Photography – Page 20 – Circadianreflections Blog

Whatever Weds. Flatirons

October 27, 2021Posted in iphonegraphy, Photography, TravelTagged Boulder CO, Cairns, Chautauqua Park, Flatirons, hiking, iphone, Photography, Pine Trees, Travel51 Comments

Have you heard of or been to the Flatirons outside of Boulder, CO? I had never heard of them before, but I ran across an article or review of them while researching “things to do in and around Denver”. The hikes sounded interesting and pretty so we added this destination to our itinerary.

It was just over an hours drive from our hotel so we got up early had breakfast at the hotel then headed out for Chautauqua Park in Boulder, CO. That’s where we’d find the Flatirons. They’re rock formations that back in the 1900’s were know as the Chautauqua Slabs, and later they were called the Crags… Wikipedia.

They do resemble clothes irons. They’re numbered 1 through 5. The big one in front is number 1.

Upon arriving and reading the trail map we discovered a big sign notifying hikers that the trail we hoped to hike was closed for repairs, so Plan B. We hiked up this trail in the image above and caught the Bluebell-Baird trail which made a nice loop and a great stretch the legs hike.

Ready? Let’s go I’ll show some of what I saw along the way.

The wide open space soon changed to a dense forest.

There were still some wildflowers in bloom. I think this is Narrow Goldenrod, but I’m not positive. Any one know for sure? I apologize for the missed focus. My iPhone and I weren’t having a good moment with focus. 😂

We walked around a bend in the trail and on both sides of the trail were cairns! I can’t recall seeing so many in one place before!

There are so many! More than fit in my frame. The park had fenced off both sides of this area but, if you know me and rocks…you just know what happened next. Shhh! Don’t tell anybody, but I had to, HAD TO add a rock to a cairn. This one.

Added one rock on top. Cairn Bluebell-Baird Trail Chautauqua Park

Then before we knew it we out in the open again. Here’s a little view of Boulder, CO.

It’s all downhill from here. Before we finish up let’s take a look behind us shall we?

Geoolgy Fun Facts:

“The Flatirons consist of conglomeratic sandstone of the Fountain Formation. Geologists estimate the age of these rocks as 290 to 296 million years; they were lifted and tilted into their present orientation between 35 and 80 million years ago, during the Laramide Orogeny. The Flatirons were subsequently exposed by erosion. Other manifestations of the Fountain Formation can be found in many places along the Colorado Front Range, including Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Roxborough State Park in Douglas County, and Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Morrison.”~ Wikipedia

I’d like to go back to this park one day and hike the trail that was closed. From here we headed to Estes Park the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. More on that in a future post.

iPhone 7 Plus| PS CC 22.5.1

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Fall Color in CO +2

October 13, 2021October 12, 2021Posted in Carson Valley, Colorado, Fall Color, PhotographyTagged Aspens, Canadian Geese, Carson Valley, Clouds, Colorado, Fall Color, Fog, Job's Peak, Kenosha Pass, Pine Trees, Reflections, Snow, sunrise color, Willows37 Comments

While in CO. Fall was at peak or past it in the higher elevations and beginning in the lower ones so, after the wedding we began our vacation. First up we headed to Kenosha Pass to see the fall colors.

Fast forward…we came home to a cold snap. It was pretty chilly and windy all week-end; it rained a bit in the valley and snowed in the mountains, but on Monday things really got chilly and it rained, hailed and snowed a little, and yesterday I woke up to 23 degrees (-5c) and the clouds had lifted a bit on the mountains so I could see the snow on them.

Lucky me, a flock of Canadian Geese flew by and I got the tail-end of them in this frame. They’re heading Northeast somewhere.

I’m trying a new theme for the blog to see if my images look better than in the previous theme. I think it’s better. What do you think?

