Tag: Wildlife

Vulnerability and Bruce’s Ramrod Ranch

Among White Moth Wings, A Pacific Gopher Snake Drinks From A Small Pond

Among White Moth Wings, A Pacific Gopher Snake Drinks From A Small Pond

IMAGE STORY:

I just got home from the ranch on Monday night. When leaving, I returned to my blinds and main pond to reset my camera trap. Compared to Saturday and Sunday, Monday warmed up. Thus, I thought the hot Monday afternoon would be a good time to see a snake drinking at my pond. It happens a lot in hot weather. Just after this thought, when I turned the corner and could see the pond. Lo-and-behold, a snake was drinking at my pond.

I have been an empath all during my life. I think about something naturally, especially sports and baseball games. Other natural thoughts, not forced, come true. It is a lot like seeing the future or thinking about what will happen, and it does.

As a result, I don’t believe that time is linear. It’s more like a river with eddies, backwashes, and bends upon itself. Some would think this is baffling and crazy, but I can go back years to events where this happens. The latest is the snake. At first, I thought it was a rattlesnake, but I didn’t really look at it. I went straight down to my truck, got my camera and 100 – 400 mm lens, and went back up, and it was still there drinking.

I photographed it lying down on the ground after moving around a bit. If I made a little noise, the snake would raise its head into the air and flick out its tongue to sense if there was any danger. It did this twice. I felt it was very thirsty. Snakes really bury their heads in the water when they drink. I have seen this before; it’s fascinating stuff. I think I took 1200 images in about ten minutes.

By the way, it was not a rattlesnake but a large gopher snake.

Please let me know if you want to join me in photographing birds and other animals visiting my ranch ponds this fall. I still have openings for the fall session, mid-September to mid-October.

If you want to join my nature photography community or view more of my imagery, please check out my website, dreamcatcherimages.net. Fill out the contact form on the right sidebar.

Beautiful metal prints, 24 x 16, are available for this wonderful image; traditional prints as well, contact, bruce@dreamcatcherimage.net

From A Small Pond, California Gopher Snake Submerges Head To Drink Water

 

 

 

Taken For Granted

 

Mesquite Frames A Calling Audubon Oriole
Mesquite Frames A Calling Audubon Oriole

Taken For Granted

Taken for granted are the sounds of nature, bird songs in the morning’s dawn, the whispers of the wind gently touching your face, and the powerful smell of raw wilderness. These are a few of the healing and soothing gifts of the natural world.

Male Allen's Hummingbird Does Tail and Wing Stretch On Cape Heath
Male Allen’s Hummingbird Does Tail and Wing Stretch On Cape Heath

Too often today, we have divorced ourselves from nature. This loss of connection has sent us adrift. Most of us are ill without even knowing it. There is so much nature can bestow upon us if we accept its gifts and live close to it. A timeless peace, a sense of harmony and balance, and a belief in the essential goodness of life are a few of the benefits of living with nature.

I have a friend who is a morning person. He would get up very early before dawn and prepare some coffee on the gas burning stove at the cabin we shared. Then, he would go outside with his cup of coffee and wait for dawn to break and watch the day begin. He would listen to the birds’ songs begin as the night passed to day, as the darkness faded minute by minute. This simple act gave him peace and rid him of the anxiety created by life in the modern world. I treasured sharing these moments with him; they became part of my early exposure to tranquil powers of the wild.

We shared another passion. He fueled my desire to learn about the birds whose calls we heard, to distinguish one from another, to learn their calls by heart, and discover their unique behavior of each individual species. I started my first species list. The mysterious California Thrasher whose spring calls from the tops of the chamise bushes first intrigued us became the first species on the list.

Black-crested Titmouse On A Mesquite Branch
Black-crested Titmouse On A Mesquite Branch

Yet, at some point keeping a list was not enough, nor was just taking their pictures. After a few years, I took my creative passion to capturing their beauty, their very essence, and their spirit of life. I now have gone a step further with my art and my photography to capturing the sacredness of life itself.

In this way, I can share this sacredness of nature with others. Through my images, they can glimpse within their hearts and minds the mystery and wonder of the natural world–regenerating the strings that once connected and attached them to the earth. They can learn not to take nature for granted, especially the morning serenade of bird songs, and again become part of the sacred circle of life itself.

