MID WINTER GREAT GREY OWLS / LAPPUGLER

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 1250 

Can you imagine that a bird perched up in a tall tree,- inspite of all kinds of environmental noises and with no external ears, is able to hear and locate a mouse on the ground ... some 25 - 30 m away ... under 20 - 30 cm of dense, isolating snow ?? This unbelievable ability is what`s beeing displayed when the hungry great grey owl is sitting in the tree overlooking the snow-covered meadow for possible prey. When the owl has located a mouse be hearing, the bird gets on it`s wings and often with a vertical dive ... a if guided by by some kind of heat-sensitive radar ... dashes into the snow to grab the invisible rodent.

My pictures are taken in Kajaani district, Finland, in mid February over a period of 4 days. These owls do not accept feeding with dead mice, so this is a documentation of owls hunting naturally for voles (markmus & jordrotter) in the winterly landscape with a mix of forest & meadows. Accordingly there s no guarantee for photographic results. First thing of course will simply be to locate and owl in the landscape (which is no obvious issue in the first place), secondly you will have to find an individual that allows you to get on shooting range, then you must hope that this bird is hungry and will start hunting and finally : hope that if so happens this will be within acceptable photo distance. In other words : not necessarily "a walk in the park" !!

Thanks to Antti Vierimaa, Finnature, for experienced and devoted guiding. Also thanks to german photographer Ingo Arndt for great company and great inspiration !  

D4, 600 4m0, f/4,0, 1/1250, ISO 4500

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 2800

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 3200

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1250, ISO 5000

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 720

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1250, ISO 1600

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 1250

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 4000

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1250, ISO 3200

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1250, ISO 3200

D4, 600 4,0, f/6,3, 1/500, ISO1000

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/640, ISO 1600

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 900

D4, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/1250, ISO 2000

D4, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/800, ISO 800

D4, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/2000, ISO 2500

D4, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/2000, ISO 1800

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 9000 

The owl has grabbed a mouse down in the deep snow

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 6400 

D4, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/2000, ISO 2200

*

Sorry for presenting this many pictures, .... but you should have seen the ones I took away !!!!

EVERGLADES NP FLORIDA : "RIVER OF GRASS"

Alligator, Shark Valley, Everglades NP

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/160, ISO 2200

Everglades NP in Southern Florida is considered to be "the broadest and most slow floating river" in the whole world, an enormous mass of water that slowly trickles down a 3rd of Florida, like a river of grass, towards the sea, and the Everglades is considered to be globally unique !! However : The River of Grass is also filling up the water reservoir for 7 mill people, and after 130 years of drainage, farming, urban growth and road construction, the whole system is now threatened with collapse. Unpredictable variations in water levels and pollution from farming is now changing life conditions for indigenous plants and wildlife drastically. On top of this the ecosystem is intrigued by populations of foreign species of animals, hereby python snakes, that poses great threat to a lot of local wildlife. By the year 2000 US authorities had ambitious plans to restore the Everglades, but with the ongoing recession in US economy, this has been drastically reduced. Bad news for the `Glades !!

Pictures are taken late December 2012 / early January 2013. Thanks to Miami photographer Michael Stern for taking me to Wadakahatchee Wetlands.   

Alligator, Shark Vally, Everglades NP

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/160, ISO 5000

Alligators, Big Cypress National Preserve

D3s, 200-400 4,0, f/7,1, 1/500, ISO 450 

Great blue heron in mating display. Wadakahatchee Wetlands

D4, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 17500, ISO 2200

Great blue heron. Wadakahatchee Wetlands

D4, 600 4,+, f/5,6, 1/500, ISO 2000

Great blue herons. Wadakahatchee Wetlands

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,5, 1/400, ISO 720

Great blue herons. The female is an intermediate morph (frequent in Southern Florida). She may produce sterile eggs (?), but she`s nevertheless a perfect white bride !! Wadakahatchee Wetlands.

D4, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/400, ISO 500

Cattle egret. Wadakahatchee Wetlands.

