's adrenaline kicked in to "top gear" and I ran down the hallway to get my camera with the longest lens; a 300mm that just happened to have the 1.4 extender on it; more good luck.
Slipping on my clodhoppers I dashed out the front door, trying not to do anything dumb as I ran down the steps and across the yard. Heading for the deer-trail was the fastest possible path down to the river, but first I had to negotiate that steep hill; easy for deer, not for me with a long, heavy camera. Since the camera is worth more than my health, I held it above the sagebrush, making my way down to the roadway that splits the canyon in two. No traffic coming (more good luck) as this nut sprinted down to the Wind River.
Sitting down in some green and propping up the lens with my hand, I had only one other watching the Bighorns with me; no one else noticed the wildlife. She told me, "I thought they were deer at first." She and I were both struck by luck's hand last Saturday, as we had a "family" of Bighorn Sheep inspecting the new island for the first time.
Never have we observed, what humans would call, a "family unit" when photographing Bighorn Sheep in the Wind River Canyon. We see Ewes and their babies, or the big Rams marching up and down the canyon, but not what you'd consider a family. But that's exactly what was exploring the new island....a family of Bighorns! A Ewe, a Ram and two young looked around this new land in the river. They were curious about the new island in the Wind River Canyon, too.
All too soon the Bighorn Sheep started to move south along the rails, following paths I've
watched them on before. I wanted to do what I usually do, and spend the day photographing them, but this time I was in the middle of my blog, and couldn't just blow-off the afternoon; I've walked miles before with them. All this week they've been seen on the ancient game-trails here in the canyon.
Of the hundred plus frames I'd shot, this picture of the baby female Bighorn was my immediate favorite. She's so cute, and her pose was perfect; she takes direction well, don't you think?
The other shot included in this week's blog is quite unusual. Behavior never seen in Bighorn Sheep here in the Wind River Canyon before. It seems to be a father and daughter picture, although I'd leave that judgement to genetics; I just don't believe my eyes. See if you believe yours......................
The way the big Ram is looking at the young Ewe is interesting----look at his eye contact with her, as she is watching me. It's fascinating to see just how curious they are about things I also find interesting. I will be observing the changes to the new island for decades to come, I hope, and it was wild to witness the Bighorn's interest in it as well.
Bighorn Sheep are the last of the wildlife to mate in the Wind River Canyon before the onset of winter. They are strong, powerful animals that are a fantastic addition to the ecology of the Wind River Canyon. It's a genuine privilege, to have spent as much time, hauling around heavy cameras and following these friendly beasts for miles. It gives a fella lots of time to think of the importance of saving what's left of our wilderness.
Blog written by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon - Wyoming
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photography; sometimes I try just for the sake of trying, but not this mid-summer's morning.
Flinging open the curtains in my bedroom reveals my favorite hummingbird feeder. It's the one that some of my best hummingbird portraits have been shot near, and this nectar feeder is also a hummer favorite. They gravitate to this feeder presumably because it's in a more protected spot, away from the elements and cannot be approached without being seen. I'd like to think it reminds them of their winter mountain retreat, far to the south.
But this cool summer morning I was thrilled to see my three big buck deer in velvet antlers, not far away, but in my yard having their breakfast! Mule deer are so incredibly beautiful this time of the year, and they were less than twenty-five feet away. I'm in my bedroom with no camera, still in purple briefs standing there dumbfounded, when I suddenly realize that the
mid-sized buck is staring at the half-dozen hummingbirds that are vying for a spot for their breakfast!
It didn't take a professor to realize these big buck deer had never even seen a hummingbird before. This beautiful buck came as close as he could, and just watched the buzzing hummingbirds for over five minutes, while I stood frozen by my window. The largest of the three bucks came wandering over to see what was so interesting, and the two of them watched the birds while I stood there with my mouth open. It was almost too much to process so early in the morning.
In too short a time the velvet-antlered bucks went back to eating their breakfast in my front yard. I grabbed my journal to write the moment down, maybe someday to jog my fading memory. But this is a lesson in Nature Photography Class right from the Wind River Canyon; sometimes you need to just observe and watch. There is so much magic out in the wilderness for you to experience for yourselves.
Last year we had the amazing luck to befriend two Wild Turkeys that came wandering into the canyon. I was honestly surprised just how easy it was to make friends of these huge, intelligent birds. My wife and I had buffalo filets on the picnic table while our Wild Turkeys ate their dinner mere feet from us! They were so much fun for this old nature photographer I could just scream.
One summer's afternoon they fell asleep under a juniper while I was only a few feet away from them. That's the kind of rush of emotions that isn't easy to explain, or write about for that matter. It's in my journal just as it happened. One warm summer day, not long after, I witnessed what must be the strangest meeting of minds in the history of Wyoming.
As I sat close by and visited with my Wild Turkeys late in the afternoon, the hummingbirds
began flying into the feeder near the back doors of the cabin. The oldest of the two Toms spotted his very first hummingbird....a male Rufous; the most dominant of our four breeding species. This little hummingbird stopped in mid-air and looked down at this huge bird. Our big Wild Turkey was looking up at the hummingbird hovering above his ugly head. The two diverse and obviously different birds (the Wild Turkey stands four feet tall, the Rufous Hummingbird just four inches!) stopped and just looked each other up and down. It was the strangest meeting of wildlife the Wind River Canyon has ever seen. They just stared for a long time as the hummingbird hovered over the Turkey's head.
All too quickly this historic meeting was over, and has never been repeated again. If I
hadn't been sitting so close by, I wouldn't have believed two such different birds would even acknowledge each others existence, let alone be so curious of each other. And guess what? I forgot to take a picture.
I was so startled by this weird bird meeting that it never dawned on me to do anything other than observe this momentous event. When the Wild Turkey and the Rufous Hummingbird went their separate ways, one on big feet the other on miracle wings, I sat there with this quizzical look on my face and the camera in my lap. When I realized I'd missed photographing this momentous meeting I was angry with myself. Then that tiniest of light bulbs went off....the one in my head. I'd witnessed something even Mother Nature probably had never seen; besides, most people would have thought I "Photoshopped" the picture anyway; something I'd never do.
I sat there and laughed, the realization of this wild and crazy thing that just happened setting off the giggles....who would ever believe me? And I missed it! But I really didn't miss a thing; I'd observed a meeting of wild creatures that is so rare, maybe no one has ever seen this summit of Wild Turkey and Hummingbird before. This is what good luck must really feel like.
The lesson of this week's Wind River Canyon Blog is simple really; sometimes you're going to miss the shot. There have been events, like those with "Snowflake" the albino Bighorn Sheep, that I knew were momentous wildlife moments. And I've told myself out loud, "Don't #*$! this up....."
Wildlife and nature photography is something I do each and every day of my life here in the canyon. This is my life's work, and I have no other....thank you, Deb. I shoot over 20,000 frames a year, and I'm still learning crap all the time. For instance, I stopped for lunch mid-blog, and saw a family of Bighorn Sheep on our new island, in the Wind River across the street from us. It was the result of the Memorial Weekend mudslides and deluge; pictures on my website. The curious Bighorn were inspecting the new land in the river....I just grabbed the big-rig camera and took off in shorts, hauling the heavy monster through weeds and down a very steep hill. It was a bit nuts and a bit dangerous shooting out the house that way, but I'm assuming that next week's blog will be about Bighorn Sheep.......stay tuned.
Thank you for your valuable time and reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
Writing, photography and website by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for many more award-winning hummingbird and wildlife photographs.
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Every Spring, here in the canyon, a bird arrives from Colorado that has red eyes! They're very distinctive in that regard, and yes, many jokes have been made at their expense. The Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) is a bird species that's been very successful in the Wind River Canyon.
The males arrive early to establish their dominance and territories, with the very similar looking females coming into the canyon several weeks later. The Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), which is seen east of the Mississippi, looks nearly the same, except the eastern variety females are brown. The eastern and western species do interbreed in their overlapping territories along rivers and creeks in the Great Plains. They mostly have red eyes, even if they haven't been to Colorado.
At this moment we have nearly two dozen young Spotted Towhee. They were born here, maturing and fattening up for their first long trip to their winter home near the border, and south into Mexico. They are ground birds and uncoordinated on most hanging bird feeders, but some do try, and it's mostly comical watching them attempt to get at the sunflower seeds; cracked corn is also a bird favorite.
The only good photograph of a Spotted Towhee I had on digital file had been taken years ago, and that was too old for my Wind River Canyon Blog. So, I set out to take pictures of our little visitors with newer equipment, and my practiced patience. As I'd observed over many hours of observation, this rock was a jumping off point. I sat at a distance of twenty-five feet or so and waited, and waited. After two hours I finally got the young Towhee I wanted in the viewfinder with the feathers on his head held high. His eyes are not quite as red as a full adult would be; the color is as dramatic as bird's eyes will ever be in the canyon. I know his feet look too big....but they're not; he won't be growing into them.
The fuzzy tan gradient color at the bottom is a little creativity; it's actually a huge slice of tree that I'm working into a small table. Because it's closer the depth-of-field means it's out of focus, and an interesting photographic coincidence. All this observation led to the discovery of
another species of Towhee that migrates through the Wind River Canyon, but doesn't nest here----the Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus). With little birds migrating through the Wind River Canyon, it's sometimes difficult to identify them before they're gone till next year.
The bird with the reddish crown was a Green-tailed Towhee, and I wanted him for this blog; the problem was he only ate breakfast early when the light in this bottom-of-the-freezer was dim. Lousy lighting means slower shutter speeds, and the Green-tailed Towhee isn't as dominant as the Spotted; they are shy birds. The one (maybe two) have gone south already and the bird portrait I envisioned will have to wait till next Spring!
The important lesson in all of this is simple----only observation and time will teach you what you'll need learn about your subject, be it bird, Bighorn Sheep, or that child you have to photograph. Shut-up and watch your photographic subject, write down the things you learn if you need to. A little knowledge about the behavior of your interest is the best way of getting a better picture. Learn something, and you'll be a greater photographer for it.
Wind River Canyon Blog written by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for many more photographs of the Birds of the Wind River Canyon, including hummingbirds and even a few Bighorn Sheep.
Thank you for your patronage.
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Case in point....early one morning in late July, just before our Sun broke the rim of the canyon, I spotted a woodpecker while filling my coffee cup. Without much more than a second's thought I grabbed a camera and shot out the door. It had a 300mm f/4 lens without the usual 1.4 extender, I usually keep on the rig, for getting uncooperative wildlife closer; this was a good thing. I ended up using "The Wall" as support so I could get some kind of depth-of-field in the dim morning light. In a matter of minutes I'd fired off nearly a hundred frames! It was a young, male Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) hunting for bugs on a buck-rail fence.
Just as the Sun was searing the canyon's rim he gave me a memorable pose, his cute little head framed by the end-of-the-log. In a matter of moments he was gone forever, but now he was mine. The ISO was my wildlife favorite setting at 400, f/8 at an incredibly slow shutter speed of 1/80th! As with any wildlife photography sharpness is very important.
Last summer, also early in the morning in July, with the doors and screens open for cool
pine-scented mountain air, I heard a strange and unfamiliar squawk. A camera was sitting close by, so I swung it around to see what all the noise was about. And there to my astonishment was a mother Hairy Woodpecker feeding her son! It was so early, and the light so dim, that the shoot was stressful; it was difficult to hold it all still. One digital frame was my favorite, the moment she gave him a bug. I've had more than one person ask me, "what are they doing?" And I'm dying to tell them they're kissing.
During a boring football game, while nursing a bad back, a bird flew into the window I was sitting next to. I slipped on my clodhoppers and ran out into the snow to find the victim. She was face down in the fresh snow, her beautiful wings spread like an angel.
With a knot in my stomach I picked her up, and she was miraculously alive. It was a devastatingly gorgeous female Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), and her substantial neck saved her life; remember, she pounds holes in trees! I held her close and brushed off the snow from her head and wings, she was a bit loopy from her crash, but she was fine. This little gem clung to my sweatshirt with her talons, then made her way to my upper-back and fell asleep. When she was ready to go she flew to a nearby juniper, where I photographed this delightful bird. It's a wildlife memory I'll never forget.
One of the woodpeckers many people have seen in Wyoming is the Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), in particular the Red-shafted Flicker, which is endemic.
One frozen winter day, while our Sun was trying to warm up this "bottom-of-the-freezer," I
spotted this familiar bird. These woodpeckers are quite large and the reddish color under their wings is easy to spot while they are in-flight. It was one of those moments in nature where all things in life come to a point. It's one of my bird photographs that still gives me a grin. I call him "The Sad Clown," but I don't know why.
Another picture of this native Wyoming bird was photographed from the top of a picnic table. Who has time to run for a ladder? And this is a good lesson when working out in the field with any wildlife; this may be the only chance you may have in your lifetime to photograph this wild animal. Do what you must....just try not to fall off the picnic table. My rule #2 is stay far away from things that could easily kill you.
I was told by a knowledgeable birder that the Down Woodpeckers aren't doing especially well, although they do seem to like the Wind River Canyon, but it's true we don't see many of these smallest of the woodpeckers. We mostly hear woodpeckers hammering on trees in the canyon. Not long after the Ides of March of this Spring I got an opportunity to photograph a male.
Outside getting warm in the sun with a camera in my lap, there he was. He was so little, and my lens was so big (my coveted 300mm with the 1.4 extender). He was on the shaded side of the tree and wouldn't sit still; busy drilling holes in my cedar tree. I had to shoot at the widest f-stop I could to get any kind of shutter speed to freeze his action (f/5.6 - 1/320th). It's a workout hand-holding this big rig, and image-stabilization is a godsend in these circumstances.
The beaks of woodpeckers vary in size, even among the different sexes of the same species. In this way they don't compete for the same food source; there, you learned something today.
That's really what my Wind River Canyon Blog is all about....learning a little something about Mother Nature's creatures. Because, the more you learn about the marvelous wild animals of our Earth, the better their chance for survival.
Writing, photography, digital darkroom by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for more wildlife and nature photography.
Thank you for reading my work.
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Boysen Lake is an interesting place to photograph a beautiful, large body of water in an ecosystem that's as diverse as the Wind River Canyon. It has enticed water birds, that would not otherwise be here, to nest in the area. Over forty years I've wasted a lot of film out there, and sunscreen, too.
Two weeks ago, I was on my way to a wedding early in the morning. Forest-fire smoke was making fascinating shades of orange, and the wind was howling-mad. When we got to the lake it had white-capped waves, the kind that make boating impossible. With all the smoke and wind the reservoir was a rare beast to photograph. I shot off seven random frames in RAW with daylight settings; nothing added in-camera. It really was a miserable place to do anything outside our vehicle, but I knew that these dull-grey images could be made to dance.
When we finally got home I uploaded the files into my computer, and started the job of making these landscapes mine. I'll tell you in all honesty, if you were standing next to me on that nasty morning, you'd wonder when I'd gotten the amazing photograph of the lake. Now the lecture part----
After you press the shutter the picture is yours. It's your job to make the photograph sing and dance, or disappear into obscurity. You can make your photo into fine art, or ready for file number 13. And to make a photograph your work-of-art takes a little vision, and sometimes a lot of guts. You may be encouraged by others to keep the picture "just the way it was." I'd like to suggest you never do that.
The greatest artists of the 19th and 20th centuries never created works that were ordinary; you couldn't see a Renoir or a Monet out your window. The world's greatest works of art are those that take the viewer beyond their experience, and transports the individual somewhere the artist desires you to be emotionally. I encourage you to take a few chances, and have some vision for your photography. And to that end here is my latest attempt at a Wyoming Landscape, again.
In Canon's supplied software I worked the RAW file by adding lots of saturation, contrast, and brought the shadows down to darken the water nearer the viewer. The forest-fire smoke was bright and obscured the interesting mountains, so I toned down the brightness, which make the mountains appear more distinct. The hazy mountains in the far background are the Wind River Mountains, and are over forty miles away! With a tone-curve adjustment and auto-lighting optimizer checked, we're off to Lightroom.
In Lightroom I sharpened the saved Tiff-file landscape to tighten up the mountains nearer to us, and clicked the punch button and medium contrast curve to add even more contrast and saturation than the camera's software could. I boosted the red in the mountains and the aqua in the distant lake. The cliffs were still hazy, so I took down the light tones a bit, and the mountains now looked cool and popped. Total fix time----twenty minutes. Time needed to decide what I wanted to do with this scenic landscape? Like a week and a half!
I do suppose if you stood by the lake long enough it would look like this eventually, or maybe not, who cares? It was my intention to make a picture of this Wyoming lake into something that stimulates the eye and mind; something out of the everyday experience; something my doctor would want to hang on his wall. You should try to think of your work as fine art, and don't be afraid to push the proverbial envelope....please.
Digital darkroom, photography and blog by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Thank you for reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
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Something you don't know about these Prickly Pear Cactus is they survive farther north than any other cactus. They bloom within 8 degrees of the Arctic Circle in Alberta! And they're not called "Fragile" (fragilis) because of their flowers, like I suspected. The small, large-needled plates that make up this cactus break-off easily at the stem-segments, and attach themselves to animals, and unsuspecting hikers; actual seeds are few.
The flowers of the low-growing Prickly Pear Cactus attracts bees and bugs of all kinds, yet have no obvious odor to my nose. It's rare to find one of these yellow cactus flowers blooming without somebody crawling on it. That's really the reason these cactus flowers are so much fun to photograph in the field; there are always passengers on board. Under the right soil and lighting conditions these flowers can photograph a little green at times.
This particular Fragile Prickly Pear Cactus flower photograph was chosen because it's a study in contrasts. The hard unyielding dry stone, and the delicate sun-washed petals, with the razor-sharp needles looking fierce; and the Beatles. The young, green cactus segments are supposedly edible, and no I have never eaten one, or had a need to, either. Maybe if I was hungry enough and had enough ketchup............
Wyoming wildflowers are always a fine challenge to photograph, because the best ones bloom for a very short time. I don't own, and can't afford, a dedicated macro lens, but using a quality 70-200mm f/4 lens hasn't slowed this nature photographer up any. The RAW file was worked in the Canon supplied software, with white-balance, saturation and sharpness applied to the picture, then saved as an uncompressed Tiff file. That file was touched up again with more access to detail in Lightroom, and the addition of metadata (words and descriptions hidden in the digital file).
This cactus flower and other blooming delights are great reasons for all of us to get out of the cabin and get some exercise. Some fresh-air and a few of Mother Nature's colors will inspire your soul to breathe free again. Go on........go for a hike!
Photography, digital darkroom and local color by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon - Wyoming.
HogbatsPhotography.com Until next week----"Keep your camera ready!"
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Of the thousands of photographs I shoot of our hummingbirds every single summer, there is always one that sticks in my mind and holds my attention. It's always a hummingbird-in-flight picture, because they are the most difficult of all; the most challenging. It takes all my skill from a half century of practice, and only one will drive me crazy like this. Oh, there's always a handful of pictures that everyone loves, and will end up on my website HogbatsPhotography.com. But, this one photo will get under my skin and talk to me. It's a feeling deep down that words alone cannot fully explain. It's a picture of a hummingbird that has a power to almost speak in a forgotten language of art. I don't mean all of this to sound cryptic, but those of you passionately interested in art will understand how a picture can take hold of you: Renoir has always been this way for me. This hummingbird photograph is already printed 11 by 14 and in a wood frame, leaning on the back of the couch, my wife unwilling to give it up, yet.
This is a male Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), and one that I'm sure I've known for years, because of the way he reacts to my presence. He was probably born here in the Wind River Canyon, as many of the mating hummingbirds are now. If they're successful they will return, which is why our hummingbird population has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade and a half. Pattern recognition is how they find me summer after summer. This magical male was hovering less than ten feet from me on a late, hot afternoon in late July.
How to Photograph Hummingbirds in Flight----
A digital camera that can shoot at least six frames of a second is a must, the more the better is always best. If you can have patience and work your way close, a 70-200mm lens is a good choice, as good ones are razor sharp. I like to set the exposure manually, because no on-board computer-chip is as fast as a hummingbird! Shoot everything in life as a RAW file, period.
In-camera sharpness should be set on the high side, white-balance is set on daylight, but can be adjusted later for effect. Obviously, high-speed continuous shooting is needed, and must be practiced on other fast moving things; kids, birds, deer and football players are good practice. I prefer spot-metering because all those rectangles cannot react quickly enough. This means eye-hand coordination needs to get faster and more precise. Practice, practice and yes, even more practice, till you can hit that fast moving target with that spot in your camera.
It's the camera in your hands, and your eyes, that will come together as a wicked single unit when your subject shoots near you. Dedication to quality nectar feeders is absolute, and I'm fanatical about mine. But I won't lie to you in this blog, it's taken me ten long years, of every day practice, and over twenty-thousand frames a year, for me to have the confidence to photograph hummingbirds in-flight.
This summer's favorite hummingbird picture was shot @ 1/3200th, f/6.3, ISO 500, with a Canon 7D and a Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens. The white-balance was warmed up a bit in Canon's Digital Photo Professional software. Saturation, exposure, highlights and shadows were all increased or brightened. A saved Tiff-file was opened in Lightroom, where sharpness, color and contrast was "punched up." I added a vignette because I like them, and it leads the eye toward the subject at hand....my Rufous Hummingbird in flight!
Modern digital photography is much like art of the past, it's limited only by your own imagination. I can take this little hummingbird file and make it my own work of art. The background is quite simple really, two panes of glass and a window frame that just happens to be in the way....and it's all just serendipity, baby!
Photography, digital darkroom, writing, printing, framing and general BS----
Michael John Balog - *Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon - Wyoming
Thank you for your time and reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
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Finding this moth at seven in the morning, when the light is very dim in the Wind River Canyon, was a surprise. Inspecting nectar feeders early and late in the day, when it's cooler to work, I sometimes see things that late risers never will. This Giant Silk Moth (family - Saturniidae) was so unknown to me that I couldn't even put a name to it, we'd never seen one; it's a Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus). But more interesting is that this is obviously a female. A little book downloaded from the Jungle Store told me, and further research taught me some amazing facts about Giant Silk Moths and the Polyphemus.
The caterpillars of the Polyphemus Moth eat an incredible 86,000 times their own weight in less than two months! I knew a football player in college that tried that once....splat! It's probably the reason we don't see many of these around the canyon; not enough green vegetables for them to munch (it's usually dry here).
This female moth is big at over six inches while she is displaying her Distraction Pattern; a form of mimicry. Mimicry is when a creature tries to look a little like something scary so you won't eat them (it wouldn't even enter my mind to eat one of these). Scientists agree the Polyphemus Moth mimics a Great Horned Owl....see it now? To really experience the effect do what I did, look at her photo upside down, or stand on your head if you must: Now do you see the resemblance? My very next question was one that isn't as easy to answer, "How do they do this?" How would a Giant Silk Moth even know what an Owl looks like? How would their genetics evolve in such a way as to look like one of my Great Horned Owls? For these questions there are no good answers; can you come up with any?
The Polyphemus Moth caterpillar molts five times, getting bigger each time, with the fifth being the pupa stage. They weave a cocoon of brown silk. Some of the other varietals of silk moths are used commercially, the Polyphemus being difficult to breed. But what startled me, the last time I blogged about a Giant Silk Moth, is they have no mouth to feed with after the caterpillar stage (vestigial). So they turn into these amazing creatures that fly and breed and cannot eat! They of course die in less then a week. The pheromones that this female Polyphemus Moth is giving out, which I cannot smell, can be "smelled" (detected) by a male moth miles away.
She was photographed with a Canon 7D, a Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens @ 1/60th, f/5.6, ISO 400 with the on-camera flash used. I was perched on a rock wall, trying not to fall and kill myself, to get this picture. Yet, she was disturbed enough to display her distraction pattern, and she's a beauty.
Nature Photography and writing by Michael John Balog - HogbatsPhotography.com
Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Remember to always keep your camera ready! And thank you for letting me teach you a little something this week.
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very first summer's ideas was to put a lifetime of art training to good use; shoot portraits of hummingbirds! Now that was a crazy idea.
Loving a challenge as much as I do, I still find Hummingbird Portraiture to be one of the most difficult and ultimately rewarding photographic works I have ever done. You need the patience of a rock, and your muscles are going to ache from the hours spent ready and waiting for a hummingbird to trust you, and then the click of the shutter scares your hummingbird away, and you start the ache all over again. But when you get a digital file that screams at you from that display, and you see into that tiny wondrous eye of that amazing flying jewel, you begin to realize the magic of nature. It's a rapture that John Muir would have understood quite well.
I will not blow wind up your something, this is hot sticky work. Standing for hours with a camera on a monopod, even in the shade, is not fun, period. Unless you're one of those lucky dudes at the ballpark with the outrageously expensive white lens. I do this with a camera purchased as a refurbished unit, with assorted lenses that are a fraction of the cost of what I wish I had. The real secret is to have patience, and more patience, and yes, even more than that. The hummingbirds will eventually trust you, because you are no threat to them; the shutter-click will be tolerated by your new friends. The rest is your creativity at work, and some good luck is always a nice touch, too.
Spending many, many hours during our hot summers in the Wind River Canyon shooting hummingbird portraits, action shots and just observing, is intellectually rewarding. The above portrait is an adult male Rufous Hummingbird photographed a week and a half ago. Him and other breeding males are already headed south, as we had a cold spell that dropped the nighttime temps below sixty, which is not that unusual in the canyon. The Rufous and Calliope Hummingbird males were here for five or six weeks, the Broad-tailed and Black-chinned Hummingbird males arrive in early June, and the Black-chinned are still here, now. You cannot count the number of baby hummingbirds we have here this summer; this may have been the best year ever!
This next photo is a young, baby Rufous Hummingbird, born in this Wind River Canyon, as many of our hummers have been. They return year after year and they live for more then a decade; I know these hummingbirds quite well, and they know me. This young, little male is a real powerhouse, and quite dominant and aggressive; all Rufous are, even the females!
This last new Hummingbird Portrait is of a beautiful, female Black-chinned in all her magnificence. She shines like an expensive emerald in the Wyoming Sun, green and so beautiful. Yet, I still haven't shagged her mate, as he teased me during their stay here in the Wind River Canyon. I'll just have to wait until next June....rats!
In conclusion, you don't need nutty, expensive equipment to photograph wildlife, or hummingbirds either, as my artwork attests. You need determination and patience. The understanding of Mother Nature's beauty will change a person, and you will come to love our wonderful planet, and the wilderness, for the miracle that it is. Just maybe, we should save some of the Wild Places, so these places can change future generations.
Thank you for reading about one of my favorite things on this Blue Marble.
Writing, website, photography and Hummingbird Nut----
Michael John Balog - Wind River Canyon - Wyoming
Hogbats Photography - HogbatsPhotography.com
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Okay, you pick the video, but when I tell you that nothing beats a photograph to study, it helps. I've been shooting Hummingbird Portraits a lot recently, and that will hopefully be the subject of next week's blog. This week I wanted to post a small and intimate video of a Baby Hummingbird.
This little guy (yes, it's a young male) is fearless, and fighting all who try to have breakfast at his feeder. He was born here in the canyon, and needs to fatten up for his trip to the vast, isolated mountains of central Mexico later in the month. But he's not alone in this task of his, he has many other competitors. Some are larger adults that you think could best him in battle, but they cannot.
This particular Baby Hummingbird is a Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) and he's cold. It's just less than sixty degrees this early morning; this was shot yesterday. He will mature into a tiger-colored, little beast that will always be top-dog, er, hummingbird. Rufous are a strong and dominant little bird. He is less than four inches from the top of his green head to his white-tipped tail feathers. If you stick out your thumb....that's how big he is; assuming you have a normal sized thumb. Yet, he fears nothing, not even me and my camera and tripod.
When I saw him outside my bedroom window, I ran out to take pictures of this Baby Rufous Hummingbird. I was only six feet away and shot dozens of digital files, when I realized I should at least try and shoot some video of him. I ran inside and grabbed the beastly tripod, and set it in the same spot; he had no trouble with any of my manic activity. The light is dim in the morning here in the canyon, but all things considered, he's a cute little hummingbird that will return to the Wind River Canyon for many years to come. The equipment was----Canon 7D with grip, a Canon 300mm f/4L IS lens, and an old, heavy Giottos tripod, with a Calumet Pro-D ball head that just replaced the monster I smashed chasing Bighorn Sheep. Thank goodness for that store in the jungle! And they ship to the middle-of-nowhere....the Wind River Canyon. The memory card was a Lexar 1066x, and in ten years I've never had a failure with that brand.
I'm always astonished at how close I can get to these small, wild little birds. They are to me the most fascinating part of nature, and I've dedicated the last sixteen years to them. The Hummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon will be leaving soon (the older males are already preparing) and I will miss them....but they'll be back next year, because they know I will be waiting for them----with a smile on my face.
Writing of this nature blog, and all videography and photography, and all computer post-production work----by Michael John Balog, resident of the Wind River Canyon.
Thank you for your time spent with me in this magical canyon.
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In less time then you can think she's gone....what kind was she? It's a frustrating game that I'm not always successful at, and I'm supposed to be the expert around here. I've shot over 30,000 frames of hummingbirds in the Wind River Canyon digitally and, sometimes I'm not entirely sure either. With four species of hummingbirds breeding here in the Wind River Canyon, sometimes you can't tell the players without a program. This program will have pictures.
Let's start out with the most aggressive and prolific of the hummingbirds here in the canyon, the Rufous Hummingbird female. The Rufous female is the easiest hummingbird to identify that nests here in the canyon. They have lots of the color rufous, a reddish-orange brown on their flanks, rump and tail, with a green on her back that reflects sunlight, and a white breast. The Rufous Hummingbird female may also have a small gorget, but so does the young male of the species; the young males' is usually more developed. The platelets on a female are never entirely developed. These birds are less than four inches from beak to tail! as all our hummingbirds are here in the canyon. This new photograph was shot last Saturday afternoon @ 1/3200th, f/4 with an ISO of 500. The camera was a Canon 7D, the lens a Canon 300mm f/4L IS. It's a shot of her beautiful upper wing structure that I've been trying to photograph for nearly a decade! The camera was hand-held with no tripod.
The Calliope Hummingbird female is the smallest bird in North America, and the smallest long-distance migrating bird in the world! They are green with white below, and a small streaked gorget with buff flanks. These females are noticeably smaller, and have shorter tails and beaks than other hummingbirds in Wyoming. The female Calliope are very small, shy and friendly, green flying emeralds.
The Black-chinned Hummingbird is a relatively recent addition to the breeding hummingbirds in the canyon; this is only their third nesting season here. The female has a gorget that will be all-white or faintly streaked, and she also will be green with buff flanks, but a longer tail. If this is all beginning to sound a bit similar, it is. The Black-chinned has a longer beak and a more aggressive flying style, but it's the darker markings near her eyes that usually give her away. The photograph below won first place at the Cody Art Show last year, and was shot hand-held with the same 3oomm lens.
The fourth and last species of female hummingbird, to successfully nest in the Wind River Canyon, is the amazing Broad-tailed Hummingbird. Last summer was the very first time that this species nested in the canyon, but they migrated through the canyon for many years; we'd spotted them every year coming and going. They are breeding here in the canyon again this summer, too. The females are similar to the Calliope, but are much larger with longer beaks and tails. The color can vary enough that they are sometimes mistaken for the Rufous, however. Their large tail feathers are very active in flight and unlike the other species that nest in the Wind River Canyon. I was crazy-lucky to capture the very first female Broad-tailed Hummingbird to successfully nest in the canyon. This first nesting documentation became art to me, and was worked in a selenium print. This amazing and magical event of last summer won me a first place award @ the 2015 Cody Art Show this year. It was shot with the 70-200mm f/4L IS that I just love for up-close wildlife work.
As I was told long ago, "If this is confusing, it probably is." If this sounds a bit cryptic, so is identifying female hummingbirds. I've spent thousands of hours with the hummingbirds here in the canyon, and sometimes I can't tell what species of female I'm looking at, even when they are starring me right in the face. And in a bare fraction of a second she's gone....now what species of hummingbird was she? Was that a young male?
Light green and rufous, with an aggressive attitude, and it must be a Rufous. Darker green and very small, with a short beak, a Calliope. Darker markings around the eyes and a long beak, and it must be a Black-chinned, and big, green and that big tail and it's a Broad-tailed.
The Black-chinned has the longest beak, the Calliope the shortest. The Rufous has that color, the Calliope and Black-chinned do not, the Broad-tailed a little. The Calliope has the smallest tail, the Broad-tailed the largest. And sometimes I am not so sure anymore. But male hummingbirds can usually tell the difference, but guess what, they have been known to inner breed. Even they seem to have a difficult time telling the females apart....so don't feel too bad.
All photographs and writing by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography
HogbatsPhotography.com - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Till next week's wildlife blog, "Keep your camera ready."