Pileated Woodpeckers Chicks Beg Mother For More Food
Pileated Woodpeckers Chicks Beg Mother For More Food

Here with my Wildlife Beyond Borders collection of bird images, I hope to ignite the love of birds, spark feelings of marvel in their brilliant colors, and open people’s hearts to their unique world. Wherever we are in our daily life we must listen, and not take nature’s gestures for granted, for bird songs are windows into the natural world.

Some may say this is the fanciful thinking of an idealistic dreamer. Yet, I believe in the power of nature to heal, comfort and soothe the human soul. All my life experiences with nature have led me to know this truth.

Come to the Wildlife Beyond Borders reception at Keeble and Shuchat and learn more. Meet my fellow artists Mary Aiu, Susan Carnahan, Diane Rebman, Wendy Hannum, and Oliver Klink. Reception is Saturday, April 16, 2016, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Keeble and Shuchat, 290 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306.

To register for the VIP at 1:00 PM and/or Main Event click register link below

Register

A Few Tips For Nature and Wildlife Photography

Guest Blog Post by Peggy Bechtell

Nature or Wildlife Photography

Camera Settings: Aperture priority, f4 to blur background, ISO 800, Drive Mode. F11-F16 for surroundings – carry large black plastic bag to lay on the ground. Often my camera is on a tripod with pistol grip head for tracking.

Stance: Eye level with animal or below = grandeur
Back to the wind with birds – they take off and land into the wind.
Soft Front light directly facing animal with for close-up face shots, and eyes of big cats.
Sidelight = nice texture for fun and feathers.
Backlight = silhouettes, reflections, and glow around the animal.

What to watch for: Patterns of behavior. Birds move differently just before flight. They will often start looking around with more agitation just before takeoff. Eagles generally poop before take-off. Watch wildlife for a while to learn their patterns which almost always repeat. Anticipate behaviors and start firing before the anticipated behavior occurs.

If you see the behavior in your viewfinder, you have missed it.

Patience, Patience, Patience. It is fun to just sit back and enjoy the animal you want to photograph. You will learn a lot, enjoy a lot, and know when to take the picture. For tracking, practice focusing and firing on moving broom, then the handle.

Where to focus: On the eye of the animal when there is a catch light in it = tack sharp face

Where to get information on wildlife: PSA has a membership service which puts you in touch with photographers in the area you are going to.
Fixers (Guides) are available on the internet for areas and animals you want. Local farmers and rangers often know about local animals, the best locations and times of day to see them.

by Peggy Bechtell – bechtell@comcast.net

 

Soul Of The Elephant

Young Elephant Curls Trunk Over Head While Under Mother
Young Elephant Curls Trunk Over Head While Under Mother

A compelling, fascinating, and a compassionate look into the “Soul of the Elephant”, done in a very poignant way as if they were telling the story through a poem. Dereck and Beverly Joubert are my favorite wildlife filmmakers. They tell important stories of iconic African wildlife in a fresh way, with breathtaking cinematography, using innovative camera angles. Their expert bush and species knowledge comes through a narration that is just mesmerizing, so lyrical and melodic–the way they switch and weave the stories and scenes between each other’s voice.

If you love elephants, wild places, wild animals, this Nature PBS episode is not to be missed. This is natural storytelling at its best, by those closest to the wildlife, living life with them. Their passion for what they do and the compassion and love for the wildlife comes through in their presentation.

I only wished for more…like their 88-minute film the Last Lions that I saw in the theater.

The original broadcast was on PBS on October 14, 2015, somehow I missed it. However, I found the full episode online at the PBS Nature site.

Take time from your busy life and please watch this Nature episode; it will change you forever, it’s haunting. I have already seen it twice, and I am sure I’ll watch again.

I highly recommend this search for the “Soul of the Elephant”, in fact, I would love to be doing what they are–immersed in the wild: living and breathing the wild smells of Africa.

Here is the link: Full Episode: Soul of the Elephant

Please posted your comments and let me know your thoughts.

In addition, here is their Ted Talk from 2010  Dereck and Beverly Joubert’s Ted Talk