David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Ice Swan — New Years Eve 2014. View from the deck of the MS Fram. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 18-56 mm lens (ISO 100, 56 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC.
I drove to Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge near Walden Colorado. It is a long drive, but the pass through Rocky Mountain National Park was still open. I knew it was late in the year and didn’t expect to see many migrating birds, but hoped to see some Pronghorn Elk or Moose. While driving through the refuge on the Auto Tour route, I saw eight large white birds across one of the lakes. I took some images, first with a 80-400 mm VR lens, and then with 200-400 f/4 VR lens. It was rather windy, so used the car to block the wind to minimize motion with the big lenses. Even on a tripod this was hard. It looks like these are Tundra Swans which the bird list for the wildlife refuge list as being rare (once every 2-5 years). I guess I was lucky. I also didn’t see anyone else while visiting the reserve.
While returning from the reserve I came upon several Big Horn Sheep along Colorado Highway 14.
