Hanging out on our deck in the backyard this morning, enjoying time with our visitors #birds #wildlife

Rose of Sharon in our backyard. #flowers #flower

No birds today. Just these flowers, thriving outside of the Denver Botanic Gardens. #flowers

Hummingbird doing his thing, Denver Botanic Gardens #birds

Red Tailed Hawk - Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #birds

Went to the Denver Botanic Gardens today. The colors were just amazing and hummingbirds were everywhere. Will probably go back tomorrow morning to capture some more, but wanted to post these today. These are broad-tailed hummingbirds. Tiny, and common at these elevations. #birds

I am preparing a collection of photos of birds I have photographed to publish in a gallery on my website. I came across this one today and wanted to do an early share. This is a female Northern Cardinal. Photo taken at Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge In Texas in March of this year. #birds

Pelicans, Cormorants, Ring-billed gulls, Canadian Geese, and Killdeer (whew!) Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #WildlifeRefuge #birds

Swainson’s Hawk, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #WildlifeRefuge #birds

From today’s shoot at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge - these Western Kingbirds are beautiful. #birds

Western Kingbirds at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #WildlifeRefuge #birds

One of our Black Eyed Susans had a rather prominent visitor tonight.

More Avocets. Like I said, can’t get enough of them. #birds

Can’t get enough of these Avocets. A whole flock of them hang out at this small pond close to our house. They are so cool. #birds

Margo’s Rose of Sharon bush is finally blooming. At its best right now. Shot with the Helios 44-2 on the Nikon Zf. This lens is Russian and based on a Carl Zeiss lens design that the Russians pilfered at the end of WW II. It’s 50 years old, & mine cost about $100. Lots of fun for us lens nerds.

Enjoyed seeing this fellow just on a stroll at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge yesterday. #WildlifeRefuge

Western Kingbird, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #WildlifeRefuge #birds

European Starlings with a Brown-headed Cowbird (on the bottom), Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #birds

Eastern Kingbird at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge this AM. #birds #wildlife

Had a little visitor yesterday. First time we have had a Goldfinch this season. I heard him before I saw him. Pretty cool 😊 #birds

It’s good to visit the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge as early as possible. You just get to see more wildlife, especially in this summer of high temps. Got to see this guy. I was struck by how, even in late June when this photo was taken, he has such a heavy coat. #wildlife

Spent the morning at Denver Botanic Gardens. In general everything showed the effects of the 90° heat we have been having. But I shot these photos with a macro lens, and discovered a world of details, including a diverse exhibit of desert plant life, and some very busy bees. #photography #macro

Image from a few years back captured during tulip season at Denver Botanic Gardens. They are offering a photographer group shoot this Sunday afternoon and of course I said yes. It’s always fun to visit, always rewarding to photograph. #flowers #tulips

Great Cormorants drying their wings, while perched aside the Bosphorus river in Istanbul, Turkey. I visited Istanbul in May and will have more images from my time there available soon. #birds

Lark Bunting, the State bird of Colorado Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #birds

Western Meadowlark, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #WildlifeRefuge #birds

Burrowing Owl, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #WildlifeRefuge #birds

Memorial Day, 2025

Whooping cranes, Adult and Juvenile. 8th Street viewing area, Lamar, Texas #birds

Whooping Cranes with a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, 8th Street viewing area, Lamar, Texas #birds

Snowy Egret Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #birds

I am starting to use Substack for longer posts. I took a swing at tariffs this morning. Link in comments below.

Colorado now has the distinction of hosting 2 great film festivals: Telluride in late August, and Sundance in late January. This is huge for the filmmaking community here. Can’t wait to see how all of this unfolds. #film #filmmaking #movies

Black-billed Magpie, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge #birds

This is a Pied-billed Grebe. Cute little guy. They are excellent swimmers and divers. I read up on them on Wikipedia this morning. What I love about birding is how much there is to learn. And the more you learn, the more you realize how much you didn’t know. #birds #PhotographersUnited

Roseate Spoonbill in flight, Orlando Wetlands, Florida #birds #birdphotography #PhotographersUnited

Caught this White Ibis as it took off. The Common Galinule was not impressed. Second photo is the same Ibis in flight. #PhotographersUnited #birds #birdphotography

Having too much fun processing these. Roseate Spoonbill taking off and in flight. #Birds

Roseate Spoonbill showing off. Hold my beer. I can do this. #birds

Roseate Spoonbills, Orlando Wetlands, Florida, USA #birds

Anhinga, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, USA #birds

2 weeks ago I participated in a “Hollywood Lighting” workshop put on by @ericupsidebrown.bsky.social We worked with a constant, high-contrast light source to create a dramatic look, in the style inspired by photographers like George Hurrell. #filmnoir #b&w_photo

These guys were a trip. This is the plain Chachalaca. Merlin describes them as: “Large chickenlike bird ….Extremely noisy and full of character. Small groups crash through the brush from tree to tree with the grace of a large bulldozer.” They were definitely noisy 😊 #Birds

Again, in southeast Texas we see birds that are not common in the rest of North America. This is a Long-billed Thrasher, here with a Green Jay, on the feeder at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. #Birds

One of my wife’s good friends gave her this beautiful orchid, and my wife asked me to to take a photo of it. It’s doing real well. We’re now having our own mini Orchid Festival 😊 #Flowers #Orchids

This is an Altamira Oriole. According to Merlin they visit fruit feeders, so the Visitor Center kindly puts out these grapefruit for them. He didn't move from here the entire time he was in the area. When he was done he vanished in a millisecond so I had no opportunity to get a full view. #Birds

I finally got a cardinal, both male and female. They are rare in Colorado. I had one jump on the hood of my car once in Florida, but the only photo I got was taken with the windshield in the way. Not a problem today, though. #birds

Another reason to visit Southeast Texas. I visited Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge today. This is a Green Jay, normally found in Central and South America. #Birds

And this is why I came down here again. These are Whooping Cranes. Once endangered, their numbers are still only a little over 800 in population. They are one of two crane species native to North America, and they are the tallest North American bird species. #birds

I am down in south-eastern Texas this week, exploring more wildlife refuges. This was captured at a viewing area south of Aransas Wildlife Refuge in a town called Lamar. These are Roseatte Spoonbills, and they loved hanging out in this tree. #birds