Spring…In Places…
So, I dropped the girls off for school this morning, and brought my camera bag with me…just in case. On the way back, I couldn’t help but catch the storm over the Sierras, moving in from the west…
Bishop Range--3-shot Panoramic
I decided to try a pano shot this morning. Most of my landscapes are shot at 14-20mm(28-40mm equivalent). This one was taken with 3 shots in portrait orientation, at 42mm(84mmequiv.), stitched in CS4. Below is a single exposure at 21mm…
Bishop Range
Just when it’s starting to look like winter isn’t done with us, yet, I pull in the driveway and find tiny, purple Storksbill flowers blooming everywhere! So here are the first wildflower macros of the season!!
Portrait, in full sunlight
Pretty Pair
It is starting to warm up around here. I imagine it won’t be but a couple of weeks before smaller wildflowers start springing up everywhere. Seems a trip to the Alabama Hills again may be in order…
Thanks for coming along!
Morning Rain
I woke up extra early this morning, anticipating some early cloud coverage and a spectacular sunrise. I was half right… It was pouring down rain and the clouds were so thick you couldn’t even tell sunrise happened until the sun was well above the mountains. But storm fronts are cool whether rain or snow, so I went out and shot for an hour or two before work…
I went straight to work after shooting a few scenics, and took a couple of animal pictures, to round out the day…
Bailey-Blue and Gold Macaw
Nina
Chinchilla Closeup
And an obligatory water-macro-abstract-thing…
Yup...water...
It’s nice to be getting shots, even if they aren’t the ones I had hoped for…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Bishop Creek Canyon
Went with my friend Rich for a short morning walk around Bishop Creek Canyon yesterday….
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- Middle Fork Bishop Creek
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- Mountain Mohagony
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- Aspen Grove
Great Basin Gophersnakes
Found 5 or 6 Great Basin Gophersnake hatchlings this evening between sunset and moonrise. All of them were very young, probably only a few days to a couple weeks old, and all were out warming themselves on the pavement for what could very well be their first meal…
Anyhow, I got some decent pictures of a couple of them, so here they are!
Time for your closeup!
Heading for the bushes...
My favorite shot of the night...
Anyhow…it was a really nice night. I took a new Eastern Sierra Herpetology Club member out for his first roadcruise, and we were lucky enough to find several hatchlings. Not bad, if you ask me.
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Sunflower Sunrise
I went to an area known locally as “Farmer’s Pond”, this morning. In the winter, this entire area is flooded, and provides a lot of waterfowl habitat. In the summer, they drain the water off, and the entire area becomes flooded with wild sunflowers. One of the few places in the area that changes so drastically during the seasons, yet remains incredibly photogenic…
Sunflower Sunrise
Self Portrait
John
Bee
Grasshopper
Wheeler Crest
All in all, it was a really decent morning. Thanks for taking the time to look!
Rock Creek Lake
I went with Annette, Rose, and my good friend John for a short walk around Rock Creek Lake yesterday afternoon. Any excuse to get up in the mountains and out of the heat works just fine for me…
Fireweed
False Helleborne
John shooting Fireweed
Lupine
Some cultivated bright orange thing
Rose, Rex, and Annette
Rub-a-Dub-Dub
Some sort of Phlox, I think.
And that’s about that. Like I said…any excuse to get out of the heat of the desert and up into the elevation is a good excuse for me…
Thanks for stopping by!
Some Random Shots
I took some random flower macros, walking around town yesterday morning, paying bills, and killing time before work. It was a fairly decent day…
English Plantain
Peavine
No idea what this one is. Not wild, however...cultivated in a garden.
No idea. A big, weedy looking plant growing next to my porch.
No idea. Another weed growing near the BBQ grill. Nasty thorns on this one.
Another garden cultivation. Anyone know what it is?
And a shot of my buddy Rocky, smiling at me from the water…
Rocky Turtle
After work, my friend Rich called and asked if I wanted to go out to “The Ears”. “The Ears” are a group of HUGE satellite dishes, used by researchers and scientists at a variety of universities and institutions to study the night sky. I don’t know the specifics…
This photo pretty much sucks. But I can see this 30 meter dish from my front porch. One of these nights I’m actually going to get a decent shot of one of these beasts…
Big-ass satellite dish...
Thanks for taking the time to look!
North Fork Wildflowers
I took my daughter up to the North Fork of Bishop Creek this morning for some wildflowers. There wasn’t a whole lot just yet, but there were a few…
Brittle Bush
Wild Clover
No idea. Anyone know for sure?
