Wood duck in flight

This was one of the memorable adrenaline pumping moments during last December’s Better than Bosque workshop in New Mexico. I was using my 600 f/4 lens with a doubler for some distant floating Widgeons, so the challenge was not clipping the wings as this Wood Duck landed directly towards us. Most certainly one of my favourite images from the trip!

Join me Dec. 5-9, 2022 Better than Bosque workshop in New Mexico. CLICK HERE for more information.

☞

Join me Dec. 5-9, 2022 Better than Bosque workshop in New Mexico. CLICK HERE for more information. ☞

Sandhill Crane Silhouette

The first image from a newly discovered folder of silhouettes from my Better than Bosque workshop last December. I am looking forward to digging through the rest ;)

Learn more about my Better than Bosque workshop HERE.

Common Murre Bridled Form

Some Atlantic adult Common Murres in breeding plumage have a "bridle": a white eyering with a white line extending behind it. The Common Murre (Bridled) is a race or sub-species of the Common Murre, which is seen in North America. Although the Common Murre is seen in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, this race is only seen in the Atlantic waters. It can be easily recognized by its bold white facial markings. It also has different coloured eggs than the Common Murre. Both races live among each other.

Bald Eagle Snowshoes

Exposing for snow

Exposing for the snow is so much easier than most photographers think: Simply set your camera to manual mode, select your desired shutter speed and aperture and then adjust the ISO until the in-camera light meter reads plus 1 & 2/3 while filling the frame with the white snow. Pop off a test image and see the histogram will be populated all the way to the right without touching - so easy!

Bald Eagle Frosty Stare

I am absolutely positive this Eagle was wondering what the heck I was doing belly crawling up to it in the snow. It let me get up to minimum focusing distance of the Sony 200-600mm lens which is 2.4 meters (7.87 feet). Which is close enough to have made a great full-frame image with an iPhone.

Happy International Sea Otter Week

Happy Sea Otter awareness week!

• Otters are part of the Mustelidae family, which is a family of carnivorous mammals that includes skunks, weasels, wolverines, and badgers. The sea otter is the largest member of the weasel family, yet the smallest marine mammal in North America.

• Most sea otters call Alaska home. Approximately 90 percent of the world’s sea otters live in coastal Alaska. Many live in the waters surrounding public lands including Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kenai Fjords National Park, and Glacier Bay National Park

• U.S. and international law protects threatened sea otters. Hunted to the edge of extinction by fur traders in the 18th and 19th centuries, the few remaining sea otters (about 2,000 scattered in remnant colonies throughout the North Pacific rim) were first protected by the International Fur Seal Treaty in 1911. Sea otters in the United States received additional protections with the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act in the 1970s.

• Sea otters eat 25 percent of their body weight in food every day. Sea otters’ diets include sea urchins, crabs, mussels, and clams, which they’re known to crack open with a rock and eat while floating in the water. To find food, sea otters may occasionally dive as deep as 250 feet and will use their sensitive whiskers to locate small prey inside crevices or their strong forepaws to dig for clams.

• Sea otters have the thickest fur of any animal. Their fur contains between 600,000 to 1,000,000 hair follicles per square inch. Unlike most other marine mammals, otters lack a blubber layer. Instead, they depend on their dense, water-resistant fur to provide insulation. To keep warm, sea otters spend a large portion of their days grooming and conditioning their fur. This traps air and heat next to their skin.

• Sea otters can have a pup any time of the year. Southern sea otters breed and pup year-round, while northern sea otter pups in Alaska are usually born in the spring. A newborn pup needs constant attention and will stay with its mother for six months until it develops survival skills. Fun fact: An otter pup’s fur is so dense that it can’t dive underwater until it gets its adult fur. This comes in handy when mothers leave their pups safely floating on the water’s surface while they forage for food.

• Otters are an essential keystone species. A “keystone species” is a species that is critical to how an ecosystem functions because it has large-scale effects on the communities in which it lives. Along the Pacific coast, sea otters help control the sea urchin population. Fewer sea urchins in turn help prevent kelp forests from being overgrazed. In California, research has found that sea otters also enhance seagrass beds, and in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park, sea otters’ expansion into the area marked a gradual return of a more diverse ecosystem and an exciting moment in colonization efforts.

