David's Images of the Day Photoblog
It only took me twelve years to figure out what type of bird this was. Clark’s Nutcracker. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/4, 1/640 sec).
While visiting Arapaho National Wildlife Preserve in central Colorado, I heard what I thought was a hummingbird. But when I finally saw it discovered that it was a very large White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata). It was feeding on the Purple Nettle Flowers. It never landed, and kept flying while feeding, and thus the hummingbird sound of rapidly flapping wings. I’ve been told that the large catepillars that the Sphinx Moth come from are voratious eaters that farmers hate.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E II 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/160 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5. The Male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds arrive first in the spring to define their territories. Spring comes late at nearly 9000 feet to Lily Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. You hear the hummingbirds long before you finally see them (even with the car windows closed).
Wild Turkeys in the winter feeding at Mesa Verde National Park. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + 1.7 TC-E II teleconverter (ISO 200, 510 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec).
Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the images in the following slideshow.
There is an underground Kiva at Kelly Place in Cortez, Colorado. On our second day of the Road Scholar/Elderhostel workshop the owner of Kelly Place allowed us to enter the Kiva for a photo session. He burned some sage to create smoke to create this image. The first image was converted to B&W using Silver Efex Pro 2. The second image is the original RAW image processed with Capture One Pro 6. Lighting for this image is sunlight coming in through the roof entry and a gold reflector.