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I was standing on a ladder sixteen years ago when I saw my very first Wind River Canyon hummingbird, it was a Rufous Hummingbird male. So I purchased a nectar feeder and put up my very first Hummingbird Cafe. There were a few that first year that seems so long ago now, and it was in that Summer I came to have a favorite hummingbird, the Calliope.
The Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) is the smallest bird in North America and the smallest long-distance migrating bird in the world! They fly here from mountains in western Mexico, all by
themselves, contrary to what bizarre tale you may have heard. Calliopes are smaller than my thumb, but fly more miles than anyone I know. These little jewels are a real challenge to photograph, because they are the shyest of the four species that nest in the Wind River Canyon. The male will take the spot on the feeder that is up against the wall, and try not to be noticed by the Tiger of the Hummingbird world, the Rufous Hummingbird.
The Calliope Hummingbird is the one others can pick on; being small does make one a target for bullies, and I ought to know. Because of all this they are the species that represents the real challenge of wildlife photography; small, fast, and not here most of the time!
The Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), on the other hand, is the complete opposite of the Calliope; they
are aggressive and very territorial. I started calling them Tigers, because they're even the color of that big cat. Their gorget (armor protecting the throat-from a time when men wore armor) is striking orange, yet can change in color when the light is different. They are a little bigger than the Calliope, but not the largest of the hummers that breed in the Wind River Canyon. They're bold and always entertaining, and easier to get very close to.
In my experience most Hummingbirds have little fear, except of jumpy humans. And when you see a Rufous showing off his gorget, it's a sight that you will never forget. They are the easiest hummingbird to photograph, but still an immense challenge at three and three-quarters of an inch from beak to tail!
Years ago southern Colorado had devastating forest fires, and the Black-chinned
Hummingbirds (Archilochus alexandri) that commonly nested in that region had no place to go. They flew north to find appropriate nesting grounds and a few found the Wind River Canyon.
Black-chinned were born here that summer, and success meant they came back the following year, and always do. The males are not quite "black-chinned" because they have a stripe that flashes purple when the light hits the gorget right; trying to photograph this is a genuine pain in the you-know-what. Their particular aerial display is something to see, as they arc back and forth in front of a female at lightning speeds. They are strong and aggressive little birds that I never thought I'd ever see in the Wind River Canyon.
Last year the 4th hummingbird species to visit the canyon finally stayed and successfully
nested here. We had seen Broad-tailed Hummingbirds (Selasphorus platycercus) many times as they passed through in May on their way to some unknown land, and in late summer on their way to the mountains of western Mexico for the winter. They are the largest (4 inches) of the four species of hummingbirds that nest in the Wind River Canyon, yet are still not the fighters of the Rufous.
I can tell a Broad-tailed is in the area just by the sound their wings make when they fly; a metallic and powerful engine-like noise. Males have a gorget that is american-beauty rose red, and shines like an expensive ruby. The males are very green and cannot be mistaken for any of the other three species that nest here. Their aerial display consists of shooting up in the air for 75 feet and rocketing down at speeds that cannot be photographed.
I sometimes use a tripod, sometimes a monopod, but I prefer the old-west gunfighter strategy for photographing my hummingbirds; hold your weapon and react as fast as you can. I've used all the possible auto-focus settings that they've got....and none of them work. I prefer a spot AF and exposure settings, because all I want is for the hummingbird file to be right; everything else can be dealt with in post-production.
Shooting thousands of pictures of hummingbirds a summer is the norm, but only a few will ever be seen by anyone. The real secret is to move slowly and deliberately, and give them lots of time to "get to know you." This type of wildlife photography is all about trust. I had a female Rufous forced-off a feeder the other evening, her tail nearly touching my nose! I routinely have hummingbird wings brush my ears as they "come in for a landing," I'm that close and trusted by them. I also use a blind if I have to, but they're very hot to be stuck in on a
hot Wyoming afternoon. I never ever use a flash, because life in a twenty-first century wilderness is tough enough. This also means I'm pushing the technology to it's limits at times. Faster shutter-speeds, higher ISO's and lower f-stops are the tricks, along with lightning-quick reaction times....and patience; lots and lots of patience.
Most of all an artist needs a vision, and lots of practice. You only get better at something by repeating the process over and over again; I average over 20,000 frames a year. I try to photograph our hummingbirds every day they are here, if I can.
*A cute story - I got a wireless remote so I could take wildlife pictures from a distance. It seemed to be a good idea and is cool tech. Setting up the tripod close to a favorite hummingbird feeder, I sat under a juniper forty feet away with some iced-tea and the button. I was cool and comfortable and could experiment with my new toy. Making the camera shoot bursts from a distance was great, but resulted in nothing the first day this week I used it, when all of a sudden I heard the metallic wings of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird. This thumb-sized gorgeous male sat only six feet away, on a branch of the pine tree I lounged under, my camera forty feet away! I spoke right up and told him that this wasn't right to tease me this way, and this beautiful hummingbird just looked me over and hit my eyes with his ruby gorget. When he flew over to hit the nectar feeder, I ran to fetch my camera from the tripod; of course he didn't return.
This is the way it is with hummingbirds, or for that matter wildlife photography in general----"You get what they give you." I want them to be doing something special, or flying, but you only get what the little critter has to offer at that moment. I cannot ask the bird, or a Bighorn Sheep for that matter, to sit under that tree, or turn a certain way. I have found in the half century I've been interested in photography that hummingbirds are the most difficult of all subjects. The biggest problem is they don't speak English, and I cannot make the four warning sounds the Rufous female makes. And darn, they're so small.
Thank you once again for reading my blog about the wildlife in the Wind River Canyon.
Writing, photography, digital darkroom, website and opinions by Michael John Balog.
Hogbats Photography - HogbatsPhotography.com
Wind River Canyon
Wyoming
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The breeding Hummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon have arrived, and in a greater number than we have ever seen in sixteen years! Since "why" would seem to be the next logical question, my answer would be this----the Wind River Canyon, here in clean-air Wyoming, is an ideal place to raise Hummingbirds. We have it all, bugs, safe nesting sites, good summer weather, and some nut that puts up nectar feeders (that's me).
We have four species of Hummingbirds, that are nesting here right now, in the Wind River Canyon; the Broad-tailed, the Rufous, the Black-chinned, and my favorite the Calliope Hummingbird. I've already started on my second 10 pound bag of sugar, the earliest that has ever happened! This is really due to this week's anniversary video blog subject, the gorgeously beautiful Bullock's Oriole.
Here are two short-form wildlife videos starring one of my new favorite birds, the female Oriole. The first video is of an adult female Oriole that likes to jump in and out of frame, the second video is of a young female Oriole (born in the canyon this spring) that has found her singing voice, enjoy. Writing of this wildlife blog, and videography, by the forever young Michael John Balog.
Hogbats Photography & HogbatsPhotography.com - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
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Good hearing, and lots of time in the field, paid dividends last Wednesday evening when I heard a familiar bird cackling. I was printing photos of my nephew and his fiance, shot in the canyon, when I was stopped in my tracks. I knew that this constant noise was an immature Oriole and, it was very close to my open studio door! I slid the screen aside, and there she was in a juniper not twenty feet away. I literally dropped what I was printing and ran to get a camera, which should always be easy to get to when you live in a wilderness area.
It was seven-thirty and the light was not great. I abhor the use of flash-units on wild animals and those that promote this extra stress on wildlife (I went and finally said it). It seems to me that life is difficult enough without firing a big flash into the sensitive eyes of a wild bird, or one of my Bighorn Sheep----please don't do it!
My 300mm f/4L Canon lens was opened all the way, and the shutter speed was crazy slow at 1/125. Propping the lens up against the door frame gave me some stability; I fired away. The chick was a female Oriole and she was making a racket! The male Bullock's Oriole was the parent feeding this fat, little lady. He came and went several times without either of them knowing I was present; her clucking for attention never stopped.
It was a beautiful scene that thrilled me down to my soul, but the f-stop was low and the light was fading. I wondered if the RAW files were going to be a lot of work, or worthless at this slow a shutter speed. But with today's technology just about any shot can be managed with software. I finished my printing job and couldn't wait to see this orange Oriole feeding his youngster.
The depth-of-field was shallow but the sharpness was good, and the color was great. Out of fifty or so frames I couldn't decide which of these two was worthy to post on my website - HogbatsPhotography.com. Both of them were cute and I couldn't decide which was sponge worthy. I've since had two other shoots with this father and daughter Orioles, and none of the pictures were this adorable....or rare.
Good hearing, quick reactions, steady hands, knowledgeable and decades of learning means nothing. Wildlife and nature photography comes down to one thing, and one thing only----"You get what they give you." Mother Nature will plop down a moment in time and it's your responsibility to get the shot right: "Please don't let me #*!@ this up!" The first time I can remember thinking this was many years ago when I first saw "Snowflake." It's always a good thing to remind myself when an epic starts to happen.
*I'm going to buy myself a selfie stick, so the next time I see someone taking a selfie....I can wack them with the damn thing!
Have a safe and happy Independence Day weekend, and keep your camera ready.
Thank you for reading my dribble....err, blog.
Michael John Balog - Wind River Canyon - Hogbats Photography
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The odd formations are truly extraordinary in this forgotten landscape. A professor would go crazy here, as we did ten days ago. We wandered around with our mouths open, amazed that such a place exists; a place time obviously has forgotten. This fascinating and forgotten landscape is not in the middle-of-nowhere, but we're sure that you could get there from this spot. We felt like aliens visiting this Wyoming Landscape, like we awoke in a favorite sci-fi movie.
This alien landscape is extremely fragile though; like priceless art it cannot be touched. The slightest nudge of a finger can damage these weird formations. Let me emphasize just how very fragile this place really is----I cannot, I will not blog the directions to this fragile ecosystem. A few will know of this place, most will not, and it needs to be kept this way. This fascinating and forgotten mountain landscape should be famous, yet it's lost in a 21st age that looses places like this.
Being able to photograph this place must be like the first man on Mars with a camera in hand. I walked around with a smile, unbelieving what I was seeing. Over a hundred and fifty digital frames never captured what we experienced that day. As I wandered around this Weird Wyoming Landscape there was only one moment of clarity. This one mountain scene hit my creative hemisphere like one of the round little stones my significant other picked up. It was beautiful, but otherworldly, with the snow-covered mountains framed between some alien world. And here it is, the photograph worked in my usual software; DPP and Lightroom. I'm glad I brought along my camera.
This ecosystem was a beautiful and strange land, and I will return to this place in the future. Maybe by then I can get over the strange nature of this wonderful and fragile land, and get another moment-of-clarity. Till my next visit to this alien world, let's keep it a secret.
Blog, photography, digital darkroom and website by Michael John Balog
Wind River Canyon - Wyoming
Hogbats Photography - HogbatsPhotography.com
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At last night's Artists Reception, in the Professional Photography Division, I was awarded a 1st Place, and a 2nd Place! This is the third year in a row that I've captured 1st Place honors with my favorite subject, hummingbirds. It seems I'm the only professional photographing Wyoming Hummingbirds, and I never use a flash, ever.
I have always believed, and observed in the high-country, that wildlife in the 21st Century are very stressed, as is their habitat. There is absolutely no reason, using today's technology, that a nature photographer needs to stress a wild animal further by subjecting it to a flash unit! I have never used a flash unit of any kind on a wild animal, and you shouldn't either. Make the technology work work for you, and let's stop frightening the animals.
To that lofty goal I'd like to present the very first nesting Broad-tailed Hummingbird in the Wind River Canyon. Last summer a nesting pair stayed and I was lucky enough to nail-the-shot; after thousands of attempts. This photograph of the female was really cool, but I felt it needed a certain touch of canyon magic to make it something marvelous. The idea to make it a black & white selenium print was maybe divine inspiration, at four in the morning. Here she is, this year's 1st Place award winning Hummingbird----"Landing in Wyoming."
The 2nd Place Award was for a photograph of a baby Rufous Hummingbird that was born right here in the Wind River Canyon, in the middle of Wyoming. The adorable little male hummer was sitting on the handle of an old basket I rescued from a lady's refuse. He was photographed over two consecutive mornings from my bedroom window. Young male Rufous Hummingbirds will always try to control a feeder, if they can. This domineering, little tough guy is really cute, though.
The black & white was framed in a rustic, natural frame. The foot square image that I printed myself was also framed by me, as all my work is. The large color baby Rufous Hummingbird image was in a silver and gold jewel-box frame. Learn from my mistakes, buy and frame your art yourself, and AmericanFrame.com is the only place I will ever trust. I am not being paid for this endorsement, they are the real deal when you need your art framed right.
The strangest coincidence is the 1st Place black & white image was the hummingbird that Joe Farace mentions in his review of my website, HogbatsPhotography.com in the March 2015 Shutterbug magazine. It was my little sister's favorite hummingbird months before that.
This year we had a nesting pair of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds in the Wind River Canyon, but they disappeared after the deluge and the mudslides. I don't know if they left this weird canyon weather or were consumed by it. It saddens me to think of the latter.
All images photographed and digital darkroom work by Michael John Balog, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
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All babies need a protein source to grow big and strong, even birds, and many species nest and live in the Wind River Canyon because of a readily available protein----bugs! My homemade nectar is a wonderful way of observing the behavior of a member of "Mother Nature's most beautiful list."
At one time the Baltimore Oriole and the Bullock's Oriole were combined under a more common name, the Northern Oriole. It's since been determined that the two species are distinct and not commonly related. The Baltimore Oriole is an eastern bird and, the Bullock's Oriole a western bird, but where their territories overlap they have been known to interbreed.
Orioles are sexually dimorphic, which means males and females look different. Both sexes
sing and will defend the nest and raise their young. Bullock's Orioles are seasonally monogamous and do not mate for life like Canadian Geese. The female Bullock's Oriole is often mistaken for the male because of her bright yellow and silver coloring. Here is a portrait of a female Bullock's Oriole photographed in the Wind River Canyon.
The morning of the now famous Wind River Canyon Mudslides it was raining again. It was raining again and had been for weeks. No one could have guessed that rainy Sunday morning, May 24th, the impending disaster to come that afternoon. I was busy again photographing our orange visitors. Orioles are shy and very challenging to photograph, and I have shot many thousands of frames over many years with these colorful and animated birds. It's like a good game of chess that I never loose.
I've always used our home as a blind since it sits in a wilderness; what could be more convenient? I was dry and he was soaked. I had coffee and he had nectar out-of-the-rain. Of all the frames I shot surreptitiously, only one captured a male Oriole's personality. He was soggy but, his hairdo was really cool the way it was spiked up. I didn't get back to the picture till much later in the week, because the mountains came tumbling down! When I finally got back to working on this frame, he showed such an attitude. Last week at five in the morning a creative idea sparked my imagination. I'd only tried this technique once before.
The RAW file (picture) is initially worked in Canon's Digital Photo Professional and saved as a TIFF file, I touched it up in Adobe Lightroom and added metadata and my watermark. The portrait of this Oriole was different with attitude. Then that crazy idea to spotlight my subject came flooding in like the mudslides.
Open the file in Adobe Elements and choose the "quick selection tool." It's not really all that quick, and does take some time to isolate your subject. Use the plus and minus buttons, and change the size of your tool as needed for your main subject. It can get tedious at times, but just keep at it until your favorite subject is chosen (isolated) from the background you want to make black and white. When you've got your main subject "surrounded" right-click and choose "select inverse." Now your subject will remain in color as you change the rest of your photo to black and white. Give the background some contrast, and be creative with the monochrome; black and white has a wide latitude; save your work.
This process is a bit tedious, but can yield some surprising results. It cannot work miracles and I obviously don't use it very often. This bird is something orange and special, the rest of the frame is forgettable. Now this bird really sings. And how about that hairdo?
It's fun photographing children here in the canyon among the daisies or by the creek, and this technique would be fun to try with a portrait of a child. I suppose a classic car in a bold color would also make a good subject for this software trick. This software technique is a magical way of combining the old with the new in a new way of seeing. I'm sure my old art professors would just smile.
Thank you for reading this week's blog, I hope you learned something new. Writing, photography, digital darkroom and website by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - HogbatsPhotography.com
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during a shoot a couple of years ago. They have
been known to toss out the nest, eggs and even the young of a competing House Wren couple. I knew this from my research, but was extraordinarily lucky to have captured this shocking event. But the "Prime Directive" taught me not to interfere with Mother Nature; even when it pained me not to put the egg back!
Everything turned out all right for the young nesting House Wrens; they had five healthy chicks in spite of the "bird homicide." Yet, the two Wren birdhouses are on opposite ends of our home, ninety feet apart and unseen from one another! No other bird that nests in the Wind River Canyon is so territorial; no other sings for me like they do either.
Late-Winter I clean out the old nests; the male will build the "foundation" for the season
and doesn't like old material, singing all the while for a female that will appreciate his construction project.
The female Wren that approves of his work will finish the nest with softer material, the male singing all the time. Even after the young have hatched, an experienced male House Wren will bring food to the birdhouse, like the pair by my bedroom window right now. They are good parents that will teach their young birds how to hunt for the ugly bugs, little chirping signals can be heard that locate each other throughout the bug hunts.
Not only are House Wrens great songbirds that are fascinating to watch and learn about, but they are also a bird you can get close for your observations. They are brave little birds that can be approached with patience; I use the same old cowboy hat and thread-bare tan shirt during all my warm weather outings. And after the now famous mudslides in the Wind River Canyon on Sunday, May 24th I was cut off from civilization, the road totally closed for three days. I was outside photographing the male Wren by my bedroom when I realized how quiet the Wind River Canyon is with no vehicle noise. Then an idea came, "Why not try and video his singing?"
I knew that a chance like this, with no man-made noise, may never happen again; so I gabbed the three-legged monster and headed out to the north side. Setting up the tripod as the male Wren, who I am sure had been here and seen me before, watched me intently as I set up for video. It had to be a convergence of the planets, or maybe he knew this was his big shot at fame, but when the video on-button was pushed....he put on a five minute performance. I swear it was all too weird.
The ancient wood in the video is a century-old grain wagon; every year Wrens sit and sing on this spot. I may not be a great film Director, but you have to admit, he can sing. So sit back for five lousy minutes and listen to one of Mother Nature's greatest voices in the rare quiet of the Wind River Canyon. One of the mudslides is behind him, softly out of the depth-of-field; the sound of the Wind River easily heard. Oh, the equipment is a Canon 7D with my favorite Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens; it's light in weight and the wallet, but is in my experience one of the greatest Canon makes, and I don't get paid to say that. Writing, photography, videography, digital darkroom and website by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - HogbatsPhotography.com
Next week's blog will be about Orioles; not the baseball team, and a software trick!
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We fear forest fires for sure, but I knew the risks of mudslides could be a real scary story; and last Sunday the rain started to fall from the proverbial bucket. It was rain in a deluge like we seldom ever see in this part of Wyoming. I was watching the baseball game on our home theater, and even being in the middle of Coors Field I could hear the mountains start to move! I lost the satellite signal about the time I looked out the window, and felt the earth shake a little as I saw large sections of the canyon's green face being sent down to the railroad line and into the river. I slipped on my shoes and hoodie and ran out into the pouring rain to see Mother Nature's anger.
By the time I got back inside I was soaked to the bone and cold. A quick shower later I felt
better and was gazing out my west bedroom window at the devastation. It was difficult to comprehend and process it all, when a huge chocolate waterfall started coming from the cliffs right across the Wind River from my vantage point! I hope I never forget my first thoughts last Sunday, "I can't believe I'm going to see this."
And down the mountain came! Mud and water and boulders the size of apartments came rushing down the canyon towards my direction! It sounded like being too close to a train, and the sound of Niagara Falls. The ground beneath my feet shook like some kind of staccato earthquake, I've felt two, and my heart raced. I couldn't imagine I was seeing this in real time; it seemed impossible. But now I really understand the look on people faces who have lived to see such things. And the mud flowed with the destruction of a war.
I hiked alone down to the river in the pouring rain again. As I looked at the new island, it somehow seemed so impossible looking so far up. The train tracks were destroyed and twisted like spaghetti, the railroad ties floating in the Wind River. I felt soggy and cold, but lucky that it wasn't me floating in the fast flowing river, the assorted brown mud colors being carried north to Thermopolis twelve mile away.
By the time I finally made it back to our place, I'd learned the Wind River Canyon was closed by many mudslides, and my wife was now trapped in town. Our little Woods Creek that runs through our yard had turned into a raging, dangerous torrent; our house-on-a-hill was spared; the creek is a real mess and cleanup will be a nightmare.
As a very wise and kind musician sang long ago, "All things must pass." Five days later the Sun is shining and I have many beautiful nesting Orioles, and two different species of Hummingbirds (Broad-tailed & Black-chinned Hummingbirds) on our four nectar feeders; the birds are singing, and the dozen Lazuli Buntings look like animated turquoise jewelry as they eat the birdseed they love, and I'm still here writing about this magical Wind River Canyon; the video below was shot in the rain, hand held early the next morning, Memorial Day. If your bandwidth and equipment can handle 1080p, go for it and turn up the volume! I've had quite enough rain now, thank you; I know a lot of you have. And twenty-first century technology, and hard work, opened the road Wednesday afternoon, and the first freight train came very slowly through just this morning. We've already fixed a couple of waterfalls on our creek that my very hard-of-seeing father landscaped a long, long time ago; they can never look the same again. I guess that Mother Nature just needed to rearrange the furniture.
Next week we go back to the beautiful nesting birds of the Wind River Canyon. Be safe and love each other.
Writing, Website, Photography, Videography and All that Jazz by Michael John Balog.
Hogbats Photography - HogbatsPhotography.com
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It's easy to find horror stories of the unaware tourist being squashed into a headline on the news. In Yellowstone National Park, the baby Bison and their mothers are kept away from the visitors to the park for a reason; yet, I've watched as a tourist tried to cross the river to get a closer shot none-the-less. As the yellow flier that is still given to every visitor to the park warns, "Buffalo are dangerous!" and they are not kidding. In Colonial America the British gave up trying to domesticate the American Buffalo; they were considered too powerful and unpredictable. Ornery, Nana would have said.
I started out this blog with the previous warning for a good reason; when photographing anything that could do you bodily harm....use a long lens. Educate yourself to the behavior of the animal you are trying to approach; don't just walk up to any animal without understanding their behavior, this lack of knowledge could be your ticket to the hospital, or the morgue. When in doubt use a longer lens; and stay farther away. You want the wildlife to not know you're there. Like the old Indian in that old film, try to be invisible; give the wild animals a respectful distance. I was not as close to this big mama Bison as it appears, and I also had a truck to use as a safe hide.
Starting out with the selected RAW file in Canon's supplied software, and doing the saturation, sharpness, white balance, tone curve adjustments and such, till I liked the photo more. I then worked the saved tiff file in the one button HDR that is hidden in Digital Photo Professional; this gives the photograph a more modern-look that is so popular now. From there the file is again worked in Adobe Lightroom to make the picture snap, and add metadata to the digital file. After a selected watermark we're done. Total work time on this picture? Well, I had 150 others to consider; and digital photography allows the old artist to escape, and I want to make it MY ART! So let's just say quite some time.
I heard about the baby Buffalo and had tried for weeks to get close enough for some memorable shots, but they were always too far away. The Buffalo Pastures are only twelve miles the way the Eagle flies from our Wind River Canyon home, but I had zero luck till last Wednesday; good luck does take time. The video was shot on the fly without my trusty old tripod; I used the truck's window frame as support for my Canon 7D video of the baby Bison nursing. My senses were sharp enough to cut glass! this is a real Rocky Mountain High! Listen closely and you will hear the Springtime Wyoming wind, and the other baby Bison walking by, all in high-definition. I would like you to notice how creative you can get with today's photography; it's a creativity that in my Grandfather's darkroom would have been science fiction, yet now this ability to let out your inner Renoir is commonplace. So, let out that artist that hides within....and shoot some video!
Photography, Videography, Digital Darkroom, and Writing by Michael John Balog-Wind River Canyon.
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The sky blue Mountain Bluebird nests at higher altitudes, usually stated as over 5000 feet. The females, while not as flashy, are regal in contrast to the outrageous blue of the males. These birds are migratory because of their bug diet, and are one of the rare birds that hovers while hunting for it's food.
Their nests are made of dry grass and plant fibers in "natural cavities" or appropriate birdhouses. Their beaks and primary feathers are longer than either the Eastern or Western Bluebird. The Mountain Bluebird is not easily confused with any other wild bird you will see in Wyoming.
An amazing stroke of good luck and sharp eyes had a nesting pair of Mountain Bluebirds fly into my lap on Monday last. These two are right now building a nest on a cliff side not fifteen minutes from my cabin in the Wind River Canyon; I'd rather not give the exact location for their protection. They are well hidden and will be successful in raising cute little bluebirds of their own this Spring.
As I always do when I'm in the field, I had on my ratty cowboy hat and tan bird shirt when I spotted the male on some sagebrush. Spending time with them on Monday morning, I spent oodles more time with them after my acupuncture with the wonderful Dr. Hayes in Thermopolis. The male Mountain Bluebird quickly got used to my presence as he would a deer or a bison; the double whistle I use helps birds to quickly recognize it's me again, and of no threat to them. This commonality really works wonders by-the-way. I've since spent days observing them, in what we will call blue-bliss.
I've got digital files of these two flying here and there and doing this and that; the female is cute with dried grasses in her beak! But on Wednesday afternoon, after the short hike over to their territory, I saw a Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus) singing on the same spot the male Bluebird called his own; a fine birdsong it is. As I was happily shooting away, the Mountain Bluebird (m) swooped in and aggressively chased the Lark Sparrow away, never to be seen or heard from again. This is one tough little Mountain Bluebird. I got one single frame of the lightning-like event; I finished working it just this very morning!
Let me finish by explaining something about real patience photography. I hiked over to the other side of the cliffs, which are also cliffs, and sat down on a small flat, lichen covered rock with the camera and big lens on my crossed legs. After an hour my back and everything else hurt, so I straighten up and tried to clear my mind of the pain that shot through me as I held still and photographed. This male Mountain Bluebird came as close to me as he had ever been, and I shot my Canon away. Then he looked back at something, and the female flew to his side. It's moments-in-time like this that we live for and never forget. When magical events snap-to-happen in nature, in front of my surgically saved sight, one single thought usually hits me----"Don't screw this up, let's get this shot right stupid." I hope your Spring is just as cool!
Lovingly written and photographed by Michael John Balog, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Hogbats Photography - HogbatsPhotography.com
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When the weather turns winter-like in the Spring, it chases birds out of the high-country down into this warmer, greener valley. Periodically we see birds that the books tell us should not be here, or have never been observed in the Wind River Canyon before; in some cases the bird isn't listed as a visitor to Wyoming at all. And last week I had just such a bird that visited one of our bird feeders; a wild bird we had never seen in nearly sixteen years of living in this mountain paradise.
I was on the way to the kitchen for more of the Earl Grey tea that I'm addicted to, when I saw a flash of a large, light-blue bird. Now, we don't have any large, light-blue birds! Grabbing my "big-rig" Canon DSLR camera, I headed for the door. It wasn't difficult to find him, he was making a racket! Growing up in Cleveland as I did, I knew it had to be a Jay of some kind; I just had absolutely no idea what this noisy, big-beaked bird's name was. This lovely bird had little fear of me, which was advantageous, but it was overcast and the light wasn't the best, so I made due. I shot slow for a lens of 300mm, and the image-stabilization was very helpful, as usual; but what was this bird?
It turned out that the identification, and the research, was more time consuming than I thought it would be, as it usually is. This bird looked like a Mexican Jay, but it couldn't be, as they don't migrate in this neck of the continent. His color wasn't right to be a Western Scrub-Jay, so it had to be a Pinyon Jay; another species that has never been documented in the Wind River Canyon before.
The Pinyon Jay, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus, is monotypic, a genus of only one species....him. This bird lives only in the Wild West, but usually is seen in flocks. I suspect this bird to be a younger, dumber bird; why else would he here alone without friends? Maybe he's got an attitude and difficult to get along with; maybe he's just lost and hungry. They were first ID'd in 1833, by the Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied expedition in Montana; they were hunting up there. The Prince had taken an artist, Karl Bodmer; don't miss his paintings of American Indians.
Pinyon Jays will pair bond for up to two and a half years; they eat bugs, seeds, fruits and of course pinyon seeds. They will stash seeds away for future food sources, but will only remember the exact place for a week or so; so says the scientific data. I would assume some of these seeds end up germinating, so you could say that these birds plant trees! He was photographed with a shutter speed of 1/320th @ f/7.1, ISO 400; hand held of course, as I prefer in the field.
But this all proves a point I constantly postulate; "Keep your camera ready!" You never, ever know when that alien spaceship will land....keep it handy.
Writing, photography and digital darkroom by Michael John Balog: Thank you for reading this week's blog. Visit my award-winning wildlife photography website @ HogbatsPhotography.com.
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While I was "up the mountain" again for the millionth time this Spring, I spotted a wildflower I'd never seen in my all my time living in this magical canyon. They were like strange, red hairy things on funny, weird stems; with bizarre leaves. I swear the first thing I thought was, "These things look like Flowers from Mars." There were only a half dozen, more or less, in an area that was only a few feet square. I crawled around in the damp dirt happily shooting away, documenting these "weird looking flowers." There were none to be found anywhere I climbed or hiked; these were the only ones I'd ever seen!
Checking with my downloaded books on wildflowers from the Kindle Store, I found out these Flowers from Mars had a name; they actually have several names. They are known as Prairie Smoke, or my more favorite name, Old Man's Whiskers. Each botanical name refers to the way the Flowers from Mars looks as it morphs over its lifespan. The scientific Latin name Geum triflorum (Rose family) references the three, hairy globes that usually grow on a stem. As these strange things mature they turn over and explode in a grey, hairy mass; hence the name. Native-Americans used them to treat tuberculosis.
The next day was cloudy and we had some rain, the following day I was going up just to see my Flowers from Mars; and they were gone! Not a stem or leaf existed of Prairie Smoke now, they'd seemed to have vanished. I couldn't believe it, where did they go? Did the aliens come back for them? very funny. As a boy I fell in love with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fascinating detective, but it doesn't take Sherlock to figure out somebody ate them! No deer tracks close by, and that leaves only the hundreds of Voles that make their home in this wildflower heaven; and that seemed to be the logical answer. The Voles overturn the soil, this northwest facing mountainside is the perfect spot for wildflowers to propagate en mass; and they do. But I don't know if I'd eat one of these.
Prairie Smoke, Old Man's Wiskers - Wind River CanyonWyoming Wildflowers, Old Man's Wiskers Photographed in The Wind River Canyon.
Another of the strange flowers in Wyoming are the Paintbrush, which believe it or not the genus Castilleja (Indian Paintbrush) contains about 200 species. But that's not the weird part, the State Flower of Wyoming, the Narrow Leaf Indian Paintbrush and all Indian Paintbrush wildflowers, are parasites. Let that sink in a moment....these celebrated flowers are parasites and need the sage's roots to gain nourishment. As I tried to explain to an uniformed old woman recently, it's not illegal to grow them; it's just impossible! You can not grow them in your garden; I learned this from a Professor @ UW ages ago; he thought this was very funny.
I was asked about yellow Indian Paintbrush flowers recently, and as luck sometimes presents itself, last Wednesday a varietal (Early Indian Paintbrush - Castilleja angustifolia) was blooming early in a very small difficult to reach spot. The flower tops of the Indian Paintbrush can be eaten in a salad, but the greenery and roots are poisoned with selenium; the plant absorbs it from the soil.
Yellow Early Paintbrush - Wind River CanyonWyoming Yellow Paintbrush Wildflowers Photographed in The Wind River Canyon.
So there you have it, two of the strange wildflowers of the Wild West; the first two members of my new list----Flowers from Mars!
Blog, Photography, Digital Darkroom and Website by Michael John Balog - Wind River Canyon HogbatsPhotography.com
Thank You for Your Time
I hope you learned a little something.
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The Yellow Sagebrush Violet is also known as the Valley Violet; they are a perennial, and have fuzzy leaves like the Violets on the kitchen windowsill of my childhood. This particular wildflower blooms early here in the canyon; late mid-April till early May, weather permitting. As for the yellow flowers themselves, they are only "picture perfect" for a week or so; they of course hate Spring snows as much as the Snowbirds do.
Nearly every day I've been hiking up and down my favorite trail to search for and photograph these rare and precious Sagebrush Violets. They inevitably flower in the most unlikely of places, and are very few in number; which means lots of hiking and lots of double checking; and lots of fresh air. There is always a set of these Yellow Sagebrush Violets growing on this dry and deadly looking trail, but they also will flower on cooler hillsides near the Shooting Stars referred to in last week's blog.
