West Milton Cascades

A pretty little falls hidden in downtown West Milton Ohio. We missed the pull-off completely and had to turn around and drive back. We were fortunate to have rain the day before, so there's plenty of water. The stream is a tributary of the Stillwater River, which in turn flows into the Little Miami.

Cleaned up a little bit if trash in a couple of these, but not too bad.

I was shooting into the sun in late afternoon, so if you go, early morning or an overcast day would work better.

Eagles and Vultures and Hawks, Oh My!

More shots from the Medina Raptor Center.

A peregrine falcon. I've seen a peregrine flying over my neighborhood - it would be so cool if they were nesting around here.

Below is a leucistic red-tailed hawk named Cloud. They don't live long in the wild because they don't have camouflage. The blue eyes are the giveaway that he's not an albino.

Vultures, handsome birds right up to their necks, then not so much.

Loved being able to get close enough to get a portrait of Migisi, the resident eagle. Fierce.

Medina Raptor Center

Sigh...from December and I'm just now processing them...

The Medina Raptor Center rehabs all sort of critters, not just raptors. They do an excellent job and clearly love and respect these animals. Josh Clark set up this shoot for a bunch of lucky photographers from NPEG. Beautiful day, maybe a tad too sunny, but in December you just can't complain about having sunshine.

These were all shot with a Nikon 80 - 400mm lens. Overall, these are much better than the previous years, with a 28 - 300 mm Nikon lens.

Now for the owls - hawks, vulture and eagle in another post.

I love snowy owls - and would really like to photograph one in the wild someday.

This handsome bird is a Great Horned owl.

And my personal favorite from this shoot, the barred owl. Cute as a button, but that fluffy, big-eyed exterior hides a fierce predator's heart.

If you want to donate to the Medina Raptor Center, you can find them at http://www.medinaraptorcenter.org

New Lens and Lots of Herons

Just got the Tamron 150 - 600. It's not a pro lens, but it is FUN! Way more reach than the 80 - 400, and for herons, that is a very good thing indeed. These shots are from the Heronry Wayside in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and from the heronry suburb on the other side of Bath Road. Watch the footing, the path is starting to collapse into the river.

And the photos - the first group is stick wranglers. Sticks are very important to heron this time of year. They can make or break heron dating activities. Good sticks = happy hen heron and a happy nest. Bad sticks, and the boy heron is home alone.

If I just pull a little harder, this very fine stick will be MINE!

Mama happily tucking a good stick into the nest.

Papa, fluffing his feathers.

 Daydreaming about frogs...

Clearly not a heron, but a harbinger of Spring all the same.

One day soon, the clouds will break and maybe I can get some shots of herons with actual blue sky.