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 16-80mm & 100-400mm| iPhone 7 Plus| PS CC 22..5.1

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Red-tailed Hawk Immature

September 29, 2021September 28, 2021Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birding in Nevada, PhotographyTagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Fuji X-T3, Red-tailed Hawk, River bends, Truckee River53 Comments

Red-tailed Hawks are the most common hawk in North America and certainly the one I see most often. While birding with the birding group a few weeks ago another lady and I veered away from the group a few minutes to check out another path and saw this Red-tail perched with its back to us. It stayed for a good bit then turned and flew right over our heads. That’s when I got this shot. It’s probably a 1st year since it doesn’t have its red tail feathers yet.

Fun Facts- gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

The Red-tailed Hawk has a thrilling, raspy scream that sounds exactly like a raptor should sound. At least, that’s what Hollywood directors seem to think. Whenever a hawk or eagle appears onscreen, no matter what species, the shrill cry on the soundtrack is almost always a Red-tailed Hawk.
Birds are amazingly adapted for life in the air. The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the largest birds you’ll see in North America, yet even the biggest females weigh in at only about 3 pounds. A similar-sized small dog might weigh 10 times that.

The “Harlan’s Hawk” breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters on the southern Great Plains. This very dark form of the Red-tailed Hawk has a marbled white, brown, and gray tail instead of a red one. It’s so distinctive that it was once considered a separate species, until ornithologists discovered many individuals that were intermediate between Harlan’s and more typical Red-tailed Hawks.
Courting Red-tailed Hawks put on a display in which they soar in wide circles at a great height. The male dives steeply, then shoots up again at an angle nearly as steep. After several of these swoops he approaches the female from above, extends his legs, and touches her briefly. Sometimes, the pair grab onto one other, clasp talons, and plummet in spirals toward the ground before pulling away.

Red-tailed Hawks have been seen hunting as a pair, guarding opposite sides of the same tree to catch tree squirrels.
The oldest known wild Red-tailed Hawk was at least 30 years, 8 months old when it was found in Michigan in 2011, the same state where it had been banded in 1981.

The Scrub Jays here mimic the Red-tail Hawk’s call and has been fooling me a lot lately! I’ve been listening to calls so I’m not so easily fooled next time. Ha!!😂

After the group broke up I headed east in search of another bird, but had no joy finding it but, the river was pretty. I saw a few mallards, and Yellow-rumped Warblers and people so headed home for lunch.

The image of the Red-tail looks so bad here on WordPress! I’m beyond frustrated with this happening all the time. I haven’t changed the way I process and resize my images in a decade so it must be WordPress! I need a tutorial! Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

My images look fine and the way I want them to on flickr. Here’s the link to the same image of the Red-tail. https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmzajac2004/51529739409/in/dateposted/

See what I mean? I’m really not happy with WordPress at the moment! Any ideas for a not savvy computer person to fix it?

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 22.5| iPhone 7Plus

more to come…

Sunspots

September 10, 2021September 10, 2021Posted in Astro-Imaging, Astro-Photography, Photography, SunTagged Astro Photography, Fuji X-T3, Solar Imaging, Sun, Sunspots26 Comments

Have you heard about the huge sunspots that are facing Earth now? It’s been some years since there’s been some HUGE ones…big enough to fit Jupiter in them HUGE! I got excited and thought I’d dig out my solar filter and photograph the Sun since I haven’t in a long time.

I made this image September 9th in the morning just a little after the sun crested the mountains.

The biggest sunspot is AR2866, and the other big one one above it is AR2868. There are couple of little ones there too.

The big sunspots can produce big flares or CME’s – Coronal Mass Ejections so the space folks will be watching for those. CME’s can weaken the magnetosphere and they can produce blackouts. Hopefully that doesn’t happen.

It’s been some time since we could see so many sunspots on the Sun and that was at the tail end of Cycle 24 back in 2017. I find it so fascinating and thought I’d share my image with you in case you do too.

Have a lovely week-end everyone!

Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm @400mm| Orion Solar filter| PS CC 22.5

more to come…

Thursday Doors- Picnic find

September 9, 2021September 8, 2021Posted in Doors, Photography, Thursday DoorsTagged iPhone 7Plus, Little Free Library, Pink Doors, Thursday Doors35 Comments

On the way to Baby Girl’s last week we stopped to pick up some lunch from a burger joint and took it across the road to eat in the park for an impromptu picnic. (Sorry, no burger pic this time) I forgot to take a picture!