Photographing anything short and small requires the photographer to "get down" and see his subject face on. This particular action makes the bursitis in my knees act up something awful, but the artist in me doesn't care. My knees ache most of the time now, but I always return to our little cabin exhilarated from a hike here in the Wind River Canyon, and that helps the soul, as much as the pain, too. These Yellow Sagebrush Violets were photographed last Sunday. How can something so wonderful come from ground that looks like this?
Yellow Sagebrush Violets - Wind River Canyon, WyomingYellow Sagebrush Violets in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
The equipment used in photographing wildflowers is not as important as your actions. As in all artistic endeavors you need to get to know your subject; I downloaded two books from "he-who-must-not-be-named." But they were of little help, and were supposed to cover this area! An obscure reference led me to finally ID these Violets and learn what I could. These yellow Violets are the size of my thumbnail, and are already wilted, but this picture of them documents a wildflower in the Wind River Canyon seldom seen.
Photography, Digital Darkroom and Blog, by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography. Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
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And to that end I begin with something that I know most people in Wyoming and the Wild West, and for that matter everyone else on this blue marble have never, ever seen. You see, while I was researching the blog about the wildflowers called Shooting Stars, I read that every once in a while a rare White Shooting Stars flower will appear. Just like the Albino Bighorn Sheep that once lived in the canyon, this white flower is exceedingly rare among a sea of wildflowers. Since I know that they are blooming right now, I spent time hiking up the mountain to the one spot I know quite well.
We'd gotten a light rain the night before, and I expected a little mud, but only the northern slope where the Shooting Stars were blooming was damp. But wow, did the Shooting Stars wildflower area grow; it's now four times the size it was just a few days before. Taking a million cautious steps around the hillside, I hunted for over an hour and found only one lonely, rare White Shooting Stars wildflower.
The sky was a brilliant blue and the white flower would have been over-exposed something awful, so I used an old snow-time trick and upped the exposure by two-thirds. It worked beautifully as I sat down in the wet, sloping field and shot merrily away after I found the angle I needed. Then I hunted the canyon hillside for more White Shooting Stars....and found none! There are hundreds and hundreds of Shooting Stars blooming on this sloping field, but just this one specimen existed on the mountain. So I sat back down and photographed this rare wildflower again, just to be sure.
Wildflowers, White Shooting Stars - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.Rare White Shooting Stars, Wildflowers-Wind River Canyon, WY
It's a perfect blooming set that was a real lucky find, but it snowed hard a few days later, and I'm going up later today to see how the hardy Shooting Stars are faring. ISO 100, 1/320 @ f/9 with my favorite lens - Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS; I used it because it's lighter to carry and scary sharp pictures always result.
Another of Wyoming's wonderful wildflowers are the Wild Rose. They bloom in June and the smell is so fantastic that you have to smell them for yourselves, because they make those expensive things I've paid way too much for smell like old socks. The smell of a Wild Rose is so intense that nothing on a store shelf even comes close, and it's one of Mother Nature's real Summer treats for the senses.
This particular Wild Rose was shot last June, and I'd never, ever seen a spider like this on a flower. I don't know, and don't care what this spider's name is; he probably doesn't either. But the spider was in shade and I remember it being a pain in the tookis to shoot. Just this very morning I worked the best file in DPP (Canon Digital Photo Professional) and Adobe Lightroom 5.7. It's so cool that I had to include it in the new gallery. It was photographed with my favorite lens, which I'd just received; this was a first test, and it's beautiful, yet creepy somehow.
The scientific name for the Wild Rose is Rosa woodsii, and that makes people smile, as Latin usually does. They get little red berries called rose hips and are very high in vitamin C, among some other interesting ones. They are beautiful, smell amazing, and are good for you; what other Wyoming Wildflower can say all of that?
I wish that the internet could provide the smell for you, but it cannot, so come round in June to the Wind River Canyon for the best smell in the world....you won't forget it, and that's a promise.
Writing, photography, digital darkroom, and cheap nerdy laughs by Michael John Balog
Wind River Canyon.........Wyoming
Thank you once again for reading my blog about the Wind River Canyon. I hope you learn a little something.
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Earlier this week I was up high in the canyon with our sled dog, when I spotted one of the most fascinating flowers in all of Wyoming. It's a little early for this particular flower to bloom, but the weather has been exceptional for an early Spring in the Wind River Canyon. You see, we could just as well be up to our butts in a blizzard, instead I've been working on a "farmer's tan."
These flowers are called Shooting Stars, and are blooming in a small area on a northern facing slope, maybe 20 by 40 feet is all. They are only half and inch in length when they open like fireworks on the fourth. They are hardy early bloomers that grow in places prone to dampness, and no direct sunshine; the Latin name is Dodecatheon pulchellum and are a member of the Primrose Family; the scientific name for them is American Cyclamen and are native to the western United States. Around the canyon they're pinkish to purplish in color and start to open as a bell, then explode open like a shooting star; growing to only a four inch height in the Wind River Canyon. Native Americans used an infusion of the roots as a wash for the eyes, or gargled for cankers.
Being crazy careful to avoid any damage to the blossoms, I photographed many of the flowers on my knees or just sat down in an appropriate spot and shot away. I used the Canon 300mm f/4L as a long macro lens; it has a minimum focus distance of 4.9 feet, and gives a greater working distance from a delicate subject than a short macro lens would. I had plenty of good light, but thankfully no direct sun, and after some experimentation I used a manual setting of 1/800 and f/8 with an ISO 400 to hit the sharpness head-on without any chance of wiggling the shot wrong; then an exhilarating hike down the canyon trail.
Wildflowers, Shooting Stars - Wind River Canyon, WyomingWildflowers, Shooting Stars in Wind River Canyon.
The RAW files selected were worked, as usual, in Digital Photo Professional, Canon's great supplied software, then off to Adobe Lightroom in a TIFF file to give the one digital file some professional finish. And for those of you that have a need to know, I added meta-data and the watermark in Lightroom.
I have actually photographed Shooting Stars for years, and never was satisfied with the results, till now; which was the motivation for creating the Wildflowers & Butterflies gallery. The 11 by 14 print off my Canon printer is sharp and colorful, and shows these beautiful Wyoming Wildflowers to their very best.
May you also have such a fine and warm Spring day.
Thank you for reading my blog this week! And get out of the house this Spring and try your hand at photographing wildflowers, the fresh-air will do you a world of good.
Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
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There are twenty-two breeding species of woodpecker in North America; 215 species on this planet. I
Downy Woodpecker (f)-Wind River Canyon, WyomingDowny Woodpecker in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
have only photographed three different species here in the Wind River Canyon. The Hairy Woodpecker and the Downy Woodpecker are the two species that are very easily confused in Wyoming. The third being the distinctly different Red-shafted Flicker, which are abundant and easier to identify.
The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest of the woodpeckers in America, but look almost exactly like the larger Hairy Woodpecker. The Downy is only about six inches in length, the Hairy is 50% larger at nine inches in length; the Downy has a much smaller beak, and white spots on it's black back. And that, my fellow wildlife nuts, is about the only way to tell them apart. Yet, what I find interesting is that these two woodpeckers, that look almost the same to our eyes, are not closely related genetically. These two look-alike woodpeckers are a great example of convergent evolution; similar physical adaptation to similar environmental conditions.
Everyone knows that woodpeckers eat bugs in trees, but the different size of their beaks mean they don't actually compete for the same food source in the same environment. In fact, the different size of the beak in the female and male Downy Woodpecker means, even in the same species, they don't compete for the same food: The male's larger beak allows him to "dig deeper" in the tree for insects, and this applies to the even larger beaks of the Hairy Woodpecker; they will hammer even deeper in a tree for bugs than the Downy can. This adaptation allows two similar species to coexist in the same ecology; like here in the Wind River Canyon.
A side fact that is fascinating - there are no woodpeckers in Australia! Think about that one for a moment.
Not long ago, I had an all-too-brief encounter with a male Downy Woodpecker; only my second shoot
Downy Woodpecker (m), Wind River Canyon, WyomingDowny Woodpecker (m) in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
with a male in nearly a decade! I glimpsed him from our kitchen window on a cedar tree. I grabbed one of my always ready cameras, and dashed outside for a wild encounter of the woodpecker kind. He was obviously preoccupied with digging small holes in my cedar. I played the old hunter's trick, where I am small and invisible; lucky me it worked again. The morning light, filtering through the pine, made the dark side of the tree come alive. The Downy Woodpecker is known for being elusive and quick, and this little cutie was no exception.
I worked the large RAW file, as I always do, in Canon's freebee software, then from a TIFF file I worked it again in their one-button HDR to add some bling; then on to Adobe Lightroom to give the picture more "POW" and bring out more texture of the cedar tree. I had shot over seventy frames in about no time at all, for the one I really liked. The burst of my Canon cameras is eight-frames-per-second, and you'll need this kind of speed in any wildlife scenario. Don't be afraid to keep the shutter button down, that's why your camera has a crazy fps burst-mode. The pro's use it at ball games, and you can with the kids or that jay in your bird feeder.
Hairy Woodpecker, Mother & Son-Wind River Canyon,WyomingHairy Woodpeckers in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
I hope this is a little incentive to get outdoors and find the beautiful woodpeckers in your neck-of-the-woods; Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers can be seen in most of the U.S. So get outside and find out who the greatest drummer really is.
Photographs and Blog by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography
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away it was him again, as no other buck deer in the area is built the way he is: I had seen his tracks in the melting snow and mud last week. He's big, strong and probably weighs nearly twice what I do.
This particular mule deer has a strange curiosity about me in particular, which actually began years ago. We were both younger then, and I was just beginning my quest for bigger game to photograph digitally, when one afternoon two bucks came around to feed on some sweet, green grass. I grabbed my always ready camera, and my usual cowboy hat, and went outside to try and photograph these always wary deer. To my astonishment he made eye contact with me, and didn't just bound away in two seconds. He was wary, but seemed to desire more interaction than deer usually do. We spent a little time together that very first meeting, and all went well. I was to see him, and his "mates" again and again over these past years; and he always loves to make eye contact and spend some time together.
This kind of interest from a large wild animal is unusual, and is a real thrill to experience Mother Nature this way. And Thursday morning March 26 I was outside with my favorite buck deer and Canon lens. We were both calm and relaxed in the early morning Spring cold, yet something truly bizarre was going on as I arrived on the scene.
A Black-billed Magpie was sitting on my deer friend's back! Magpies nest in the area, and are a fun, gregarious large bird, that will eat almost anything; except carrots for some reason. This big black and white bird was picking nits off his slightly ragged winter coat, yet this strong, friendly buck deer didn't seem to mind a bit. In over half a century of hunters and photography I had never even heard of such a thing. I was trying to photograph this obviously rare event in the dim Wind River Canyon; the Sun doesn't reach the bottom of the canyon for quite some time. Making adjustments to the camera on the fly, it was a real challenge to get something that was usable later.
Now, for the technical part of this early morning Spring adventure: Rarely do I ever run the ISO above 400, which means the lens was wide open at f/4, the shutter speed was set at 1/100 of a second; hand held of course. Because the lack of any good light, this early in the morning in the canyon, meant lousy color, I finally came around to working some of the digital files in black and white (monochrome for you old guys like me). This technique is relatively simple, or as complex as you want. I used Canon's supplied software on the large RAW file, the method I recommend, then "touched up" the monochrome in Adobe Lightroom; adding more sharpness, contrast, and a slight vignette; which I love because it reminds me of my grandfather and his darkroom days.
I had to crop out the stuff in the original digital file that didn't belong, or didn't please me. And in this don't be shy, it's your vision and your photographic art; go for it! Keeping in mind certain rules of art, it's your photograph to make the way you see. And in this I have always been adamant, make your picture your photograph; and don't be afraid to break a few rules in the process.
Magpie Riding Mule Deer - Wind River Canyon, WyomingMagpie Riding Mule Deer in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Now, for a fun observation from this early morning shoot; is this Magpie the "Deer Whisperer?" And how do I get either of these wild animals to trust me the way they trust each other? I've been working for ages to get a Magpie to trust me, and they don't. They have no reason to trust humans, as they've been slaughtered in the past; a bounty was paid for their feet in the early twentieth century.
The bounty for a dead Black-billed Magpie's feet in that far-off time? Believe it or not, the bounty for just the feet was ten cents! I was told a story, many times, of a ranch lady that paid for a new sewing machine this way. Magpies were considered pests, and killed by the score, yet both of these perceived "pests" are vital to this ecology. And you gotta admit, these two make a cute couple........
Blog and photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
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I was reading an article, on the Audubon website, about Habitat Fragmentation this morning; it stirred up interest enough that I hit the link to the online article in Science Advances. It's a professional publication that was written by nearly two dozen professors from around the globe.
Forest Fragmentation experiments are some of the largest and longest-running experiments in
ecology; this data is culled from 76 studies, on 5 continents over the last 35 years! As this article relates to every single hummingbird and animal that I photograph, I read through this scientific analysis of global forest fragmentation, and tried to understand enough to make some sense of it at the source.
Farmland will increase by an estimated 18% by mid-century, and urban centers will triple by 2030; all of this human growth increases forest fragmentation and reduces biodiversity around the globe. But all of this data from 35 years leads to one fact alone: 70% of the remaining forests on this planet are within 1km of the forest's edge! This means there are very few large wilderness areas left on this planet that haven't been touched by the hand of man. If our forests are the heart and lungs of this Earth, then we are choking ourselves and future generations, and it will continue.
Fact - half of all the Earth's forests are within 500 meters of the forest edge. Habitat fragmentation of this magnitude reduces biodiversity by 13 - 75%; which to those of us that still
Osprey with Trout, Wind River Canyon, WyomingOsprey with Trout in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
live on this planet, it means less wildlife, and less food for those wild animals that remain. It also reinforces something I've been learning over the last decade of nature photography; my hummingbirds, and all wild animals, have nowhere to go. Every good lake and river has a millionaire's cabin nearby, and eagles and osprey have fewer places they can raise their young.
On a global scale man dominates the landscape, and Mother Nature will suffer the consequences. Extinction of wild animals will continue to increase, and the wilderness they need to live and reproduce will disappear at an ever increasing rate of speed. Our great-grandchildren will see birds I have photographed, here in the Wind River Canyon, only on their "smartphones." How smart is that?
Blog and Photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography
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are the chipmunks, because when the temperature warms a little they will be cleaning up the sunflower seeds that the birds have thrown around. And who doesn't love Chip and Dale?
There are twenty-five species of Chipmunk, all but one live in North America, and the other is the Siberian Chipmunk which lives in Asia. Of the twenty-four species listed as living in North America, only one lives "back East." That's right, the other twenty-three named species of chipmunk live mostly in the West, all of them here I think.
They're not only cute, but they can live up to nine years, but probably not in this canyon. The genus name Tamias means "treasurer" or "housekeeper"; which is adorable and a good description of their character I think. The name chipmunk comes from the Ottawa, and they were referenced in books by the 1820's. Their burrows run for more than ten feet! The entrances to their homes are usually very well hidden, but if you watch closely maybe you can find their front door.
They keep their sleeping area quite clean, I know this for a fact, as we had a "pet" chipmunk for a while, when I was a child growing up in Ohio. "Chippy" was an amazing and wild baby chipmunk that was rescued by my Uncle from a feral cat. That cute little chipmunk taught us a lot about wild animals; the snap-noise that little rodent made during mating season was loud and impossible to ignore, or forget to this very day. He made his bed with shredded paper towels, in a small log my father drilled out for him. "Chippy" sometimes had the run of a big house, but he always came back to his "burrow," an old bird cage that was his home. He was loved by our whole family, I still have a soft spot for chipmunks.
Chipmunks are very important to Mother Nature, as they are quite crucial to the establishment of seedlings. They store any number of assorted seeds, nuts and fruits for the winter months; and some of these grass, tree and bush seeds grow in the crazy places they "stash" them. They are also a great place to start for a shutterbug, because it's easy to get them to trust you; all you need is a handful of sunflower seeds, no salt please. Work slowly with no sudden movements, and take your time. I've had wild chipmunks eating out of my niece's hand in no time at all.
Photographing a chipmunk is all a matter of waiting for a moment you'd not want to forget, and be ready with your camera. This last picture is one I worked hard for; I'd seen it in my head long before I pushed the button. I'd waited for several weeks and shot loads of frames before the right time came.
Chipmunk - Wind River Canyon, WyomingWyoming Chipmunk doing gymnastics for his breakfast.
Find a family of chipmunks near you and try your hand this spring, or visit Yellowstone National Park, where I've seen children giggle when a chipmunk takes a treat from their hand. Get outside this spring and visit one of Mother Nature's favorite friends.
Photography and Blog by Michael John Balog
]]>A Vole doesn't have that mousy little nose that gets into things in your home, they live in my yard, and all over the cooler sides of the Wind River Canyon, here in Wonderful Wyoming. There are over 150 different species of Vole on our planet! They can grow to nine inches long and are active day or night. Meadow Voles have different teeth than a mouse; they eat seeds, roots, bark and other vegan products in my sod, but they do sometimes eat carrion; like sometimes I go to Mickey D's.
A Vole has a family life and a reproductive cycle that is truly unrivaled among mammals, and the only thing that I think reproduces like this are bugs. In a study I just read, one captive female Vole had seventeen litters in a year! with total of 83 little Voles! One of her female kids had 13 litters and 78 baby Voles, before she was a year old! The females will reach sexual maturity in less than a month, and have 5 to 10 litters in a year on average. Have you started doing the math yet?
A Vole burrow community, under the ground, will have upwards of fifteen hundred individuals per acre, and a reproductive cycle that shames even the rabbit. So where do all the Meadow Voles in the Wind River Canyon go? They are food for a variety of hungry wild animals that live in Wyoming, let me list just a few - falcons, hawks, owls, coyotes, ermine, weasels, snakes, mink, magpies, crows, Great Blue Herons, badgers, foxes, and bobcats, and wolves; to name but a few.
A Vole is food for nearly everyone it seems; the Micky D's of the wild edible community. They can be destructive to our food crops, and have been poisoned as a result. And they sometimes move at lightning speeds, I know, because I used to use them as target practice to sharpen my eye; now I shoot them with cameras! which is more difficult. Which brings me to this week's new photograph, my two little Meadow Voles.
Some of our wild birds like cracked corn, some birdseed or sunflower seeds. Which to my sharp little eyes, I noticed yesterday, a couple of the Voles "raiding" the bird's kitchen. I knew I wasn't going to get very close to these "food for everyone" wild animals, so I grabbed the "long" lens camera and spent time in the melting snow. When the two of them, that obviously were related, came out of their tunnel in the snow, I knew I had something fun to work in my digital darkroom.
The best RAW files, more than sixty of them total, were first worked in Canon's supplied software, Digital Photo Professional. Which by the way, is a terrific software for the creative person that doesn't need or want to spend a fortune. I then touched up the 16-bit TIFF file with Adobe Lightroom 5.7, as I always do for a more professional looking photograph, and so I can add metadata to the file. Metadata, for those that don't know, are basically descriptive words hidden in the digital files of photographs. And there you have it, all in the days work of a wildlife photographer, and the pay? Sunshine, baby............
Thank you for reading my blog this week, and remember what I preach; "Keep your camera ready." Stay warm, and until next Saturday, don't scare the wild animals.
Writing and photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon - Wyoming.
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There is an aspect to digital photography that is not well known among people who don't have
small fortunes invested in cameras and computers. It's something the nerds call white balance, and it's a lot of fun to dink with. This one technique can make a photograph have the lighting of a perfect sunset; or a cold winter's morning light even more intense. You can add warmth to a photograph, or just as easily make a picture cold and harsh. It can make skin tones the right color when the available lighting makes a mess of things, for instance the lights at your son's football game! It's a great little secret, and here's how it works.
Rule number one is simple, always shoot in RAW, no exceptions please. The reasons are also simple, Jpeg is a compression file and you don't want to compress your valuable photographic memories. A large RAW file off my cameras comes in at twenty-five to nearly thirty megabytes, and if that doesn't slow up your computer, then you must have a newer model. But a RAW file allows you to manipulate a picture the way an artist paints his canvas. You just change the white balance!
Light is measured in the Kelvin scale, an invention named after a guy who liked to heat things up. But what you need to know is that your RAW file can now have the lighting changed. Take that white balance slider and move it around, or go from an in-camera setting of AWB (auto white balance) and give your picture some warmth, by changing the setting to cloudy or shade. But the
lighting in a RAW file can be manipulated in the computer, to be anything you'd want it to be. I can take that cold blue day and give it a little warmth, or the cold dreary lighting of a fall day and make it a scene with golden magic light. The white balance settings, in your computer, can make every day the perfect golden "magic hour" sunset.
And that's the real best kept secret of "professional" photographers, the ability to control the color of light. I personally like a warmer palate to my work, but there are instances that require a blueish overtone to cool things off a bit. Portrait photographers use assorted toys to get the light right; some as simple as an eighteen percent grey card, or crazy expensive light meters. In my wildlife photography I use
AWB or the Daylight settings, but in the computer I can change the WB settings to make the photograph feel a bit warmer than the available sunlight.
That is all most people need to know about the white balance settings in their pictures; there are numbers that you'll see, "I changed the in-camera AWB of 5200K to 6800K on the computer to warm up the light in this landscape." In digital photography you are the artist, the canvas is yours to do with as you feel....experiment with white balance and I think you'll feel the artist coming out in you!
Blog and Photography by Michael John Balog
Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
Thank you for reading this week's blog.
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I love taking photographs of the wildlife that also make this magical canyon their home, and maybe raise the awareness as to the special nature of this isolated ecosystem. Someone of importance asked me recently how to take pictures of birds; I didn't realize at the time just how
long this was going to take, and I made a promise I'd share some "secret pointers."
First off, most birds don't like their picture being taken any more than my mother-in-law did, so you're going to have to be quiet and move slowly, so you'll not startle the birds you're trying to photograph. Keeping your mouth shut for several hours may be difficult, but it's only the beginning. I've written before about wearing the same hat and coat every day, so they'll begin to realize, "That's him again, and he isn't interested in eating us." This may seem a bit anthropomorphic, but trust me, they need to trust you!
I make a simple double whistle when I'm near any of my "regular" bird visitors; this is also to let your prey know it's you again. And there will be an again, and again, and again.......because the perfect portrait, of your favorite bird, could take years of patience and waiting: It took me nearly ten years to get an award winning photograph of a Black-chinned Hummingbird in flight, and I'm still not satisfied. And you shouldn't be either, if you want to photograph Mother Nature's most interesting marvels.
Every bird species has its quirks of behavior, and you need to learn about the birds if you want to photograph them. Some will be easy to get near, like the Mountain Chickadee, Wrens, and my favorites, the Hummingbirds. Others will be shy and crazy difficult to approach, and you'll yell words that children shouldn't hear. My favorites, of the most difficult, is anyone in the raptor family, the Great Blue Heron, Orioles and Mountain Bluebirds. But to be honest, most birds don't trust mankind, and do you really blame them?
As to shooting anything from a blind, it does work well, but that doesn't mean I like them; I almost always work "in the field." But I have used my cabin as a blind, because some birds will come to you, so it's always a good idea to learn what your "local" birds will eat; did you know that some birds like oranges? I have birds that eat snakes, birds that eat spiders, birds that eat sunflower seeds, some like cracked corn, another loves potato chips, and one of our favorites "loves the dead." If you learn what they eat, you can photograph them.
Since most of Mother Nature isn't easy to get very close to without luck, you'll need a long lens to go with that camera that shoots many frames-per-second. This is the biggest drawback to photographing any wildlife; you'll need a big lens and a fast camera. I don't like it, but that's how it works; on this planet anyway. I personally suggest starting low and working your way up, as it were. As your skills get better and better, you'll outgrow your existing equipment, and you'll need to "trade up." Unless you climb the mountain, you'll never reach the top. Oh, and you'll need a solid tripod, but I rarely use the anaconda I have; I prefer the fast hand held style of shooting, even if it's heavy, it's a good workout.
The settings on your camera are somewhat a personal style, no matter what the "experts" will tell you in their expensive books. I use a spot focus and a spot metering, because all I care about is getting that animal or bird correctly exposed. If the bird ain't right, who cares about the background anyway? Get that wild animal focused and right, the rest is your creative spark on
your computer.
Only one big thing left in getting that picture of your Blue Jay, the eye-hand coordination thing; it's not even that easy to explain. You see, the bird must be "in-focus" no matter what bug may be trying to bite you! All your attention is on your subject; now hold down that shutter button and if your knowledge of your camera's settings are correct, you now could have hundreds of digital files to go over in a morning's shoot.
The one great benefit, and drawback, to being a photographer of wild birds and animals is this; you get paid mostly in sunshine, so bring a good hat and something to drink. And remember what I've taught others; don't get too close to something that could potentially hurt you, or eat you......
Always respect their right to live peacefully, and we'll all get along better.
Michael John Balog
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Early morning, not long ago, as the Sun was just beginning to warm the golden western cliffs of the Wind River Canyon, I was relaxing with my cameras and some Earl Grey. No Bald Eagles around, just some Geese keeping watch from the top of the eastern cliffs; I've never been able to photograph them to my satisfaction from down here. When for all my luck a train was coming out of the canyon, a shot made a thousand times, but never right.
I slipped and slid down the embankment, down to the river for a photo set, as the train came my direction. Nice shoot'n Tex, but my fingers were cold and I hated the pictures. I warmed my hands and enjoyed the sunrise and my tea. And guess what? another train coming my direction, only this time I knew what I wanted in the foreground.
The tree must be in the lower left, the train across the screen, the river disappearing in the distance. I already knew what the exposure settings should be, now if the zoom could frame the shot correctly I could have a "full-frame" landscape of the canyon entrance, with a train. Pulling off about eight photographs, I lugged back to the warm truck. The composition was right, you know, "rule-of-thirds." I'd run out of something to drink, and our Sun was warming things up, and I needed to get the truck back to the cabin for my significant other.
At a glance it was obvious which picture was the one to put my time into; it was the most balanced of the photos. After working it in the Canon software, Digital Photo Professional, it didn't move me. I ran it through the one-button HDR (high dynamic range) that is in DPP, it was much more colorful and super-sharp, but still didn't seem at all timeless. If it wasn't for all the gaudy, 21st century color scheme, it would be a cool landscape; now there was an idea! I just took all the color out and, had a grey-scale photograph that looked like it was taken when the railroad was first put through here: A true monochrome Wyoming Landscape that had a time-worn appearance. Touching it up in Adobe Lightroom like I always do, everyone seemed to like the ancient-appearing photograph of the Wind River Canyon.
Photography today is unlike the pictures my grandfather made in his darkroom, now I'm limited only by my imagination. You can literally make a digital photograph into anything your little heart desires (Happy Valentine's Day). If I'd wanted to put in flying elephants and swimming whales with Jupiter coming over the Wind River Canyon, that's possible, too! For the first time a photographer is limited only by his imagination. Don't be afraid to experiment with your pictures, because that's how your art will be born.
writing and photography by Michael John Balog
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that this was no real-world solution. Then, one magical moment with an intelligent, white-bearded fella and, my life was changed forever. I now had complete control of my pictures, if I could just figure out this next technology.
With a decade of experience photographing breeding hummingbirds digitally, I can now say for sure, it was really difficult to learn this type of artwork. The photographs on my website-HogbatsPhotography.com are a true testament to my obsessive commitment to this more than full-time job. So, lets get started on my "Hummingbird Photography Primer."
My first rule is a simple one, no flash on wild animals, especially hummingbirds! It makes their eyes look weird; they hate flash, and so did my grandmother. With today's technology it's not necessary to subject hummingbirds to such a hammer blow. Wild animals have a difficult enough time surviving, in the twenty-first century, without you scaring them with a pop-flash.
Next, your going to need a digital camera that can shoot a lot of frames-per-second. This, as in all things electronic, is a personnel decision; I use only Canon DLSR cameras, because they make everything I need, and it all "talks" to one another! My favorite lenses, at the moment, are the Canon 300mm f/4, and their absolutely perfect 70-200mm f/4 IS. The real reason for using an f/4 instead of an f/2.8 is weight; try holding a 2.8 anything for several hours! You'll need the fastest memory cards, and a "gamer's" fast reactions. The later I cannot teach you, that may come with practice.
I very rarely use a tripod, as hummingbirds move faster than my ability to move the thing. I love the interaction you get, with these flying jewels, when the camera is hand-held; and it's good
upper-body exercise, but you will get tired and sore; but you'll sleep well.
You will want your hummingbirds to trust you completely, so here's a little trick I picked up ages ago; wear a hat for the Sun, and the same shirt....every single day. Your hummingbirds need to know that this is you, and you are no threat to them; this above all things takes patience and time. And for God's sake sit still!! Maybe the later thing will be the most difficult for you.
I've always stressed the importance of learning, and committing to memory, how your camera works. This seems simple enough, but when any wild animal is in your lens, you don't have the time to stop and think, "How do I set the controls for this shot?" This will become instinctual with practice and time. Remember that old adage, "The more you do it, the better you'll get at it." This applies to most of the great things you will do in your life.
As far as camera settings, I always work in shutter-priority; you are photographing hummingbirds remember, so speed is the essence of what you are doing. I start @ 1/2000th of a second and go up from there, so unlike some other photography, the Sun is your best friend, so use the light wisely. Your corresponding aperture settings will be on the low end of the scale, so remember that depth-of-field will sometimes be practically non-existent. ISO settings are more controversial; I almost never work above ISO 400, because I hate digital noise at the source, but this all pushes the technology to the extreme, which is the fun part!
You must learn to use the "burst" your particular camera is capable of; mine can shoot 8 fps (frames-per-second). A hummingbird is rarely going to give you time to "frame" the perfect shot, so I use a spot focus-point and spot-exposure, and please always shoot RAW. I have used other focus settings, but with my hummingbirds I find this gives me greater picture sharpness; your subject is the point, all else doesn't matter at this point. This also will give you more of a video game-like experience; a more first-person video game shoot'm up, if you will.
You will also learn what adrenalin is and how it works; this is something that you should try to use, as I find it refines your reactions if you can control it a little; like that guy in the new sniper movie, only I shoot hummingbirds with a camera. As your hummingbirds learn to trust you, move in closer, then closer still. Every Summer I get to be "face to face" with the most magical creatures on this blue marble.
The software that comes with quality cameras is fully capable of making these digital files beautiful; I touch up my pictures with Adobe Lightroom. The software you choose is a personal one, and no photographer can tell you otherwise. But again, like the camera's controls, you must know how it works by instinct, so when you look at a file you have some idea what you want this picture to look like----have a vision for your work, be it a mountain or the family that is coming out to the Wind River Canyon today to have me take their family portrait; I know what I want my subjects to look like....beautiful!
The most important point of this Hummingbird Photography Primer is what I like to call "Patience Photography." It's akin to meditation in a way, the taking of time and using it for a goal that is as yet unseen, yet you are ready, like the leopard in the Masai Mara; tense and attention focused on your prey.
There are many small points and settings that I haven't touched upon in this blog and are too technical for this article. If there is enough interest, I can blog about these nit-picky button pushes, or do what I do and experiment with the technology, and have fun!
Writing and Hummingbird Photography by Michael John Balog
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"I want people to fall in love with Mother Nature, not wonder what happened to her." I know I can help, but how to proceed from here? You'll never know where a path will lead, but you'll go nowhere if you don't at least put in lots of hard work doing something you love. I already have shot more than a quarter of a million frames! And I would shoot a gazillion more if I knew I could help those that have no voice. Our beloved wildlife are loosing their habitat at an alarming rate around the world, if I can help I will, that much I can promise.
Just this morning I was chasing shots of a Blue Heron in the fog, and Canadian Geese that love to sit high on the cliffs overlooking the Wind River. Yesterday I was running around after my Bald Eagles, which I've known since they were two big-ugly brown raptors, and they've had ugly young ones of their own. But where can they go? All the best lakes have boats, and cabins larger than my first school.
We are all part of a much larger system than we may ever know. Can we afford to loose the Golden Eagle? Their breeding range is projected to shrink 58% by the year 2050 and over three quarters of its nesting range by 2080. The Osprey is one of our favorite birds, yet their nesting range will shrink by an estimated 68% by 2050. Southeastern American forests are being clear-cut to fuel European energy facilities; 4.7 million tons of wood pellets in 2013 were shipped to Europe, and it's a booming business, except for the wild animals that already live there. How much damage have we already done, and how much is yet to come? And why is the Netherlands burning American-made wood pellets in huge power plants anyway?
But I'm a little geek that lives in a beautiful Wyoming canyon in the middle-of-nowhere, what can I do for those that have no voice? Just maybe, a child will see one of my hummingbird photos, or read a particular blog of mine, and grow up to help my Bighorn Sheep or my beloved Calliopes, then maybe I have made a difference after all.