Chia in bloom
Streamside Fireweed
As usual, I am not 100% on my identification of these flowers, so anyone with better information, I welcome your input.
And as always, thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to look!
Wounded Coachwhip
I got a call about 2 weeks ago. A friend of mine caught a Red Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum piceus) in his backyard, and wanted to know if I could help it. It had a small, but fairly deep skin injury. Kind of looked like he got stuck on a thorn, and it ripped him open, and pushed the skin up underneath itself. So I brought this thing home to see if I could help. He ate a live hopper mouse straight away, so the first hurdle was past…getting him to eat.
I pulled the flapper out using tweezers, and tried to let it heal back down in place, but it didn’t work. After 3 days, it was dry, and curling back underneath, so I moistened it with some betadine, straightened out the flapper, and cut it off.
This morning, he ate a frozen and then thawed hopper mouse, which is a fantastic sign of recuperation and adapting to captivity, and the wound is showing signs of healing.
You can see the wound site there below the markings on his neck...
Closeup of the wound
You can see in the closeup that the remaining healthy skin has started to heal and form scarring where it has re-attached to the underlying flesh. You can also see signs of scale definition beginning to re-develope in the flesh, itself. Luckily, it wasn’t an injury that was deep enough to cause muscle damage, and while it will be a decent scar…he should have a complete recovery, and make a fantastic addition to the collection. It is, afterall, illegal to release them from captivity once they have been captured…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Walk Around Lake George
I drove up to the Mammoth Lakes Basin yesterday, and took a quick walk around Lake George, just to see what was happening. There were a TON of wildflowers in bloom, but the mosquitos were so forceful…I snapped quickly and kept moving. So I only have a couple decent photos to share…
Lupine...with a friend
Leopard Lilly
That’s about it. Like I said…there were loads of flowers…but even more mosquitos. Maybe next time will be better…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Some Random Stuff…
Well…I’ve been a long-standing advocate for photo editing software that is NOT produced by Adobe. My entire photographic “career”, I have avoided purchasing the likes of Photoshop, Photoshop elements, or any of the Adobe Creative Suites. Sure, they are fantastic programs with fantastically deep levels of manipulation and control. However, I have never had a need for so much depth and power. And the cost has always been preventative.
Well, a good friend of mine upgraded from CS2 to CS4 last week. So he gave me his copy of CS2. So I figured I would learn how to finally use my camera to it’s fullest potential, shoot in RAW format, and use a powerful program for processing. I still find I don’t need all the extras and depth, and I find myself wondering when I will ever use the heavy manipulation processes. But I’m a wannabe geek, so it’s fun to play around…
Itty-Bitty Feeding Frenzy
Water Cascade
My Girl, Nina
Caught in the Act
I don’t know. I don’t think the program is that much better than the Corel Paint Shop Photo Pro series. Sure, it has more power. But will I ever use it? I don’t know. But it sure is fun to play around…
Thanks for stopping by!
My New Buddy
Someone called up the shop the other day, and asked if I knew anyone that rescued animals. She said she found “some kind of turtle” walking in her backyard. She described it to me, and I figured it to be a Red-eared Slider, which is a semi-aquatic turtle, popular in the pet trade, and not at all adapted to life in the hot, dry, high desert of Bishop. So I told her to bring it in the shop, and I would make some calls.
I didn’t need to make any calls, because as soon as I saw him, I knew I was just gonna have to bring him home with me. So I’d like to introduce you all to my new buddy, Rocky, relaxing comfortably in his new semi-aquarium…
Say, Buddy...Is that a camera ya' got there?
CHEESE!
This is actually my good side...
We done here? kthxbai!
He really is an entertaining little critter. I never had a turtle before, believe it or not. I have a tortoise, and loads of snakes, a couple dogs…I’ve had lizards of many varieties, hamsters, rats, and rabbits…cats, goldfish, and birds…but this is my first turtle. He’s cool!!
Thanks for taking the time to look!
South Fork, Bishop Creek Canyon
So…my buddy John has been injured and sore for a few weeks. He can’t walk but a few feet at a time, and he’s in a lot of pain. This means that he hasn’t been hiking or out shooting photos as much as he would like. So I picked him up early this morning, and we made a quick run up The South Fork in search of some alpine wildflowers. We were not disappointed…
Alpine Columbine
Alpine Columbine
Creekside Splendor
Leopard Lily
Leopard Lilies
Saw this neat little guy, perched on the side of the road, too…
California Quail
And of course…first light at South Lake can be a pretty nice sight…
South Lake Basin
All in all, I have to say that it was quite a fantastic morning, just out and about, driving around, photographing wildflowers. I couldn’t have asked for a better, more satisfying Sunday Morning.