D4, 600 4,0, f/6,3, 1/1250, ISO 250

Common moorhen. Shark Valley, Everglades NP

D4, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/320, ISO 2800

White ibis. Big Cypress National Preserve

D3s, 200-400 4,0, f/9,0, 1/1600, ISO 3600

Roseate spoonbill (Alice in Wonderland !!!!). Wadakahatchee Wetlands.

D4, 600 4,0, f/6,3, 1/1000, ISO 450

Woodstorks once roamed the Florida marshes. The stork is now considered to be a so called indicator species for Florida, and is now rare. Big Cypress National Preserve.

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,5, 1/320, ISO 125 

SPLASHING ELEPHANTS

D3s, 200-400 4,0, f/6,3, 1/640, ISO 800

I find African elephants hard to "shoot", and believe me : I have tried many times !! Oh yes, they are fascinating animals indeed,- huge,intelligent, interesting, social, strong, funny, sweet, dangerous etc etc, ..... but in my eyes it`s hard to take a decent elephant picture. Photographicly elephants are mostly big, monotonous surfaces, mainly dark grayish with little color, and often introducing big problems with deep shadows and challenging highlights.

However, I could not resist the elephants of Samburu NP in Kenya last Nov/Dec. Beeing situated in central Northern Kenya, the area is extremely arid and the numerous elephants in the park are completely dependent on drinking water from the main river, and when the river dries up, they dig for water deep down in the sandy river bed. In Nov/Dec however, they had plenty of rain and the river was running big & brown. Elephants would come down to the river to drink daily and displayed their joy over the abundance of water by pure, splashing happiness. After this "deep-cleaning bath" they would normally find themselves a nice muddy pond and roll around to take on a new layer of red Samburu mud as armour & protection from the myriads of bloodsucking insects. There`s a certain sense in such behaviour !

Hope you like my elephants !  

D3s, 200-400 4,0 f/6,3, 1/640, ISO 800

D800E, 200-400 4,0, F/4,5, 1/1000, ISO 800

D800E, 200-400 4,0, f/4,5,1/1000, ISO 800

D3s, 600 4,0, f/8,0, 1/640, ISO 1800

D3s, 600 4,0, f/8,0, 1/640, ISO 2500

D3s, 200-400 4,0, f/7,1, 1/100, ISO 800

D3s, 200-400 4,0, f/5,0, 1/1250, ISO 1250

D3s, 200-400 4,0, f/5,0, 1/1250, ISO 1800

D3s, 200-400 4,0, f/6,3, 1/250, ISO 1000

D3s, 200-4004,0, f/6,3, 1/640, ISO 1000

D3s, 200-400 4,0, f/4,0, 1/2500, ISO 1600

We had to abandon seats in a hurry !

Nikon Coolpix P7700

"HØNSENHAUKEN"

Ei skikkelig "kveite" av en hønsehauk-dame !!... også kalt Hønsenhauken

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/125, ISO2500

I dag hadde jeg gleden av å sitte inn med Even Hønsen Agerup i hønsehaukskjulet hans på Nesodden. Even er "bare" 17 år og jeg er "bare" 64. Vi fant hverandre i respekten for naturen, i entusiasmen over å oppleve ville dyr i naturlige omgivelser, i gleden over å kunne dokumentere dette fotografisk og i frustrasjonen over norsk naturvern og rovdyrforvaltning i særdeleshet. Vi fortalte hverandre litt om drømmene våre (de fotografiske altså ...), og bortsett fra at jeg foreløpig har litt mer erfaring enn Even, at jeg i øyeblikket kan holde meg med litt dyrere utstyr enn ham og at han er "i starten" og jeg er "på slutten" .... så var drømmene våre faktisk ganske like. Jeg hadde en hyggelig dag ! 

English : Local goshawk, adult female. Pictures taken 2nd February 

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/160, ISO 2200

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/125, ISO 1250

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/125, ISO 1800 

D4, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/160, ISO 2200

D4, 200-400 4,0, f/4,0, 1/125, ISO 2200