Mr. Farace mentioned a particular hummingbird picture in his lovely review of my website, a black and white that is also a favorite of my little sister. It's a hummingbird species that nested in the Wind River Canyon for the first time last summer. Here it is as large as I can make it for this blog stuff----
Broad-tailed Hummingbird, female, Wind River Canyon, WYBroad-tailed Hummingbird "Coming in for a Landing" in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
facts and figures are from The Audubon Report - Audubon.org
writing and photography by Michael John Balog
I want to take this opportunity to thank every one of the readers of this blog - Thank You.
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finest. For the first time we have many Cottontail Rabbits running all over the mounds of snow, and I watch Golden Eagles hunting the unreachable cliffs miles away; the honking of Canadian Geese as they fly up the Wind River, the sound echoing off the canyon walls.
While obviously having time on my cold hands, I wanted to see which of our regular wild visitors I'd missed documenting on HogbatsPhotography.com. It was a surprise I'd forgotten one our favorite birds, the Black-headed Grosbeak. You see, these birds come to nest in the Wind River Canyon every spring, and are a regular visitor to our feeders every day. They look an awful
Black-headed Grosbeak, male-Wind River Canyon, WyomingBlack-headed Grosbeak in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
lot like blackbird sized parrots; all the Grosbeaks do to my eyes, because their beaks are used for opening seeds of all sorts. The Black-headed Grosbeak's range is west of the Great Plains, while their eastern counterpart, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, lives throughout the northeastern part of our country; yet they do hybridize where there range overlaps. They are both related to the Northern Cardinal, which is never seen in Wind River Canyon.
Black-headed Grosbeak, female-Wind River Canyon, WyomingBlack-headed Grosbeak female in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
What's so special is they both are seen in the canyon for some reason; apparently this is a good place if you're a bird. A Black-headed Grosbeak likes the same things we do, big trees, green shrubbery, and lots of big bugs; okay, maybe not the last one. They're friendly and the females are very animated and fun to watch. The gorgeous Rose-breasted Grosbeak usually is moving through the Wind River Canyon, while the Black-headed Grosbeak comes here to raise their young.
What will surprise you is that they're one of the few birds that can eat the poisonous Monarch butterfly. The similarly constructed and named Evening Grosbeak is actually considered to be a finch, yet is somewhat larger, and is also seen in the Wind River Canyon.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Wind River Canyon, WyomingRose-breasted Grosbeak, a rare visitor to the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Evening Grosbeak-Wind River Canyon, WyomingEvening Grosbeak in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
I've seen and photographed over one hundred species of birds here in the canyon, yet great pictures of a bird are an allusive goal, and some species may never be on my website; so unless they start cooperating to some extent, I have a lifetime of work ahead of me. So sit back and read my weekly dribble about the wildlife in this magical Wind River Canyon....we'll both learn something I'm sure.
photography and writing by Michael John Balog
]]>I had an art professor that once said, "There's no such thing as an ugly sunset." Now that may or may not be true, and is arguable to some drunken extent; but have you ever seen an ugly one? Here in the canyon atmospheric conditions can get a little weird at times; huge funneled winds, and a cold I hope you cannot believe. Of course all sunsets are up, since there is no horizon. We don't really get sunsets the way everyone else experiences them, so when something wonderful occurs, it's worth a moment in time to stop and take notice.
Exactly ten days ago there was one of those magical moments that the Wind River Canyon is known for. It was the end of the first week of the New Year, and the Sun had been swallowed up by the western rim of the canyon thirty minutes earlier, when the sky started to change. It was so cold, high in the atmosphere, that the crystals in the clouds started to create some bizarre coloration. There's always a pair of binoculars somewhere close by, and I stood and looked out the living room window at the rainbow-like sunset. I said to no one out loud, "Wow, look at that!" and realized I had better get my butt outside, in the icy deep stuff, and get this particular Winter Sunset.
Not having the time to prepare for such a sudden photographic event, grabbing a camera I slipped on my mountain shoes and actually ran out into the snow. The camera is always set for spot metering, as I photograph wild animals, so I lowered the ISO to 100 and aimed at this rare sky. In three very short minutes this miracle of Mother Nature was gone forever. It was the only time in sixteen winters that I have ever seen such a sky as this.
This Winter Sunset is really a strange one, and I tried not to exaggerate the colors or the effect. It has to be seen the way it existed in this world, and not some fanciful planet that exists only in some software: I tried to keep this sunset true. Heck, I don't even know what this sky effect can be called, but it is beautiful, and another of the millions of magical moments in the Wind River Canyon.
Winter Sunset, Wind River Canyon, WyomingWinter Sunset in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
photography, writing by Michael John Balog
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Northern Flicker, Red-shafted Flicker - Wind River Canyon, WyomingNorthern "Red-shafted" Flicker photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
quickly by; or you may have seen them digging holes in your yard!
There are three distinctly different Flickers in America, and they do interbreed where their ranges intersect, which causes confusing "intermediates"---- the Gilded Flicker of the southwestern United States, the Northern "Yellow-shafted" Flicker east of the Great Plains, and the Northern "Red-shafted" Flicker of the West. These three Flickers were divided by the last ice-age, and now their breeding ranges intersect. The Northern "Red-shafted" Flicker is the species that we're familiar with in the Wind River Canyon.
The Northern Flicker are the only woodpeckers that frequently feed on the ground; their diet consists of 45% ants, but with two feet of snow on the ground they eat mostly juniper berries. As big as the Red-shafted Flicker is, you'd be surprised how difficult it is to get that one magical picture here in the canyon; this is where serendipity is a wildlife photographer's best friend. It's a moment where you just have to be at the right place, at the right time; and in ten years I've only gotten two photographs that define this beautiful woodpecker.
In the Old West, the Red-shafted Flicker was seen digging for bugs in Buffalo chips; now you're most likely to see this particular behavior on a ranch, as I have. Another curious behavior, that I only just learned from research, is something called anting.
Northern Flicker, Red-Shafted - Wind River Canyon, WyomingNorthern "Red-shafted" Flicker photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
I've observed Red-shafted Flickers digging holes in my yard, under the pines, near the creek. They seem to groom themselves occasionally, and I thought nothing of this behavior; but researching this bird revealed something I didn't understand. Northern Flickers, and some other birds, use the acid in the ants as a kind of insecticide; a bug repellant of sorts. This behavior has a name----anting. The word itself comes up as a misspelling on my word processing software for my website, HogbatsPhotography.com. This is a real behavior that's debated among ornithologists: as that line from everyone's favorite dinosaur movie says so eloquently, "Nature will find a way."
These two photographs, of the Red-shafted Flicker, are the male of the species; notice the red mustache. They were both photographed right here in our canyon yard. This is the reason I repeat my favorite wildlife mantra, "Keep your camera ready." Because, you just have to be there and be prepared....like I learned in Cub Scouts a million years ago.
writing and photography by Michael John Balog
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During hummingbird season I may shoot hundreds of frames a day, for days on end when the action gets crazy around here, and some photographs get lost in all the excitement. I don't usually find anything that's newsworthy or anything, so I just file RAW pics into their respective place, and work on the odd photo that may be of interest; but a recent snow-day I found pictures that I cannot believe were missed. These thirty odd photographs were of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird Baby; the first Broad-tailed Hummingbird born in the Wind River Canyon!
I knew right away why these photographs were dismissed in all the hummingbird excitement.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Baby (m) - Wind River Canyon, WyomingThe first Broad-tailed Hummingbird born in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
This was the first Broad-tailed Hummingbird born in the Wind River Canyon, but it was just after six in the morning, and we have no light in this hole-in-the-ground: And I will never use flash on a wild animal! The digital files were dark and yucky (an old darkroom expression) and were easy to dismiss during a late (August the 8th) summer day. You see, to a Hummingbird in the canyon, the middle of August is the time to scram out of Wyoming....it's getting cold at night around here; maybe mid-40's. So the light was lousy, and I had other much more pressing pictures to work on.
With more than two feet of snow on the ground, it seemed like a good time to work on some special hummingbird photographs. And work I did, over and over with different software and methods to try and make something magical from this gook. I've worked for days on end to try and get this baby hummingbird to really shine from a dull penny. I tried a one-button HDR, and I really didn't like that look. I sharpened this and that, with this and that, and messed with the white balance, and contrast, and whites, and blacks, and saturation, and Adobe Lightroom to give this one frame the finished look.
The finished picture, of the first Broad-tailed Hummingbird baby, isn't up to my finicky standards; but this picture is very important, as it documents a wildlife first here in the canyon. Now there are four species of hummingbirds that nest in the Wind River Canyon, and have been successful----when we moved out here nearly sixteen years ago, there were only two species of hummingbirds breeding here. And I'm very happy about this, but why are they here when books tell me that they aren't?
My quickest answer to this question is always this----they have no other place to go, and we have in the canyon the food they need to build strong baby hummingbirds; lots of little bugs. You see, all babies need a protein source, and bugs are a good one. It's safe here and we have good junipers to nest in; but the bird books will tell you that the hummingbirds you see on my website are not here. The hummingbirds obviously don't know that............
This baby Broad-tailed Hummingbird male has "nest marks" on it's breast feathers, it's so new to the world. He was photographed with the wonderful Canon 7D, their 300mm f/4L lens, and one of the new series three 1.4 extenders. This long white rig was propped up on my bedroom windowsill at six in the morning last August the 8th....I should have put some cloths on and went outside.
writing, photography, digital darkroom and complaining by - Michael John Balog
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There are only a dozen or so homes in this isolated canyon in Wyoming; as I like to tell people, "We live on an island; we're surrounded by the Wind River Indian Reservation." Just to pick up our mail is a twenty-five mile plus round trip; getting to our closest "Wally World" to shop is an over eighty-mile trip! Because of something called compression, the wind can get frightening at times here in Wind River Canyon; hurricane force is not uncommon when a nasty storm comes rolling through. Which can make winter driving a real nightmare, and too many people have lost their lives.
Snowstorms throw the white flakes in waves that resemble the ocean, here in the canyon; you can watch these "waves" silhouetted against the tall, unclimbed cliffs, as they rush to follow each other through from north to south. Or the snow can come down the way it did on Christmas this year, with little wind to drive the snow drifts too high.
The small town that is twenty miles south of our cabin, Shoshoni (pop. 649) got snow on Christmas day the way all of the Mountain West did. It started in the middle of the night, and snowed all day Christmas Day....and it was beautiful, and made driving impossible except for the brave-nuts. By the morning after Christmas, Shoshoni had a couple of inches of snow on the ground; here by our cabin in Wind River Canyon, we had two feet of new snow!
This kind of disparity of snow is quite common in the winter months; as a friend put it years ago, "You live IN the mountains." We always have more snow here than any of the surrounding communities, and we once had a snowdrift over nine feet tall and seventy feet long! Try shoveling that snow drift. Yet, picnics in January in short sleeves are memorable family events. So, we have
Broad-tailed Hummingbird, female, Wind River Canyon, WYBroad-tailed Hummingbird, the First Nesting female ever in Wind River Canyon, Summer 2014.
a little snow blower, shovels, and guys that have heavy equipment to dig us out when the need presents itself.
I guess my end-of-the-year point is really this; the Wind River Canyon is an isolated, unique ecosystem. Which is why so many birds and animals nest and breed in this wild place, and more species we've never seen before keep showing up here----this is one of the best, last places to breed, as so many of the other good places have been keenly, over developed. I hope there will always be "Wild Places" for the wild animals; but to be totally honest, after reading the latest Audubon study, our great-grandchildren could be looking at some of everybody's favorite birds and wildlife only in my photographs.
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A Mountain Chickadee is much harder to photograph than you'd think; they sit in only one place for a few seconds, which gives you no real time to think about your shot. One trick that works is to watch them and have loads of patience; learn their behavior, and watch for one Chickadee that lands in a spot that makes for a good photograph, focus your camera on that spot, and wait for him to come back: And he will over and over again, which gave me lots of opportunities to miss and screw up shots @ seventeen degrees!
Our Mountain Chickadees are actually more special than most people know; there is a Rocky Mountain varietal that's unique to the western wilderness. They are painted on their sides and backs with a "buff" color, and have broader silver-grey eyebrows. Chickadees also have talons that belie their cute reputation----used for climbing trees and clinging to frozen, ice covered branches, they are also quite useful for holding down a single sunflower seed as they hack the thing open with their small beak. Which is another reason we love them, as they're not messy pigs like the Finches; a Mountain Chickadee will take one seed back to his favorite spot, and will never hog the bird feeder. I guess you could say they're the gentlemen of the winter birds; as for gender, only a Chickadee knows for sure!
Mountain Chickadee - Wind River Canyon, WyomingMountain Chickadee in the Snow-Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
As for this adorable little bird, you can see the snow in the photograph, and it's reflected in his tiny eye. It took three days this week, and many hours of cold fingers, and digital darkroom work, to get a picture that captures his beauty. It's shallow depth-of-field shows off this bird well, and it's the same technique I used to photograph a lady's grandchildren recently; they don't sit in any one place for more than three seconds either.
This week's photograph was taken with the Canon 7D and their legendary 70-200mm f/4L IS lens. I personally prefer the f/4 over their f/2.8; it's much lighter and almost a thousand dollars cheaper, and as you can see, the sharpness is nothing short of amazing. But this is not a lens with a long reach, so when using a lens like this with wildlife, we need to get a bit closer. It's also a great lens for portraits of people; the color is spot on. As a Christmas bonus I wanted to include
one of my very favorite bird portraits, of a Mountain Chickadee, of course.
I never use a flash on any wildlife, and you shouldn't either, as a flash scares wild animals, little kids, and grandmothers. Today's technology, and technique, make using a flash on wildlife unnecessarily jarring to an animal that is struggling to survive a Wyoming winter.
To all my friends, and fans of Mother Nature, have a safe and Merry Christmas; and remember to "keep your camera ready." ~ Michael John Balog
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The Great Blue Heron has a wingspan of six feet, and is over four feet beak-to-tail! They are more greyish than blue to your eyes, and nowhere near the color of our Mountain Bluebirds here in Wyoming. But this large bird is quite able to adapt to our harsher winters apparently, because I had the opportunity to photograph a fine example just the other day, and was able to capture the majestic, long necked bird in flight; which has always been my favorite challenge with any bird.
Great Blue Heron, Wind River Canyon, WyomingGreat Blue Heron in Flight, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
The Great Blue Heron is not an endangered species, because of their adaptability this bird is doing quite nicely; they are seen from Alaska to Central America. They have the diet of an animal that can survive nearly anywhere----small fish, shrimp, crabs, aquatic bugs, mice, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, rodents and small birds; if it's small and moving they can eat it. A study in Idaho in '79 showed their diet consisted of 24 to 40% voles, and some are adapting unnoticed around here now. The large raptors are the Great Blues only natural enemy, and the Bald Eagles are the only predator to hunt them at all stages of development.
What surprises me about this huge bird is how ancient they appear; their head reminds me of the flying dinosaurs in those movies we all love. I do know that they don't trust me, and it is fun to sneak around trying to photograph big birds, but this one gave me quite a show. As he finally noticed me and took flight, he banked a great, wide turn and flew right over me and my Canon, then landed where I could not follow. This frame was my favorite of more than 200 I shot of him the other morning; that wingspan is six feet! and you have to love that yellow eye.
The Great Blue Heron doesn't yet nest in the Wind River Canyon, but I suspect they will nest here or somewhere close sometime soon. They are a beautiful bird and a great addition to the magical hidden world of the Wind River Canyon.
Photography, digital darkroom, website HogbatsPhotography.com and writing by Michael John Balog.
Thank you for ingesting my blog this week----next week one of my favorite Wind River Canyon residents, and remember, "Keep your camera ready."
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The geologic formation, that we will explore today in my blog, is the Arch of the Wind River Canyon. Even though the Arch is plainly visible to the naked-eye, I'm always surprised by the few people that have ever seen this rock formation for themselves. Senior citizens that were born around these parts don't even know about the "Eye-of-the-Needle."
Years ago we mentioned the Arch in the Wind River Canyon to a woman that is infamous in Thermopolis, and even she'd never seen it. So out she went with her daughter and her binoculars, and lo and behold she was amazed! They called the stone arch "Eye-of-the-Needle" and it was an appropriate name, but so few people have ever stopped to see the arch, that it needs some notoriety.
Here are the directions for finding the elusive arch in the Wind River Canyon, the "Eye-of-the-Needle." You need to park near the big curve in the middle of canyon, the corner called
"Eye-of-the-Needle" - Wind River Canyon, WyomingArch in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming, with Golden Eagle.
"Windy Point." It's the curve in canyon that seems like it's never going to end; there's a lower parking area to the north of "Windy Point." The stone arch is high up on the west side of the river; this is the spot that the Bighorn Sheep were released in 1995. It's the cliffs to the north....now look up....see it yet? Look harder, and take your time, it's there.
This photo was taken last Tuesday morning, and it was cold and windy, to say the least. The temperature was below freezing, with a stiff breeze and little traffic; but when a rig went by it felt like the North Pole. I'd photographed the arch many times before; now I was going to get it for my website HogbatsPhotography.com. I was finally going to get the arch photo "sponge worthy." But what happened was one of those magical moments in Wind River Canyon.
I'd set up the tripod and the big Canon rig, and set to work @ ISO 100, f7.1 and 1/500 to counteract wind shake and fear; the sky streaked with high clouds that didn't look promising. My fingers were cold, and stiffening up, when all of a sudden a Golden Eagle came into frame from some unseen place! There are always Golden Eagles in the very high unseen cliffs in the cold months; I've chased them around for years with little success, but here was one of those birds posing for me, if I had the speedy finger to capture him. I shot some frames quickly, and folded up the tripod legs, and ran south down the highway with the whole thing slung over my shoulder! I set up again as quick as I could, and there was my Eagle making a few rounds again; I wanted him in my landscape photo; I hoped to get it right with him in the picture.
All too soon the excitement was over, like a lot of other things in life. But I had pictures to work with and that's what really counts. So, back to the cabin I went for many hours of decision making. I had over seventy photos to peruse, and it came down to just two! This one digital file had the Eagle in the best spot for your eye, and the "rule-of-thirds" was still a go after editing out the extraneous cliffs. But that sky was so blue that the clouds were almost invisible, so with some experimentation, and a digital red filter, I had what was a good classic, and a good map for finding the "Eye-of-the-Needle."
There is debate as to how this rock arch formed; my theory is that a rock fell and landed point to point with another----put the photo on your biggest monitor or TV, and you come up with some geological theory of your own. One way or the other this "Eye-of-the-Needle" is a unique and fun diversion when zooming through the Wind River Canyon; stop and take a look; and to my Shoshone friend....you're right, Eagles are magical creatures.
Thank you for reading my blog on life in Wind River Canyon; next week back to the birds!
Writing, photography, digital darkroom by Michael John Balog
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wind River Canyon Website featured in Shutterbug Magazine
Thermopolis, Wyoming - Wind River Canyon wildlife photographer Michael John Balog announced recently that his popular hummingbird & wildlife website HogbatsPhotography.com will be featured in the March 2015 issue of Shutterbug Magazine. HogbatsPhotography.com will be reviewed in the Web Profiles column, written by the famous photographer and writer Joe Farace. Shutterbug magazine is an internationally recognized and distributed publication of photography.
Mike's website is the first documentation of the breeding hummingbirds and wildlife of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. On the website, HogbatsPhotography.com are photographs of Bald Eagles, Hummingbirds, Wrens, Orioles, Bluebirds, and many, many more beautiful birds and Bighorn Sheep, including landscape pictures of the canyon and the surrounding area.
In an interview, Mike said, "It's wonderful that the Wind River Canyon and it's magical ecosystem, and my favorite hummingbirds, will be seen by so many people from around the globe. It's a real privilege that my website HogbatsPhotography.com, that I built and maintain myself, will be featured in such a popular magazine as Shutterbug."
Mike's wildlife photographs can also be viewed in the Thermopolis Chiropractic Clinic; a large display of Hummingbirds, Birds, Bighorn Sheep (including the late Albino "Snowflake") and other Wyoming favorites are always on display there. Mike's pictures can also be seen at the Thermopolis local Hot-Spot restaurant Las Fuentes; including last year's 1st Place winner in Cody, and are on display at the Cody Country Art League Gallery in the Cody Chamber of Commerce building. Michael John Balog and his wife Debra have been residents of the Wind River Canyon for over fifteen years.
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Every animal that lives in the Wind River Canyon, that's a meat-eater, really loves a good Cottontail Rabbit; and they're very low in cholesterol. Rabbit is a food source in much of the western world, except for here in our country. But you can blame our distaste for rabbit on our love of Bugs Bunny; even the great Chef Julia Child didn't quite understand the Americans not wanting to eat that "poor little bunny." But Bugs is so funny....how could you eat him?
Here are a few numbers to ponder, as I did recently; Cottontail Rabbits can breed 3 or 4 times a year! and have between 3 and 8 bunnies per litter; Cottontails mature very quickly, and are ready to be on their own by 4 or 5 weeks and are sexually mature in three months! That means in three years I'm going to have....a hell of a lot of rabbits! Yet, we never have more than a few bunnies around this creek----where do they all go?
I just read data that shows only 15% of Cottontail Rabbits survive the first year; so now you know where all the rabbits have gone; around the canyon they are the fodder for Golden Eagles, Ermine, Mountain Lions (we've seen tracks close to our cabin), Hawks and Owls of all kinds, and snakes that are huge and mean and yucky. I suspect around this part of the Wind River Canyon they are taken by the large snakes I cannot stand, and things I cannot see late on the dark nights here in deepest Wyoming.
When I was a child, growing up in the 'burbs of Cleveland, I had rabbit German-style with sour cream, and I remember it as being pretty good. But I still can't figure where all the rabbits disappear to around here, cause I'm not eating them. I do hear that in one of Paris' famously expensive cafes there's a Rabbit pizza on the menu; probably not for us Bugs Bunny loving Americans...........
Cottontail Rabbit @ 20 Below Zero-Wind River Canyon, WyomingTwenty Below Zero! in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming and a Cottontail Rabbit hides in the snow.
This photograph of a Cottontail Rabbit was taken @ 20 below zero, with cold fingers early in the morning here in the Wind River Canyon, just as the Sun broke the eastern rim....which happens at 11:30 in the winter! Our Winter Sunlight only lasts till 3:15......come on Spring!
The first Bald Eagle of Winter flew over our place the other day, now the fun begins again; they are magnificent and deserve to be our nations symbol, and it's a real privilege to be able to try and photograph these truly wild fisherman of the Wind River Canyon.
Photography, Digital Darkroom, and Writing by Michael John Balog ~ Thank You for reading my blog.....and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And until next week, "Keep your camera ready."
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Thunder in the Wind River Canyon has to be experienced to be believed; it echos back and forth like a High School band trying to crack the gym walls. If you love a good storm in the mountains, as we do, then you need to be here for one; honestly, at times it's nearly frightening. But nothing compares to the dangerous winter storms that charge through here like an angry Buffalo, propelled by the "gods of wind." Snowstorms in this canyon have taken the lives of people
Wind River Canyon, Winter Landscape, Wyoming.Winter morning in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
I have admired and loved.
Snow comes in massive waves that you can see highlighted by the huge cliffs of the canyon walls, driven by those nuts that make the wind. And wind has piled up drifts nearly ten feet high and run the eighty feet behind our cabin, only to be removed by heavy equipment; we've had drifted snow so high you cannot see out the windows! Or, you could get a suntan on Thanksgiving while hiking and scouting for wild animals. The sun will always come out to melt the snow sooner-than-later, and could bring with it tumbling boulders the size of pick-up trucks that block the road; but we wouldn't live anywhere else on this blue marble, because it truly is a wonderfully magical place, where Hummingbirds come to nest in juniper trees.
The Polar Vortex brought with it a nasty bit of cold and snow earlier then expected this week, and I mean colder than I hope you know. Twelve below zero temperatures with a wind that threatens to tear your face off, and makes taking pictures a real reality show, all the while making my fingertips blue, yet again. But it's always so breathtaking after a snowstorm this time of the year, as high altitude fog is lurking because of the reservoir; so I was outside yesterday morning as the sun was breaking the rim of Wind River Canyon.
With a Canon 7D camera and my favorite zoom lens, the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS, out I went to freeze my tookis, and take advantage of a rare morning's light. I tucked the camera inside my coat to help keep the battery warm enough to shoot some frames. My left hand was in a warm leather glove, my right shooting hand in an old English wool glove with no fingertips; I find this arrangement works, left to carry the rig, right hand in a warmish pocket. My advice to those that want to try winter landscapes? Shoot till your camera slows to a crawl....you will know what I mean, and it doesn't last long so you may want to keep an extra of those expensive batteries in a warm pocket.
I had preset the ISO @ 100 for the best resolution the camera could offer, a RAW file of course, and one of Lexar's new 1066x CF memory cards (Lexar has never in ten years failed me), the camera's shutter speed was set at 1/250 for most of this arctic adventure. I worked my favorite files later in the "free" software provided by Canon, and in Adobe Lightroom to add some punch to the tiff files. This entire operation only lasted nine hours work time, happily most of it indoors, but I still had to decide....black and white? or color? And as you can see....color wins out this time; the color of the morning light in this Wind River Canyon is the greatest. But blue fingertips really, really hurt to thaw out, so be careful, it will creep up on you.
Wind River Canyon, Winter Landscape, WyomingCold Winter morning in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Writing, photography and digital darkroom by Michael John Balog - Frozen resident of Wind River Canyon, here in Wyoming.
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Bald Eagle, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming"Bald Eagle in Flight", Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
and consequently learning conservationism, is my full-time gig and I have no other occupation. I'm able to devote all my waking time to documenting the extraordinary and isolated wildlife here in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Sometimes certain wild animals are to be seen in my dreams; for instance when I'm chasing around Bald Eagles in the winter months. When I'm devoting all my time to a specific species, i.e. Hummingbirds, I seem to spend twenty-six hours a day with them.
At this moment we're in a migration period, and birds are moving into and through the Canyon. Early this week a large boisterous group of Cedar Waxwings, migrating through, stopped by to fatten up on our plump juniper berries; the berries also provide food for the Robins that spend the winter here in the Wind River Canyon. There were a dozen, probably more, that would swarm into a juniper tree and wolf down as many of the blueish berries as they could, in as short a span as seemingly possible. These Waxwings could literally eat faster than I could shoot in the dim morning light; and in the bright afternoons dark shadows presented different exposure problems altogether.
Over a five day period I shot more than 400 digital frames, and looked at nearly every one to see which was worth more interest. They turned into the usual obsessive twelve hour "work" days, with all the digital darkroom time, and I finally had eight or so that I liked late yesterday; but it didn't take a frying pan to the head to figure which picture was going to be uploaded today. So after six long days of work, here is the one photograph that spoke to us.
Cedar Waxwing, Wind River Canyon, WyomingCedar Waxwing with a juniper berry, photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
I don't know if it's male or female, as Cedar Waxwing adults look the same; at least to humans they do. The Cedar Waxing can be told from the Bohemian Waxwing by the lack of yellow marks on the wings; and the Cedar Waxwing has a yellow underbelly. But never in fifteen years have I seen a Bohemian in the Canyon, except for that guy in the van.
Cedar Waxwings are much smaller than the Robin, and are only slightly larger than a House Finch (I've had them both in my hands). They eat berries and bugs, and aren't interested in our sunflower seeds and birdseed; this presents an altogether different challenge in getting a photograph of one. So what I do is to watch them, and try to understand their behavior, so I can find ways of getting closer without disturbing their eating habits.
In this case I ended up on top of the picnic table with ten pounds of camera, and a fear of falling off and getting skewered by a big white lens. My advice has always been to swallow your fears, and focus the rush you're feeling into getting the shots. I use these heightened moments to focus my attention and reactions in getting what I want; In this case a Cedar Waxwing with a juniper berry in it's beak!
Now imagine the moment, I'm standing on top of the picnic table with a Canon 7D and the grip, with their off-white 300mm f/4 and the 1.4 extender III; no room for a tripod, and I need one because it's cloudy and I never like working over ISO 400! This shot was taken @ f/5.6 with a shutter speed of only 1/160th of a second, and the right stuff is sharp. My hands were steady, and thank Mother Nature for giving us all image stabilization.
Audubon recently finished a seven year study of the effects our climate-changed world will have on the Earth's birds; "Nearly half of our birds are threatened by climate change, and some may suffer extinction." But you can make a difference, even in the smallest of ways. Our behavior as humans is to be the stewards of this planet, and while I love short term profits as much as the next stockholder, isn't it time for our generation to finally make some decisions that are good for the Earth's health? Don't we want to leave our children's, children's, children something besides flooded cities and air so thick you can't see your shoes, like in China right now? While I don't know what the future will be for sure, I do know that we need to err on the side of caution, for our birds and our grandchildren.
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The American Robin is a migratory songbird that is one of the first birds to lay eggs in the Spring, and will have two or three sets of young ones during a year; which also explains their estimated North American total of 320 million individuals! The color of Robin's red breast is surprisingly variable; it ranges from a rich reddish-maroon to a peachy-orange, and this is dependent on it's territory----there are seven different sub-species. Adults are nine to eleven inches from beak to tail, with wingspans of twelve to sixteen inches. Their eggs (3 to 5 per nest)
American Robin/Portrait ~ Wind River CanyonPortrait of an American Robin-Photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
are Robin's egg blue, which worked out just fine.
The male Robin is usually a little brighter in color and a little bit bigger than the female, and that's the best shot I've got at getting the gender right. They eat bugs and beetles, and of course worms, but 60% of their diet consists of berries, which is why I'm blogging about the American Robin on November first; you see, Robins migrate to the Wind River Canyon to spend the winter, because we have an overabundance of Juniper berries. I've sat with breakfast on New Year's Day, and watched a large flock eating the berries in sub-zero temperatures! So, in Wyoming Robins are not a good sign of Spring, at least not here in the Wind River Canyon.
Banders have proven that there's a first year survival of only 25%. If you do the math quickly in your head, there's a lot of missing Robins; and that's easy to explain really, as they end up being food for various hungry predators. Domestic cats kill many of them, but 28 Raptor species also make them a meal; everything from the small Kestrel to the Golden Eagle. The list of wild animals that make a Robin a meal is long, but what surprised me the most, as I was researching this article, is that the Robin was used for food in early America. So they were not endangered then, and they are not endangered now; but you cannot eat them, as they are protected by the Migratory Bird Act, as most birds you wouldn't want to eat, are on the list.
The oldest known Robin lived fourteen years, which seems very respectable for eating worms and berries; which leads me to the hearing ability of Robins. If you've ever watched closely as a Robin hunts for a worm in your yard, then you've seen her cock her head this way and that. As it turns out you were right all along, the most recent experiments suggest they do hear the worm in your yard!
The portrait of the American Robin in this week's blog was shot in October, and I just walked right up to him. It took a little more time and patience than that, but that's the technique in a bottle. I was so close, with the camera at hand, that his image filled the frame, with only a very small strip of the file removed from the right side that seemed excessive. I worked the files back and forth in Digital Photo Professional (Canon's supplied software) and Adobe Lightroom 5.6 till I had one that made me smile; I'm actually in the picture itself....look very closely and you will see me in this Robin's eye.
Camera ~ Canon 7D with grip; lens ~ Canon 300mm f/4L and 1.4 Canon extender; hand-held @ 1/320 - f/5.6, ISO 400. The sensor sees 420mm, and if 1/320th seems slow for a hand-held shot your right, but I have image stabilization in the 21st century, and very steady hands.
Thank you for reading this week's blog, and I hope you learned something new, I know I did; until next Saturday...."Keep your camera ready."
writing and photography by Michael John Balog.
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When I'm not feeling well and my colitis is flaring up, I have a "Favorite Place" down by the Creek, that's ten seconds from our kitchen door, where you can sit and start to feel better. It's a spring fed creek that starts up high in the Wind River Canyon here in Wyoming. The water is icy
My Yard/Wind River CanyonMy Yard, Waterfall, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
cold even in summer, and this spot seems to have magical properties, the old Shoshone friend told me. My doctor told me that, "....it's because of all the natural negative ions in this spot." All I'm sure of is that the sounds and smells of this wonderful place are very relaxing indeed.
But to bring the sounds of Creeks and Waterfalls from Wyoming, to anyone with a "smart" something, means I have to use my knowledge of Old Great Movie Directors....or else I'll just video the crap and toss it out on YouTube like everyone else does. But this isn't me, so I'll try my bloody best to put up videos that have some kind of impact for us all; and they'll still be seen on my YouTube Channel....HogbatsPhotography.com.
