Coyotes

Through all of our travels, we rarely have seen any coyotes. They just seem to be out of sight so much that when we do get to see one, it is not only rare, but very notable. Always very fleeting as well.  This summer has very much been the exception to that norm, however. It seems like every time we have been out almost, we come across a coyote somewhere along the way.

For the most part, they are fleeting encounters - either the coyote is streaking along heading for other parts, or it takes off as soon as we begin to slow down. Consequently, we don't get the chance to photograph many.

Earlier this summer, I posted a notable exception to this rule on my Facebook Photography site. This is a Mearns Coyote (Canis latrans mearnsi)we happened across in Southwestern Colorado at Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. He was behind this "hedge" of sagebrush and we assume he thought he was hidden. He was number six for this summer.

Mearns Coyote

Montezuma County, Colorado, USA, September 3, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 at 300mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/8 for 1/320 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

On our latest trip the first week of August, we saw #8, #9, #10 and #11 in quick succession over less than 24 hours. It seemed they were everywhere. #8 was little more than eyes shining back at us in the night, but #9 raced to cross the highway in front of us and up a steep cutbank. There was no way to get a photo, but it was fun to watch his muscles ripple as he ran up that steep bank.

We were able to circle back and get a few photos of #10, but he was a long way away by then and kept moving along.

Mountain Coyote

Rio Ariba County, New Mexico, USA, October 5, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 at 300mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/8 for 1/800 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

This is how we normally see them.  He wasn't running particularly fast, but pretty steadily. He did not stop as long as he was in sight except for brief glimpses back at us.

#11 was different. He was about 100 yards out into the middle of a large open meadow of tall grass. He could see us and we could see him, but he did not react.  Just kept on hunting rodents. We watched and took long-distance photos for quite a while. He slowly moved along for about 150 yards and we followed along until he left the meadow and entered a large area of brush and trees that came right down to the side of the road. I started bleating like a mule deer, and pretty soon he started to hunt us, eventually getting to within about 25 feet of us. He probably would have come closer, but I was outside the car to get better photos. He winded me and moved off a little, but still never ran.  We got lots of good photos of him.

Mearns Coyote

Rio Ariba County, New Mexico, USA, October 5, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 at 300mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/9 for 1/200 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Rancho Del Oso Pardo

"Rancho Del Oso Pardo"

Quaking aspen propagates primarily through root sprouts, and extensive clonal colonies are common. Each colony is its own clone, and all trees in the clone have identical characteristics and share a single root structure. A clone may turn color earlier or later in the fall than its neighboring aspen clones. You can clearly see this here.

Quaking Aspen Clones

Rio Ariba County, New Mexico, Utah, USA, October 5, 2016, Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 at 70mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/9 for 1/200 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

The ranch referenced above has the temerity to post its boundaries along public roads with "No Trespassing, No Hunting, No Fishing, No Photographers, No Photography"! They are certainly within their rights to post their property and keep the public out, but they do not own the sky, the air, the light or the vistas! Just had to post this as a tribute!

Rancho del Oso Pardo

Rio Ariba County, New Mexico, Utah, USA, July 20, 2016, iPhone6, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Photo Unfriendly

Chasing Clouds

We were not at all sure how tonight would turn out. The sunset was good, but lots of clouds and they seemed to be getting thicker by the minute. We originally planned to stay in Arroyo Hondo where we viewed the sunset from and try for some Milky Way images. However, it appeared that the clouds were just getting thicker there.

We decided to change our location from there to out between the Rio Grande Gorge and Tres Piedras. When we got there, the Milky Way was obscured by clouds. We decided to wait a bit and see, and were rewarded. The clouds never totally left, but this band of clouds provides a break between the Milky Way and the light painting on the horizon from Santa Fe. Most likely a better photo because of the cloud layer which seemed to be blocking the light from below.

Taos County, New Mexico, USA, August 28, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 18mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

The Best Laid Plans

We planned to go out in the early evening, watch the sunset, go see some animals in the dusk, and then photograph the Milky Way after dark. The Milky way is currently high in the sky and the moon is below the horizon, making for really good conditions.

Unfortunately, a deep gray overcast settled in with rain, wind and no let-up in sight. That altered the plan for the evening substantially. We did drive over west of Tres Piedras and saw four elk and a handful of deer, but nothing we could get a decent photo of.

Just as the light was failing, we outran the storm and got this image of a beautiful sunset over Hopewell Lake.

Hopewell Lake, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, USA, August 27, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 at 70mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/4.5 for 1/40 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Perseids

The Perseids are a recurrent meteor shower created by the earth passing through the debris trail of the comet Swift–Tuttle. The Perseids are so called because the radiant, the point from which they appear to come, lies in the constellation Perseus.

The shower is visible from mid-July to late-August each year, with the peak in activity between August 9 and 14, depending on the particular location of the stream. During the peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour. Every several years, there is a "burst" event and the rate doubles or triples. 2016 is a "burst" year. They can be seen all across the sky; however, because of the shower’s radiant in the constellation of Perseus, the Perseids are primarily visible in the Northern Hemisphere. As with many meteor showers the visible rate is greatest in the pre-dawn hours, since more meteors are scooped up by the side of the Earth moving forward into the stream, corresponding to local times between midnight and noon. Some can also be seen before midnight, often grazing the Earth’s atmosphere to produce long bright trails and sometimes fireballs. Most Perseids burn up in the atmosphere while at heights above 50 miles.