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Playing with Fire…
So…we went camping. I posted a bunch of photos from our various day hikes along Bishop Creek yesterday when I got home. As promised…here are a few of my favorite shots of the campfire. All were shot at ISO 400; f/2.8 and about 1/400. Handheld, manual focus, manual exposure to get those really deep silhouettes and prevent blown highlights.
These last two are my favorites of the group, as they actually have some abstract form to them…
Dancing at the Gates of Hell
Phoenix Rising
Thanks for taking the time to look!!
Bishop Creek Canyon
I went camping with my daughter, my girlfriend, and her daughter up in Bishop Creek Canyon over the weekend. It was quite nice to get outta town and get out with a camera in hand…
Looking east
Baby Mountain Gartersnake that Annette spotted--Thamnophis elegans elegans
One of the many species of blue damselfly
Butterfly taking a morning "coffee break"
Mother Nature's Garden
Orange Mallow
Mojave Prickly Pear Blossom
Not sure on an ID for this Damselfly yet...
That’s about it for now. I took a bazillion pictures of the fire last night, too, but I haven’t processed them yet.
Anyhow…I really enjoyed the weekend. I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos!
Beautiful Buzztails
I went out to my friend’s house today to look at his albino rattlesnake collection. What a spectacular treat. Some of these are incredibly rare…
Northern Mojave het. albino--Crotalus scutulatus scutulatus
Albino Northern Mojave--Crotalus scutulatus scutulatus
The albino Northern Mojave, above, is 1 of only 6 in existence, including the original wild-caught female. The original albino animal was caught near Ridgecrest, CA in 2001, as a sub-adult. The above animal is one of 5 albino F2 offspring from that female produced in captivity.
Albino Prairie--Crotalus viridis viridis
Western Diamondback--Crotalus atrox
There are several different types of albino in Western Diamondbacks–
Amelanistic--"regular" albino
"Bubblegum" Albino
"Caramel" Albino
There is also a hyper-melanistic morph–
Black Diamondback
And as is par for the course in the world of reptile breeding, they have started to combine these traits-
Caramel + Black
Above is a combination of the Caramel albino gene and the Black gene. These are incredibly rare at this point, I’m told…
Oh…I also managed to get a shot or two of an ACTUAL Panmint Alligator Lizard. A little while back I mis-identified an Alligator Lizard as a panamintina but I was wrong. As luck would have it, a friend of mine caught an actual panamintina and invited me over to get a shot, since I’m likely to never have the chance again-
Panamint Alligator Lizard--Elgaria panamintina
And here it is curled next to a Southern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata)-
panamintina on the left; multicarinata on the right
ASll in all it was a really fun afternoon. Thanks for taking the time to look!!
Couple More Water Abstracts
Ok, see…I had a plan. I haven’t been able to get out for a day of just shooting in over a month. I’ve been hiking, surveying for frogs, poutting up fences, planting flower gardens, and playing with the kids. But I haven’t just taken a day to go out and shoot. Today was supposed to be that day.
My plan was to get up before sunrise, get some landscapes at dawn, survey for frogs and shoot macros in the early day, go out to a friend’s to shoot albino rattlesnakes in the afternoon, sunset shots with my daughter, then off to bed. But that didn’t happen. I ended up babysitting my girlfriend’s daughter today. It’s fine. She is a fantastic girlfriend and a great little kid, so I really don’t mind.
But I gotta take some pictures or I’m gonna go mad…
And who would have ever dreamed that a kitchen sink would make a good photo subject?
Thanks for taking the time to look! I can’t wait to get out for some real shooting soon, though…
Abstract: A First For Me
Abstract photography is not my strong suit. It sits below portraiture on my Chart o’ Skills. I haven’t tried too many because I don’t quite understand them to a comfortable extent. This is a conundrum because in order to get a stronger grasp and deeper appreciation…I need to shoot them more. C’est la vie…
Of course, with moving water and a 105mm macro lens…abstract just sort of happens on it’s own…
Bubble and Boil
Double Helix
The Eye
I really had a good time shooting and processing this series of water abstracts. I could have spent several mnore hours shooting, but alas…I was at work, so…I had to get some actual work done. But I think I might be playing a little bit more with abstraction. Especially if it involves water…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Very Rare Lizard
So I get a phonecall today, from an hysterical lady…”There is a lizard in my store! Can you PLEASE come get it out for me?!” I asked her what kind of lizard, and of course she had no idea. So I grabbed a fine-mesh net, and headed over…
There were several customers, mostly curious and a little freaked that a “wild animal” was in the shop. Mind you…we live in the High Desert. Lizards and snakes are literally all around us, and calls for snake removals from a house are fairly common. Needless to say, I wasn’t shocked that a lizard was in the store.
