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Something about the way these wild turkeys blended with their environment compelled me to get out of my truck and make this image.

After photographing this owl up close, it flew about 40 yards away and landed in a tree. The close-up shot was unique, but I love this environmental portrait a lot more.

For nearly a century, people have been enjoying the five-and-a-half-mile Toonerville Trolley wilderness train ride. Today Brad and I are aboard the narrow-gauge train that starts out near Soo Junction in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. From my vantage point in the front car, I am getting an up-close view of a pair of sandhill cranes. From the rear car, Brad has already seen a black bear at a distance.

I have made a lot of close-up shots of eagles but Brad and I also love to make environmental portraits of wildlife that are sometimes as much or more about their surroundings. There is something about the position of this eagle in a lone tree overlooking a large field near East Jordan that I think makes the eagle, and the tree, a perfect complement to each other.

I have been learning more about birds lately, so I know what I am looking at when they frequent the bird feeders in our yard. This white breasted nuthatch was hanging out today and let me get pretty close with my camera.

Even though I see these red-winged black birds quite frequently, I am always in awe of their beauty.

Ludington State Park Vertical

Ludington State Park

While driving down Bryant Road today I spotted a large hawk sitting on top of a telephone pole. I pulled over and grabbed my camera and telephoto lens. A few minutes after I was in position to shoot and had my camera set the way I wanted with a super-fast shutter speed and a high ISO, the hawk flew in the perfect direction for me.

Ludington State Park

Brad was graced with a photo of a hawk yesterday. Today, miles apart from where he made his image, a hawk flew over the heads of the kids and me during a picnic on the farm.

Legends Ranch Presidential Invitation

Legends Ranch Presidential Invitation

Loon

Barn Birds Berries Audobon

Wednesday May

Our new 600 mm telephoto lens has been fun to experiment with. Large telephoto lenses have a very shallow depth of focus and only show a narrow degree of the horizon. This allows the photographer to isolate specific parts of a scene. In this photo, the big lens allowed me to capture the seagull as it flew over the prettiest section of the light show. F5.6 at 1/1250, ISO 500, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender at 850 mm

Swan Carring Baby on Back

Birds of a feather are definitely flocking together this morning, circling en mass over a farm field near Coopersville. How do so many birds dart and soar in such synchronization without colliding? I do not have the answer so I will just concentrate on photographing this poetry in motion.

Snowy Owl December