• The otter is one of the few mammals that use tools. A sea otter’s tool of choice: typically a rock that can be used as a hammer or anvil to break open hard-shelled prey. They have a loose patch of skin under their armpit to store both the food they’ve foraged and their rock to crack it open.

• Read more at the US DOI website HERE

Atlantic puffin in flight with fish and golden light

Another from my recent Deluxe Puffins Galore Lighthouse Adventure in Quebec. An Atlantic puffin with a bill full of capelin in golden light against out-of-focus golden cliffs. This has quickly become one of my favourite images from one of my favourite places! There is no better place in the world to photograph than Puffin Paradise in Quebec, Canada.

If you would like to photograph Atlantic Puffins flying with fish in golden light while eating gourmet food yourself, then consider joining me next August. Wait! Did I mention that we live in a recently renovated lighthouse? Spots are filling quickly. My trips are timed perfectly so the babies are big enough that they need constant feeding but ends just before the adults abandon the babies to fend for themselves.

Join me next year for my Deluxe Puffins Galore Lighthouse Adventure. Learn more HERE.

Bald Eagle Calling in Golden Light

A Bald Eagle calling in first light can be a goosebump-inducing moment. We had some pretty epic cloudy bright conditions for most of my first workshop but were looking forward to the “mostly sunny” forecast. We crossed the bay before sunrise, landed on the beach and waited for the sun to rise - smile!

For such a large bird, the Bald Eagle’s voice is surprisingly weak. Its call is compared to a snickering laugh and consists of seven or eight notes sounded quickly and haltingly in a way that sounds very laboured. It can be written to sound like ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ker.

Christopher Dodds presents at ProFusion Expo Nov 9 & 10, 2022

Join me for my presentation at the largest camera show in Canada. 12:00 (noon) on Nov. 9 & 10, 2022 in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. More details: https://profusionexpo.com/speaker/chris-dodds/

Bald Eagle on the run

A Bald Eagle runs across a fresh blanket of snow with its wings spread wide. With a maximum wingspan of 2.44 m (88 in = more than 7 feet) there is no doubt that they are impressive raptors to get close to.

We were at the boat before sunrise and quickly sailed across Kachemak Bay in time for the Eagles on the fresh snow. As the light intensity grew through the clouds, the fresh blanket of snow reflected light to illuminate every detail on the Eagles dark feathers. “Snow as fill” is a term I coined about 30 years ago during an owl shoot - smile.

Bald Eagle Vertical Portrait

Those eyes! The eagle eye is among the sharpest in the animal kingdom, with an eyesight estimated at 4 to 8 times stronger than that of the average human. Although an eagle may only weigh 10 pounds (4.5 kg), its eyes are roughly the same size as those of a human. Eagles have a highly developed sense of sight which allows them to easily spot prey. Eagles have excellent 20/5 vision compared to an average human who only has 20/20 vision. This means Eagles can see things from 20 feet away that we can only see from 5 feet away.

Bald Eagle Landing in snow

A Bald Eagle landing in the snow during my Eagles Galore Workshop in Alaska. We had fresh snow reflecting the soft overcast light against the underside of the Eagles which resulted in some incredible details in the dark feathers.