I'd been planning this video for months now, and I understand why the best movie Directors use "storyboards." I see photographs in my mind that I know I can never fulfill, but they are there none-the-less; and shooting a video means I must plan this a little more closely. So, here is my film of the most relaxing place on Earth; "The Creek by my Cabin in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming." "The Creek by my Cabin in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming"The Creek and Waterfalls in My Yard - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming - Relaxation Nature Video. This nature video is shot in high-definition 1080, which means you can turn up the resolution as far as your system of choice can handle....now sit back and try to relax.
*Photography, Video and Writing by Michael John Balog ~ resident of these parts.
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Finding out last week that my Wind River Canyon wildlife photography & conservation website HogbatsPhotography.com is going to be honored with a Web Profiles review in Shutterbug magazine (March 2015) was quite a thrill; it's written by the talented photographer/writer Joe Farace.
In the beginning of this year I'd wanted to update and sharpen the entire look of my website, and I started with the written content; Mr. Farace wrote an article that seemed to be written just for me. I honestly didn't realize that I was doing something special, as I'm always the last one to know, and his writing was a catalyst for my inspiration.
After months of updating this and writing that it was soon Hummingbird season, and as always it consumed me completely; but I knew that the black background that permeated the website needed to come into the twenty-first century. In the new Shutterbug magazine, Joe wrote in Web Profiles, another of his articles directed seemingly at me. So I spent untold hours trying to decide what to do with the color scheme, and finally came to the palate I thought made the wild animals talk to me.
HogbatsPhotography.com has been up for only sixteen months, yet it's gone through a lot of
Albino Bighorn Sheep-"Snowflake"-Wind River Canyon,WyomingThe only Albino Bighorn Sheep in the World, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
maturation, and will continue to. But in the beginning of the process of building the site, what I wanted was to try and give the late "Snowflake" the Albino Bighorn Sheep some kind of immortality; he was shot and killed by a hunter last year.
I'd spent over twenty-five hours photographing this miracle of Mother Nature over the years, and I thought he deserved a place in history, as none of us will ever see another Albino Bighorn in our lifetime. I'm the only person on this little planet with professional photographs of "Snowflake" and he seemed worthy. Now he's gone, and the only good thing that remains are the pictures of him when he was alive, and running with his buddies in the Wind River Canyon.
The website has become so much more to the people of this area and Wyoming. I'm able to show people the things they cannot see; and maybe change a few minds about what it's like to be in love with Mother Nature: "If we cannot take care of the Wild Places, then what are we doing here anyway?" All I ever set out to do was to try and be a voice for those that have none, if I can. This internationally recognized magazine review will be just one more step towards an end that I cannot see myself; but my Hummingbirds will be all the better for it.
writing and photography by Michael John Balog/Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
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Some of the photos in my head I know I can never actually make, like the image in my mind I've had for years of an African Bee-eater hovering by it's cliff side nest; Masai Mara Game Preserve might as well be on the Moon. But Eagle photographs exist in my head just waiting for the right bird to cooperate; assuming one ever comes up to me and starts to tell me of his trip to Wyoming. Yet some just come to my camera in a flash of excitement and luck, like the photo of the Grand Teton in this week's blog.
We were up near the Tetons photographing Osprey for the sheer pleasure of being there, when I
turned around with the long lens in my hand and saw the Grand Teton peak in the far distance. When I hit the peak with my camera I saw something unusual; this pine tree was right in front of this most famous mountain peak. It was unusual and pretty in a unique kind of way, and a fun way of seeing this beautiful mountain-top, yet the tree was some thirty miles away from the mountain! The image filled the sensor and I took only two frames, then moved on to what I was doing. When we got home and I uploaded the files, I saw the Tetons in a way I hadn't imagined at all.
I worked the RAW file first in the Canon supplied software Digital Photo Professional, then as I usually do I worked it in Adobe Lightroom to touch up sharpness and some color issues I had with that pine in the foreground. I had it finished but didn't like it much, my wife loved it and couldn't figure out why I wouldn't use it. She mentioned the image of the Grand Teton the other day, and when I revisited the file I knew what it really needed.
I've been experimenting with black and white a little lately, and found the old way of seeing that Grandpa used in his darkroom worked just right for this photo. I tweaked the image to make it more of a "classic" b&w by adding a vignette, and there you have it; and all it took was over five hundred miles and months of waiting for me to see the photograph the way it needed to be. The color version is pretty, no doubt about that, but the black and white made a statement with this mountain. Was I right? Was I wrong? Does it matter?
My point is something I've touched on before; "Make the image yours." Have enough guts to make the picture something that is truly your own. Go for it....experiment, and see what it looks like this way or that. There really is no "right" way of making a photograph, just the knowledge of your software and the motivation to make the image your own; others may not like what you've done with a photo....everyone's a critic. The greatest photographers and artists always have their own "style" of seeing. Like it or not, those blue people in Pablo's paintings are his and definitely not mine; could they be yours?
all writing and photography by Michael John Balog
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Mule Deer-Portrait-Wind River Canyon, WyomingMule Deer Portrait photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
looks like; you may even have a few that frequent your yard, like we do here in the Wind River Canyon, in Wonderful Wyoming. Mule deer are much larger than White-tailed deer or Black-tailed deer, and are related genetically to the latter; but studies suggest that the Mule Deer may be the result of interbreeding. I do know from decades of experience that our Wyoming Mule Deer are very large wild animals. Bucks (males) typically weigh in the range of 130-330 pounds; Trophy Bucks have been confirmed at an astonishing 460 lbs!
Mating of the Mule Deer takes place in the fall like other Wyoming hoofed animals, with a gestation of around 200 days. The Doe (female deer) usually will have twins, unless this is her first Fawn (baby deer). The Fawn will be weaned
Fawn-Wind River Canyon, WyomingThis cute little fawn was hiding in the sage in Wyoming.
by it's mother at between 60 to 75 days, typically. They are taught to "hide" from predators by sitting very still, which is why wildlife personnel in Wyoming spend valuable time teaching the uninformed not to pickup, "the cute baby deer I saw in the sage." There are more deer now in Wyoming than there were a hundred years ago; this is a direct result of good wildlife management, and all the quality deer food we plant in our yards.
Hearing folks in town complain about the deer eating their flowers and greenery is amusing: Don't plant things that deer enjoy, or make sure they can't get at the things you'd rather deer not eat; it's that simple. To settle the argument that I'm bound to get into sooner or later....they are here because the food you offer is better, and easier to get, than what is out of town; which is why
Mule Deer-My Friend-Wind River Canyon, WyomingBuck Mule Deer photographed in The Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
so many people go for cheeseburgers at the golden arches!
A much bigger problem, than the deer eating our flowers, is the huge costs we all pay from vehicles hitting these large deer crossing our roadways. I was surprised, while researching this blog, that real hard numbers don't really exist from the insurance industry; you know it has something to do with money....but the estimates are staggering. Your chance of hitting a deer in the Wild West? One in a hundred, more or less, depends on who you ask; these are much better odds than you'll ever get in that casino. Total figures are astronomical, with yearly amounts of over one billion dollars in claims annually and deaths of around 200 yearly! I read that three times this amount is spent yearly to help avoid this slaughter, but to no avail it continues. Some states use infrared beepers at the sides of roads, or red reflectors, or underpasses specially made for wildlife, and this promises some relief from the carnage.
Growing up around GWH (great white hunters) I have experienced hunting of Mule Deer first hand, and it's yucky and expensive; if we all had to kill for our food, we would all eat less meat, that's for sure. Venison is tasty and has far less fat and cholesterol than that burger; it's more "gamey" than Elk for example, but tasty. To be frank about hunting, culling the herd has to be done, because the lack of predators means they go unchecked, and that's unhealthy for the herds of Mule Deer. And as strange as it sounds to our Wyoming ears, venison is an expensive steak in some upscale restaurants on the coast.
Mule Deer are in no way an endangered species; on the contrary they sometimes seem in the way of our progress....which tourists just love. They were here before us, and probably will be here long after we are all gone; so let's have a little respect for this strong and beautiful wild animal, and at night in Wyoming....be very careful, or it could cost you your life!
All writing and photographs by Michael John Balog - HogbatsPhotography.com
All cameras were Canon....of course.
Thank you once again for reading my dribble....er, blog; and till next week...."Keep your camera ready!"
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Black-chinned Hummingbird, female, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming - 1st Place 2014 Cody Art ShowBlack-chinned Hummingbird, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming-Winner of 1st Place Award 2014 Cody Art Show!
keep the wildlife in sharp focus; this itself is most critical, as an out-of-focus Hummingbird is just that....out of focus. How you do this is up to you and the equipment you're using. The "experts" will tell you to use a "back button focus" and a disabling of that action in the shutter button. My hands are old and in pain, so this activity is too painful, plus I prefer the speed you get from using the shutter button; I cut my digital teeth on Hummingbird photography and love the speed that my Canon 7D does it's thing, and wildlife seldom sit still in the Wind River Canyon for long.
My advice has been and always will be this, "Shoot and react to wildlife as quickly as possible, you may never ever get a second chance." You and your camera need to be not just ready, but ready for just that microsecond when that wild animal tilts it's head just so....and that picture you saw in your head is now in the camera's memory chip. Those moments in nature are scarce in the twenty-first century, and many people end up photographing "wild animals" in the zoo. So take your favorite camera, and get to know it's operation like you know how your own hand works; then get outside and take some pictures of something.
Take photographs of anything that interests your own eyes and mind. If that flower is blooming in the park, grab your tripod and go get it; get out of that chair and go chase down that colorful bird or that deer you've seen. Then do it again, and again till practice makes perfect, as Nana would've said. I've studied art and photography for over half a century! and I learn something new so often it's frightening. Creative people are happier and live longer than those duds on the sofa, so my advice is get up, practice and enjoy nature, and let her energize your own life the way John Muir wrote so often of; with all of today's crazy pressures of life, a breath of Mother Nature's bounty would do you a world of good.
I learned my fast reactions from old men that shot wild animals with big noisy guns; trust me, shooting animals with a camera is a lot harder than killing deer at three hundred yards. You have to get to know the animal and how to approach it: For instance....can this animal eat me? Can it poke out my eye or put me in the hospital? This is the reason that wildlife photographers use long lenses, but you still must be able to move closer than the hunter. Go slow and move slower still, take your time with that Chickadee and you will be rewarded with a photo that even your kids will cherish. Wildlife photography is a balance between getting a photograph everyone will love, and not antagonizing that Buffalo enough that you end up like the guy in that Yellowstone video.
As a child I heard the adage, "The real magic happens in the darkroom.", and it still does. A quality digital photograph is your quest, but without a good understanding of computers and this software crap, all you'll have is a snapshot. It took me years to get even a small amount of confidence with Adobe products (they keep changing), but what it really is all about is confidence in your own vision; what do you want your picture to look like? Look on the internet and see what others are doing, then do what YOU want. Remember this....it's your photograph of that mountain or that rabbit, not theirs. Your art is your own expression of self----stand tall!
I read an argument recently, in a major publication, that asked the famous photographer Art Wolfe if all of this wildlife photography is just a form of nostalgia----"that it's all going to be over very soon...." This idea is so sad that it frightens me for the generations yet to come; I don't want my Hummingbird photographs to be all that's left of them. If even one child that reads my blogs or sees my website goes on to help save the wilderness, then all of this is worth the effort, period. Because if we cannot protect the Wild Places, and the animals that have always lived there, what are we doing here anyway, but destroying things that are not ours to destroy?
This week's photograph is a Wyoming Chipmunk doing gymnastics for his breakfast, shot this very morning in between coldish sips of chocolate laced coffee. I'd been planning and shooting these acrobatic gymnasts for some time, and this is my best effort so far. And for those of you that were curious, I shoot around twenty thousand digital pictures a year on average, and I hate all of them. Canon 7D @ ISO 400, f/5 @ 1/250 with my much loved Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens.
Chipmunk - Wind River Canyon, WyomingWyoming Chipmunk doing gymnastics for his breakfast.
Now get out of the house, and learn what it is to have Nature renew your faith in your world.
All writing and photography by Michael John Balog ---- HogbatsPhotography.com
P.S. The Wild Turkeys are here almost every day; the Golden Eagle pair just showed up high in the cliffs, and the deer are down for mating season; soon the Bald Eagles will arrive to antagonize me for another winter.
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This little road through the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming U.S. 20 South, is busier than you'd
Wild Turkeys, Wind River Canyon, WyomingWild Turkeys, In My Yard, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
think considering this is the "Dark Side of the Moon." We had concerns, we were horrified, that they would get killed in the road like that coyote we all grew up with. Very early one morning I witnessed their nearly untimely death; the new black Ford pick-up was trying to do these two Turkeys a favor, or so I'd hoped. But as surprised as I could possibly be, these two strong, smart, and fatter Wild Turkeys are still with us; believe it or not! And somewhere along their doings through this part of Wind River Canyon, they picked up another male that is a little older.
This one doesn't trust me quite as much as one of the other two younger Toms. One of these younger Wild Turkeys, who we will call.....Tom, trusts me in a way that's almost unnerving. Wild Turkeys make a sound, when they are at ease, that sounds almost like a language when they're around others of their species; its a soft, rolling sound difficult to hear at a distance. It's obviously some kind of communication, or maybe it's just a "yummy sound" when they're eating again, and again; but they're communicating something, but as humans we don't know exactly what. But now "Tom" makes this sound to me when I come out with food for him and his companions.
The other morning, this Wild Turkey, came walking right up to me when I walked out the backdoor; and it was just him and I, mere feet from each other as I dropped sunflower seeds. He made his happy sounds to me, and I swear right here in my blog, it was a really weird feeling; like he was trying to say something I could not understand; like visiting China, I knew he was saying something, I just didn't know what.
Which is something I really wanted to try and write about; Professors of the sciences spend entire lives on the behavior of a single species of animal. Half a century of the study of Penguins or Lions or something creepy like an entomologist, yet do any of us really understand how any
Wild Turkey, Portrait of Tom, Wind River Canyon, WyomingPortrait of a Wild Turkey, Photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Animal in the Wild struggles daily for survival in this 21st Century? do we really understand why that animal does what it does? Some wild animal behavior seems abhorrent to our human sensibilities, but does that mean that it's somehow wrong? That wild bear in the suburbs video shows only his unlucky encounters with humans, not how hard it is to survive in California; even if you are human or not.
We all attempt to understand the animals we encounter in our lives, but we understand their behavior by our human sensibilities and experience, not what they must be going through trying to survive in a world where the available "Wild Places" to breed are vanishing.
I just read in Audubon magazine that the breeding range of the Golden Eagle will shrink 58% by the year 2050, the Osprey's by 68%; how will their behavior determine the species survival in the near future? Will our grandchildren have to show pictures of these amazing birds to their grandchildren? Their survival may depend on our human understanding for their very existence, yet I cannot understand my Wild Turkeys when they make those noises. And to that end I have a link to a video I shot yesterday of my "Tom" Wild Turkey going through his dance routine-----Just click on this highlighted title and it will take you to YouTube------------------Wyoming Wild Turkey Strut - listen closely and you will hear him....and my Siberian Husky, who finally knows what a Wild Turkey is.
*Story, photos and video by Michael John Balog
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Wyoming Hummingbird, Baby Rufous, Wind River CanyonA Young Rufous Hummingbird born in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming, sticking out his tongue!
that are professional enough to be posted on my Wind River Canyon wildlife conservation website HogbatsPhotography.com. These pictures are of the cute and adorable kind, which sort of defines why we all love Hummingbirds so much. This first photograph is an answer to the eternal question, "What does a Hummingbird tongue look like, anyway?" On the Addams Family TV show it was an ingredient in a powerful love potion; my Hummingbirds have a more useful purpose for it, as you can see. Or maybe it's just his reaction to the political section in his newspaper. It really was just a lucky break to get such a picture, as you can't just time a shutter button push when his tongue is out like this.
Wyoming Hummingbird, Young Male Rufous, Wind River CanyonHummingbird born in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
These three Hummingbird photographs were taken in a favorite spot that allows me to get in really close to these wild birds. I'm actually sitting only six or seven feet away from these marvelous birds when these were taken in our late summer here in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. I can get in this close for any number of reasons; they've gotten to know me, they have no fear of me, or of anything else for that matter; but it really is just that he has nothing to fear.
The next photographs are only here for one reason; to show anyone willing to take a glance at them that Hummingbirds are valuable little gems that should be protected like the jewels they really are. You see, Hummingbirds are only in the Western Hemisphere and are nowhere else in the world. They are rare even in their native habitat, and I'm always amazed at how few people have seen a living breathing Hummingbird up close. It takes loads of patience and quiet to get any animal to trust me enough to get a photo, let alone a wild Hummingbird. But they're here in the
Wyoming, Wind River Canyon, Baby Rufous HummingbirdOut of the nest this very morning, the sunlit cliffs reflected in his eye, this Hummingbird was born in Wyoming.
Wind River Canyon for nesting and breeding each summer; and now there are more Hummingbirds here than ever before; thanks to progress and loss of habitat they come to have their babies in this wild place.
Since I first put out a Hummingbird feeder in the Wind River Canyon, sixteen years ago, their numbers have increase dramatically. Summer of 2014 I ran four very busy feeders, and now we have twice the number of species that breed here. We had nesting Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Calliope Hummingbirds, and Rufous Hummingbirds this summer. Seeing baby Hummingbirds of these four species late in summer was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. Fanatical dedication to Hummingbirds has paid off in this Wyoming canyon habitat, and the best part....they'll be back next year! and if you look close at the last photograph, you will see the golden canyon cliffs lit by the morning August Sun reflected in this Baby Rufous Hummingbird's tiny eye.
by michael john balog....resident of these parts.
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I've always applied my interest and knowledge of art history in my portraiture, be it a cherished grandchild or a wild Hummingbird you use what tools you have available to you; so I mess around with black and white tones if the subject and photograph lends itself to such a "look." It's only just very recently that I've had the guts to post a few on my website HogbatsPhotography.com. This week's blog is about a photograph that is "out there" where it comes to wildlife photography.
Last week I had the luck of being in the middle of the Buffalo herd in the Hot Springs State Park again, only this time for the first time I was literally in the middle of the herd with nobody around. I'd pull the truck through the small herd of Bison, then let them pass by my camera ready spot; I did this again and again with no real trouble, except for the glance and snort from the HUGE male Buffalo. At one point the Baby Bison in the photograph started to nurse on it's mother; the herd was quite a distance ahead of me, so I got out and stayed close and shot photographs of a nursing mother American Bison! I was never in any danger what-so-ever, but my heartbeat was working just fine....thanks.
At one point during these fleeting shoots this little male Buffalo bent down near some unopened flowers; I could see the photograph in my mind, yet it hadn't even happened. I reacted as fast as my little finger could, and fired a burst of frames, getting only three of what I saw in my mind's eye. Later on the computer I found that one frame had magic in it, so I worked it till my wrist was "mouse sore." I tried every color trick I could think of, and ended up with a colorful portrait that is sweet as good chocolate, yet something was still lurking inside this "Wyoming Baby Buffalo Portrait."
I went in to Adobe Lightroom 5.6 and experimented with all sorts of looks and presets, but this sepia-toned, high-contrast black and white, suited this little guy and made this "Wildlife Portrait" everyone's favorite from the first view. Everyone that has seen this photo just melts to mush, me included. So here he is for your enjoyment, the cutest Baby Bison you will ever see, in sepia-tone black and white....now how guilty do I feel enjoying that buffalo steak?
Wyoming Baby Buffalo PortraitA Photographic Portrait of a Baby American Bison.
Till next week's blog....remember what I've tried to teach you, "Keep your camera ready" in case that spaceship full of aliens lands in the park.
MjB
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I couldn't quite believe my luck, as you don't see Hawks of any species just sitting around
Cooper's Hawks, juveniles, WyomingYoung Cooper's Hawks photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
together waiting to be photographed. The engine had been turned off as I took a few preliminary bursts with the Canon. At that moment an old noisy pick-up pulled near and honked, then gave my dear wife the Italian salute and sped off in a cloud of smoke: I continued shooting away, only vaguely aware of his rude behavior. Needing to get a little closer, because I'd foolishly left the "Big Monster Camera" at our house, I tried to sneak out the door and took a few more bursts.
By this time it was obvious that these juvenile Cooper's Hawks didn't really give a damn about me, so I tried to get a little closer for a better picture. One of the Hawks got nervous and flew to a nearby tree, while the mother and the other two stayed put, so I took this moment to frame some shots and maybe get the exposure right this time; I wanted the two young Hawks together on that western art fence.
Eventually all this fun has to end sometime, and the mother Hawk took off with her two other kids in tow; and darted by me at a speed I'd only done in a foreign car. I just stood there for a moment trying to process what had just happened, and realized serendipity had just stepped in to give me a thrill again. You see, when you live in one of the few remaining wild places, the wild animals are all around you for the photographing; but as it turns out most people never see these "wild things." I've had people stand right next to me here in the Wind River Canyon, while I was photographing wildlife, and ask me, "What are you taking pictures of ?"....they don't see it and they never will without guidance.
In my extensive experience growing up with "Great White Hunters" and photography, one thing about Mother Nature is clear; the animals and birds are there....you just don't see them yet. This isn't a zoo, so you must see the "things that aren't supposed to be there" just like in elementary school. Opportunities like this happen to me so often that my wife just shakes her head and says, "How did you see that?"
Open your mind and loose the preconceptions of what wildlife is supposed to do, and then look for the things other people cannot see. It's there, right in front of you, every day; in your backyard tree, in the park, or on the way to work. That wild animal or bird is trying not to be noticed, and it's your responsibility to see him when he doesn't want to be seen, and other rude drivers are ignoring everything but their cell phone and coffee.
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Albino Bighorn Sheep, Wind River Canyon, WyomingAlbino Bighorn Sheep photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
"What kind of person could kill a Unicorn?"
Albino Bighorn Sheep, "Snowflake's Close-Up" - Wind River Canyon, WyomingPortrait of "Snowflake" from the last photo session-Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
massive cliffs into gold and Bald Eagles fly by our living room window. Hummingbirds fly a very long way just to have babies in this Wind River Canyon. Yet, because we are surrounded by the Wind River Indian Reservation, this amazing Canyon will never be developed much more than it is now....I hope.
Periodically I'm asked why I don't have more landscapes of the Wind River Canyon on my website, HogbatsPhotography.com. The answer to this question is fairly simple I guess; it's a slow genre of photography....which is a nice way of saying that it bores the crap out of me. But it's quite challenging to get a landscape photo to really move people. I prefer to take pictures of wild animals and birds because I enjoy a constant learning curve; or maybe I just enjoy being slowly ground down to dust. I've read it before by a well known writer/photographer that bird photography is the most difficult of all photographic genres; but I've always enjoyed a really good challenge, so this week's blog is going to include a new landscape of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
This Spring my wife and I were hiking with our Siberian Husky up in the higher reaches of the
Wyoming, Wind River Canyon, Landscape with TrainThe Wind River Canyon of Wyoming.
Canyon. I had brought along a camera, because you never know when that alien spaceship will land; as I always write in this blog, "Don't forget your camera!" Anyway, we heard the train coming, so it was good luck to have the camera along. I ran into an advantageous position to make the most of the view, and shot to my little hearts' content. I uploaded the digital files later in the day, but never really worked on them, till the other day, when I was doing some computer refiling.
I liked this particular frame the best of more than twenty, and ran it through Canon Digital Photo Professional and Adobe Lightroom 5.6. I don't particularly like the plain blue sky, and could have added computer generated clouds, but to my way of thinking this is going too far. You will see many beautiful landscapes on the internet where it seems anything goes, and CGI (Hollywood lingo for computer generated images) doctored photographs are everywhere, but not here. I want to make you "fall in love with Nature", not wonder were this place could possibly exist, and on what planet.
Camera ~ a refurbished Canon 7D that I purchased cheap from Adorama; a respected New York City dealer.
Lens ~ a Canon 70-200 f/4L IS USM ---- a lens that is so outstanding in sharpness, clarity and color that it's legendary; which was purchased @ Amazon.
What was once known as the "Boysen Peak Elk Herd" is once again making their rounds around the high reaches of the Wind River Canyon here in Wyoming. Thursday evening we watched from our front porch, through a low-priced spotting scope @ 40 power, an Elk herd so large that we both couldn't make accurate counts; we couldn't make accurate counts because we both stopped at 100!! There were so many yearling Elk that they seemed to be everywhere....a very good year indeed.
written by Michael John Balog ~ "just mike"
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The Yellow Warbler is the Canary of the Wind River Canyon here in Wyoming, and is very yellow with distinct reddish streaks on the males' breast. The female looks much the same, except she has an olive-green sprayed lightly over her back; both with yellow spots on the tail. As in much of the bird world, the young males look much the same as the adult females; the differences are there of course, but they are difficult to discern without the eyes of an Eagle.
Toward the end of July while cutting away some ivy-like bush on the other side of Woods Creek, which runs not far from our kitchen, I'd found a boulder that had a natural seat molded by Mother Nature. It didn't take much more than a moment to realize I'd found a new "favorite spot." So every morning and afternoon, when the light was right, I'd sit myself down on this ancient rock bench with one of my Canon cameras and did what wildlife lovers have always done since John Muir: I waited till something interesting came along.
I'd seen Yellow Warblers around and had no success, of course, but we'd spotted them almost every morning, a small yellow bird, then a blur. The other real problem in photographing this bird is they eat something I can't provide....flying bugs. I'd been chasing a family of them around for several weeks that had been born right here in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. The Mother of the next generation taking the kids out for some breakfast...."bugs again Mom!!" They're beautiful, quick, and not cooperative at all: You can't pose a wild animal the way you can pose a grandchild, so as always, "don't ever give up!"
Yellow Warblers are not a rare species, their range is most of North America, and they Winter in the tropics; where we all should spend the Winters. There are 52 species of Warbler that breed in North America. But the Yellow Warbler has had some problems in certain breeding areas; Cowbirds will lay an egg in their nests for others to raise, and in this way an entire generation may
Yellow Warbler, Wind River Canyon, WyomingYellow Warbler born in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
be killed off in a single season in a certain breeding area; again, Mother Nature can be a cruel mistress. But here in the Wind River Canyon they are doing just fine, thanks.
On the morning of August 3rd I was down at my "new favorite spot" again, just as the Sun was breaking the rim of the Canyon again, and the Yellow Warbler family was out having bugs for breakfast again; this time I was really ready. I'd set the camera's metering to "spot" beforehand, just in case of such a scenario, then a young male from the group came down to the red-willow for some creepy edible. It all happens so fast at moments like this that it's a little hard to measure time; the entire shoot and several bursts lasted only seconds. But I knew I had finally gotten my prey, and a check of the camera back let me see that after all these years I'd finally got a Yellow Warbler that was going to be "sponge worthy" (good enough for my website---- HogbatsPhotography.com).
But there's a lot more to wild animal photography than what's in the camera's memory chip, and many hours have been spent on the digital files in the digital darkroom to make the photograph mine....and now it's yours. This is the one picture of the Yellow Warbler that I liked the best, and there are others of course; which is how I know it's a young male: He has very faint reddish streaks on his chest, and his beak and leg color is "young" and not darkened with time.
Equipment List - Canon 7D with Canon battery grip, Canon 300mm f/4 L-series lens with a Canon 1.4 extender III, and a Lexar Professional 1066x Compact Flash memory card; hand-held and no filters on the lens.
Software - Canon Digital Photo Professional and Adobe Lightroom 5.6; shot in a large RAW file then converted to a 16-bit tiff file, then converted to a jpeg for the website.
Shooting Information - ISO 400, f/8 @ 1/800.
If I can add some wisdom for anyone who wants to photograph wildlife, it's this----have loads of patience, know your equipment and the animal like the "back of your hand" and a little of Mother Nature's magic can't hurt, too. Till next week....thanks for reading my blog, and remember what I always say...."Keep Your Camera Ready!"
written, as always, by Michael John Balog - "mike"
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Number one on my list would be kids usually speak English, and I don't speak Hummingbird, yet. After sixteen summers of working with Hummingbirds in the Wind River Canyon, I do have a good understanding of their behavior and sounds; but Hummingbirds take lousy direction: "Sit over there!" doesn't work at all....yes, I've tried even that. So what I do is get the hummers used to me being around, always wearing the same hat and shirt. And eventually I can start photographing in close. You can use a much longer lens, I have, but the intimacy with your subject just isn't the same as getting in tight for that close-up. It's a genuine thrill to be so close to Hummingbirds that you can feel the wind they create with their amazing wings. And sometimes their wings even brush my ears!
Good camera equipment is a must, because Hummingbirds are so very small; I'm sorry, but that ninety-nine dollar camera isn't going to cut it in the world of Hummingbird Portraiture. But, most important of all is this little secret....patience and quiet, quiet and patience. That's the real deal advice from someone that's done this many, many times before. Oh, and a good understanding and confidence in your software is a help, as this will aide you in making your
Black-chinned Hummingbird, Portrait, Wind River Canyon, WyomingBlack-chinned Hummingbird Portrait 2014.
portrait subject that much more beautiful, and this advice applies to people portraits as well.
This week's photograph is a portrait of a Black-chinned Hummingbird male, a first in many respects. Black-chinned Hummingbirds first started nesting in Wind River Canyon only last summer! and it's a rush being able to present a portrait of one on my website and this blog. I took this photograph only just this morning at 9:30am. I knew when I viewed it on the camera back that this photo had to be this week's blog. It took me a couple of hours to get the picture just the way I wanted it; to be honest with my readers, I never thought any of this would ever happen.
Young Rufous Hummingbirds kept coming and going....then He showed up. I tried to keep my emotions under control, when in fact I wanted to jump up and yell. I'd waited so long for an opportunity, and here it was....just don't screw it up! or you'll have to wait another year for a shot! Unlike photographing people, you just can't set up another shoot next week, or tell them to go sit over there and smile.
So there you have it, patience, quiet, luck, confidence, understanding, software, quality, timing, quickness and a good eye, and the Hummingbird needs to cooperate....sounds simple enough. Maybe I should start teaching classes................
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Every Spring in Wyoming the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds would move through the Wind
Broad-tailed Hummingbird, female, Wind River Canyon, WYBroad-tailed Hummingbird "Coming in for a Landing"
River Canyon on their way to someplace in the Northwest. We'd see them as they migrated through, and the male's rocket-like territorial display dazzles like nothing else in the birding world. They never stayed, and always moved on in a tease for these two Mother Nature fans; this summer something wonderful has happened....several decided that this is a great place to raise Hummingbirds.
Like most of our Wyoming Hummingbirds, the males are always the most difficult to photograph well; and while I've taken pictures of all of these magical flying jewels, certain goals have yet to be reached (the photos aren't good enough, in my opinion, to be on my website). But this week I'd like to introduce my readers to someone special, a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird "Coming in for a Landing." I got a wild creative urge to make her something special, so I worked the file in what used to be called a Selenium print. It's a type of very old silver printing technique that my Grandfather may have used in his darkroom, but now it's done in the "digital darkroom." Making the print look like a classic work elevates it to a different place to be sure; Grandpa would have loved it....what do you think?
The Rufous Hummingbird and the Calliope Hummingbird have always nested in Wyoming and the Wind River Canyon; if you've been counting, that makes four different species of Hummingbirds that now nest in the Wind River Canyon....in Wyoming! Someone asked me the other day why we have such diversity; I said that these may be the last wild places left in America that can never be developed; their here because this is a good wild place. Because we are surrounded by the Wind River Indian Reservation, this will always stay a wild place.
The last photograph is of a Baby Rufous Hummingbird that was out of the nest for less than a day; he's brand-new to the world and cute as any baby can be. This photograph was taken at 8:30 in the morning last Thursday July 31. We were having coffee outside and sitting only six feet away from this tough little male. Even as I write this, he's still trying to protect this particular feeder; he is getting ready, as all the Wyoming Hummingbirds will have to make a long trip to warmer southern climates. Keep in mind, as you look at my photo of this flying jewel, that he's smaller than your thumb!
Rufous Hummingbird Baby, Wind River Canyon, WyomingOut of the Nest 24 Hours, a Baby Hummingbird Born in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
The small golden refection, in his tiny little eye, are the tall cliffs across the Wind River lit by the early morning sunshine of the Wind River Canyon.
I'm very sorry, but I thought the preceding line was very funny, as it's a variation on a childhood rhyme that made me smile. But, the answer is of course none, because Rock Chucks can't chuck rocks, or I would've been beaned long ago.
Rock Chuck, or as their known, Yellow-bellied Marmot, are common throughout the western
Rock Chuck, Yellow-bellied Marmot, Wind River Canyon, WyomingYellow-bellied Marmot, known as the Rock Chuck in Wyoming, Photographed @ Wind River Canyon.
United States; you can find them most any sunny day from April through September, sitting on a rock! They are actually related to Chipmunks and Prairie Dogs, as they're all related to the ground squirrel. They are large (11 plus pounds), brown and hairy with a reddish tail, white between the eyes on mature animals, with a black nose and a little ring around the snoot; and a yellow furred belly (hence the name). They have short legs, and can stand upright, but don't be deceived by this chubby rodent, they are very fast and can disappear in a blink of an eye.
