Photo of the Day! Red-tail Hawk Portrait!

Nikon D40x, Nikkor 70-300VR @ 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 800, 1/1600

This beautiful light phase red-tail hawk. The white feathers make this hawk unique but it's the eyes that make the photo. The dark green background also helped.

Photo of the Day! Juvenile Peregrine Falcon!

Nikon D40x, 70-300VR @ 300mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/3200

This is the same juvenile peregrine falcon as yesterday. This is another great display of the juvenile coloration and pattern.

Photo of the Day! Peregrine Falcon!

Nikon D40x, Nikkor 70-300VR @ 300mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/2500

Continuing with peregrine falcons, this is a juvenile peregrine. I really like the coloration and patterns of the juveniles, even more so than the adults. This one is also giving an intense look! This image was taken a few years ago and as I look at the technical specs I realized I should have lowered the ISO because my shutter speed was plenty fast.

Photo of the Day! Peregrine Falcon Portrait!

Nikon D90, Sigma 150-500 OS @ 500mm, ISO 500, f/9, 1/200

Derek has posted a few of his Peregrine Falcon photos recently, so I thought I would follow that up with a few of my own. This captive falcon posed very nicely for me. I haven't had very many opportunities to photograph Peregrines, but they are one of my favorites, so I take any chance I get!

Photo of the Day! Bald Eagle pt. II

Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, TC14, 420mm, f8, ISO 400, 1/1000

This was from my only visit to the local hot spot for eagles this year along the Minnesota River. Due to some construction on one of the spill ways the eagles didn't show up in the number they have in the past few years.

Photo of the Day! Great Horned Owl!

Nikon D40x, Nikkor 70-300 VR @ 220mm, ISO 800, f/9, 1/160

This great horned owl is my favorite color morph found in this species. It's almost colored like a snowy owl. Mostly white with gray and brown markings. They are truly a beautiful bird!

Photo of the Day! Osprey in Banff!

Nikon D90, 300mm f/4 AFS + TC-17E II @ 500mm, ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/1000


This image was taken in Banff National Park near Johnston Canyon. Osprey's are one of my favorite birds of prey and though common across most of the US, I only have a few photographs of them.

Photo of the Day! Hawk Owl Treetop!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS

This a image of a Northern Hawk Owl from a couple of weeks ago. Derek and I are heading back for another try at the Hawk Owls. We are also hoping to see our first Great Gray Owl of the season too. Hopefully new images to come!

Photo of the Day! Bald Eagle!

Nikon D90, Nikkor 500mm f/4

Bald Eagles are one of my favorite subjects to photograph, but this year we haven't had a lot of luck with them locally. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will be able to post more eagles images! The image above was taken in early 2010 and was actually one of the first photographs I got with my 500mm lens.

Photo Trip, Northern Hawk Owl!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS + TC 14E II @ 700mm, ISO 320, f/8, 1/1000 by Chad Griggs

Derek and I spent two days shooting wildlife and a few landscapes in northern Minnesota the past two days. Our focus was on owls. It can be hit or miss with these owls but we were hoping to find Northern Hawk Owls and Great Gray Owls.


On day one we only briefly saw a Northern Hawk Owl and no Great Grays. The Northern Hawk Owl was amazing though. We completely blew an opportunity to get a nice photograph of it though. It sat on the very top of a tree for about 30 minutes. Long enough for Derek and I to loose our concentration on the bird, then all of the sudden it flew right at us and over our head! We both watched in pure amazement and pain that we weren't paying more attention.

The Owl flew about 100 yards past us and caught a mouse or vole in the snow. It was really amazing how it could even see it from that far away!


Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS + TC 14E II @ 700mm, ISO 360, f/8, 1/1000, + 1.7 EV by Chad Griggs

On day two we had a bit more luck with the owl. The two photos above were taken when the owl repeated the behavior. It quickly flew off to an open snow covered field behind us. The owl was a bit back lit so I quickly ramped up my exposure compensation to +1.7 EV. The owl didn't seem to catch anything but then did a low fly from left to right. I was fortunate to get some photos of this small fast flying owl!


Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 + TC 14E II @ 420mm, ISO 500, f/7.1, 1/1250 +1.3 EV by Derek Griggs

We didn't see any Great Gray Owls and we are definitely excited about getting back up there and spending more time with the Northern Hawk Owl. So the owls haven't seen the last of us. Future trips and photos to come!

Photo of the Day! Great Horned Owl

Nikon D90|Sigma 150-500 @500mm|ISO 500|f7.1|1/200

This was one of my first outings with my Nikon D90 in 2008. It was a good test of the cameras abilities with the Sigma 150-500 attached. This Great Horned Owl is still one of my favorite photos of all time!

Bog Video

I've been busy but I finally got together a video from our trip up north this winter. Derek and I saw and photographed several species of birds we had never seen before. We even stumbled onto the same Great Gray Owl twice! We had a blast and can't wait to get back up there next year.

Bog Wrap Up

Boreal Chickadee
In a word... Success! What a couple of days it was. The trip exceeded my expectations. I figured seeing some new species of birds was worth the drive and getting some images would be a bonus. Not only did we see some new species, but we got GREAT images. Much better images than I had ever anticipated.

Black-capped Chickadee

New species of birds I'd never seen before Monday: Great Gray Owl, Boreal Chickadee, Red Breasted Nuthatch, Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay, and Common Raven. On top of that I got better than expected images from almost all of them. The little Red Breasted Nuthatch eluded me, but I'll be back.

Great Gray Owl

What a treat it was to see the Great Gray Owl. I had low expectations of seeing any Owls. Here in the Twin Cities, I hardly ever them. So to see some in a two day period, I could only hope right? Well first first thing Tuesday morning, there she was, a Great Gray Owl no less! It was dark and snowing so the photos weren't great, but that didn't matter. We even got some video (we'll post that later.) Then again in the evening on our way out, there she was again! Same spot, same tree! This time the sun was still up and we were able to get some shots.

This was a great experience that we will be repeating, hopefully soon.

Warm Weather

It didn't even cross my mind that the "mild" weather over that last 4 days would melt the river ice. When I say mild its been in the 20's for that time period.

I was at BDR today around 7:30am looking at the spillway near the 35w bridge, and surprisingly there wasn't any ice. So, I headed further down the road to find the eagles. Near the Black Dog Power Plant is another area where there is open water even during the coldest weather. Again no eagles. So back in the car I go. I was thinking maybe they were all down near the Cedar bridge (where Chad and I have had the most luck). Well, about half way between the power plant and the Cedar bridge I found the eagles! However, I had a new problem. I wasn't able to get any shots due to the eagles (17 of them) were flying all over the place and it was difficult to predict were they would fish at. Another day as a wildlife photographer!

Image is from the frigid weather last week!

An Active Morning Indeed

There isn't much more I can add about today that Chad hasn't already said. Although I missed the morning rush that Chad witnessed. I did get a text from as I was arriving that said "YOU NEED TO BE HERE!" As I got out of the car there were two eagles fishing right in front of Chad! Anyway, a little later in the morning I got two of my best eagle shots as well.

Remember to click the image to view it larger!