[derekkite]

Very nice Travis.

Some mammals I ran into this afternoon. I think the sow and cubs are the same ones I saw last year. Correction. The one with flowers in the mouth seems to be a boar. I hope to investigate further.

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Last edited by derekkite; 09-05-2016 at 08:28 PM.

[WPRESTO]

The little fellow in the first picture is a PIKA. They like to live in jumbled rocky moraine deposits. They collect grass stalks, preferably with seed heads, and set them out to dry on the rocks, then take them in later to "storerooms" down in the jumble of the moraine. Pikas are lagomorphs = they are in the same group as rabbits & hares rather than being rodents.

The rodent in the last picture is probably a hoary marmot. Marmots are big rodents, perhaps second in size to beavers in North America.

And you're lucky to get such a good image of the pika, They are a bit nervous-quick and tend to be in and out of their maze within rock piles quickly and frequently. I waited about forty minutes to a shot of one, but it kept appearing where the tele was not pointed, and disappearing before I could swing and focus. I did get two images eventually, but no where near as good as your image (chromes, as I recall I was using either a ZX5n or a *ist).

[derekkite]

The little fellow in the first picture is a PIKA. They like to live in jumbled rocky moraine deposits. They collect grass stalks, preferably with seed heads, and set them out to dry on the rocks, then take them in later to "storerooms" down in the jumble of the moraine. Pikas are lagomorphs = they are in the same group as rabbits & hares rather than being rodents.

The rodent in the last picture is probably a hoary marmot. Marmots are big rodents, perhaps second in size to beavers in North America.

And you're lucky to get such a good image of the pika, They are a bit nervous-quick and tend to be in and out of their maze within rock piles quickly and frequently. I waited about forty minutes to a shot of one, but it kept appearing where the tele was not pointed, and disappearing before I could swing and focus. I did get two images eventually, but no where near as good as your image (chromes, as I recall I was using either a ZX5n or a *ist).

Yes. They were both on the same talus slope. There were five marmots, one female adult and four pups. At least two Pikas, maybe three.

The trick to shooting pikas is to see where they are, climb the rocks and sit or stand in one place for 10-15 minutes. Eventually they will poke their heads up and you can get a shot. There were caches of food stuffed between rocks in a dozen or more places. They don't hibernate like the marmots, they live under the heavy snow burden and eat their stored food.

The marmots will go into hibernation very soon, probably within the month.

[kacansas03]

Some pics of Bald Eagle from June-2016. This thing just landed near the parking lot where I was parked. Camera gear all in the trunk ready to leave.
Pop the trunk open setup K-50 with SMC 500mm f/4.5 on tripod. I was lucky that it did not fly away. This Red-winged Black bird was harassing it.

It was a dark overcast. Not the best shooting conditions.

When that happens I just Have to take the the Bald Eagle's picture. However here we have the opportunistic eagles instead of the real hunting raptors. I caught one over the water tower a few days ago about a mile and a half away. Not a good shot for I was experimenting with my 500 at the time and didn't even know it was in frame.

[WPRESTO]

Another experimental bird image with the 600mm Nikon on my K1. A catbird feeding on our mountain ash tree. The gray feathers of the bird had an odd greenish color cast, perhaps because of the way the light was filtering through the weeping willow in the background, and I could not get rid of it without eliminating the green on the leaves, so I tried taking out all the color except for the orange and slight reddish of the fruit.

[BigDave]

It was a dark overcast. Not the best shooting conditions

Actually, the overcast sky helped the exposure on this image I think. The Baldy's head has great detail, highlights are not blown, and you have nice detail on the underside of the wings! Nice sequence! Show us the oneof the Red WInd on the Eagle, that should b interesting too!

[cleaverx]

Actually, the overcast sky helped the exposure on this image I think. The Baldy's head has great detail, highlights are not blown, and you have nice detail on the underside of the wings! Nice sequence! Show us the oneof the Red WInd on the Eagle, that should b interesting too!

Thank you.
Here is the picture of Red-winged Blackbird sitting on top of the Eagle. Poor quality, it was shot with 55-300mm WR right before I was able the quickly switch to SMC 500mm f/4.5. You can compare this picture with those posted above and see the big difference. They were all shot from same spot.

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Last edited by cleaverx; 09-06-2016 at 09:12 PM.

[BigDave]

Thanks for posting. The quality may not be perfect, but the message is inspirational with that Red Wing BB! You gotta love the birds chutzpah!

[Weevil]

Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy
(M31, NGC 224)
Pentax K-1 + SMC Pentax-FA* 250-600mm f5.6 ED [IF] @ 600mm
30s, f6.3, ISO 6400 (single frame)
2016.09.05
I am trying to learn DeepSky Stacker, I have a series of 15 images that I could use to improve the image details, but the learning curve is a bit steep for me... more to come. This one is directly exported from Lr6.
Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy (M31, NGC 224) | Flickr

Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy (M31, NGC 224) by Sylvain Cote, sur Flickr

[WPRESTO]

Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy
(M31, NGC 224)
Pentax K-1 + SMC Pentax-FA* 250-600mm f5.6 ED [IF] @ 600mm
30s, f6.3, ISO 6400 (single frame)
2016.09.05
I am trying to learn DeepSky Stacker, I have a series of 15 images that I could use to improve the image details, but the learning curve is a bit steep for me... more to come. This one is directly exported from Lr6.
Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy (M31, NGC 224) | Flickr

Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy (M31, NGC 224) by Sylvain Cote, sur Flickr

Did you have the camera + lens on an equatorial mount? 30s is long for no star trail on that narrow a FOV.

[gifthorse]

More wild horses

[noelpolar]

A Dragon from Pole Land....K-1 and F*300/4.5

[kengoh]

K5 + Sigma 500 F4.5

Stork Billed Kingfisher portrait shot

[Weevil]

Did you have the camera + lens on an equatorial mount? 30s is long for no star trail on that narrow a FOV.

No I just used the integrated astrotracer... I could hear the internal motor moving the sensor when the shot was triggered... I have a video of this taken with my BB, I'll try to post it eventually if the sound is good.

[woodywesty]

Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy
(M31, NGC 224)
Pentax K-1 + SMC Pentax-FA* 250-600mm f5.6 ED [IF] @ 600mm
30s, f6.3, ISO 6400 (single frame)
2016.09.05
I am trying to learn DeepSky Stacker, I have a series of 15 images that I could use to improve the image details, but the learning curve is a bit steep for me... more to come. This one is directly exported from Lr6.
Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy (M31, NGC 224) | Flickr

Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy (M31, NGC 224) by Sylvain Cote, sur Flickr

WOW!!

---------- Post added 09-07-16 at 09:20 AM ----------

More wild horses

Beautiful captures!

---------- Post added 09-07-16 at 09:22 AM ----------

K5 + Sigma 500 F4.5

Stork Billed Kingfisher portrait shot

Beautiful!!

You should do a photo book Ken... "The Birds of Ken".. ;-)