Long-billed Hermit. One came up to sit on a vine after diving into a stream for a bath. The other sitting on a nest woven on a leaf. #birds #birdsseenin2026 #CostaRica #wildlife #nikon #z8

Closer video of the Rufous Motmot showing its serrated beak. It has a omnivorous diet and the serrations provide a firm grip on lizards, insects, and fruit. Guess he stopped thinking of me as a predator since he would not wag his tail. #birds #birdsseenin2026 #CostaRica #wildlife #nikon #z8

Rufous Motmot swinging his racket tail like a pendulum to signal to predators that they have been seen. "I see you, so don't waste your time trying to get me." I think we might have been the "predators". Volume up to hear their call. #birds #birdsseenin2026 #CostaRica #wildlife #nikon #z8

Just some monkeys hanging out in the trees. Mantled Howler Monkeys at La Selva Reserve in Costa Rica. #wildlife, #Nikon, #z8, #monkey

One of my favorite birds in Costa Rica. A Northern Emerald-Toucanet showing us that he does not have a bad side. May 2026 #birds #Nikon #z8

Back to editing Safari pictures from 9/2025. Extremely lucky on our last day. One final drive through Maasai Mara National Reserve on the way to the airport we finally saw a Leopard completing the Big 5 for the trip. #wildlife #leopard #nikon #z8 #safari #Africa #Kenya

Digiscope video of Evening Grosbeaks. Day after the snow storm. Four males and one female. #birds #colorado #cobirds

Hairy Woodpecker eyeing a suet feeder during a light snow fall. #birds #colorado #cobirds #birdphotography #nikon #z8

Ostriches walking in Maasai Mara National Reserve. #birds #nikon #z8 #safari #Africa #Kenya #wildlife

Video from our Safari back in Sept. This is a group of spotted hyenas that stole a lion kill. Video is a bit shaky since it was hand held with a long telephoto. Sound up to hear the hyena laugh. #Africa #Tanzania #wildlife #nikon #z8

Some pics of Pine Grosbeaks. #Colorado #Birds #cobirds

Some still images of the Rosy-Finches. These guys have been a bucket list bird for me for many years thus lots of posts. Brown-capped Rosy-Finch is endemic to #Colorado reaching a bit into WY and NM. Gray-crowned have a larger range from NM to AK and out to the coastal mountains. #birds #cobirds

A wider video view of Rosy finches. Got some good close up images that I will post next. The birds sit up in a tree all together and then swarm down grab some seed and then back up to the trees as a group. Feeder visit lasts 15 secs but the visiting lasts all day. #birds #cobirds #colorado

Out birding for Rosy-Finches. Found Brown-Capped & Gray-crowned. They breed at the highest elevations of any birds on the American continent at 14,000 ft but in winter they drop down to 11,000 feet in large flocks. Video of part of the flock we saw which we counted at 400. #birds #cobirds #Colorado

Since Jan 14th I have been working on imaging NGC 2359. Seeing conditions have been spotty. I collected over 21 hrs of data, but only used 15.4 hrs of data tossing the rest due to poor seeing. I have to say this is better than any previous attempts with OSC camera. #astrophotography #colorado #ZWO

Captured this Common Hoopoe in Maasai Mara National Reserve. He very obligingly posed for us in the evening sunlight. #birds #nikon #z8 #safari #Africa #Kenya #wildlife

Wrapping up post on data collected before Christmas. Pleiades open star cluster taken with ASI 1600mm and William Optics z63. 4 hrs of LRGB data. #astrophotography

Continuing adventures with mono. Took a bit since I was fighting cloudy nights; thought I would never get my Oiii data. And post processing can be a major time sink hole. I have 4 different color versions of this target. Attached are two. #astrophotography #colorado

#Astrophotography was not on the agenda during safari. But it was fun to observe constellations that are normally on the horizon at home straight over head. I did set up a go pro and captured a 1 hr star trail timelapse. Looking north with Polaris on the horizon. Bit different at 3° vs 39°

A juvenile American Goshawk hunting during yesterday's snow storm. He/she caught the squirrel in a tree and then proceeded to try and kill it by dropping it. Unfortunately the soft powder made that a challenge. Eventually seceded and flew off with dinner. #colorado #birds #cobirds

Big stretchies! Our #safari group came upon this cheetah waking up for the evening in Maasai Mara National Reserve. #wildlife #Africa #Kenya #Nikon #z8

So I have my first mono astro cooled camera. I was able to pick it up used from a club member. So now a whole new adventure begins. My first night out I targeted IC 1848 Soul Nebula. In post I created two versions: SHO and HOO. Lots to learn. Details in alt text #astrophotography #colorado

Little Malachite Kingfisher seen in #Amboseli National Park in #Kenya. #birds #nikon #safari #Africa

Heart Nebula in SHO. I have been playing with the new L-Synergy filter from #Optlong for creating SHO palette images with a color camera when combined with L-eXtreme data. Still figuring out the workflow but like the detail. Total exposure is 16 hrs. #astrophotography #colorado #nikon

Two more images one with a meteor that decided to get in on the action. #astrophotography #aurora #meteor #nikon

Some #Aurora shots from last night. These were taken with a #Nikon #z8 and 14mm lens at f/4, 8 secs, ISO 3200. So bright we were able to see and watch the movement with our eyes. #astrophotograpy #colorado

