Moose News Blog

It’s a real dry spring in the Eastern Sierra, nesting birds are well into it with most feeding newly hatched young. Jake & I started to work our favorite area this past week with a couple Red-shafted Flicker, Pygmy Nuthatch, Western Wood Pewee, Tree & Violet-green Swallow and Red-breasted Sapsucker (RBS) nests to photograph. This particular RBS nest was great fun with the male perching on a trunk just inches from my head whenever there was a nest exchange (the Nuthatches Jake was photographing, one of his birds perched on my 600mm). Neither of us are in a blind, the birds are quite use to our presence so we get to see all the action. While I had a flash on a Wimberley Flash Arm, there were times the sun would come through the canopy so I could turn off the flash and work the great light.

I always keep a log when working a nest of times the parents are in & out & the basic biology. By comparing this info to previous nests I’ve photographed over the years, I was able to determine these RBS have 36hr old chicks. I remember when I was younger thinking I would always remember everything. Mistake of youth. The one thing I did write down was this basic biology stuff. Thank goodness I did and still do because I now know, I don’t remember everything.

Photo captured by D2Xs, 600f4AFSII on Lexar digital film

“What do I need in a computer?” This is a question I receive everyday. It’s a very valid question and one you’ll get a different opinion from every person you ask and for good reason. Everyone has their bias and that’s cool. Here’s my bias, Dell and in particular, the Precision line.

I’ve been running Precisions since they first came out. They’ve been with me in trucks bouncing across the nastiest of roads. They been vibrated to pieces flying in Bush Planes across Alaska. Heck, took one on a two week float trip through the Arctic. And after all that abuse, they have never let me down and that’s what’s important to me. Currently, my main computers are the two pictured here, the desktop Precision 390 (office digital darkroom machine) and notebook Precision M65 (my road warrior). Here’s what I look for in my computers.

Speed, speed and more speed which comes from a combo of Ram, Hard Drive speed and video board memory. For that reason, both of my machines run 4GB of Ram and are dual core machines. The 390 runs dual, 160Gb 10,000RPM hard drives and the M65 runs a 160GB 7200RPM hard drive. The 390 is running the new NVIDIA dual DVI board with 256MB of Ram and the M65 runs the NVIDIA Quadro FX350. This combo of ram, hard drive rpm and video boards permits me to run as fast as is possible with current technology.

How good is the Precision line? Well, perhaps too good for its own sake. My other notebook (yes, I often travel with two) that I use for teaching, presentations and the such is my older Precision M70. While a couple of years old, it still is a solid, solid workhorse! With the new notebooks you know are just around the corner, my problem is wondering how I will justify buying a new notebook when my current notebooks work great.

Bottomline, when it comes to buying a computer, buy the most you can, most of ram, hard drive rpm and video board. I know there are some who are diehard Mac folks, and that’s cool. There are some who aren’t into Dells, and that’s just fine too. You’ve got to find the tools that work for you and than make them sing. I just know for myself, my photography and for my business, the Dell Precision line permits me to keep focus on the things the matter, and not my computers!

We don’t have a normal front yard, we have a meadow. We’ve planted over the years and have growing over 30 native plants. For a short 30 day window each summer, it’s a rainbow of colors that just cool to watch. Well, you could say we’re a little protective of our plants so when the snow melts, we’re on guard for natural predators of our earthly delights. The main villain are voles. We have lots of Sage Brush Voles but when this guy got in our trap, it caught my attention (I have a permit to live trap so critters we catch, we translocate to our neighbor’s yard). This is a Montane Vole (also called meadow mice by some), it’s not rare but just rare to our yard. He instantly had a new temporary home in a very large tank sitting in our office. Now we think that he is a she because its getting a big belly. So we’ve been providing it lots of fresh grasses, some it eats and the rest is being used to build a very cool nest which you can partially see here.

Photographing small mammals is something I’m known for in biological circles, these little critters just fascinate me. I’ve written about my set up many times in the past, it’s a simple 60micro, single flash affair. So for the next week or 10 days, we’ll keep an eye on our new friend and if babies appear, I’ll post the news here. If not, well my neighbor will have a new pet.

Photo captured by D2Xs, 60micro with SB-800 on Lexar digital film

During my Attwater’s Prairie Chicken project I went out 1 afternoon to shoot some B Roll. While out looking, I came across this crop duster working a field so I stopped to grab some shots while getting in some panning practice. Well, he made a number of passes on the field (frame#1) and than went off to refuel. He came back and made a couple more passes when he spotted me. Well, than the show began. He made these huge banks (frame#2) up into the forming thunderheads between runs and started to make runs closer and closer to me. The last couple of passes were right down the lens barrel, very cool. He went overhead and I waved thanks, he waved his wings and than went right down the hwy on the deck. I turned around to get this shot which still makes me chuckle. Life is good when there’s a camera in your hand!

Photo captured by D2Hs, 200f2VR on Lexar digital film

On my orientation Wednesday morning at the Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR, we saw 8 males (pictured here). That’s more than 10% of the wild population! One of the most endangered birds in No America, the wild population is 40-60 birds. Why the range? During my visit, 9 chicks hatched and 4 chicks & 1 hen died. The APC’s story is incredibly complex (much greater than can be blogged) but its status is pretty clear cut. They are on the edge! The staff at the refuge is doing one hell of a remarkable job that literally is 24/7. I’m doing what I can by photographing and telling their story in upcoming articles like that in the next issue of the BT Journal. You can help by Adopt-a-Prairie-Chicken. The captive population needs your funds to continue on with their vital mission, making babies! Twenty-five dollars can feed a chick for a year. If you want to help, send your contribution to:

Adopt-a-Prairie-Chicken
Wildlife Diversity Branch
Texas Parks and Wildlife
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744

The male in this photograph was on the booming ground this AM along with 2 other males. A female never came in and after a couple of hours, they flew back off into the prairie grasses from where they came, instinct unfulfilled.

Photo captured by D2Xs, 600f4 AFSII on Lexar digital film