This year the peak was the night between August 11 and August 12. Lauri and I decided to go out west of Fairfield to watch and try to get some images of the Milky Way and the Perseids. Most of our images were just like this one - not a bad shot of the Milky Way, but no Perseids.  Not that they were not around - there were lots of them, but not in the field of view of the camera or they were faint enough not to show up on the sensor.

Still, we did manage to capture a handful of images with Perseids in them. The first image, is so faint that it is easy to miss it, but the remainder are pretty good.

Fairfield, Utah County, Utah, USA, August 12, 2016. Nikon D5000, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 18mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Milky Way

Lauri and I decided to go out west of Fairfield to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower and try to get some images of the Milky Way/Meteors.

When we first got there and got set up, the moon was still up and the light pollution from it was pretty severe for about an hour after it set. Eventually it did get dark and we managed to get some good images of the Milky Way, but the meteors were elusive! We saw lots of them,but most were either outside the field of view of the cameras or were not bright enough for the cameras' sensors to pick them up.

This is my favorite image of the set with a little light painting. Fairfield, Utah County, Utah, USA, August 12, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 18mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Light Pollution

We thought that going up onto the North side of Mount Timpanogos would be the perfect place to get some good Milky Way images. With no moon in the sky, we expected it to be very dark. Boy, were we wrong!  It never got dark. We could clearly see each other all night long.

These two images were taken 21 days apart, while there are many differences, the most striking is the effect of light pollution on the image. You can tell the Milky Way is there in the second one, but the detail and definition is lacking - washed out by the light from the southern Wasatch Front communities.

Bridge over the Virgin River, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, July 9, 2016. Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Alpine Loop, American Fork Canyon, Mount Timpanogos Trailhead, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Utah, USA,, July 30, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 18mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 25 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Western Rattlesnake

Western Rattlesnake

For the past 38 years we have made dozens of trips to the desert Southwest spending hundreds of days and some nights traipsing around in all kinds of places. This is only the second rattlesnake I have seen in all that time!

To be fair, they are not the only rattlesnakes I have seen in the wild. Growing up in Oregon and spending so much time on the breaks of the Deschutes River in Central Oregon, I encountered many during those years. I also encountered many during a summer I worked as a soil technician on an earthfill dam in Southern Utah during my University days. But from 1978 until now this the second rattlesnake I have seen in the wild!

This one was hiding under a ledge along side the trail to Step House in Mesa Verde National Park. He was trying to stay hidden and out of the sun and was not in a threatening mode at all, even though he is coiled ready to strike. He never rattled or made any sort of a move and kept his head down against the rock the entire time I was there. However, every time someone walked by, his head followed them and then came back to a neutral location!

Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis), Step House, Wetherill Mesa, Mesa Verde National Park, Montezuma County, Colorado, USA, July 18, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 55mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/8 for 1/125 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Sunset at Locomotive Rock

Sunset at Locomotive Rock

The air has been very hazy all day today due to the amount of forest fire smoke. Lauri and I drove down to Bluff to do a little Family History sleuthing since her Great-Grandfather led the expedition through the Hole-in-the-Rock to colonize Bluff. As we finished dinner tonight it was apparent that there was great promise for some good sunset shots so we drove up to the old pioneer cemetery and waited for sunset. We were rewarded!

Locomotive Rock, Bluff Historic Cemetery, Cemetery Hill, Bluff, San Juan County, Utah, USA, July 16, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 27mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/22 for 1/50 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

A Comparison of White Balance

These two images of the Milky Way were taken from the Virgin River Bridge near the South entrance to Zion National Park. The lights from the town of Springdale, Utah are providing the reflected light on Watchman.

These two images are the same except for the White Balance setting. The first image was taken with White Balance set to "Auto" giving a color temperature of 4150 K. The second image is taken at 3550 K.

Bridge over the Virgin River, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, July 9, 2016. Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Night Skies

Friday night I participated in the National Park Night Skies Photography Workshop sponsored by National Park Trips Media and Tamron USA in Zion National Park. It was taught by David Akoubian, Ken Hubbard and Andre Costantini and hosted by Rob Wood and Dave Krause. Cecil Holmes also helped teach. Had a great time learning and practicing and was able to capture some great images in the process.

A view of the Milky Way from the "Bonsai Tree". Special shout out to Andre Costantini for the light painting. Bonsai Tree, Zion National Park, Kane County, Utah, USA, July 9, 2016. Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Sunset on Timp

When the sun is setting over in the Western sky, usually just after you can no longer see it, the tip top of Timpanogos is bathed in light. Occasionally, if the sunset is particularly colorful and red, this is the result!

It does not last long and if you are not ready you will miss it entirely. Just seconds before, literally, more of the mountain was lit up and the color was yellow, not reddish orange. Seconds later, it was gone!

Sunset on Timp

Saratoga Springs, Utah County, Utah, USA, April 1, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 at 70mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/5.0 for 1/400 second, ISO 400, processed in Photoshop CC.