The Rock Chuck can live to be fifteen years old, with females having 3 to 5 young ones a Spring from their second year. Males typically have a harem of up to 4 females, and they all live in social colonies of 20 or more. If you start doing the math in your head quickly, you can see that without predators we can all soon be up to our tookis in Yellow-bellied Marmots; hence the problem, as people don't like predators. A Google search will reveal a host of pictures of them being shot to pieces, and I'm sorry about that, too. But, I used to tell the tourists that they'll dig a big hole and your house will fall in; that's a bit of a stretch with the facts, but not much.
You see, their daily use den will typically be a meter deep, but their hibernation den may be 23 feet deep! I had several underneath my shed that dug the place up, and was impossible to get rid of them; they are after all just rodents; really big rodents....about the size of New York rats I hear.
That's funny Wyoming humor, but we shoot our rodent problems in the West, as the aforesaid Google search will show. Yes, in a perfect world they'd be hunted by the Mountain Lions that live unseen in the high reaches of the Wind River Canyon, but they're smart enough to stay away from human habitation. So, the Rock Chuck is shot and run over at every opportunity. They are supposed to be edible, as an old Indian told me recently; but no, I haven't had one, and I'm sure they don't taste like chicken.
This week's photograph of a Yellow-bellied Marmot was taken less than 40 yards from our cabin just two days ago. It was taken with an L-series Canon lens and extender combination that the sensor sees as 672mm on my 7D, and hand-held. The Rock Chucks have a whistle, and a slang name of "Whistle Pigs"; so I just whistled to get his attention. And remember to keep your camera ready.
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When the British tried to domesticate Buffalo in the eighteenth century, it was given up because they had a "wild and ungovernable temper." Which explains why so many tourists get mauled by them when "they looked so tame." Here are some facts to ponder....a Buffalo can jump six feet
Buffalo, Thermopolis, WyomingAmerican Buffalo, Bison Photographed in Hot Springs State Park, Wyoming.
vertically, they can run 40 mph, and not even razor wire will keep them in. A mature male can weigh well over 3,000 pounds, and be over eleven feet long and over six feet at the shoulder; all this and a bad temper to boot!
Before I get any farther we need to label these largest of animals in the West. The first recorded incident of a name given these creatures was in 1625, and they were called Buffalo. The name Bison was not recorded for this species till 1774; so no matter what your teacher said, they are Buffalo! The DNA analysis clearly shows that their closest relative is the Yak, and migrated over the land bridge from Asia. And what amused me the most while researching this blog was the fact that the Buffalo used to range as far east as New York; maybe we could reintroduce them to some wild place....like Central Park!
Baby Buffalo, Thermopolis, WyomingBaby American Buffalo, Photographed in Hot Springs State Park, Thermopolis, Wyoming.
Before Europeans arrived in the fifteenth century, it's been estimated that there were near 60 million Buffalo in America, but by 1890 there were little more than 500 left. It's a little hard to imagine that many bullets and that much wasted slaughter; but now the population has rebounded to over 500,000, largely because of conservation issues, and the aforementioned melted cheese thing. Buffalo is lower in fat and cholesterol than beef, and higher in protein, too. I personally prefer it to beef, if you can afford it (prices have skyrocketed).
As far as the issue of bovine diseases in Buffalo, and where it came from in the first place, and all the politics involved, it's clear to scientists that these diseases came from cattle in the first place; not the other way around, like some agendas would have you believe. These large, bad tempered, tasty Buffalo deserve some space, at the very least on your table....treat them with respect, and keep your distance and use a longer lens; as you should with all wildlife in Wyoming.
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At the moment I'm running four Hummingbird feeders around the cabin, and that seems to be plenty to satisfy demand, except at those peak hours when a hummer needs to fatten up before it gets cold at night; yes, it is cold for a bird that can flap it's wings up to 50 times a second! In the morning, even after going into a kind of hibernation called torpor, they are nearly starving; the morning and evening hours are the busiest around the nectar feeders.
*Nectar: four (4) parts clean water to one (1) part pure white sugar (no substitutes). If you go through the amount of sugar I do than all you need to do is shake. If your home-made nectar sits in the feeder longer than a few days, then by all means heat the stuff up to "clean" the mixture. Refrigerate any leftover nectar and please keep the feeders clean, but you don't need to over do it, they do live in the real world; soaping and a good rinse is enough thank you. I have read recent data that suggests that a 35% mixture will keep the more dominant male Hummingbirds protecting their food source even more, and my work with the Hummingbirds seems to confirm this....so don't be so cheap, make it with a little more sugar, it's good for them and your soul.
As I was standing very near the feeder on the north side; a foot and a half (yes, only 18 inches away!) I had all four species of male Hummingbirds in the Wind River Canyon coming to fill up! To witness these beautiful birds so close up that you can feel the wind they create with their wings, is nothing short of magical. The male Broad-tailed Hummingbird, with his sports car red Gorget (his shiny throat feathers remember) was trying to dominate this feeder; they're slightly bigger than the other three species. As hard as he tried it was a manic job he had taken on so late in the evening. Each time he chased a Rufous or Black-chinned or Calliope Hummingbird away,
Callliope Hummingbird, "In Flight" - Wind River Canyon, WYHummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
another would come in to feed while he was away, and then it started all over again; it's always crazy fun. As close as these hummers come to my face and ears, at times I feel their wings on my face, there has never been any fear that there'll be an accident. Remember, they are Mother Nature's greatest high-speed flyers; they know what they're doing.
My heartbeat races when I'm experiencing these Hummingbird spectacles, but not anywhere near as fast as a Hummingbird's heart beats; a Blue-throated Hummingbird's heart beat was measured at an astonishing 1,240 beats per minute! But when a very small Calliope male Hummingbird kept coming within twelve inches from my face to look me in the eye (over and over), I knew that this was a bird I'd known before, because they find you and their favorite places by pattern recognition, so they'll come right up to you to take a look. These truly are the most magical of moments we've ever experienced in the wilds of the canyon.
A Hummingbird will take a crazy 150 breaths per minute, and beat their wings up to an eye-popping 50 times per second! yet you can photograph them with tons of patience, but please don't use any flash; the kids and Grandma don't like it, and guess what? Hummingbirds don't like flash in their eyes either.
I wanted to add this last little bit of wisdom to this week's blog; after fifteen years of working with the Hummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon it still takes a sharp eye, and some wit to identify the species of the female Hummingbirds. I can tell them apart if I'm concentrating, you can tell by the smell of my camera sensor melting @ 8 frames per second.
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1) Rufous Hummingbird - these are the most aggressive and territorial of the Hummingbirds; they're the color of tigers, and it fits their personality perfectly. The males always arrive the first week of July; but they were a week early this year. The Gorget (throat) feathers are a brilliant orange, but this will range in color depending on lighting: this is the very complicated science of iridescence and will be explained later in this blog (as best as a Sheldon can explain this type of Physics to me).
2) Calliope Hummingbird - These hummers are the smallest birds in North America, and they're
Calliope Hummingbird, Male, Wind River Canyon, WyomingHummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
my personal favorite. The streaked Gorget bars are red but can range in color to a magenta. The Calliope is a more shy bird that takes loads of patience to get a photograph, as all Hummingbirds inevitably will.
3) Black-chinned Hummingbird - Last year was the first time this species nested in the Wind River Canyon due to the fires in southern Colorado; they're back and nesting as you read this. The Gorget on the male appears midnight black until the light is just at the perfect angle, then pow! a violet band appears at his lower black throat. Their courtship display is a fast back and forth flight that is not confused with anything else in nature. My portrait of a female won first place at the Cody Art Show this year! but the male has proven to be an allusive photo subject so far....but we see them many times every day.
4) Broad-tailed Hummingbird - This was a big surprise for me this year, as we always saw them,
Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, Wind River Canyon, WyomingHummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
but they never stayed in the Wind River Canyon; I'd always hoped they would stay and nest in this magical Canyon, and this year seems like it's happening. They're Gorget sometimes appears black, but with a snap of the head it turns a brilliant red! These hummers are easy to identify by their size (bigger than the others) and the emerald green back feathers; and their large tail will move up and down during hovering. Their display is one of Mother Nature's truly spectacular events: the male will shoot himself straight up seventy feet or more, then dive straight down at warp speed at whatever it's angry at....a hummer, a bird, a dog or cat, or you or me. These are the largest of the Hummingbirds you will see in Wyoming; no bigger than your thumb.
The females of these four different species of Hummingbird can be told apart with difficulty, albeit with a lot of practice and reading. The Rufous female is green backed with streaks of rufous
Rufous Hummingbird, "female in flight" Wind River Canyon, WYHummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
color (sometimes) and a small Gorget, but the immature male appears nearly the same except for the R2 tail feathers; which are impossible to see except in photographs. The Calliope Hummingbird female is smaller, greener, whiter, no Gorget, did I say smaller? with a little blue mixed in the green. The Black-chinned female is much like the Rufous, only slightly smaller with a darker grey by the back of their eyes and no reflective Gorget markings: the Broad-tailed female is nearer the female Rufous, but greener and larger still.
Black-chinned Hummingbird, female, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming - 1st Place 2014 Cody Art ShowBlack-chinned Hummingbird, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming-Winner of 1st Place Award 2014 Cody Art Show!
If the above short description seems like the females are seemingly the same, it's because to our human eyes they appear so close in appearance; only male Hummingbirds need to tell the female Hummingbirds apart, after all. So I read and study photographs (mine and in books) to try and tell the females apart from one another; and after fifteen years it still isn't easy.
The most striking feature of Hummingbirds are their amazingly magical iridescent feathers. The science and physics of iridescence is a nightmare to understand....so here goes; the feathers have a clear layer that lets in the light or reflects it, this in turn is reflected or absorbed by a lower
Rufous Hummingbird, "Rufous In-Flight" Wind River Canyon, WYRufous Hummingbird of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
layer that has encapsulated air pockets; the physics of interference coloration (some colors cancel each other out, some reflected back by different wave lengths causes the change in coloration) means that you will see all the colors of the rainbow in one Hummingbird species or other, yet with a small change in angle by you, the Sun or the Hummingbird the feathers will go black! And if you look closely, you will notice that the male's Gorget feathers appear to resemble the platelet scales of a fish; think about that observation for a while and what it means.
Because space in a blog means I cannot post all the photographs I'd like to, please peruse my website Hummingbird Gallery @ HogbatsPhotography.com/hummingbirds for more photographs of these colorful and magical creatures.
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Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Wind River Canyon, WyomingRose-breasted Grosbeak, a rare visitor of the Wind River Canyon.
now, with two more species that will begin arriving for the summer nesting season next week! If you're counting, that's four nesting species of Hummingbirds in the Canyon; this is also brand new behavior, and I would assume that they're in need of new and more pristine nesting sites.
The Bullock's Orioles are nesting nearby, as usual, but this year they have locusts to munch on and haven't been visiting the Hummingbird feeders as much as they normally would. And speaking of the locusts, we had a group of 150 Seagulls that spent two weeks scouring the upper reaches of the Canyon for the ugly bugs; the Seagulls flocked like huge white waves in the ocean. This behavior has never been seen in the Wind River Canyon before, as Seagulls are a recent addition to the "Birds of the Wind River Canyon."
We have the usual Finches, Robins, Grosbeaks, Western Tanagers, Yellow Warblers, Vultures, Wrens, Juncos, Hawks, Ducks, Mergansers, Chickadees, Solitaires, Towhees, Owls, Golden Eagles and Woodpeckers and Cedar Waxwings, and well you get the picture....it's busy around here. The Deer and Bighorn Sheep of course have their young ones to take care of; a young buck was killed Thursday early morning within sight of our cabin. We will see the Boysen Elk herd on the mountain later in the summer and fall; we watch the herd of over fifty from our front steps with a spotting scope.
Sometimes we see an especially rare bird that is obviously out of their usual range, like the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak or a Steller's Jay; colors of Mother Nature that are truly unforgettable.
Steller's Jay-Wind River Canyon, WyomingSteller's Jay, a rare visitor, in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
And speaking of beautiful colors, it would take a website and blog all it's own for me to show the world the Butterflies and Moths of the Wind River Canyon; we have a black one with a white stripe, and a small blue one that looks like an expensive jewel, and huge Swallowtail Butterflies that never seem to land, and dozens more that I don't know the name of; course they don't know my name either and it doesn't matter.
But at this time I've had the greatest buzz with my two Wild Turkey friends; they stop by almost every day and seem to especially like this place in the Wind River Canyon. They're very big and very friendly towards me, and smart enough to know that I'm cool with them and their visits. Just this very morning as the sun was breaking the rim of the Canyon, they were here for a visit and
Wild Turkey, "The Big Show" - Wind River Canyon, WyomingWild Turkey strutting his stuff this Spring in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
breakfast with us. The Arapahoe American Indian used to think of the Wild Turkey as stupid, contrary to what Benjamin Franklin thought of the Wild Turkey, and I know why now....the Arapahoe was thinking of them as only food, and in nature the Wild Turkey has very few enemies other than man. I know that the Wild Turkey love sunflower seeds, and they will come so close to me (seven feet or less!) that I could kill one with an arrow even if I was a bad shot; but I can buy one in the store that tastes better for a dollar thirty-nine a pound! Wild Turkey have survived when other birds that can be eaten are extinct or scarce, and these two have survived countless marches up and down the Wind River Canyon when other animals (Deer, Rock Chucks, Raccoons, Rabbits, Skunks and Beaver never make it across the roadway. This photograph of my Wild Turkey in full show mode was taken just ten days ago; I wondered if he was "posing" just for me, because there aren't any girl Turkeys around here....yet!
Written as usual by Michael John Balog; thanks for reading my blog.
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The American Dipper is easy to ignore with it's dark-grey plumage and stubby tail feathers, it has longish legs and a beak that's for work, not show; it's wings are also short. The American Dipper is always found around fast moving water, as it feeds under the water for it's food, diving
American Dipper (juvenile), Woods Creek, Wind River Canyon, WyomingAmerican Dipper photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming by Michael John Balog - HogbatsPhotography.com
down to dig up the ugliest bugs I hope you've never seen. They dive and swim under the fast moving creeks and rivers around the mountains of the west, (from Alaska to the southern Rockies) like a dolphin does in the ocean.
I've watched as a Dipper dives down in the creek next to our cabin, and comes up with a bug from under the silt and rocks, then bangs his dinner on a rock till edible. And yes, they seem to be completely waterproof, as far as the birds of Wyoming go. They make a zeet-zeet sound when startled that is unmistakable, then down he goes under the rushing creek to come up with another ugly bug! They nest in the banks of creeks and rivers. But by far the funniest part to this magical bird is that it just has to dance.
American Dipper, Woods Creek, Wind River Canyon, WyomingAmerican Dipper photographed in the Wind River Canyon ecosystem by Michael John Balog - an HDR Photograph-HogbatsPhotography.com
The American Dipper does a dance that makes even the most stodgy old fart giggle; the Dipper's dance has a down and up, down and up beat that's so funny that it always makes me laugh. He must hear the down-beat of a rocking great song, or maybe he's into Big Band music; it's really funny to watch other people react to this wonderful treat of Mother Nature. This waterproof, dancing, bottom-of-the-creek bug eating "Arc of a Diver" is not elusive, he's right here in the Wind River Canyon ecosystem. You just need to stop along the way, and take the time to get to know a part of Wyoming that's hidden from those that won't get out of the truck; and just maybe you'll get to see the American Dipper "Dancing by the River."
Okay, now for the rub of this week's blog; I (me) won a 1st Place Award in the Professional Photography Category for the second year in a row at the Cody Art Show! It's still a little hard to believe, but another of my magical Hummingbirds won First Place again. This year's 1st place
Black-chinned Hummingbird, female, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming-1st Place 2014 Cody Art ShowBlack-chinned Hummingbird, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming-Winner of 1st Place Award 2014 Cody Art Show!
Hummingbird photo winner was a Black-chinned Hummingbird female, which was a first in and of itself; let me explain.
Black-chinned Hummingbirds had never visited or nested in the Wind River Canyon....ever. This part of the country was too far northeast of their historical range, that is up until the fires in southern Colorado last year, when the Black-chinned Hummers had no place to nest! and some of them came north in a need to find available and appropriate nesting areas. I'd heard reports from around northwest Wyoming last summer; folks telling me they'd seen Black-chinned Hummingbirds for the very first time on their feeders, too. But I've read in more than one book that they're successful in nesting only thirty percent of the time, but I'd had proof this was a good nesting area for them; I had photographs of baby Black-chins! I'd hoped that this mating
Black-chinned Hummingbird, immature, Wind River Canyon, WyomingThe First Ever; Baby Black-chinned Hummingbird Born in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
success would encourage them to return....and they have, as we have two nesting pair this year.
The winning Black-chinned Hummingbird photograph was a huge labor of love; I'd shot thousands of pictures to get the one photo that thrilled me to the bone. After I'd printed a larger photograph of this Hummingbird my wife insisted I frame it, she even helped in suggesting the framing style. I used a high-end cherry wood frame with no mat, something I'd never done on a Hummingbird picture that was twelve inches square; the final framed picture looked wonderful. The framed photograph ended up being displayed in Dr. Hayes' waiting room last winter, and this spring my wife insisted it go to Cody for their annual show....and she was right in her choice, it won First Place!
All this goes to show a number of important issues when it comes to my Conservation Wildlife Photography; it's still all about my Hummingbirds that I love so very much, and my wife Debra is very smart. It's been a year since my website HogbatsPhotography.com and my Blog have been up, and I'm thrilled beyond a smile at the number of people that have seen the amazing animals that live in the Wind River Canyon. Thank you goes to everyone that have taken the time to see my magical birds and animals; I fervently hope that it has helped in some small way in the preservation of Wild Places like the Wind River Canyon.
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I love teaching people about the Hummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon; right at this moment we have two nesting pair of Black-chinned Hummingbirds nearby, and male Broad-Tailed Hummingbirds moving north for the summer mating season; but this week's blog is about something harder to find than Hummingbirds.
One-eyed Sphinx Moth----just the name sounds mysterious and secretive; we have only seen a few in the fifteen years we've been living in this cabin. I can ruminate why they seem so scarce; the caterpillars are big, green and edible; and the moth itself is large with a wingspan of over four
One-eyed Sphinx Moth, Wind River Canyon, WyomingOne-eyed Sphinx Moth, Photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
spread inches; as big as they are they must be lunch for someone and a Magpie will eat anything, except carrots.
The One-eyed Sphinx Moth is obviously misnamed, because as you can see for yourself he's got two blue "eyes." The main colors vary widely across their western U.S. and Canadian habitats. The scalloped wings and beige abstract coloring seems dominant, but keep in mind that the Sphingidae family of this moth group contains more than 1,450 different species, and they live over vast regions of Earth. Their "blue eyes" are not visible in a resting state; the eyes are seen only when the Moth is threatened, like with me hovering over him with a big camera.
What really startled me was the fact that the adults do not feed! That's right, they are born in the Spring to fly around and do the nasty, and that's about it. The deep rose color is beautiful and reproduced as near to Mother Nature as I can get it. I photographed this nearly perfect example of the One-eyed Sphinx Moth on a piece of driftwood near our place yesterday. I used a Canon 7D with the 70-200mm f/4 IS L-series marvel that I also will use to photograph a wedding later this month. I was perched on a rock-wall shooting down with the on-camera flash used for a little fill lighting; the morning sun giving nice shadows to the wings.
This is the very first time I've gotten to photograph a One-eyed Sphinx Moth in fifteen years, and it was far easier than photographing Hummingbirds or Orioles. Yet these large moths are seldom seen and rarely photographed well; it's the very first time they've been photographed here in the Wind River Canyon, as are the wildlife on my website HogbatsPhotography.com, none of the living things have been documented in the Wind River Canyon before. So slow it up next time and look for the unseen wildlife in the magical Wind River Canyon.
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Lazuli Bunting-Mr.Turquoise-Wind River Canyon, WYLazuli Bunting Photographed in The Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
I've chased around and tried to photograph a Lazuli Bunting for seven long years now without any "sponge worthy" success. Then on the morning of May 21st all things great started to fall into place. It was bright, but not too sunny, and three male Lazuli Buntings were coming and going for days and I had a plan. I regularly use our cabin as a "blind" (I just purchased a real hunting blind) and used the windowsill in the kitchen as my tripod. I could shoot the photos at a slower shutter speed than you could handheld; I shot more than a hundred files (photographs for those not digitally minded) and after seven years, and who knows how many thousands of failed attempts, I had two magical photographs to show off one of the most beautiful Birds of The Wind River Canyon.
The Lazuli Bunting is Sparrow-sized with a turquoise-colored head that really must be seen to be believed; a woman yesterday thought it was from a South American jungle! The turquoise runs down his wings, and he has a white breast with a very distinctive cinnamon band separating his jewelery worthy head from this white chest. The females are equally beautiful, just muted by comparison. The Lazuli Bunting resides west of the Great Plains and is native in only the western states.
The real reason that Lazuli Buntings are so difficult to photograph is stupidly simple; they are very shy, and impossible to "get close to." Like a few other species that nest in the Wind River Canyon, a wildlife photographer needs to use hunting tricks to "get the shot." But of course
Lazuli Bunting, Wind River Canyon, WyomingLazuli Bunting Photographed in The Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
getting the right picture in digital photography is only a very small part of what has to be worked to make the files real and beautiful; a photographer has to be confident in his ability with the software that's used.
My goal is always to let the viewer see the bird or animal on the absolute best of days; great lighting, catch light in the eyes, head turned just so, interest from the animal to the viewer, rule of thirds, and on and on. But most of all there has to be some kind of magic to it all; the animal must speak to me and all who see it, or you won't see it, period. I want people to fall in love with my wildlife, to embrace it as they would a loved one, so they may want to protect the animal for others to see. If one child that sees my website HogbatsPhotography.com and goes on to help Mother Nature, then I have accomplished something magical after all.
Thank you to all who read my weekly blog from the Wind River Canyon, and remember to "Keep your camera ready!"
MjB - Michael John Balog
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House Wren-Mom & Dad-Wind River Canyon, WyomingMale & Female House Wrens in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Spring has officially arrived here in the Wind River Canyon; last night two Black-chinned Hummingbird males flew in before dark, and this morning the first Bullock's Oriole was re-energizing itself on our Hummingbird feeders: Orioles typically feed from open-type nectar feeders. (nectar recipe = one part pure sugar/four parts water, then shake well) This is their destination for nesting season, so Spring is really here in the mountains and Summer cannot be far behind; but the first migratory Spring arrivals are the beautiful singing House Wrens.
House Wren-Mother & Babies-Wind River Canyon, WyomingHouse Wren family Portrait.
House Wrens are really not much bigger than a Hummingbird, but have a song that will steal your soul. The male Wren will sit outside my bedroom window and sing like an opera star, and is afraid of nothing. The Wren's song changes during the nesting cycle; it's different during courtship than after the male has a mate, yet changes again when the young baby Wrens are being fed a boatload of bugs and spiders: this observation comes from many years of being close and trusted by them.
A Wren needs a birdhouse of a certain size and specifications; the entrance needs to be one and quarter inches, no more no less. Most important of all, we must clean out last years nest and tidy
House Wren-Feeding Junior-Wind River Canyon, WYWren Mother feeding her Baby Wren.
the place up a bit before they arrive. House Wrens are very territorial and will even throw out another competitors nest, eggs or even their babies! But it's their exuberant song that has been described as, "a cascade of bubbling whistled notes" that captures every ones heart.
Every year I work with and photograph House Wrens, it's a challenge to "get close" to such a melodious bird. And everyone loves baby pictures.......
House Wren, babies leaving the nest, Wind River Canyon, WYBaby Wrens on the Way Out!
House Wren Babies-Wind River Canyon, WyomingHouse Wren Babies in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
House Wren, Building the Nest-Wind River Canyon, WyomingHouse Wren building her Nest in The Wind River Canyon.
I had big commercial sprinklers for the yard and trees, but now I had two of them duck taped to our roof! and five more scattered around our yard. Our cabin property (Hogbats) here in the Wind River Canyon is everything we struggled so hard for our whole lives, and now a forest fire was crackling within earshot; we could hear it coming to get us from our bed; it all seemed bizarrely personal. We had an advantage, or so we thought, because the Wind River was between us and the forest fire; any wind in the Wind River Canyon, and there's always some kind of breeze, and it would jump easily to our side we were told; I was freaked!
As we sat in the open garage in lawn chairs, water and embers flying everywhere, the sound a juniper makes exploding into flames is nearly priceless. The only thing I can compare the sound of a dry summer juniper, suddenly going up into flames, is the Bunsen Burner we used in school as children; the pine trees' resin acts like a food for the running fire. We couldn't sleep, or at least I didn't, and here it comes!
There were some firemen from a small town nearly 70 miles away, in two big red trucks, that sat and watched the fire eating the Canyon and it's wildlife; and drank sodas for two weeks, and never lifted a finger to do anything. When some men from the railroad showed up one morning on the tracks, and tried in vain to halt the forest fire, one of the "firemen" turned to me and said, "My boss would be angry if they saw that." I realized at that moment that we were on our own; I was going to put together a plan that would save our little cabin, no help from the "pros."
But a minor miracle occurred in the Wind River Canyon that week; when the forest fire got down to the railroad line there was no wind! the forest fire just up and died on us, that was it, we were spared this time. I now live with the knowledge that a forest fire will come again, because
After the Fires, Wind River Canyon, WyomingTwelve Years after the Fires in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
they've been here before! and that fear in those people's eyes on CNN that live through a real forest fire....I've seen that aching fear in my mirror. Two months later, after some early snow, green shoots were emerging from the ash.
This blog's photograph was taken Thursday morning from our front steps, and as you can plainly see for yourself, there still is evidence of the fire even after a dozen summers; Mother Nature has provided a beautiful cover-up, but now we don't feel safe anymore, because it's now a matter of when........................
]]>Mule Deer-My Friend-Wind River CanyonI've gotten to know this Mule Deer as a friend.
When in the field my number one rule is "try not to scare anything." This seems logical enough, but you'd be surprised the number of wildlife photographers that will use a flash on some small bird or an elephant! Children and animals don't like a camera flash going off in their face; in fact no one really likes a flash in the face. I personally try not to use a flash unit on a wild animal; it scares the crap out of most animals, and you loose that "Mother Nature-Look" that I love so much. An animal that isn't upset or scared makes a much better subject to photograph; once that flash goes off in the bird's face you can bet that you'll not be getting anymore natural poses from that bluebird.
Being the "kid with the eyes" I always was being taken along on hunting trips, and you learn an awful lot about animals when you are with some old-guy "great hunter," but they only have to get close the one time! How to approach a wild animal means you have to learn about the behavior of that specific animal; will it eat you, or will it run away at the first sight of you and your camera? Read, learn and observe about the bird or wildlife you want to photograph; for instance I would love to get the iconic photo of a grizzly bear, but they can and will eat you....so I don't yet have a grizz shot.
A Rufous Hummingbird is a far different bird to approach than a Bullock's Oriole for instance; with a hummingbird you go slow and can get surprisingly close to one (I've been "nose to nose"
Rufous Hummingbird-Wind River Canyon,Wyoming - 1st Place - 48th Cody Art ShowHummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming, 1st Place-48th Cody Art Show.
with many hummingbirds), but you will never get close to an Oriole; I'm sorry to say that they don't love humans as much as hummingbirds do, yet they both feed off my nectar feeders! The Ravens in Yellowstone National Park are much easier to photograph in portrait than say the Ravens in Shoshoni, and Bald Eagles in the Wind River Canyon ecosystem will not sit still for a moment, unlike the Eagles you see on TV sitting around the piers in Alaska on that show! Getting to know your model is important, whether that model is a blonde, or a Buck Deer.
Now I'm going to let my readers in on a little known secret that I've used for many years here in the Wind River Canyon; I always wear the same color clothing when photographing my favorite animals and birds. An animal will learn to relax when he sees you in the same coat or shirt, because now you are recognizable as not being a threat to them. So my many hummingbirds always see me in my tan shirt and hat; they recognize me as not being a threat, and I can now move closer for that shot I wanted. This trick has worked a million times, but does take time and patience, so go slow...."Patience rewards the Wildlife Photographer."
Another magical trick to get closer is to let the animal know that it's you again. How I do this is stupidly simple; I use a "double-whistle" that is not too loud....like a bird of some kind. I use this
Wild Turkey Portrait, Wind River Canyon, WyomingWild Turkey Portrait, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
"double-whistle" everyday of my life, and it works like magic. After a while the birds or animal will remember that it's you again when they hear this whistle; "Oh yea, it's him again!" works just like the old friend coming over for a visit. This recognition of my whistle works just like the "tan-shirt" trick, and in combination is my big secret for how I do what I do. I was less than four feet from the Wild Turkeys on many instances, and they even responded with a gobble-gobble when I would whistle in the morning! like pets coming down for breakfast.
The photography equipment needed for birds and animals comes down to these two simple rules; long lenses and high frames-per-second, or what pro's call the burst rate. I personally love my Canon 7D cameras, they are nothing short of modern miracles, or that's what my Grandfather would have thought. As far as long lenses, buy the best you can afford, and read the reviews. Some telephoto lenses cost as much as a new car, and I will never be able to afford the 500mm f/4, but we all can dream of having that lens you saw during that ballgame. There are many affordable alternatives available though, and my longest setup is a Canon 300mm f/4 with a Canon 1.4 extender III, which is about one tenth the cost of the 600mm!
These simple wildlife tricks work, along with tons of patience, knowledge and sunscreen you can get closer to Mother Nature; go slow and be careful....but use the best trick of all----try to use your brain more! and "Keep Your Camera Ready."
House Wren, Male, Portrait-Wind River Canyon, WyomingBirds of Wyoming
Wild Turkeys, Wind River Canyon, WyomingWild Turkeys, In My Yard, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
down for a visit and to scrounge some of the sunflower seeds we put up for the wild birds.
For those of you that aren't initiated, Wild Turkeys are smart, large and can be very intimidating during the right time of the year, much stronger than 180 proof! These two however have come to accept me, since they've seen me before while I was chasing them around the Canyon with a camera; now they're friendly and very vocal with me. I sit just one meter (3 feet) from them with apparently no fear from any of us, just like old friends over for a visit and a bite to eat.
Yesterday while I was working on some photos of the Wild Turkeys on a computer, I saw a large hawk zip away from the other side of the wall (portions of the diversion dam from the Boysen Reservoir construction long ago) and made my patented double-whistle to see if any of
Wild Turkey, Portrait of Tom, Wind River Canyon, WyomingPortrait of a Wild Turkey, Photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
the smaller wildlife would respond. I heard instead my Wild Turkeys calling out from the junipers not far away. Now understand that I use this whistle to let the wildlife know that it's me again, and not some huge animal come to eat them! But from the pines I heard the distinctive gobble of Wild Turkeys calling back to me. The older of the two came down the driveway like an old friend visiting our cabin.
In over seven years of wildlife photography, I've had these moments when a wild animal will come to accept your presence with them: hummingbirds will come right up to you and look you over, a buck deer I know will seek me out for a visit, Mountain Chickadees are notoriously friendly and have little fear of anything. It may sound strange, but these moments are like Harry Potter magic! I try not to analyze why these magical wildlife moments happen, I've long come to the accept that some animals are as curious of us. As long as it can't eat you....go with the flow and enjoy your time together with Mother Nature. We all need to reconnect with that wild part of ourselves that lies so deep within our own consciousness.
It's very important that we protect these wild places for those generations to come, because if we let industry permanently ruin these few remaining wildlife sanctuaries, humans will be loosing a very great part of what has made us the dominant species on this planet, and our own place in it will surely diminish without them.
Wild Turkey Portrait, Wind River Canyon, WyomingWild Turkey Portrait, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
I love being able to make Wild Portraits of the animals that survive in the Wind River Canyon, and here's a portrait of a very intimidating character that's a lot friendlier than he looks. Trust me when I tell you that he really can be stronger than that famous whiskey of the same name; doesn't he look like he could kick your butt?
They came down for another visit while I was writing this week's blog: "Keep your camera ready!"
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Cassin's Finch, Male in Bloom, Wind River Canyon, WyomingCassin's Finch, Male in Bloom this Spring, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Finches are getting ready to nest. It's actually easy to identify them, and tell them apart from the very similar House Finch.
