These blogs are occasional embellishments or explanations spurred by an image or sequence. I am one of those editors who believe that words and images together often enhance a moment. I hope these do.
Go Time
December 10, 2020
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Spotted this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk hunting at Branched Oak Lake on Nov. 28, 2020. My first attempts were distant, but then it landed atop a pine and I backed into a nearby parking area with the sun to my back. Fortunately the bird showed no car shyness and I was able to reset my camera while shooting out a window. This five-shot sequence covers...
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Cooper's Bath
May 26, 2020
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On a warm evening just before 7 p.m. on May 3, 2020, a Cooper's Hawk landed in my backyard birdbath. By its markings and trusting behavior, I knew this was a young bird. I had never seen it there before. Over the next two minutes, it allowed me to slip within 10 yards to capture's its bath in warm light. It twice dipped into the fresh water before...
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Trumpeter Swans take off
January 10, 2020
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1/7/2020, LOESS HILLS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, MO. - Twenty-four image sequence of a Trumpeter Swan pair taking off across an icy marsh at Loess Hills National Wildlife Refuge. This was just after dawn on January 7, 2020. There were hundreds of Trumpeters on the refuge. Because of their weight (20-25 pounds), swans need 100 yards of water to becom...
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Avian fury
November 08, 2019
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4/17/19, SEA OF CORTEZ, BAJA, MX - As the Zodiac bobbed in the Sea of Cortez, next to a sheer island cliff, two birds brought their fight to me — 30-feet below. Erupting with screams and for no obvious reason, no quarter was given as the Raven and Yellow-footed Gull tumbled in the air. I watched After breaking for a moment, suspended—as if to reass...
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Butterfly Wars
October 01, 2019
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7/16/19, LINCOLN, NE - For spells during a week or two in July, Monarch Butteries performed aerial combat in the backyard. They fed on a lone blooming liatris, then seriously fought, banging wings and long-extended legs while airborne. Driven by food or territory, they battled until apparently exhausted. I captured this series during the early even...
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Avocet Mob
September 08, 2019
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9/4/19, QUIVIRA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, KS - American Avocets form a train, moving in a narrow file bobbing slightly; they swish their bills through the shallow, saline mud flat capturing invertebrates. It's an organized mob that soon attracts a crowd. Egrets -- Great and Snowy -- and Ibises descend in numbers. A Heron or two stand at the perimet...
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Quivira Salt Marsh
September 07, 2019
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9/5/19, QUIVIRA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, KS - Past of Rattlesnake Creek, I beat true West along the levy road, a one-laner narrowed by encroaching grass stubble. A human outlier, I intrude on the marsh’s creature rhythms. Only mosquitos welcome me. Ducks are the first to fly, exploding upward in waves. Egrets, herons, ibises, stilts, and avocets f...
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Littlest Bighorn
September 02, 2019
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8/11/19, YELLOWSTONE PARK, WY - On a park tour we spotted a small group of Bighorn Sheep on a steep slope above the Gardiner River. Soon the sheep began to angle down the hillside to the water. The littlest Bighorn dashed recklessly through shale, on the edge of a tumbling, to reach the river and its herd. By contrast, the lead ram negotiated the h...
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Blue Fox
August 22, 2019
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8/12/19, COOKE CITY, MT - Disparate realms align in blue light. She awaits the baker, who trades in loaves and nourishes Cooke City wanderers. She peers in; skitters away; returns. For ten years, a fox has found this intersection of human-animal universes. The baker yields. Wayfarers come for sustenance. It is the baker's trade. All comers know hun...
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Tree Top Ballet
August 22, 2019
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2/17/19 HOLMES PARK, LINCOLN, NE - Wind dancer dares gravity, tipclaws limbs, wing brakes, balances, stills, and then, a triumphant glance to the interloper. Adios!
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© Tom White