It’s at the park that I saw this little Free Library and loved the pink doors. Sadly, there were no children’s books in it. I’m going to get some to add to it since it’s likely we’ll be stopping for burgers and fries and eat in this park again.

Dan Antion’s blog No Facilities hosts Thursday Doors. Click here to get to his blog to see many other doors from all over the world that other door lovers have shared this week.

iPhone 7Plus| PS CC 22.5

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends-Yellow Warbler

September 3, 2021Posted in Birding in Nevada, Birds in the Wild, Fuji X-T3, Photography, WildfiresTagged Birding, Caldor Fire, El Dorado Forest, Friday's Feathered Friends, Nature, Nevada Birding, Pine Trees, Signs, Smoke, Yellow Warbler41 Comments

Isn’t he cheerful? This was the second time I’ve ever seen this bird. There are more than 50 species of Warblers but few are as brilliant yellow as he is. The females aren’t as bright and lack the rich chestnut streaking, but do have the black eyes, and warm yellow tones.

Fun Facts:

In addition to the migratory form of the Yellow Warbler that breeds in North America, several other resident forms can be found in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Males in these populations can have chestnut caps or even chestnut covering the entire head.
The nests of the Yellow Warbler are frequently parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird. The warbler often builds a new nest directly on top of the parasitized one, sometimes resulting in nests with up to six tiers.
Life can be dangerous for a small bird. Yellow Warblers have occasionally been found caught in the strands of an orb weaver spider’s web.
The oldest-known Yellow Warbler was a female, and was at least 11 years old when she was recaught and rereleased during banding operations in New York.~allaboutbirds.org

Sunday we drove over the mountains to go visit Baby Girl, The Handsome Surveyor, and the boys. Along the way we stopped at Maiden’s Grave pullout to view the horrible smoke plume from the Caldor Fire burning in the El Dorado National forest.

View from Maiden’s Grave, SR 88, CA.

All through the forest we kept seeing these signs- Every campground, and park is closed. 😭

The reports on the fire are somewhat better today. They’re allowing some residents to return their homes in South Lake Tahoe, and the cooler temperatures, and less wind in the week-end forecast is promising and should help the firefighters with the fight.

The smoke is still in the unhealthy range here, but the sun is trying to burn through it today so I’m feeling a wee bit more positive today on the fire front.

We haven’t any week-end plans since we’ve been gone a lot these last two weeks visiting our kids and grandkids. What about you any plans? Whatever your plans I hope you have a good week-end!

Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| and iPhone 7Plus| PS CC 22.5

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Butterflies

July 21, 2021July 20, 2021Posted in Butterflies, Fuji X-T3, Nature, Photography, WildflowersTagged Fritillary's, Fuji X-T3, Nature, Western White Butterfly, Whatever Wednesday, Wildflowers62 Comments

A friend came up for the week-end and we birded, and admired wildflowers, and hiked. He-Man even joined us on the longest hike which was just over 6 miles, and we climbed 640ft in the Eastern Sierras.

We also had the pleasure of seeing several butterflies. Here are two.

I think this is a Fritillary maybe a Meadow Fritillary? If you know what it is I’d love to know for sure.

This one I was able to identify as the Western White Butterfly.

This one is a first for me!

The wildflowers in the high country are in full bloom and gorgeous, and I’ve picked up a few new to me birds! I’ll be sharing those in future posts…after I have nailed down their identities. I’m still not quite certain on two of them.

Merlin my bird app isn’t giving me a definitive answer so, I’m still trying to figure them out.

The smoke here seems to get better, then it gets worse. The Tamarack Fire is still burning and when I last checked it was still 0% contained and the winds in the afternoon have been very gusty not helping the fire crews at. all!

I am hopeful that fire crews will be able to get it under control sooner rather than later.

That’s about it from here. I hope your week is going well.

Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.4.2

more to come…

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