But I was shocked to see this guy…
Panamint Alligator Lizard
This is a Panamint Alligator Lizard, also known as Elgaria panamintina. They are an increasingly rare lizard that only occurs in a small area of eastern California, in Inyo and Mono counties. This is only the second one I have ever seen, and the first…I’m still not positive it was a Panamint. This one…I’m almost positive…
Elgaria panamintina
Now…I’m not a biologist, or a herpetologst, or any kind of ologist to be perfectly honest. I can’t be 100% certain that this is a Panamint Alligator lizard. It could also be a Sierra Alligator Lizard (Elgaria coerulea palmeri), but those don’t typically have distinct banding. This guy also has a distinct, white, rear border against the black bands, which is characteristic of the Panamint.
Regardless, he is a really cool lizard, and I’m stoked to have rescued him!
Baby Tree Frogs
As part of our commitment to the California Department of Fish and Game, the Eastern Sierra Herpetology Club went out to survey for Northern Leopard Frogs this morning. We didn’t find any, but we weren’t really expecting to. They haven’t been seen in this area in many years. We did find some freshly metamorphosed Pacific Tree Frogs(Pseudacris regila), though. A few of us found a breeding location, and spotted 15-20 or more froglets within 3 meters of each other.
In situ froglet
Pacific Tree Frog
Pseudocris regila
These little amphibians are absolutely adorable. Given the size and number of bass and bullfrogs we found in the area, it’s really quite a testament to this tree frog’s resiliency that they are coming back and doing so well. Hopefully, we can find a population of Northern Leopard frogs that have been hiding…
We also saw a ton of dragon flies, some of which I posted earlier. Here are a few more of those, as well…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Dragon Flies
I love dragonflies. They flit about eating insects, and look cool as hell doing it…
Thanks for looking!
Great Basin Gophersnake
Found an absolutely outstanding specimen of gophersnake last night. At about 4 foot long, this guy was fairly calm and posed very nicely for me in a pile of rocks. Outstanding coloration, and just a gorgeous snake in general–
Great Basin Gophersnake--Pituophis catenifer deserticola
I love these snakes. You never know what kind of attitude you are going to get with them. Some are large, angry, and ready to bite, and others, like this one, are quite gentle and content to pose. Whatever you get, it will be a wonderfully adapted desert species, and a natural beauty.
Thanks for looking!
Reptiles and Flowers
Went for a short walk in the desert behind my house, and found a few cool flowers and a neat little lizard…
Some pretty purple flowers. Anyone know?
No idea what these are. They look like octopus tentacles, to me...
Common Sideblotch--Uta stansburiana
California Kingsnake--Lampropeltis getula californiae
The Cali king was just a little thing. We found him crawling out into the road on the way home from picking up my daughter.
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Eastern Sierra Herpetology Club
The ESHC is well into it’s second year of existence, and today was one of the most exciting days for the membership, and for me, personally, as a founding member.
Some may remember last year at about this time, I posted that the club was going to ask for seasonal closures of a specific road to help protect a breeding population of the incredibly rare California Black Toad (Bufo exuls). We successful in getting a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Fish and Game. As part of that MOU, the club is obligated to volunteer time and man-hours for maintenance of the habitat in the breeding location. That’s just fine by us.
We met with a leading DFG biologist that has been working to protect these toads for a long time. We had a great day installing blockades, cleaning the area, and of course…documenting animals and flowers…
James and Ceale working to install a T-post at one of the stream crossings
The gang, observation a swarm of bees. I stayed far away from that nonsense.
Great Basin Whiptail--Aspidocelis tigris tigris
Barrel Cactus in bloom
Beavertail Cactus blossom
California Black Toad--Bufo exuls
Black Neck Hummingbird eggs
All in all it was a fantastic day! We were asked by the DFG to participate in a few studies in specific areas, looking for and documenting, various reptiles and amphibians for inclusion in a variety of environmental reports and studies. Hopefully, you will start seeing some great improvements to the habitat and conservation efforts of the reptiles and amphibians that inhabit the Eastern Sierra!
Thanks for looking!