Still going strong here in Colorado with amazing activity and movement that you can see with your eyes. #astrophotography #aurora, #colorado

Aurora from southern Colorado. Been active now for about 2 hrs and still going. #astrophotography #aurora #colorado

Some still images of #lions mating. #Serengeti #Safari #Tanzania #wildlife #nikon #z8

Video is not the best. Taken with a GoPro so very wide angle. I have zoomed in 200% so it breaks apart. But the video is more about the audio which captured the lion vocalizing after mating. #Serengeti #Africa #Safari #wildlife #lion

On Safari in #Tanzania we came across a pride of lions abandoning a kill to a pack of hyenas. In the video you see 4 adults herding the cubs away while two lionesses stand guard to make sure the hyenas do not follow. Love the little bouncing one. #Africa #wildlife #nikon

Our greeting party as we entered #Serengeti National Park in #Tanzania. Note the movement under the tree where others have gathered. I was not prepared for how emotional seeing these animals would be. #Elephants #Africa #Safari #wildlife

LBN 437 Gecko Nebula located in the constellation Lacerta. I had imaged this area as widefield two years ago but decided I wanted to try and isolate this molecular cloud and reflection nebula on its own. Total integration time 21 hrs. #astrophotography #colorado #nikon

Some birds I hoped to see on safari, and then some birds were a big surprise. This is a Saddle-billed Stork named for the yellow saddle shaped patch on the bill. Up to 5ft (1.5m) tall. This male stork is standing in a wetland in #Amboseli National Park. #birds #Kenya #Africa #wildlife #nikon

Starting to see nice separation of the dust and ion tails now. This is C/2025 A6 Lemmon from Oct 21. 60 minutes of data. Much better than where I started this week at 11 minutes. Captured with #Nikon D5300a and William Optics z73 430mm scope. #astrophotography #comet #nightsky

Another night on comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon. I found a different location that avoided setting behind trees too quickly. This is 48 minutes of data. It is has developed a very nice tail. Equipment details in alt text. One more night and then its clouds for days. #astrophotography #comet #nightsky #nikon

Rare clear night and comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon. Unfortunately I don't have a very good view since it sets behind trees quickly. This is only 11 minutes of data. Plan is to capture a little bit every night and build from there. It is developing a very nice tail. #astrophotography #comet #nightsky

What's in a name. #Secretarybird named in the 1800 after male secretaries that wore gray tailcoats, dark knee-length pants and carried goose-quill pens behind their ears. Sorry for the video shake. Happens when you are in a jeep with a bunch of excited birders. #birds #Kenya #Africa #wildlife #Nikon

#Secretarybird -- This bird is on the endangered list so really excited we were able to find and image. This is tall crane-like terrestrial raptor. It hunts for reptiles and small mammals which it stomps with its powerful legs. #birds #Tanzania #Africa #wildlife #Nikon

Little Bee-eater for today. Another 'I hope I see...' bird. This is the smallest of all Bee-eater species in Africa. #birds #Kenya #Tanzania #Africa #Nikon

Working through 1000s of images from East Africa, and overwhelmed with what to share. Decided to start with #birds; specifically the "I hope I see..." list of birds. So starting one a day, first up Gray Crowned-Crane. I was hoping to see a few-- ended up seeing flocks of 100s. #Kenya #Tanzania

Just returned from an amazing safari trip to East Africa; #Kenya and #Tanzania. Lots of images to sort. Meanwhile, a video that I took in Ngorongoro Crater. It's a bit shaky since it was hand held telephoto and a lot of heat waves but still pretty cool. #nikon #wildlife #Lion

M27 Dumbbell Nebula. Taken in bortle 2 conditions. Skies were so dark and clear and the target so bright it did its own post processing. Astro modified Nikon D5300, RC6 (1370mm at f/9), ISO 1600, 5 min exps. Total stack 3.5 hrs. #Colorado #astrophotography

NGC 6559 nicknamed Chinese Dragon Nebula for the dark nebula next to the central star. For me, this was one of those targets where you keep coming back and tweaking. Calling it done for now. Nikon D5300a, RC6 (1370mm at f/9), ISO 1600, 5 min exps. Total stack 3.2 hrs. #Colorado #astrophotography

Greater Short-horned Lizard (aka horny toad) from my hike today. Only had a cell phone so not the greatest picture. #Lizard #Colorado #reptile

Rufous Hummingbird perched in the shade of a pine tree. #Birds #Colorado #Hummingbird #cobirds

Another capture from June; Rho Ophiuchi. Captured with an unmodified Nikon Z6 and Rokinon 135mm f/2 lens on a star tracker. ISO 1600, 1 minute exposures. Total stack 3.5 hours. Bortle 2 skies. #Colorado #astrophotography

Continuing through my Rocky Mountain Star Stare captures from June. This is IC 1396 Elephant's Trunk Nebula. This was a backup target for when clouds got in the way of Blue Horsehead. Wider angle than I have used to captured before. Equipment details in alt text. #Colorado #astrophotography

Super cool experience last night. Had an opportunity to go on a Flammulated Owl walk lead by University researchers. Second smallest owl in North America. It got its name from the flame-like markings on the wings. #birds #cobirds #colorado

Attended Rocky Mountain Star Stare this past week. Had great dark skies conditions. Just now starting to go through all the data captured. My target project for the week was Blue Horsehead Nebula in Scorpius; captured over two nights. Equipment details in alt text. #Colorado #astrophotography