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"Moonlight Flight." After sunset, the moon watches while a flock of Sandhill Cranes fly towards their evening roost. Behind the lens. I visualized this image for several years before getting a chance to capture it. When we finally arrived on location, it still took me three evenings to to get the moon, clouds and cranes to cooperate.
"Phoenix." A winter flock of Sandhill Cranes heads out just after sunrise to feed in the agricultural fields of southern Arizona. Phoenix is the mythical bird of rebirth and renewal from ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Chinese cultures. It is a stork-like bird with glorious feathers of gold and red. According to Greek legend, the Greek sun-god Helios stops his chariot (the sun) at dawn to listen to its beautiful song. Once every 500 years, the Phoenix builds a nest of twigs which it then sets afire. Bird and nest burn furiously and, from their ashes, a new Phoenix arises to live for another 500 years. The capital of Arizona was so named because it was built on the ruins of an extensive Hohokam civilization that had flourished in that location centuries earlier. Behind the lens. How did I photograph the sun with a 500mm lens without frying my retina? Inquisitive minds can find out here.
"Leap of Faith" poster $20. All of us have taken a "leap of faith" sometime in our lives, and parents have watched their children head off on their own adventures. So it's easy to connect with this family of Bufflehead ducks leaving their nest. The nest cavity was about 40' off the ground, and after landing the ducklings still had to waddle about 100 yards to reach the lake. But all arrived safely. What could be more inspiring (and funny) to look at every day?
"Foggy Ruddy." A Ruddy Duck in eclipse plumage surfaces and dissappears into the fog on a perfectly calm morning. This male is just starting to grow back into his summer breeding plumage, which will include a bright-blue bill. Behind the lens. I grew up swimming every day that my mother would let me. Whenever we picniced at the river, she always make us wait 30 minutes after eating before we could go back in the water, threatening us not to go in early because, "Your lips will turn blue." And that is what I think of every time I see a male Ruddy.
"Snow Geese." A small flock of Snow Geese flies over a golden field of winter-dried grasses. Behind the lens. Big flocks of migrating Snow Geese are one of the most amazing spectacles of spring.
"Landing Gear." A female Ringed-neck Duck lowers her feet and flaps for splash-down into a small pond. Behind the lens. Ringed-neck Ducks are more common than you might expect. Because they are smallish and unaggressive, they tend to be overlooked in a pond full of other ducks.
"Blackbird Moon." A flock of Red-winged Blackbirds flies past the rising moon while on their way to an evening roost site in the cattails. Behind the lens. While camping in Arizona one winter, we noticed the blackbirds flocking in each night. Right after sunset, groups numbering in the dozens would flock in together. Flying at full speed, they'd dive into the cattails at the head of our small lake and roost there for the night. So the next evening, we kayaked out and parked in front of the cattails, and waited. The sun set, the full moon rose, and the blackbirds started arriving. I kept my camera pointed at the moon, and I pressed the shutter every time a flock flew across my view. Out of 20-30 frames, this was the only image I got that had a bird in front of the moon. A little observation, a little planning -- and a little luck.
"Owl Eyes." With the forward-facing eyes of a raptor, a Great Horned Owl portrait gives the impression of intense concentration. Behind the lens. This is a trained bird, photographed while sitting on the trainer's glove. This face is a great example of something that has always fascinated me -- how many different shapes and functions that feathers can take on in a single bird. How many different feather shapes can you see?
"Great Blue Heron Gulp (vertical)." Great Blue Herons snatch small fish from the water with the tips of their sharp beaks. But before they can swallow the snack, they have to toss and spin it around so it slides down head first. Behind the lens. I tried to photograph the cranes at Bosque del Apache, but I got fed up with the crowd of photographers. So instead, we found this heron fishing in one of the canals below the road, and photographed him catching five fish. A lot of other photographers drove past us, parked on the roadside, but none of them ever saw this avian acrobat at work.


"Leap of Faith" poster $20.

All of us have taken a "leap of faith" sometime in our lives, and parents have watched their children head off on their own adventures. So it's easy to connect with this family of Bufflehead ducks leaving their nest. The nest cavity was about 40' off the ground, and after landing the ducklings still had to waddle about 100 yards to reach the lake. But all arrived safely. What could be more inspiring (and funny) to look at every day?


"Leap of Faith" poster $20.

All of us have taken a "leap of faith" sometime in our lives, and parents have watched their children head off on their own adventures. So it's easy to connect with this family of Bufflehead ducks leaving their nest. The nest cavity was about 40' off the ground, and after landing the ducklings still had to waddle about 100 yards to reach the lake. But all arrived safely. What could be more inspiring (and funny) to look at every day?" href="javascript:openLB(1636061630,'',XLarge,'',864,559);"> "Leap of Faith" poster $20. All of us have taken a "leap of faith" sometime in our lives, and parents have watched their children head off on their own adventures. So it's easy to connect with this family of Bufflehead ducks leaving their nest. The nest cavity was about 40' off the ground, and after landing the ducklings still had to waddle about 100 yards to reach the lake. But all arrived safely. What could be more inspiring (and funny) to look at every day?


"Leap of Faith" poster $20.

All of us have taken a "leap of faith" sometime in our lives, and parents have watched their children head off on their own adventures. So it's easy to connect with this family of Bufflehead ducks leaving their nest. The nest cavity was about 40' off the ground, and after landing the ducklings still had to waddle about 100 yards to reach the lake. But all arrived safely. What could be more inspiring (and funny) to look at every day?
See photo in original gallery.
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All text and images © Copyright John Ashley. All rights reserved.