Bald Eagle Calling

For such a large bird, the Bald Eagle’s voice is surprisingly weak. Its call is compared to a snickering laugh and consists of seven or eight notes sounded quickly and haltingly in a way that sounds very laboured. It can be written to sound like ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ker (Stalmaster, 1987). The function of this strange vocalization is unknown so further research on the function of the vocalization is needed. Young Bald Eagles make different sounds than adults. After hatching, the nestlings make a single-note tonal peep (Gilbert et al., 1981). As the bird ages, its sounds become more complex and have a greater volume variance and by day thirty of their life their call has similar characteristics to the adult Bald Eagles’ call even though there is no direct evidence that offspring learn their calls from adults (Buehler, 2000). Since there is no direct evidence, further research is needed to determine whether Bald Eagle song is learned or innate. To test this, scientists could raise a Bald Eagle in captivity without interaction with any other birds. They could then observe whether this Bald Eagle grew to have the same call as other adult Bald Eagles or if it was different or if it did not learn a call at all. The cheeping call of the nestling serves as a way to beg for food, an alarm call, and communication with adults (Kussman, 1977). After four weeks, the young Bald Eagles also develop wail and Peal calls. The peal call is often given in response to humans approaching the Bald Eagles and is a high-pitched cry that has three to five notes that sound like a gull followed by six or seven rapid notes. This peal is described to sound like, kwit-kwit-kwit-kwit-kee-kee-kee-kee-ker (Buehler, 2000). Another unique call the Bald Eagle is the call that females make when they are ready to mate. This sound is soft and high-pitched and repeated multiple times. The male also has a unique call that serves as a defence mechanism, it is a high-pitched peal to signal when other birds or humans approach. They will use this to fend off attacks at communal feeding sites also (Buehler, 2000). READ MORE HERE @ Vassar Collage The Gall Lab.

Join me for a dream Photo Tour: Eagles Galore March 5-9 or 10-14, 2023 in Homer, Alaska.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

🦅

Join me for a dream Photo Tour: Eagles Galore March 5-9 or 10-14, 2023 in Homer, Alaska. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE 🦅

Atlantic puffin in flight

Puffins lead long lives for birds—often more than two decades. The oldest known puffin lived to be 36. The species’ maximum age is difficult to gauge because dated leg bands often corrode in the puffins’ salty habitat, or become illegible as the puffins nest in rocky environments. In fact, it’s hard to track which puffins were ever banded at all.

Atlantic puffin flying with bill full of Capelin

Another Atlantic puffin with bill full of fish image made with the camera set-up vertically. I like to try to push the limits of my hand eye coordination and try my hand at shooting with the camera turned to vertical. It can be remarkably challenging, but the results are sometimes spectacular. It is a great way to keep sharp - wink.

Atlantic puffin with fresh Capelin in flight

Trying to get on these speed demons as they emerge from heavy fog is an exercise in frustration. They seem to come out of nowhere at 55MPH. The key is to keep trying - smile.

Atlantic puffin with fish on golden cliffs

We gathered on the beach well before the 04:40 sunrise and the air was still and the sky was clear. Will the Puffins be bringing back fish to their babies as the sun rises? Will they be flying towards us? There are so many variables which include the tide, but I knew the tide had turned and was starting to rise. Without wind, I knew there would be less activity; seabirds love to fly in high winds. We set up hopeful that the stars would align - smile.

Atlantic puffin in flight in golden light

A Puffin changes direction while on final approach in the last drops of golden light.

The pose with diagonal wings and the head position with the bill clear of the body/wings align with the golden light and catchlight in the eye to make this a keeper :)

Razorbill calling in last light

Razorbills simply fascinate me. Newfoundland hunters called Razorbills “tinkers,” the local pronunciation of “thinkers.” They were given this name because during courtship displays, males hold their bills vertically, appearing to contemplate the heavens.

Bald Eagle with fresh fish

Here is a Bald Eagle with a freshly caught fish. That stare!

Every few years a story makes the rounds about a bald eagle carrying off a dog or trying to snatch someone’s cat. Biologists who study birds of prey and folks who live around eagles have seen plenty snatching and carrying – as well as swooping and swimming – and they offered insights into what eagles really can and cannot do.

Bald eagles are strong, aggressive birds but like everything that flies they are governed by aerodynamics. The wings of an eagle need to support the eight to 12-pound bird as well as whatever the bird is carrying, and best estimates put the lifting power of an eagle at four or five pounds. But it’s not quite that simple.

Lift is dependent not only on wing size, but on airspeed. The faster a bird (or plane) is flying, the greater the lift potential. An eagle that lands on the beach to grab a fish, and then takes off again, is limited to a smaller load than an eagle that swoops down at 20 or 30 miles an hour and snatches up a fish. That momentum and speed gives the bird the ability to carry more weight.

You can read more @ The Alaska Fish & Wildlife News HERE.