The Cassin's Finch prefers the mountain forest, while the House Finch is more than likely to be seen in town; you know, by a house, hence the name. The Cassin's is larger by a centimeter, and lacks the extensive streaking on the breast of the House Finch. The tail of the Cassin's Finch is notched, while the House Finch is not. The House Finch in older books is referenced as a Red House Finch, and for good reason, although the color may vary from orange to yellow on the head and breast. The Cassin's red fades to a striking pink on it's breast, with a brown intermixed on the sides of it's head. The females are similar in both species, with the Cassin's Finch female being lighter in color under the brown streaking over their entire body.
The feeding habits don't overlap much, but their territory is quite different; the Cassin's Finch is seen only in the west, and rarely ventures east of Wyoming, while the more abundant House Finch is common nationwide. But, at the right time of the year, the Cassin's Finch turns into a mountain ruby, with a red crest that could be on your ring finger!
I've been photographing the Cassin's Finch for nearly a decade, and never quite been happy with the results. Something always disappointed me about the photographs; the red wasn't right, sun was all wrong, blah, blah, blah. But a couple of days ago, while taking pictures of them again, I realized I could make things right in the digital darkroom now, and make this bird my own.
This week's photograph of a Cassin's Finch male was shot RAW, and first worked & converted to a TIFF file in Canon's Digital Photo Professional, then "touched up" in Adobe Lightroom 5. The camera was my favorite 7D, with my new Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens, that I'm getting familiar with, so believe it or not, this Wildlife Photographer can shoot a wedding or two this summer; that I was "lassoed" into, wish me luck! Till next week, "Keep your camera ready!"
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Vulture, Dumb & Dumber-Wind River Canyon, WyomingTwo fat Turkey Vultures in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
The first sign of Spring in the Wind River Canyon is the arrival of the Vultures; they always make their appearance the first week of April, and there is nothing funnier than a Turkey Vulture in the snow! But, they're difficult to photograph well, as they always have one-of-their-own keeping an eye out for intruders. This is logical, because they are eating something that may belong to someone else, or may be related to someone else! Anyway, they're back in Wyoming to pick up the leftovers from winter.
About a week ago, while driving north through the Wind River Canyon, we spotted two male Wild Turkeys just walking down the side of the road near Windy Point. These were two huge male Turkeys, probably from the group we had moving through here last fall: Wild Turkeys are new to the Wind River Canyon, and we're hoping that they're establishing the Canyon as part of their territory. For those of you that have never encountered a Wild Turkey, they're much bigger than the one on
Wild Turkey, Wind River Canyon, WYWild Turkeys in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
your table. A big male has the ability to stretch up and look you in the eye, or nearly so, for someone with my height disadvantage!
I stopped the truck and pulled out the Canon 7D with the new lens, the 70-200mm f/4, and tried to keep up with these Wild Turkey joggers. While I've had crazy experiences with Wild Turkey's before, you'd be surprised how hard it is to run as fast as they do, especially when carrying a big lens on a cold morning. I thought it wise to encourage them to keep off the highway, and they walked up a hillside where even I couldn't possibly follow! This picture of them was the one I thought was the most fun, let's hope we see them again. And by the way, Wild Turkey babies are soooooo cute.
In about two weeks the Bullock's Orioles will start arriving, with the males setting up territories, and displaying their beautiful orange color; they are always a challenge, and are good practice for the breeding Hummingbirds that arrive the first week of July. So, I guess you could say that you don't need a calendar, just watch for the birds.
Bullock's Oriole-Wind River Canyon,WyomingBirds of Wyoming
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Bald Eagle, im., Wind River Canyon, WyomingYoung Bald Eagle in flight over the Wind River, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
ourselves that has been lost in this technological digital 21st Century.
More than ever before in human memory, it will become increasingly important for us to experience Mother Nature in all her green and pine-scented glory, and the animals that have lived in the forest for eternity.
There are few Wild Places left that have not been marred by the hand of man, and we must save the Wilderness, or loose a part of ourselves that can never be reclaimed.
written by MjB
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The Pronghorn Antelope's skeletal structure is very light, as compared to other wildlife out west, and even their fur has a hollow structure; this reduces weight and keeps them warm at speed. The heavier males weight only 150 pounds, whereas their Mule Deer neighbors will tip the scales at nearly twice that! Their hooves have two cushioned toes that absorb the tremendous shock that they need to endure at high speed; their field of vision is an astounding 320 degrees! They have a gallbladder, our deer do not, and the Antelope's horns slip through the air like a jet; even their facial structure looks more like an expensive sports car than a big fat moose.
Speaking of horns, the Pronghorn Antelope doesn't loose their horns every year, but they do shed an outer covering as the horns grow larger, and the females also have horns, albeit only six
Pronghorn Antelope, Wind River Mountains, WyomingPronghorn Antelope and The Wind River Mountains.
inches at best. So, the Ferrari of the hoofed animal world is the essence of designed-for-speed, so how fast are they? I have personally sat in the back of an old WWII Jeep at 50 mph, as an adult male Antelope pulled away from us, then made a corner that we couldn't possibly make, and he was gone. They've been clocked at sixty miles-per-hour, with old stories, told by old men, going much higher.
So, what is all this fabulous speed for? As it turns out, it's for outrunning a Cheetah; but a Pronghorn Antelope can sustain high speeds for a much longer distance than a Cheetah, but wait....there are no Cheetahs in Wyoming. Ah, but long ago there were, and they needed to run very fast, and they still do to this day.
So, they may stand there as you drive by, but Antilocapra americana, the Pronghorn Antelope, is faster across the sage prairie than you. My photograph this week, of a Wyoming Pronghorn Antelope, was taken last Tuesday on a wonderful spring day, with the Wind River Mountains in the background. This highly curious-by-nature animal had his attention grabbed by a loud whistle by me, with the files worked the usual way in Canon DPP and Lightroom 5. Can you see the heat waves rising in the background?
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When I was a teenager, long ago now, I knew an old woman that was wise and true. She told us stories about life in Wyoming during the early 20th century, and the stories seemed a long way off from what I knew
Wyoming, Wind River Canyon, Chimney RockChimney Rock in beautiful Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
growing up in the burbs of Cleveland. She remembered coming through the Wind River Canyon in a wagon when she was a child. The story she told us, seemed to me, to be from an old western movie; it took several days to navigate the treacherously narrow "goat path" in those days. In fact, a family that resided in the Wind River Canyon raised goats! But then, as now, Chimney Rock was the mid-point in the ride through the Canyon.
I received a new extraordinary lens this week, and have been testing it out around the Canyon. I'd always wanted to photograph Chimney Rock in black and white; something outrageous. This picture was shot in a RAW file in color first, and worked on in Canon Digital Photo Professional. I gave the colors a little extra boost, and pushed the sharpness farther than I would for wildlife. Then off it went to another software, Lightroom 5 by Adobe, where I worked it in my favorite high contrast black and white. In a 16-bit file I have 65,000 shades of grey to work with, how many are in this photo of Chimney Rock is your guess. All I know is that the light was right early Thursday morning, and the lens is perfect.
]]>How we make black and white photographs in 2014 is nothing like the smell and stink of last century's pictures. Chemicals like sodium sulfite, amidol, and potassium bromide drove my grandmother crazy, and my grandfather to eventually be forced to shut down his darkroom! Even today the process can be complicated, but a lot less smelly for your significant other. To be honest, my grandfather wouldn't have believed what today's digital photography equipment costs, yet most of us now have access to some of the junk I use to make the Wildlife Photographs on my website HogbatsPhotography.com.
Wind River Canyon, WyomingA Black and White Landscape Photograph in Winter, of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Today's black and white landscape photo, of the Wind River Canyon, started out as a typical, if very cold, RAW digital file. It was worked in Canon's Digital Photo Professional supplied software, till I had the photo looking closer to my visualization, then I worked it in their one button HDR till the colors were way over saturated; saving the file as a TIFF. It was opened next in Lightroom 5 and worked in this software till I was satisfied with the high-contrast black and white image; then back to DPP to do a tone adjustment, so I could get the grey tones the way I saw it in my mind's eye.
And there you have it, frozen fingers and a couple of hours fussing over this black and white landscape photograph on my laptop. Here's my Ansel Adams photograph of the Wind River Canyon, I hope you like it. And until next week's blog, "Keep Your Camera Ready!"
]]>The Indian Paintbrush became the Wyoming State Flower on January 31, 1917; there being over 200 species world-wide, the particular varietal in this state is scientifically known as Castilleja linariifolia; and no, this isn't a misspelling. The Indian Paintbrush grows from Alaska to the Andes, and even though I've never seen it grow this high, it can grow to one meter in height. The flower itself is edible, and some Native-Americans used it as part of their salad, but the greenery is poison. It absorbs selenium from the soil and can be toxic.
In most of Wyoming the Indian Paintbrush will bloom in early June, in colors of flame and yellow. It's an amazing sight when you're hiking, to see these bright flowers glowing in the sun. But, the State Flower of Wyoming is a hemiparasitic plant; that's right, it's a parasite! When a professor at UW told me that the Indian Paintbrush was a parasite, we couldn't believe it. The beautiful flowering plant needs to tap into the root system of another host plant, in this case that plant being the sagebrush. This is the reason you can't get seeds at the store or a pot of them at your flower shop. It can survive only with the root system of the sage, and this is why nobody can grow them in their garden; it's not illegal, just impossible!
The fact that our State Flower of Wyoming is a parasite does nothing to detract from it's startling beauty; this actually makes the flower that much more rare and wonderful to find on your own. So, with Spring just around the corner (hopefully), plan on trying to find an Indian Paintbrush this June; it'll be an adventure....I promise!
Indian Paintbrush, Wyoming State Flower, Wind River CanyonWyoming State Flower, Indian Paintbrush, Photographed in the Wind River Canyon
Wyoming State Flower, Indian Paintbrush, Wind River CanyonWyoming State Flower, Indian Paintbrush, Photographed in the Wind River Canyon
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I had a Chickadee fly into a window on my cabin recently on a cloudy day; something Chickadees never do by the way. She sat in my hand, and calmed down immediately when I did my double whistle. The lovely little bird was so curious it was unnerving, she looked me up one way, and then the other, then just stared into my eyes, as I did hers. It felt that something was exchanged between us, but I can't define what it was, and maybe shouldn't really try. I've shared experiences like this with many bird species, but few seem to be as curious about people as the Chickadee.
The Mountain Chickadee has a most distinguishing characteristic, it has white eyebrows. It will lay 7 - 9 little spotted eggs in nests made of hair, in holes in the trees far above me. They are five inches beak to tail, yet this small bird will come right to me when I'm putting up sunflower seeds; they seem to fear nothing, and are quite friendly, even to strangers, and they just love peanut butter. The type here in the mountains can be identified by the buff color on their back, sides and flanks.
Because they are so brave and trusting, the Mountain Chickadee makes a very good photography subject. Once they get used to you and your clicking camera, all you need to do is concentrate your efforts on the viewfinder. I've photographed Chickadees in the Canyon for seven winters, and it's always good fun.
The two pictures in this week's blog are the result of years of effort to get something I'd visualized in my head. That's years of freezing temperatures and sneaking around with a heavy Canon and an L-series lens. The portrait of the Mountain Chickadee with the snow crystals on it's beak was cold work, the little killer Cooper's Hawk is a rare and elusive raptor that's difficult to photograph under any circumstance.
Equipment - Canon 7D with grip, 300mm f/4 lens, and 1.4 extender, no tripod.
Software - Canon Digital Photo Professional (included with camera) and Adobe Lightroom 5.
Cooper's Hawk-Wind River Canyon, WyomingA rare Raptor caught in an action pose.
And always remember, "keep your camera ready."
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It's important that someone speak
For those that have no voice
Hummingbirds have a voice
Yet I don't know how to listen
The Eagle has a voice
As I have heard it myself
But I cannot understand
Teach the Children
So they may understand
Help those that cannot speak for themselves
If I can teach one Child to listen
That Child can grow to speak
For those that have no voice
written by Mike Balog - 2014
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First, find a Bald Eagle....this was supposed to be funny, it's a wildlife joke, so now would be the appropriate time to smile. Finding a Bald Eagle is actually much easier than it used to be, thanks to conservation laws and poison pesticides being illegal in the United States. It made sense at the time to get rid of these pesticides and save our national symbol, at least to some people. Depending on where you live, a Bald Eagle may be closer than you think. I can't count the number of times in the last seven years that people have stopped to ask me what I was photographing, when all they had to do was open their eyes, and mind, and see for themselves the Eagle in the tree.
Yesterday, St. Valentine's Day, Deb and I were on the way to Cody for lunch at the Irma. Rocky Mountain Oysters and a barbecued, bacon cheeseburger; the best Wyoming has to offer anywhere. It was morning and I could see the end of the Wind River Canyon in the distance, when an upward glance revealed my nemesis sitting on a twisted branch of a juniper, dangling from far above the road on the cliff side. I slid the truck to the graveled roadside and asked her if she saw him. She said, "Who?" I hollered, "A Bald Eagle" and bailed out the door just in time to see a huge truck coming my way fast. I unzipped my pack, tried not to panic, and grabbed the big camera with the big white lens, and hoofed it around our rig just as a few trucks barreling home for the weekend flew past with a whirl of cold wind. I peaked around our SUV for more traffic and then crossed the roadway; I knew that the only way to get a good shot would have to be from the other side, the narrow side with the guardrail on the river side.
Crossing the canyon highway, I walked toward my Bald Eagle in the distance, and took a few early shots. I reset the ISO to 500, and the camera was in shutter-priority, as it should always be for wildlife and sports photography, or as it turns out children. Cars and trucks were flying by me at 70 miles per hour, six or seven feet away, from my backside where I couldn't see them coming. I tried to calm my worst fears, and used the adrenaline to focus on my beautiful Bald Eagle. I wore an old red shirt yesterday morning, which turned out to be a very good choice, as now the trucks and cars could see me and hopefully avoid me. But, during all this I was shooting pictures while leaning on the guardrail!
Moving closer to the Eagle in question, some people slowed down a little to see what the nut with the camera was photographing, the blue rigs from slum burger would have scared a normal person, I kept my attention on my white-headed friend. With all the racket traffic and noise so very close to me, I never did panic even once, if I would have then I would have gotten nothing.
And this is really the secret to photographing animals in the wild....try and remain clam....I mean calm. It may help at times to be a clam, because I have been in a tree, perched on a wall trying to keep my balance, and freezing my tookis off at twenty below, and running down the Wind River Canyon chasing Bighorn Sheep with loads of equipment; you can panic and get nothing, or try and remain calm, your choice: It does take years of practice to not panic when that big buck jumps out from the trees, and I have seen full grown men go to pieces when the big one jumps out, and miss something they've dreamed about their entire lives. As I kept the image stabilization on my Eagle, it was obvious that he had had enough already, and so did I. As he took to the air, I shot my burst; eight frames and he was gone in one second, the big rigs still flying by me less than seven feet away!
I made it back to our SUV, and my wife was watching me the whole time. Finding out later I'd shot 136 frames, I was excited to see if my "swallow my fears" photography had paid off. It was long after midnight when I finally got to bed; I'd also printed several pictures of my Bald Eagle before falling asleep. But my favorite frame from the shoot also looked good in black and white; it gave him a menacing look, as Deb said.
This RAW file was worked initially in Canon's Digital Photo Professional, then moved to Adobe Lightroom 5 for the final work. I used the smart sharpen button for faces and the high contrast black and white for the ultimate black, then back to DPP for a tone adjustment to lighten the overall effect. The color version was worked the same, just not black and white. But which is better? The black and white or the color? It's a personal and artistic choice....so here are both the pictures from the St. Valentine's Day Bald Eagle shoot. Which do you like........?
Bald Eagle, a black & white, Wind River Canyon, WyomingA Bald Eagle photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming, by Michael John Balog - HogbatsPhotography.com
Bald Eagle, Valentine's Day, Wind River Canyon, WyomingA Bald Eagle photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming, by Michael John Balog - HogbatsPhotography.com
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Once in a
while
Take the
time
One small quick
moment
For someone close
to you
Bend
down
to
them
Tell them you
love them
Hold them
tight
You may never
know
You may never
ever
They may be
lost
Lost forever
What would you
then give
That one last
kiss
Rufous Hummingbird Baby, Born in the Wind River Canyon, WyomingThis Baby Rufous Hummingbird was born in The Wind River Canyon, Wyoming
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Sixteen years ago, while painting the trim on our cabin, I saw my very first Rufous Hummingbird in Wyoming. In the back of my mind I knew they were in this area, but as a busy motel owner I never had the time to notice anything but fifteen hours a day of summer work. Ten feet high on a ladder with a wet brush in my hands, I steadied myself and watched a male Rufous Hummingbird zipping around the canyon; I put up a nectar feeder. The action that ensued was so immediate it was unreal; I had barely turned around when a hummingbird was at our hummingbird feeder, so I bought another hummingbird feeder. Now, I put up anywhere between four and six of the nectar feeders, depending on the hummingbird traffic.
The Rufous Hummingbird has been called pugnacious, which I suppose is the most apt one word description. Their color is that of the tiger, which is also very appropriate. They will take over your nectar flowers or hummingbird feeder, and defend their food source with tiger-like aggressiveness; while mowing the grass I had a male try and chase me out of the immediate vicinity. I also learned just as quickly we had Calliope Hummingbirds, too! Calliope Hummingbirds are the smallest bird in North America, and not as aggressive as the Rufous, which makes them difficult photographic subjects.
Now, I'm a full-time starving artist with a website I built and manage myself. My website, HogbatsPhotography.com debuted in June, and yes it's a lot of work. What I like to teach folks about websites is this----"A website is like an iceberg, what you see is only 10%." But at this moment I'm planning a blind to help me video and photograph my hummingbirds next summer.
The two pictures, in this week's blog, are photographs I had seen in my mind's eye years before I even pushed the shutter button. This is how I'd wanted my hummingbirds to be seen, this is what I'd visualized, and it took many years to get these magical frames of light. They were both shot with the Canon 7D and the L-series 300mm lens, they were worked in the affordable Adobe Lightroom 5 software, but first worked and converted in the "free" software supplied by Canon as a tiff file.
And that's all there's to it to photographing hummingbirds; a half century of learning about art, nature, and photography, thousands of dollars in technology, a learning curve that will drive you to scream, the patience of Job in the hot sun, and a wife that's a very supportive fan, and always keeping your camera ready.
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Seems we are lucky in Wyoming to have three of the genus, and four species that have spent the warmer months in the Wind River Canyon. The genus Stellula has only one member, my personal favorite hummingbird, and the most difficult to photograph, the Calliope Hummingbird. The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest bird to breed in North America and, the most distinctive to my eye. The male's iridescent wine-red bolts on his throat are one of Mother Nature's genuine summer treats, yet he is shy by comparison, and when combined with his small size it makes him a fleeting and very small target for a big Canon lens. The female is distinctive, but easily confused with females and young hummers from other species that breed in the Wind River Canyon. The Calliope Hummingbird is small, quick and most beautiful.
The hummingbird genus Archilochus has only one member west of the Mississippi River, the Black-chinned Hummingbird. The Black-chinned Hummingbird was seen for the very first time in the Wind River Canyon last summer. They were forced out of their usual mating grounds by the fires in southern Colorado, and some of them came to breed here in the Canyon. In sixteen years we had never seen a Black-chinned hummingbird even once, and to say I was excited is an understatement. I have photos of the male, but they're not of website and blog quality, but I have a nice portrait of a female Black-chinned hummingbird; the females of hummingbirds are always friendlier to nature photographers. I've read that only thirty percent of nesting Black-chinned hummingbirds are successful, as the other two thirds are damaged by predation. They were successful here in the Wind River Canyon early last summer, I hope they will return next summer.
Last of the genus to be seen in the Wind River Canyon is Selasphorus, which includes both the Broad-tailed hummingbird and the Rufous hummingbird. The Broad-tailed hummingbird is seen every year in the Wind River Canyon, yet chooses not to nest here; they move through on their way northwest. The males are large and aggressive for a bird the size of your thumb; the male's shooting star display is utterly amazing, and their red gorget (throat) is unique in Wyoming. I hope to live long enough to see them nest in the Wind River Canyon.
The last hummingbird species to nest in the Wind River Canyon is the always delightful Rufous hummingbird. Both male and female Rufous hummingbirds are aggressive, territorial, and provide weeks of entertainment and photo ops during the summers here. The male's throat is red-orange and can take on a green flash in dim light. The adult Rufous male arrives during the first week of July, and they guard their food source with Tiger-like aggression; they're even the same color of rufous. They're the most successful of the four species seen in the Canyon, and the bird that started me on this conservation and wildlife photography quest in the first place. The females of all four species I have described can be confused unless you are very careful, and have a good hummingbird guide like me.
So there you have it, the four species of hummingbirds that can be seen and photographed in the Wind River Canyon and Wyoming. Put up a feeder and keep it clean, plant some flowers and enjoy the show, and see my gallery of hummingbird photographs on my website HogbatsPhotography.com.
Here's a selection of the Hummingbirds I have described in my blog.
Callliope Hummingbird-Wind River Canyon-WYCalliope Hummingbird photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Calliope Hummingbird-female-Wind River Canyon-WyomingCalliope Hummingbird, female, photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Black-chinned Hummingbird, female, Wind River Canyon, WyomingBlack-chinned Hummingbird photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Broad-Tailed Hummingbird-Wind River Canyon-WyomingHummingbird photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Rufous Hummingbird-Wind River Canyon,Wyoming - 1st Place 48th Cody Art ShowRufous Hummingbird photographed in the Wind River Canyon.
Keep that camera ready!
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Not that I'm complaining one bit mind you, because in the winter I get to chase wild Bald Eagles around with my Canon 7D. Bald Eagles eat fish, and have a large range in which they hunt in these mountains. Just this morning at 7:30 the local mating pair were flying the Wind River Canyon together going north. They were playing Bald Eagle acrobatics as they flew down river. Around the bend in the Canyon they flew, wingtip to wingtip, their white feathers glowing in the early morning light, while I stood there in my underwear wishing I was outside with my camera....and a warm coat.
Photographing Bald Eagles in winter Wyoming is a challenge to say the least; it's very cold and batteries and fingers freeze easily. In November my fingertips were blue, and the Canon 7D camera had slowed down to a crawl, by the time I could get back inside. Thawing them out is a pain that's indescribable, yet I'll never hesitate to grab the camera and dash out the door the next time I see them....when I'm not nearly naked that is.
The Bald Eagle, in this week's blog, was photographed last Wednesday morning as he was leaving one of his favorite trees. As a side note, in Raptors the females are usually always larger than their mates. I was hand holding the 300mm L-series lens, plus the 1.4 extender, photographing this eagle and trying to keep myself ready for everyone's favorite in-flight picture. When he took to the air I fired a burst @ 1/1600 second, @ f/10, ISO 400. I had eight frames in a second, but only two that were "just right." Out of sixty-five frames shot that morning, only this one was what we call "sponge worthy." Of course it was a RAW file that was worked in Digital Photo Professional, a newer copy of Canon's "free" software and then finished with a pro-look from Adobe Lightroom 5. I wanted to give this eagle picture an artsy fartsy treatment, so I let myself go a little wild this time. The photography requires strength of concentration, and lots of patience, and a little serendipity doesn't hurt either; the digital darkroom requires several hours of decisions to make the picture yours. Good luck in your quest for Mother Nature's wild beauty, and remember to always keep your camera ready; in case aliens land in their spaceship you'll need your camera.
Bald Eagle in Flight, Wind River Canyon, WyomingBald Eagle in Flight @ Wind River Canyon, Wyoming - HogbatsPhotography.com
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1) Bald Eagles fly by your window.
2) Bighorn Sheep can be viewed from your front porch.
3) 50 Elk can be seen with binoculars.
4) Hummingbirds mate there.
5) Trout can be caught within 2 minutes of your front door.
6) Golden Eagles hunt the high cliffs.
7) Cougar leave tracks a stones throw away from your cabin.
8) Over 100 different species of birds can be seen there.
9) Mail isn't delivered.
10) Sometimes you're snowed in!
I reworked my favorite Ram photograph yesterday to give this Bighorn Sheep some real pop. This Ram is used as my logo, and he deserved the royal treatment. I used the Canon "free" software and Adobe Lightroom 5. Now he really makes HogbatsPhotography.com look the way it should. Don't be afraid to make your photographs into your own vision; my goal has always been to make people fall in love with nature. If I can present my animals on their very best day, in the very best light, it makes everyone appreciate Mother Nature all the more. The camera was the Canon 7D with the 300mm L-series Canon lens shot from less than 25 feet away, literally a stones throw away from our cabin, Hogbats. And remember to always keep your camera ready!
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A vole, in case you don't know, is like a mole, but much more cute. He's grey and fat with a short tail, and a much nicer appearance than a dirty old mole in the ground. They live in colonies like small underground cities, and can number as many as 10,000 per acre. So the Ermine has no shortage of food, he just needs to hunt, which is something he's very good at. And to add insult to injury, the Ermine uses the fur to warm his nest; sounds kind of cozy.
Photographing an Ermine is another thing altogether, their quickness and rarity make them difficult wildlife photography subjects. First you need to find one, but it helps if you know where to find a vole colony. Wander the hillsides till you see many holes in the ground, hidden by sage and vegetation, then lots of patience and fast reactions with your camera. Living in the Wind River Canyon like I do, all this is going on around us, if anyone cares to notice. An Ermine will pop up in an unexpected instant, then just as quickly gone; did you get the picture? My advice is to practice these "ready or not" shots on something a bit more predictable, like small children or birds.
This little Ermine has been seen and photographed around here for three years, yet these two photos are the best of the lot. I worked them in black and white for a simple reason, it did justice to my subject; I also really enjoy photographing black and white portraits of children. It gave this snow white Ermine a strong, stately appearance; the black and white added to his strength. Notice if you will his cauliflower right ear, do you see it? The black and white was worked in Adobe Lightroom 5.
Ermine - Wind River Canyon, WyomingErmine, The Weasel, in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
Keep your camera ready!
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Happy New Year from the Wind River Canyon!
Sincerely, Mike and Deb
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Merry Christmas ~ To Family and Friends and the Hundreds of Our New Friends that visited the Website. Thank You!
]]>I've heard it said somewhere before, and it's one of my favorite quotes, "Anyone can shoot it with a gun, but to shoot it beautifully with a camera is talent." Snowflake is gone now, and that makes me very sad indeed; more than I have felt in a long time. But he will live on forever in my photographs if I have anything to say about it. And for those people that will read this far into this obituary, if you come visit me at my cabin, Hogbats, in the Wind River Canyon, I will run off a free signed photograph of Snowflake the Albino Bighorn Sheep from my very own printer.
To spend so much time with such a rare and beautiful animal has been a privilege. Thank you so very much for the wonderfully magical ride, I'll never forget those moments, running down the canyon with my monster camera and tripod slung over my shoulder, just trying to keep up with my bad knees hurting, yet never really minding the pain.
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One afternoon, while watching a lousy football game and nursing a sore back, a bird hit right near where I was sitting. Looking out the window revealed a whitish bird splayed in the snow, so I headed outside. When I rounded the southwest side of the cabin my heart sunk, because there in the snow was a woodpecker. Not just any woodpecker, but a Downy Woodpecker was laying in the snow, her wings spread wide; I thought she was dead. Lifting her up with my bare hands, I brushed the snow off the beautiful bird. This little female Downy Woodpecker wasn't just beautiful, she was devastating, and alive! She pounds trees with her beak, so her neck is stronger than most other birds. One of her eyes was swollen, she was still with us, but disoriented. I held her to my sweatshirt where she immediately held on like she would a tree, and I walked around to the backdoor bench.
This snow white and jet black woodpecker held on to my old sweatshirt with her talons for a time, then moved to my back, where she fell asleep. I couldn't believe it, a bird I had never seen before was now asleep on my upper back! She slept for some time, my back giving me fits, but I didn't care, because I had a Downy Woodpecker asleep on my back.
When she awoke, she flew to a nearby juniper, where she stayed and waited for a complete recovery. I ran inside and grabbed my ready camera, and because this Downy Woodpecker was already comfortable with me being close, I got some wild pictures of a species that isn't doing all that well, because of loss of habitat. When the time had come for her to go, she looked me in the eye, and flew up the Wind River Canyon till she was out-of-site, and I thought to myself, "I hope her journey will be as wonderful as her time with me was."
I've worked this digital file, and others from this Downy Woodpecker shoot, in many different software packages. Yet as beautiful as she is, this picture is now hardly processed digitally at all; her beauty just shines through all the ones and zeros. She was photographed with an old, now dead Canon 40D and the kit lens.
Downy Woodpecker-Wind River Canyon, WyomingDowny Woodpecker female in a juniper, in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.
If my camera wasn't ready to go at a moments notice, this photo wouldn't have been possible. "Keep your camera ready!" And check out my first video, The Hummingbird Itch! on my website, HogbatsPhotography.com or on You Tube.
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So why give up a full-time job to become a conservationist, and wildlife photographer, when it's agreed there's no great financial reward? My entire life now seems to have led me to this profession; my background and interest in art and art history, and my grandfather's cameras, for instance. But it's deeper than that; I want to show folks these wonderful things they've never seen, and maybe try and help protect these lovely animals and mountains for future Nature explorers. Honestly, if I can be of some small help for the preservation of this place, the Wind River Canyon ecosystem, it would all be worth the struggle. To just give back all the magical moments that we've experienced here, and let people really see these invisible creatures and the amazing place they live, would help this Wind River Canyon survive for many generations.
But, what you see when you visit any website, is much like an iceberg; you only see ten percent, the other ninety percent is hidden beneath and unseen by anyone. And this is the really difficult part of running a website, I found out, all the crap we all never see. The geek terminology is SEO, search engine optimization. Basically, it's me trying to make search engines find me, period. At times it seems just as unseen and magical as the animals I photograph, and at other times it's frustrating beyond belief. I'm in way too deep to ever give up; I owe my hummingbirds my life and my sanity.
The photo this week is a landscape I've been shooting for nearly twenty years! A half dozen different cameras and who knows how many frustrating trips to the grocery store to pick up badly printed film, and now I like it enough to let the internet see it. The spot is far above my cabin, in the far reaches of the canyon's rim, where few have ever ventured. The fog obscures things you'll want to see in the Wind River Canyon and, now it's a magic picture that if you stare too long you may see a Hobbit. The digital file was shot in RAW, and worked in Canon's Digital Photo Professional, a "free" software package that comes with Canon cameras; I used no expensive software on the photograph, but it's taken many hours to get it the way I saw it in my mind's eye. The photograph was shot with my favorite camera of all time, the Canon 7D; hand held with a 300mm L-series Canon lens. This week's photo is proof of what I've been trying to teach you; "Keep your camera ready."
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HDR or High Dynamic Range photography has been around for some time, but is only now seen widely by the general public. It usually requires multiple exposures that are stacked in expensive software to create better than real photographs. Many photographers sell expensive landscapes from around the world using HDR. The biggest drawback is the use of multiple exposures means your subject cannot be moving at all, so what you photograph is limited.
Then along came some brilliant code writer that wondered if the "HDR look" could be done with one exposure instead of five! I'd heard of single picture HDR but nothing more till recently. I received some "free" Canon software that had HDR built right in, so off I went last week and worked my arthritic hands to pain. The one picture that I had to work on was my wife's favorite of the Wind River Canyon. It took a couple of hours to get it exactly right, but here it is in this week's blog....Deb's Rainbow.
In sixteen years we've never seen these trees show off these colors, because usually Wyoming Fall just knocks off the leaves all at once. Bang....gone, but this one Fall....wow! High Dynamic Range gave this picture some real attention grabbing power now; as a Shoshoni friend said yesterday, "It's like the curtains were opened up." I toned down the saturation a little so the trees would look wonderful and not comic book, and I cloned out some posts that only posed visual problems. Now here's the only rainbow you can ever see in the beautiful Wind River Canyon.
These trees were photographed with a Canon 7D and a long lens, hand held of course. Until next week, keep your camera ready.
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This is why Hogbats Photography exists in the Wind River Canyon, so the magical animals that live, and travel through here, can be seen and appreciated by others for the first time. For the "First Documentation of the Ecology" of this region we needed a memorable domain name. Hogbats was the name of our cabin and property; it's a wonderful place with unbelievable views, yet no mail is delivered here and has few city services whatsoever. So if I had a dollar for every time we were asked where Hogbats came from, we'd have a stack of ones.....this high.
A friend and customer, of the little motel we used to own, made a sign for the cabin in the canyon. A strong manly sign made at a famous car company, in his spare time, it had a bucking bronco and The Balogs (our last name) in hand hammered aluminum letters. But even Elvis didn't put his name on the front gate! So I took the letters down while trying to rehab the thing, and set about coming up with a name that was something more creative than our last name. Now for a confession, my wife and I are fans of Harry Potter and his magical world; I've read the seven novels twice so far. So after two and a half wicked winter months, cooped up in this cabin, we both laughed at the new name I'd come up with. The name fit perfectly, for a place where the most magical moments Mother Nature hands out, were right outside my door. An ice-cold creek runs year round near the cabin, which attracts birds and animals you wouldn't believe. All I had to do was photograph them and their behavior, but quickly learned that film couldn't do what I'd seen in my mind's eye.
