Belize Fauna on the Way to Lamanai

In June, I went to Belize on a missions trip. At the end of the week we took a boat ride up the New River to the Mayan ruins at Lamanai located in the north. The trip took about an 1 1/2 hrs. making numerous stops to view and photograph the jungle wildlife.

Red Tail Hawks in Flight

Here are some of this months latest shots. Now that the leaves are changing and falling from the trees, its allowing these birds of prey to be seen a little more easily. Although I haven't posted for some time, I'm hoping to show some of the many shots that I've captured this Spring and Summer. This would include some shots from the jungle of Belize, the waters of the Turks and Cacois, and just the local flora and fauna from my daily travels. For now, here are shots from one of my favorite subjects, the Red Tail Hawk.

Feathered Subjects

Peering into the trees which have been void of their leaves during the winter months, one can see the wildlife much easier than when they are supporting full foliage. I find the Red Tail Hawks and Great Blue Herons a real challenge. They remind me of the Queen Angels on the reef while scuba diving. Their visual acuity is very keen as they continually monitor their surroundings. To capture their image I find I need to be thinking ahead of my subject. It almost seems as though they know that my desire is to get their picture and they're going to do there best to not let it happen. It makes it all the more worth while when the capture is successful.

Bald Eagles in Iowa

Well, I am definitely behind in posting. Between Christmas and the New Year, we were in south central Iowa. One of the days we were there, my mother-in-law suggested we take a drive to Ottumwa, IA. She told us there was an outside chance we would see some Bald Eagles.
In downtown Ottumwa is a hydro power plant. As is the norm for temperatures in the midwest at this time of the year, It was frigid, before adding the wind chill. Due to these temps, the northern lakes and waterways freeze over creating a deficit in feeding grounds for the eagles. Therefore, they needed to find open water to feed.
In my life time, living it mostly in south central Pennsylvania near the Susquehanna River, I have probably seen less than five Bald Eagles in the wild. With in the last year or so, our local paper had an article about the growing numbers of Bald Eagles along the Susquehanna and the Eastern waterways. But even with the growing numbers I find, even in my travels, the large bird gliding around in the air is generally a buzzard.
So, you can imagine my surprise to see along the Des Moines River, downtown Ottumwa, nearly twenty or more flying up and down the river, feeding in the warm waters, and or perching on the branches of nearby trees. At first I went out without gloves and in ten minutes the function of my fingers was nearly lost. Being cold to that point, even with image stabilization renders camera shake. I managed to get some shots. I'm guessing that a cold, fridged auto focus motor in the lense barrel of the 70-300mm caused some of the missed shots from slow focusing.
The opportunity to see what I've always understood as an endangered bird, in such numbers,
was a fantastic treat. I'm sure this will be on the calender again next year!

OK! Back Again! - Market Place Pictures

I'm trying to keep up here but I'm running into a lot of squeaky wheels. This post is the framed pieces that have been and will remain hanging in the "Market Place" gallery at Perry County Council of the Arts(PCCA). Every year the PCCA and Harrisburg Area Community College(HACC) put out a call to new artists and current PCCA members to fill the gallery with there 2 and 3-d art. It generally begins around the 1st weekend in Nov. with an open house then finishes up at the end of Jan. It gives the new artist some exposure and the community a venue for holiday shopping while allowing currrent members to continue displaying their works with the added traffic through the gallery. The Lion fish was taken in the Cayman Islands and the other to shots earlier at the Hershey Gardens Butterfly House.
Here is a wish for everyone to have a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm Back!

I could offer many excuses where I've been for the last couple of months but won't. For those that kept checking back to see if I had returned, Thank You! To many projects running and that's a good thing. One of the weeks, we were gone for vacation on the Cayman Aggressor, a dive yacht in the Cayman Islands. And for those that aren't familar with these islands, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac, they are in the Carribean right below Cuba and set northwest of Jamaica.
The following shots are from a night dive during the trip. Those not familiar with octopus, they can change color and texure in a moment which by looking at the pictures you can begin to see what I'm talking about. These following pictures taken in a few minutes are from a series of about 15 to 20 shots of the same octopus. Enjoy!

Hershey Butterfly House - Some Residents

Some time ago, my mother won some tickets to the Butterfly House at the Hershey Gardens, Hershey, PA. A couple of weeks ago, she invited me to go with her to make use of them before the end of the season.
We had wonderful weather, and not just because it didn't rain. Butterflies are cold blooded so it takes the heat of the day to warm their bodies so they become active. And since we've had a mild and cooler than normal summer, it was great that it was in the 80's. The woman that was monitoring the facility and answering questions was telling us that on some of the cooler days the butterflies didn't move from the plants and in some cases remained hidden. That would have been disappointing, but in God's providence, that wasn' t the case for us. More to follow in the next posts.