Great Egret Catching Lunch...

I got down to the Cosumnes River Preserve today with my long lens setup (Tamron SP 400mm F4 + 1.7x AFTC + K20D) and wandered around for a couple hours not getting close to birds :p... Then, almost back to the truck, I saw this egret along the path. Since the last egret I tried to approach had bugged out when I got within a couple hundred yards, I decided to take it slow, only to watch aghast as a couple of birdwatchers walked right up to it from the other direction... It turns out this bird was so engrossed in the hunt that it didn't even register the presence of the people. I wasn't able to get a close as I wanted before the action started and when it did, I plunked down my tripod and started firing (filled the buffer a couple times in the process)...

Stalking Lunch...



Got 'im...






Look how close he walked to the folks on the trail (well, there's some compression from the 700mm lens... those feet are probably 10-15 feet behind the egret).










Then I grabbed my 5DII with the 100-400mm L at f/7.1 and stalked in a bit closer before he launched away...

Mountain Pano...

The mountains northwest of June Lake. Nine portrait orientation shots were stitched with hugin for this pano, the full dimensions are 15,088 x 2905 px.

Click the image below to see a 4,674 x 900 px version...

Mono Lake Sunrise Panorama...

Click to see a larger version (much larger ;-)...

Mono Lake at Sunrise II...

Here's a few more shots from sunrise the other day at Mono Lake in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains...

Click a photo to see a larger version...














Just before sunrise...



Just after...

Mono Lake at Sunrise...

Wild Skies...

Here's a few from last week. Very un-californian skies... Mammatus Clouds!

(click for a larger version...)

Lookin' for birds - found bugs instead...

Saw some ducks at the pond - they departed when I got within 200m... Saw a killdeer - it left when I took my tripod off my pack... Saw a splash when a frog jumped into the water and disappear (saw that a lot actually).

Luckily, some bugs showed up so the walk wasn't a total wash ;-)...

First the Mantis shots...


Click the photo to see a larger version...

DA* 300mm, f/10



DA* 300mm, f/8



DA* 300mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/22



Tamron SP 400mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/11





Now the Dragonfly...

Tamron SP 400mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/16



Tamron SP 400mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/16



DA* 300mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/14
(I sure wish I had avoided the foreground blur on the right of this one)



Tamron SP 400mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/16

Lightning in the North Pahroc Range...

Oasis Landscapes...

A few from various wetlands in the Nevada Desert...

Pahranagat Lake

Comins Lake Sunset...

Grass with a twist...

I believe this grass tuft at Pahranagat Lake was sculpted by a passing dust devil...

Pahranagat Dragonflies

I stopped briefly at the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge yesterday and the dragonflies were just swarming - I've never seen such abundance of these bugs...

All shots with the K20D and the Tamron SP AF 70-200mm, mostly @ 200mm with the Pentax-F 1.7x TC.

Cave Lake Reflection

Cave Lake Nevada, 0630 this morning...

Two from Nevada

Here's a couple shots from this evening along Highway 50, west of Ely Nv.

Vulture Tree...

I came upon these turkey vultures this morning alongside the road - very photogenic (if they weren't so ugly)...

The basking tree...





Preening...


Catching some rays...

All shot with the Tamron SP 400mm F4, on a tripod f/7.1, 1/2000 sec., ISO 400 (last is f/9 & 1/500)

Some flowers (novel yeah?)...

Shot these a month or so ago, but I've been shooting too much and processing too little lately (and I even worked a few days - rare enough lately)...

I believe this first flower type to be "Bird's Eye Gilia"...

exif

And here it is in a mix with California Poppies...

exif

the interior of a California Poppy...

exif