Hot Raccoon!
So, I am visiting Quivira National Wildlife Refuge on a hot and humid June day. As I drive by an old hollowed-out cottonwood, I notice a short hairy branch on the side of tree. Hmm, I don't remember seeing that when I passed by this morning. I just had to stop and investigate. It was now early afternoon and the temperature was rising. I hated to leave air-conditioned comfort but, I exited the car with binoculars in hand. That hairy branch turned out to be a raccoon leg. I wasn't sure if the owner was dead or alive. I moved for a better angle around the side of the tree. Oh, did I mention it was hot? It was around 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity. IT WAS HOT!
In the hollow of the tree, I could see the leg belonged to a mother raccoon and I could see at least three youngsters crawling around on her.
You can just see the mother raccoon's ear at the bottom. Poor mom, three hot little bodies around her and not a breath of air. I'll bet she was dreaming of a dip in a cool stream about now.
I don't know if this was junior expressing his love for mom or his attempt at cooling her off.
Mom just looks exhausted, doesn't she?
Beautiful Arbutus
I love the colorful bark of arbutus trees. Known also as Madrone or Madrona tree, it is Canada's only native broadleaved evergreen tree. It is found along the coast of the Pacific Northwest usually growing only within 3 miles of the ocean. In summer, the reddish bark sheds its skin like a snake, peeling in thin flakes to reveal new yellow-green bark beneath. In this photo, I used a macro lens to create a close-up abstract of color and patterns. I noticed that in the warm light of a sunset, arbutus trees have an intense orange/red glow.
Although its colorful bark is the most visual feature, the arbutus tree has other interesting characteristics. They can reach over one hundred feet in height and live to be 500 years old. In spring, the trees are covered in white blossoms which are an important source of honey for local beekeepers. In the fall, the blossoms have changed to orange fruits that feed birds and deer. In Madrid, Spain, the fruit is distilled into a sweet, fruity liqueur. Arbutus is also a good fuelwood since it burns hot and long.
Yellowbook
For those of you who are in the Wichita area - ALERT! ALERT!
You should be getting your Yellowbook phone book any day now. I found mine on the front porch today. What? ....PHONE BOOK, PHONE BOOK! You remember those don't you? Now before you immediately toss it in the trash, you may want to rip the cover off and frame it. OK, maybe not. A photo of mine is on the cover. I know, I never thought it would happen either. The local Yellowbook people wanted to feature Botanica on the cover this year and staff at Botanica was gracious in sending them one of my photos. See, now you have a reason to keep a phone book around.
Chasing Canadian Sunsets
We recently made a trip to Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Every place we stayed was on the water, every night for two weeks. I thought that this would give me ample opportunities to photograph at least one good sunset on the water. So, where ever we were spending the night, I would start to watch the sky in late afternoon, try to predict if necessary conditions for good color were coming together, and plan where I wanted to be with a good subject for the foreground. Of course, I drove my wife crazy with this. I would basically say, "I don't know what you want to do for dinner this evening but, I need to be at this location a few minutes before sunset". It can complicate a relaxing dinner, timing is everything you know. There were a couple of times I dragged my tripod and camera gear into the restaurant with us, only to run out before finishing dinner, leaving my wife to pay the bill, because the appointed time was quickly upon me. I did get a few decent sunsets among the many nights that were a bust because the sun dropped from a clear blue sky. On this night in Victoria, I had plans for a couple of spots around the Inner Harbour if a sunset presented itself (being at the Hotel was not one of them). We had been seeing the sights in town throughout the day and arrived back at the Inn at Laurel Point early evening. The skies did not look promising. A low cloud layer had moved in, too low, I thought, for the setting sun to illuminate them. We had settled back into our room for the evening. I looked out to the west from our balcony and was startled to see the clouds breaking and a beautiful sunset developing. Knowing peak color only lasts a couple of minutes, I had no time to go anywhere. It was either shoot it from the balcony or not at all. I was thinking, "Here is the best sunset of the trip and I'm stuck in the hotel". After getting home and processing the photos, I realized, this is the best sunset of all; the rich color, the clouds reflecting in the hotel pond, and the silhouetted couple raising a cellphone to capture the beauty (click on image for larger view). I love it when a plan comes together. Yeah, right!
Stay tuned for more BC photos, I will get them posted soon!
Kansas Sunflowers
I knew they would be transfixed on the rising sun, oblivious to anything else. Or, at least, that is what I hoped for. I had envisioned photographing them from the back... sun streaming through their petals... setting them all aglow. I grabbed camera and tripod and headed in slowly, quietly, so as not to disturb them. But, as I took the first photo, one of them turned to face me. I knew the jig was up. Before I could compose the second photo, they were all facing me.
