Tag: california
Banded Prairie Falcon – A Fascinating Update
Two days ago I posted about a very tame juvenile male Prairie Falcon I photographed last week in the Centennial Valley of Montana. The bird had two bands and I was extremely curious about where, when and why the falcon was banded and by whom so I asked for any insight my readers might have about the bands. Several of you jumped in with advice and suggestions, for which I’m much appreciative. But it was the superb sleuthing of my friend Mike Shaw that paid huge dividends. Mike did some research and learned that the colored band on the falcon (left foot) was issued to Doug Bell, Wildlife Program Manager for East Bay Regional Park District out of Oakland, California. On Tuesday, figuring that Doug might be interested in knowing that his California bird was now in the wilds of Montana, I emailed him with a link to that blog post and an offer to supply any more information about my encounter with that bird that he’d be interested in. I also asked him if he might tell me a little about his experience with the falcon. Yesterday Doug responded generously with information and photos. Since many of my readers expressed an interest in knowing about the history of this young bird I decided to update you with a new post rather than add an addendum to the previous post that many might not see. Besides, there’s a lot of new “stuff” here. Image property of East Bay Regional Park District – used by permission Doug and his team banded “my” Prairie Falcon…
Short-eared Owl Tattoo – A Work In Progress
Something a little different from me this time… In the past I’ve had a wide variety of requests for use of my images, including such disparate projects as prints, magazine and book publications, non-profit scientific and educational organizations (which I nearly always allow without a fee), fancy rubber stamps, uses by painters and other artists as subjects for their work, an image to be lacquered into the top of the communal dining table of a new fire station in Temecula, California and several of my Northern Harrier (a type of hawk) images have been used in the AV8B Harrier (jump-jet) pilot training software at the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, California. But a few weeks ago I got something new for me – a request to use one of my avian images for a very large, “photo – realistic” tattoo. Jenna, from New Zealand, contacted me and requested to use this image of a female Short-eared Owl in flight (with brood patch visible on the belly) as the basis for the tattoo. Her tattoo artist, Matt Jordan of Ship Shape Tattoo, Orewa, New Zealand, needed a high-resolution version of the image in order to get enough detail to make the very large tattoo photo-realistic. Even though this shot was taken in extremely low light and doesn’t have quite as much detail as most of my photos, in the end there was enough. Matt Jordan is apparently very talented and in high demand so it took Jenna several months to get the project started. It’s a long, drawn out and painful process. Jenna’s first session with Matt lasted for 6…
The Little Things That Change Our Lives
I recently received an email from one of my blog readers (thank you so much Ingrid Taylor!) that has caused me to pause for some serious reflection. Ingrid had noticed in one of my posts my mention of the fact that I had raised pigeons as a youngster in southern California. She loves pigeons and when she and her husband rescued and fostered two homing pigeons, “Chauncey and Clive”, they became deeply attached to them. In her email Ingrid asked me if I “retain any similar affections for pigeons” left over from my childhood. Do I ever! When I think back on just how much those few years with my pigeons changed my life for the better I’m simply astounded. When I was in 6th grade and living in Poway, California my friend Dennis (on the right in the photo, that’s me on the left) introduced me to the joys of raising pigeons. We each kept a variety of breeds – homers, tumblers, rollers, fantails, tippets, helmets and others. This is the pigeon coop that I built from scrap lumber and chicken wire at age 11 in 1959. I spent countless hours in that coop with my pigeons – caring for them, watching their behaviors and reading and then re-reading the huge book you see in my hand – “The Pigeon”, by Wendell Mitchell Levi. My parents supported and nurtured my obsession with my birds, largely for a reason I found out years later – that it “kept me out of trouble”. And they were probably right……
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Banded Prairie Falcon – A Fascinating Update
Two days ago I posted about a very tame juvenile male Prairie Falcon I photographed last week in the Centennial Valley of Montana. The bird had two bands and I was extremely curious about where, when and why the falcon was banded and by whom so I asked for any insight my readers might have about the bands. Several of you jumped in with advice and suggestions, for which I’m much appreciative. But it was the superb sleuthing of my friend Mike Shaw that paid huge dividends. Mike did some research and learned that the colored band on the falcon (left foot) was issued to Doug Bell, Wildlife Program Manager for East Bay Regional Park District out of Oakland, California. On Tuesday, figuring that Doug might be interested in knowing that his California bird was now in the wilds of Montana, I emailed him with a link to that blog post and an offer to supply any more information about my encounter with that bird that he’d be interested in. I also asked him if he might tell me a little about his experience with the falcon. Yesterday Doug responded generously with information and photos. Since many of my readers expressed an interest in knowing about the history of this young bird I decided to update you with a new post rather than add an addendum to the previous post that many might not see. Besides, there’s a lot of new “stuff” here. Image property of East Bay Regional Park District – used by permission Doug and his team banded “my” Prairie Falcon…
Short-eared Owl Tattoo – A Work In Progress
Something a little different from me this time… In the past I’ve had a wide variety of requests for use of my images, including such disparate projects as prints, magazine and book publications, non-profit scientific and educational organizations (which I nearly always allow without a fee), fancy rubber stamps, uses by painters and other artists as subjects for their work, an image to be lacquered into the top of the communal dining table of a new fire station in Temecula, California and several of my Northern Harrier (a type of hawk) images have been used in the AV8B Harrier (jump-jet) pilot training software at the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, California. But a few weeks ago I got something new for me – a request to use one of my avian images for a very large, “photo – realistic” tattoo. Jenna, from New Zealand, contacted me and requested to use this image of a female Short-eared Owl in flight (with brood patch visible on the belly) as the basis for the tattoo. Her tattoo artist, Matt Jordan of Ship Shape Tattoo, Orewa, New Zealand, needed a high-resolution version of the image in order to get enough detail to make the very large tattoo photo-realistic. Even though this shot was taken in extremely low light and doesn’t have quite as much detail as most of my photos, in the end there was enough. Matt Jordan is apparently very talented and in high demand so it took Jenna several months to get the project started. It’s a long, drawn out and painful process. Jenna’s first session with Matt lasted for 6…
The Little Things That Change Our Lives
I recently received an email from one of my blog readers (thank you so much Ingrid Taylor!) that has caused me to pause for some serious reflection. Ingrid had noticed in one of my posts my mention of the fact that I had raised pigeons as a youngster in southern California. She loves pigeons and when she and her husband rescued and fostered two homing pigeons, “Chauncey and Clive”, they became deeply attached to them. In her email Ingrid asked me if I “retain any similar affections for pigeons” left over from my childhood. Do I ever! When I think back on just how much those few years with my pigeons changed my life for the better I’m simply astounded. When I was in 6th grade and living in Poway, California my friend Dennis (on the right in the photo, that’s me on the left) introduced me to the joys of raising pigeons. We each kept a variety of breeds – homers, tumblers, rollers, fantails, tippets, helmets and others. This is the pigeon coop that I built from scrap lumber and chicken wire at age 11 in 1959. I spent countless hours in that coop with my pigeons – caring for them, watching their behaviors and reading and then re-reading the huge book you see in my hand – “The Pigeon”, by Wendell Mitchell Levi. My parents supported and nurtured my obsession with my birds, largely for a reason I found out years later – that it “kept me out of trouble”. And they were probably right……