Six and a half years, and over thirty thousand digital frames later, I work on conservation and wildlife photography full time now. I really just want people to appreciate, and conserve for future Americans, this wonderfully magical Wind River Canyon.
Townsend's Solitaire-Wind River Canyon-WYTownsend's Solitaire with Juniper Berry in Wyoming.
Western Tanager-"Fool in the Rain"-Wind River Canyon, WyomingWestern Tanager Photographed in the Rain in Wyoming.
These two files were reworked by me just the other day in Canon's "free" new software. Both of these beautiful birds were photographed just outside my door, so to speak. The Solitaire after a nasty winter storm, and the Tanager was photographed in the rain; now these pictures really pop and Mother Nature now sings the way she wants to. Just remember to dry and clean your equipment! A good old terry towel is great stuffed into your camera bag. The above pictures prove what I've been writing...."keep your camera ready!"
]]>It was 4:30 in the morning, and my colitis was flaring up, and I wasn't in my cabin in the canyon; I was in a very nice motel in Jackson Hole. Suffering with this agonizing pain is something I've learned to tolerate, but being here in this mountain retreat was supposed to be an adventure, and I was sick yet again. I said out loud to my wonderful wife, "I wish we could leave right now and shoot the mountains." But I was doubled over in pain and didn't think I was going anywhere. My wife had the motivation that morning to convince me to get out of the room and drive out in the dark and catch the Grand Tetons at sunrise. When that crisp fall, high-country mountain air hit my body I really did feel better, and as the stars gave way in what was to become a magical morning I forgot about how sick I was. Apparently nothing is as good for you as good mountain air, that's the way it is in the Tetons.
The trees had to be golden, and the sky azure, with the peaks just that special color; god knows the image had been in my mind for over forty years. I'd been part of elk hunts and summer getaways up at the Tetons, so I knew my way around a little, so I pulled into a small road and found the right spot. The Tetons never disappoint anyone with patience, so just sit like Ansel Adams did and wait. It was cold, big surprise, but then the sun kissed the peaks and all the troubles in the world seemed to disappear; that's what happens to you in the Tetons, you will see the world in a good light, and the light was good.
As you've noticed, I love the Tetons and they hold a very special place in my heart for some very personal reasons. Special things can happen way up there for you too, you just have to get out and let nature wash away your troubles. The shoot went great and the digital files were going to be fun to work on, so I could find my picture of the Grand Tetons. This photograph of the Grand Tetons was worked in a new version of Canon's supplied software, Digital Photo Professional, so the software was "free." Make plans to go up and find your personal vision of Grand Teton National Park, and make it your mountain, too.
Photograph shot with a Canon 7D and a 28-135mm Canon zoom lens, with a tripod of some unknown origin. And as always, remember to keep your camera ready!
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There are some wild things that are going to need protection from developers, even way out here in Wonderful Wyoming. This is one of the western states where entire mountains get dug up for profit. This place, the Red Bluffs, that runs along the historic flood plain of the Wind River Canyon, is a beautiful ecology that rivals those in Arizona and should not be commercialized like this. They will tell you about jobs that never will exist for your children, but promises will be made at the expense of the destruction of habitat. Is this the legacy we leave to our grandchildren?
Mountain Bluebird, In Flight, WyomingMountain Bluebird in Flight
Mountain Bluebird, WyomingMountain Bluebird on the Red Bluffs.
As always, until next week, keep your camera ready!
]]>It seemed a good day to take pictures, so with a little motivation, off I went with the Canon beast under my arm, down from the mansion into my first Wyoming slot canyon. In only a few minutes I was isolated from everything I knew above; only rock and a little ribbon of sky above me remained. This canyon ribbon curved much more than I ever expected it to; pretty soon I felt almost trapped by Mother Nature, with only a blue ribbon of sky above me, and no easy way out. It was so quiet I swear I could hear my own heartbeat and it was racing. I would round a curve in the red rock not knowing what or who I would see, and yet I saw nothing but a few bleached bones, but I had my camera ready.
Then my red path came to a small backwash of four feet, so I sat on the red ledge and slipped my butt down to the rest of my unknown journey. As I followed the slotted draw down deeper into the cliffs, I wondered if I was going to find something to photograph; as I rounded the next red bend there he was....a Great Horned Owl! He had a cave of his own that was pointed in my direction, and so were his yellow eyes. This Owl obviously had never seen a human down here before. I took some fast shots and quickly rounded the next hidden curve that isolated me from his staring eyes. I made some quick adjustments to my camera, took a few deep breaths to calm my hormones, and went headlong into what was going to be a remarkable shoot.
I rounded the red rock corner, and the Owl and I were both ready, his bright yellows eyes looking right at me! Raising my heavy monster I took my shots, a burst of who knows how many frames; it seemed forever, yet was only a few seconds at most. Then I did what any good conservationist should do, I lowered my camera to take in the event with my own eyes; it was a fleeting moment I know, but forever burned into my memory, and off the big, Great Horned Owl flew, down into the field that was in last week's Wyoming Landscape blog. I quickly tried to follow him as he flew down and away from his cave, but found my path had ended at a very high backwash of nearly twenty feet! My heart was in a race to go somewhere, but I could only watch the majestic Owl fly beyond my ability to follow, so I turned around and retraced my red path back up to the mansion.
When the photographs were finally on my computer, I saw something I needed to do. One of the frames was worked as a color photograph should be, but one of the other digital files I worked as a black and white. You see, I was always a fan of a famous film director from the 1930's, a man who changed the way we see movies today, James Whale. He directed the very first Frankenstein film, and changed an entire world with his films, yet was shunned because of his sexual orientation, and his life ruined. I worked the photograph in a way he would have liked, and this is this week's blog photograph. The color version can be seen on my website, HogbatsPhotography.com. And by the way, the owner of the mansion had never been that far into the slot in the Red Bluffs. Can you imagine what a casino nearby would do to the life of this Owl?
In Memory of James WhaleGreat Horned Owl, Red Bluffs near Thermopolis, Wyoming.
Until next week, keep your camera ready!
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If you step back a distance, in this case I was standing on the rise of Buffalo Creek, with magnification this is one of the most beautiful landscapes in Hot Springs County, yet most people just fly on into the Canyon. Imagine an early fall snow rushes through, then a mountain sun starts a melt and the air almost crackles in the morning warmth. The light and shadow play with each other over the extensive Red Bluffs that run across the mouth of the Wind River Canyon, it's a beautiful place where raptors, geese and ducks are always to be seen by the sharp eyed, and owls and bluebirds come to nest.
Then it's announced that a casino could be built right near this photogenic spot. A large, ugly square building and huge asphalt parking lot could mar this view someday. It's all based on the economics of putting a casino in an area with little economics. Many don't believe it will ever be built, others can't wait to go loose their hard earned money. I think it's a beautiful landscape with Red Bluffs, and the Owl Creek Mountains in the far distance, so stop and explore this amazing Wyoming Landscape before it's gone.
Camera-Canon 7D with grip and a 300mm L-series lens and 1.4 extender, all on a Giottos aluminum tripod, shot 1/800, f/7.1 at ISO 200. Minor work and RAW conversion in Canon Digital Photo Professional and sharpening, saturation....in Lightroom 5.
And remember....keep your camera ready.
]]>I'd had dreams of the Osprey in flight, and could see the photograph of an Osprey in flight with a trout in it's talons in my mind's eye. Photographing Osprey in the Tetons is a remarkable day, but I still couldn't get the shot I'd seen in my head on my computer screen. Then a little over a week ago, early in the morning, while taking the Buffalo Creek road like I always do, there he was just waiting for me to take his picture. It was a little harder than it sounds, as these majestic birds of prey don't pose; raptors are the definition of freedom and strength. I knew what I wanted to get on my memory chip, and of course was prepared with lots of practice, and just like that fifty frames had been recorded. Did I get what I wanted? only later would I know; don't spend so much of your time looking at your camera back, all your concentration should be on your subject, be it an Osprey or a child. The technology is not as important as capturing a great file.
The ISO was set at 500 on my Canon 7D, even on this sunny morning I felt I needed the higher speed this would give me for the fast and elusive bird. Sitting on the branch, f/10 at 1/1600th of a second, the Osprey in flight, f/8 at 1/2000th. All the shots were handheld with the image-stabilized 300mm f/4 lens, with a 1.4 extender. It's all very heavy, and a fine upper body morning workout, and all right here in my backyard. RAW conversion in the Canon software and post-production in Lightroom 5.2. And if you look very close at the fish that the Osprey is grasping with his talons in flight, you will see that this juvenile is carrying a German Brown Trout; a better fisherman then me.
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I was working for a little old woman that owned a log cabin the size of the county building, and one afternoon in the spring she came out on the front deck to ask me if I could chase the Turkeys out of her backyard. Sure I said, and walked around back to "chase" the little Turkeys away. The hens, of which there were eight or ten, took off over the fence or ran out the front gate, and I was left face to face with the largest bird I had ever seen in my life. This Tom Turkey was nearly nose to beak with me when he got himself to full, stretched out height. It really surprised me just how big this monster was, and I would know, look how many of his distant relatives I had eaten. But I was ready, or so I thought, to run this interloper out of the yard.
But this was now his territory, and he wasn't going to leave on this beautiful spring afternoon no matter who I was. Trying the usual verbal abuses and yelling did nothing but make him very angry; he would jump up like a karate master and rake my chest with his claws that left welts. I would yell and curse and flail away to no response from him other than more of his frightening attacks on me. Being a boyhood baseball player, I grabbed the only large stick nearby, the size of a child's ball bat, and when he landed after another strike on me, I hit him on his breast (this was a Turkey) with everything I had in me. I swear to my readers now, it was like hitting the tire on my wife's truck. I new then that this was the toughest thing in the valley, and wasn't it any wonder Ben admired them; so I used a little Turkey Psychology. I got his attention and directed it to his harem that was now forty yards down the road! And just that easy, he was gone and never returned again.
After hiking the Wind River Canyon for more then a quarter century, I'd never seen even one Turkey, that is until a couple of weeks ago. How they got here or from which direction I'll never know, but we now have four huge Tom Turkeys running around this central neighborhood of the canyon. The little pony-tail on their breast is cute, and they are just as magical when they disappear like Harry Potter. This week's photo was taken during that first early blizzard; not quite snow yet, but very cold. I was wet and frozen and so was my Canon 7D, but it performed wonderfully. Look closely and you will see those almost snowflakes in the photograph. The RAW file was worked in the Canon software and then converted to a TIFF and worked in Lightroom 5.2. The shutter was a slow handheld shot at 1/640 at f-stop 6.3 with the ISO at a higher than I like 800. The file was amazing when you consider that I never thought I would see a Wild Turkey in my backyard, in the Wind River Canyon; until next week, keep your camera ready.
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The weather was beautiful last Sunday, the twenty-second of September; I was working in the yard all morning trying to get caught up before the first snowstorm of the season came in with a bang. Just after half a chicken sandwich there they were, a group of yearling Bighorn Sheep with their mother's in charge. It was a large group of Bighorn moving south right across the Wind River from our cabin. The young Bighorn would be about six months old by now, and this was an excellent opportunity to add something really cute to my blog. And as I've said it before, "Have your camera always ready to shoot." I grabbed the heavy Canon 7D and ran out the front door trying to make sure of the ISO on the now mostly cloudy afternoon.
Down the hill and across the road I limped, my knees trying to tell me to slow down a bit, but I never have been able to take orders. I thought about the tripod on the way out, decided not to take it and wished I had slung aluminum beast over my shoulder anyway. This now means I had to shoot the five pound monster Canon freehand, at shutter speeds that was going to make this frenetic shoot challenging, and I love the adrenaline rush of this kind of a photographic safari in Wyoming.
The shutter speed turned out to be 1/500th of a second at f/8 with an ISO of 500; at approximately thirteen working power it's hard labor just holding the 300mm Canon f/4 and Canon 1.4 extender steady: This turns out to be 670mm for those that are interested in the math. I shot a total of 50 frames as I tried to keep up with the herd. Along the way I met a fella that had the new Canon 200-400mm zoom lens with the same camera I use; it cost him one hundred dollars a day just to rent the white monster lens! I tried to encourage this couple to build a website for their work, let's hope they do.
The Bighorn Sheep baby photos turned out cuter than cute, here's our favorite, right here from the Wind River Canyon. Next week I will have something in my blog that I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd get to photograph in the Canyon. So, until next week, keep your camera ready!
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The weather in Yellowstone in October will be crazy different from day to day; you may get a blizzard or it could rain, it could be seventy degrees, and you'll need sunscreen for that nose. So I always advise to bring warm clothing; even in summer the nights in the park can be brutal for those that only packed shorts, as snow in June in Yellowstone is not that unusual. In October everything is magnified by the season of fall, so pack up that winter jacket and head to Yellowstone National Park in October.
We headed to the park for a day of shooting photographs of the Lower Falls; at 308 feet it's an impressive sight when you feel that you've found this place in the forest. I've been to Niagara Falls, and the feeling is completely different when you find the "roar in the forest" at Artist Point, which is my favorite spot in Yellowstone National Park. And wouldn't you know, it was cold and raining on and off when this week's picture was taken, but for digital darkroom work nothing is as useful as a cloudy day. So, between drizzles I took my handheld shots of the Lower Falls at Artist Point, and muggled my way through the mostly European crowd to the other side of the viewing platform. It was there while waiting for the crowd to dwindle, and the rain to lighten up a little, I saw a little pine tree that stopped my heartbeat. It wasn't just perched on the mountainside, it was hanging on for dear life. Hollering, "look at that," made my wife Deb, and the only other folks on that end of the viewing deck, a young couple from Germany, look at me like there was something I'd witnessed that they'd missed. That poor little tree was right there in front of millions of visitors, yet I saw something in him others missed; he needed his picture took.
I was proud of that little pine and the shot that came out of the insight, and as it turns out others loved it as much as we did. Pinnacle Bank of Wyoming, thirteen locations, one near you, made it the cover shot for their calender, and I felt almost famous. When I started looking at the map of Yellowstone National Park, it was enlightening to know that the far "Seventh Ridge" was the northeast rim of the Caldera! so that eternal struggle for life we all face, even this wonderful little pine tree can never really win.
This Yellowstone National Park photograph of the tree was taken with my Canon 40D and the kit lens in the rain. Shot RAW and white balance adjusted, as is color and sharpness, because this is digital not film, so don't be afraid of the medium. I've printed them small and I've printed them big, and everyone loves them all, but it was really a magical moment of inspiration and a little pine tree that makes this week's shot so beautiful.
After fifteen years of living in the Wind River Canyon I was naively confident that I had seen it all before. This summer I could open a window and photograph the House Wrens without the young Wrens even knowing I was observing their behavior; it is the perfect set-up for many thousands of enjoyable frames that usually lasts a couple of months in early summer.
The female Wren finishes her nest with soft material from around the nearby creek, but it is obvious to an experienced eye that she is a young mother-to-be; the mating pair are not as fanatical at watching the nest as other more experienced birds I have seen in the past, including another Wren house on the other side of my property occupied by an older female.
While the young House Wren couple was away from their nest for too long yet again, there arrived an old female Wren that began checking out the birdhouse and giving it a once over that looked very odd. She peered into the "doorway" but kept her lookout in a very quick and unusual manner that was very strange indeed. The Wren then poked her head out of the opening, but she had an egg in her beak!
This mature female Wren from the other side of the property didn't just drop the egg; no, she threw it out! and watched it fall, then shot out of the Wren house like the season's owners would never do. I was absolutely stunned for a second; I couldn't believe what I had just seen. Standing there for an eternity I finally ran out the back door of my cabin to search for the egg, and found it in a few minutes of careful searching. I held the tiny egg in my hand and looked up at the wren birdhouse and wondered, "Should I put this miniature egg back into the birdhouse? What should I do with it?
Then it hit me, "Everything I need to know I learned from Star Trek." I know how this sounds like the Big Bang Theory, but I swear this is how I worked out this weird incident from Mother Nature. I'm here to observe animal behavior, not change it to my own idea of morality.
Think about it for a moment right now; doesn't the "Prime Directive" apply here as well? I really did want to put the beautiful little egg back into the nest, but that would be interfering in something that was not any of my business. I didn't like what I felt I had to do; no, this is none of my business, "don't interfere!" And I hated myself for knowing that I had to walk away with that pretty little egg in my hand, but I could not, under any circumstance, put the egg back; I would be a human making decisions about what other beings should be behaving like; this was not really my choice to interfere.
The beautiful little egg now sits on the curved tail of a small pewter mouse that sits on the kitchen window sill within site of the Wren's birdhouse. But wait, there is the "rest of the story." The young occupants came back, and spent an inordinate amount of time looking around, and yes it bothered me. But things turned out all right after all, the young House Wrens had four perfect little babies of their very own weeks later. But it was only much later when I was checking my camera back did I learn that a half century of training paid off handsomely; I had the pictures of a killer in my 16 gigabit CF chip! Captain Kirk would have been proud of me.
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The exact place of my "high hide" was a logical one; I'll swing open the north window of my bedroom, and plant my heavy camera on my tripod and wait. My ice tea could sit right there next to my lawn chair, now in my bedroom. But, there was a timing problem to be sure, as the sunshine needed to shoot at the high shutter speeds only occurs at that spot for three hours during mid-summer; the rim of the Wind River Canyon does have it's disadvantages, so I made my plans to photograph hummingbirds from my special "high hide."
I found out soon enough that this was going to be a nerve wracking series of shoots; this particular hummingbird feeder is in a very popular protected spot, and they come and go so quickly here. If I sat down, a Rufous Hummingbird would show up, and by the time I stood up and got my finger on the Canon 7D, bang he was gone. But wildlife photographers must have patience, as I've written before here in my blog. There was lots of nothing going on, then frantic bursts of camera frames. As the hummingbirds got used to my "high hide" an adult male Rufous Hummingbird was wonderful about "posing" for me. One afternoon the photograph I had seen in my head years earlier was right there, I'd finally gotten it right. Working it in Canon's RAW software and Elements 8, I then printed it myself thirteen inches square.
Some advice on framing your special photograph, go to AmericanFrame.com, their ordering software is fantastic, and after years of perfect orders and shipping, I have no complaints at all, and that is saying something. The framing was very special; cherry wood frame and triple matted just for the Cody Country Art League 48th annual Art Show. I won first place in the Professional division this summer with the Rufous Hummingbird photograph I had nervously fought for so hard for, and to top it all off I won a second place award for the Swallowtail Butterfly that is seen on my home page gallery at HogbatsPhotography.com. Last year I had won second place in the Pro-division and was determined to win a first place award, and this all only took six years and over ten thousand pictures of hummingbirds: Never give up your vision, you never know were it will take you.
This great piece of knowledge I call the "Little Green Men Rule." It is simple enough for you to learn, here goes nothing. Going to the store for milk and eggs, take your camera. Just running down to drop off the kids, take your camera. Even if you are only going to the dentist, take your camera with you. Don't go anywhere without your camera rig; put the electronic wonder in a backpack and learn to sling it over your shoulder no matter what you are going out of the house for: Take Your Camera! If an alien spaceship lands and little green men come out, and you don't have your camera, you will be forever angry at yourself, and who wants to live with that?
I can't tell you the number of times it took me to learn the "Little Green Men Rule." Oh, I'm only going to get acupuncture, why would I need my camera? "Look, there is a Bighorn Sheep!" We're only running over for cheeseburgers, but that Bald Eagle will never wait for you to run back to the house for your Canon. Please, don't forget, take your camera with you. Yes, I know it seems simply stupid on the surface, but it will pay off to take the "little monster" with you. I learned this "Little Green Men Rule" the hard way, and never mind how stupid I felt later that day. Don't forget....take your camera. I personally use a big padded, black backpack that only cost me fifty-nine dollars on closeout at Adorama. If your concern is that you live in an area where theft is a worry, try using an ugly padded diaper bag with little duckies all over it; who on earth would steal one of those? Take your camera.
This week's photo is one of the last hummingbird shots of the summer. It's a little Rufous Hummingbird that is barely out of the nest, is only two weeks old, and already as strong as an eagle. He is now on his way to mountains south of here, and will travel two thousand miles till he reaches his winter home. The file was taken with a Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 Canon L-series lens and a 1.4 Canon extender II with the Canon battery grip on the camera. The extender was purchased from Adorama used, and the lens was a factory demo that I got at a good discount. Honestly....the lens I wish I had costs over fourteen thousand dollars! And don't tell me that's not crazy. ISO 500, 1/1250th at f/8 and worked RAW in the Canon Digital Photo Professional software and converted to a tiff file, then worked in Elements 8 and Lightroom 5 software; it's a beautiful portrait of a wonderful hummingbird that will be back here in the Wind River Canyon next year. 
In the nineteenth century it became the fashion to put hummingbirds on women's hats and collected like pretty stones, dried and dead under glass. One London dealer's paperwork shows that 400,000 hummingbird skins were imported by this company alone in just one year! all from the New World since hummingbirds only live in the Americas. They would be netted and suffocated, skinned and shipped to Europe for fashion. How many species of hummingbird are now extinct because they were pretty things? Now we wonder how this could have happened to something so free; thank goodness people have learned to respect nature, at least a little.
One of my photographic projects is to try to make "portraits" of my favorite birds, with the hummingbird the subject I most enjoy working with. It is a major challenge just to get close and have them trust you long enough to get a "classic" portrait. First you need a blind and a long lens, or better yet a bird that will trust you. This week's picture is a portrait of a young male hummingbird not long out of the nest, and he is gorgeous. You don't need to shoot as fast as when they are in mid-flight of course, but a fast shutter speed is usually warranted. Now, look him in the eye right now; how on earth could you kill such a beautiful wonder? The most spectacular thing of all? He is the size of your thumb and is already on his way to the high mountains in Mexico.
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Then decades later I was up on a tall ladder painting the trim on my cabin in the Wind River Canyon, when guess what I saw? And of course I wanted to photograph them, and with a little encouragement from a few "keys" in my life and many, many thousands of hours and six years of cussing at computers later, I wanted to know last week, "Why do I love Hummingbirds?"
Hummingbirds fly like bolts of lightning; glittering emeralds and rubies that light up even a sunny day; they always hum a merry tune, but only to themselves. Yet, I have learned through sixteen summers now that they do have a simple language and communicate with one another. For those moments when I'm photographing Hummingbirds now, never do I feel the bursitis in my knees, or the pain in my hands from arthritis; it just seems to magically disappear.
Why do I Love Hummingbirds? Because they make me smile, and so little a thing such as a Hummingbird can make you smile, too.
This week's photograph was taken last Wednesday with the usual Hummingbird equipment I use from Canon. The sun was just breaking over the rim of the Wind River Canyon, and damn he's cute.........
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You may have read that you can change the "White Balance" in a RAW photograph; what exactly does this mean? Even some professionals do not really understand the implications of this power the photographer has at his or her disposal. Here's a little secret; with the White Balance you have the ability to make your photographs appear to be shot in the "magic hour." Every photo can be the perfect sunset kind of lighting that you see in major magazines! That's right, long beautiful evening light in your photographs every single time; even if it is two in the afternoon on a cloudy day. That is the real power of shooting RAW, perfect evening light anytime you want. For the few people that will read my blog, fool around with the White Balance and you too will find the real power of shooting RAW.
Now, for this week's photograph we have something truly rare in this part of the Wild West. Because of the fires in the southern Rockies this year, we had Black-Chinned Hummingbirds nesting in the Wind River Canyon for the very first time. These amazing hummingbirds would never have come this far north of their usual nesting sites, but here they are along with the Calliope and Rufous Hummingbirds we always see in the Canyon. Compare this female Black-Chinned Hummingbird's beak with the other pictures of hummingbirds I have in my Hummingbird Gallery; I'll give you a hint, it's a lot longer. I am sure that this species has never been photographed in central Wyoming like this before. I hope they come back to the Wind River Canyon next summer.
Camera-Canon 7D with 300mm f/4 Canon L-series lens and a 1.4 Canon extender II with the grip; hand held shot @ 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500; digital darkroom work in Canon Digital Photo Professional, Photoshop Elements 8, and the new Photoshop Lightroom 5.
Trust me on this one, you're going to want the sun at your back. Any other lit condition will set up a bunch of problems for your camera sensor. Even the vulture comes between you and the sun so it makes him harder to see well, so pick your spot wisely. If you need to move from your spot, you should move like you are running at the bottom of a pool. I can't stress enough that when you are moving around your chosen prey you should move excessively slowly. Slow, slower and slowest are the ways of moving around wildlife; outrunning a grizzly bear is out of the question, so move slow and stay away from things that could potentially eat you.
But most of all, the best secret of what I do as a wildlife photographer living in the Wind River Canyon is this.....patience. Have lots of patience and be prepared to be bored and uncomfortable at times. Have a little patience, I cannot say it enough times to people who want to learn how to be a better animal photographer. This week's photograph is a very good example of what I just said. It took me two and one half hours for this young Rufous Hummingbird to let me into his fast paced life. I would move a little closer, then back off; then start the process all over again. I even backed off and went inside the cabin for an ice tea, but after two and one half hours he trusted me enough to get so very close that the photo I saw in my mind's eye was right there for me to capture with my Canon camera, and the tea hit the spot, too. I did my job as a hunter and got my prey and was successful. But most of all there are no computer tricks to this photo, what you see is what I saw through the viewfinder; this is real Wyoming wildlife at its best.
Camera is Canon 7D with my 300mm f/4 L-series lens, with simple adjustments in the Canon software and Elements 8. Next week I will give you a lecture on why professionals always shoot RAW; good luck in your hunt for the perfect shot.
The Mountain Chickadee is a wonderful little bird that is one of the easiest to interact with in the mountains. The way they hammer on a seed is most impressive at twenty below. They crowd around us as we fill the bird feeder and spout a beautiful note; one day I took out my camera and got it set to shoot one of my favorite kind of bird photo....a portrait of a living, wild bird. Of course I was wearing the same hat and jacket they saw me in every day. Getting so close to my little Chickadee that I had to back off a little to get the lens to focus, I shot until my finger froze to the lens. But oh, that one frame with the snow crystals on his beak!
I have used this "magic hat trick" every day in the canyon for many years with all kinds of birds and animals. Wear the same jacket or plain shirt as this will teach the bird that this is the same moron with the camera that has been here every time he sees you. They will relax a little, maybe just enough for you to get a bit closer to your subject. Think of the deer that come around that they seem unconcerned about, mimic that behavior and you will see that with a little blending in to the wild you too will get better photos of your prey.
This photograph of the Mountain Chickadee was shot two days after Christmas. ISO 400, f/6.3 @ 1/1600-Shot RAW; Canon software and Photoshop Elements 8.
The regular hummingbird visitors to the Wind River Canyon are easy to spot, or rather they spot you. This male Rufous Hummingbird is a real stunner, but what makes the gorget (his throat feather display) so unusual is the early morning light. The gorget is very difficult to photograph well, it is very much like shooting pictures of a mirror. So the best time to photograph hummingbirds is before the sun gets to their highly reflective feathers.
The ISO is higher for this photo than I like, the "grain" is part of the charm I guess. Compare his gorget to others in my website and you will see how feathers like this can change in color depending on the time of day. During the afternoon his gorget is a brilliant orange.
Same equipment as always, and my trusty Giottos tripod. 1/100 @ f/10....this was an early morning experiment shot on July 14th; he is putting on quite the display, and I am less than ten feet away!
Next week I will reveal one of my magical secrets to getting the animals in the Wind River Canyon to trust me the way they do.
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Which leads me to the photo that I just uploaded to my Hummingbird Gallery; a wonderful picture of a Calliope Hummingbird. He's a real stunner, and always one of our favorites around here. The Calliope is the smallest bird in North America, about the size of your finger from the knuckle up. This points out a little something I would like to bring up in this my third blog.
This photograph of the Calliope, and all the other photographs on my website were taken without a flash. There is no flash in Nature and never should there be. Children don't like a flash any more than an animal or a bird. We should all be aware of our imprint on Mother Nature, and firing off a big flash unit in the eyes of a sensitive creature like a hummingbird is just plain wrong. I know that there are those that use multiple commercial "pops" to photograph hummingbirds; I've seen the pictures many times and took a course on how to shoot this way; but the birds don't particularly like it, as you would expect.
When you're out in the local park, the woods, Yellowstone, or even your own backyard; try not to disturb the animals! You will get much better pictures of that bird or deer if you try to "work with Nature" not against it. Today's digital technology means that Mother Nature need not be disturbed.
The camera was my favorite Canon 7D with the 300mm L-series f/4 with a 1.4 extender II. Incredibly this photo was taken hand held at f5.6 at 1/320; shot RAW and worked and converted in Canon Digital Photo Professional and worked a little in the new Lightroom 5. Great new software, albeit a tad more complicated to learn than Photoshop Elements. This Calliope Hummingbird was photographed last Saturday. Now go out and visit Old Mother Nature, but don't take the flash.
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My favorite subject to photograph are the hummingbirds that come to breed here in the Wind River Canyon. I've been working with them for fourteen years now, and photographing them digitally for six, but this blog is not about the over one hundred species of birds that live and move through this canyon. This blog is about an animal so rare that there is not another in the entire world. I am not exaggerating when I say that he is "One in a Million."
Many have heard of him, few have seen him in person, and more are beginning to see him in my work. Those that claim to have seen him, or my pictures, would like to protect this marvel of Mother Nature. This rarest of all the wildlife that lives in North America lives here in Wyoming: An Albino Bighorn Sheep lives in the Wind River Canyon. Ancient cultures consider an albino to be a sign of great power and prowess. Our little white Ram is obviously something very special; there may never be another.
Till now I have personally spent over twenty-five hours with the Albino Ram of the Wind River Canyon; I would really like to bottle these precious moments for others, but that is impossible, so I have done the closest thing that I can do in this digital age. If you go to his gallery and look closely you will notice his pink nose and pink hooves; his eyes look different too: Look closely!
Cars and trucks sometimes stop in the middle of the road to ask me questions. I've met folks from all over the world, and yes I introduced them to the Albino Ram who now is known as "Snowflake" around Hot Springs County. When I handed my binoculars over to a lady in a big red truck in the middle of the street , she hollered, "Boy is he white!" And a fella from California, with a very expensive spotting scope, kneeled next to me to take pictures through it with a ninety-nine dollar camera, asked me why his photographs, which he had taken around the world, did not look very good. A reservation local was overheard saying, "I wish I could get a license so I could shoot him." Is nothing sacred anymore?
So look at this Albino Bighorn Sheep from the Wind River Canyon, and imagine you are here seeing him for yourself, for the first time on a beautiful sunny day in the canyon; the cliffs covered in gold. Marvel at the sight of an animal as very rare and wonderful as this, for Snowflake is truly "One in a Million."
Good old fashioned advice....get a good sturdy tripod. I use a big, heavy, metal Giottos that came from Adorama on sale, with their big ball head. You will never see a carbon fiber thousand dollar plus tripod in the corner of my cabin; you too can make due I'm sure. All the photographs of Snowflake in my Albino Big Horn Sheep Gallery were shot with the Canon 7D and Canon 300 f/4 and 1.4 extender. The lens was a factory demo and the extender was purchased used. Always shoot Raw: and my conversion and minor work was done in the Canon software and Elements something.
]]>When I hear someone say, "Female birds are not very pretty." I want to show them the female Bullock's Oriole pictures; she radiates nature's beauty even in the snow. The male is without doubt one of the most striking birds that nest here in the Canyon. These photographs were taken early this week with a technique that is frowned upon by most of the popular photography books.
One of the hummingbird feeders hangs on the front window frame of our cabin overlooking the cliffs; these pictures were shot through the window, something I had never tried seriously before. I know this is supposed to be wrong, but try it for yourself with your favorite bird feeder. Your camera and rig will no doubt be different from mine, but go ahead and give it a wave. Put a bird feeder of any type outside of your window and when birds arrive you have a front seat, and a camera for the show. It will take some practice, even for the veteran shooter to get the pictures you want. These portraits speak for themselves. "If you don't try, then for sure nothing will happen."
Camera-Canon 7D with Canon grip. Lens-Canon 300mm f/4 L Series + Canon 1.4 extender II. Hand held from about seven feet away from the sensor. Shutter 1/1000 @ f6.3, ISO 400, shot RAW, and minimal work with Canon's supplied software and Elements 8; I just ordered Lightroom 5. You will never see seven hundred dollar software in my Wind River Canyon cabin, and you probably don't need to spend that amount on software either; wildlife photography shouldn't need that type of manipulation: Keep it Real.........