CONSWORLD

Consworld Moved Again! Read all about it…

Con Daily — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:40:28 +0000

Consworld has moved again, this time to my own site and web host.

Please update your bookmarks, links, and feeds.

I’ve posted there on the why, and a little on the how, for those interested in blogging and posted another photo from the Garden of the Gods.

Thanks for staying with me as I made these changes!

Con

Grilling Flicker in the Garden

Con Daily — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:36:11 +0000

It isn’t a recipe. The Bird was doing the grilling, or hiding, or something in the grill. He winked his grey eyelid at me and I caught it in mid wink. Then he flew away. Image from a morning walk through a picnic area in the Garden of the Gods.

For another large rock from the Garden, click the thumbnail below. I don’t recall the name. I’m more interested in the direction of the sunlight on them than the names given to the rocks. This one’s huge and close to the road, you won’t have to look for it if you visit the Garden.

More from the Garden

Con Daily — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:01:48 +0000

The “twins” in bright morning sunlight.

Click on the thumbnail above for my early morning view of Pikes Peak from the Garden of the Gods. I was there at dawn, but the mountian was hidden by clouds. I captured this image as the clouds began to lift after sunrise.

This is my first post on wordpress. I’ve imported all my previous blogger posts and plan to you use wordpress for future posts. I like the static pages available on the wordpress blogs and may eventually combine my website and blog. Sorry for the confusion, if any. Please update your links and feeds, but know that this may be a temporary change of address. After I get my hosting issues sorted out, the website and blog should be at one address.

In the Garden of the Gods

Con Daily — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:20:00 +0000

A few days in the Colorado Springs area gave me the opportunity to photograph something different. Garden of the Gods is a free city park uplifted 25 million years ago and eroded to the present beautiful formations. I’d been there before, but never had time to explore all the trails and walkways.

Scouting the park for shooting locations the first day and returning a few times during my short stay enabled me to capture several images. I arrived before dawn to capture an image with Pikes Peak in the background only to find the mountain hidden by clouds until well after sunrise. It’s only a 2 hour drive from home, so I’ll be returning and perhaps get that image I wanted.

winter snack

Con Daily — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:35:00 +0000

This mountain chickadee holds a sunflower kernel between its feet while it eats.

Setting Moon over the Forbidden Park

Con Daily — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:31:00 +0000

Shooting the moon again. This was a couple of days ago, the 24th, just after sunrise. Capture at 1/50 second, f/29, ISO 400, focal length 100mm. The rocky hilltop in this image is part of a future state park, still in the planning phase, not yet open to the public. Forbidden, while I grow old. CO State Parks, are you reading this? Hurry!

Carnival Time! I and the Bird, edition #67

Con Daily — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:29:00 +0000

Bird lovers can take an international birding trip sighting birds in Australia, Japan, U.S., Ireland, South Africa, and Sri Lanka when they read edition #67 of I and the Bird hosted by Trevor’s Birding of Australia. Trevor invites us to travel ‘round the world on a birding holiday with stops at blog posts submitted for this edition.

I was happy this morning to see my recent post on the mountain chickadee was included as a stop in the tour. I slid my submission in on the deadline date here, but by Trevor’s time in Australia, I was late. Create your bird related posts and submit them (on time, please) to nds22 (at) cornell (dot) edu by Tuesday, February 5th for edition #68 of I and the Bird at Biological Ramblings. Aren’t blog carnivals fun?

Mountain Chickadee: Wintering Close to Home

Con Daily — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:29:00 +0000

The little mountain chickadee is often a photographic subject for me in winter. This one posed for a portrait view behind a rail covered with snow. Then, it perched on the feeder hook as the little nutchatches often do. The mountain chickadees seems comfortable with me and the camera as near as about 8 ft. Any closer and I send them flying into the nearby trees. Both of these images were captured with a 100 to 400 lens from about 10 feet.

I’m not really a birder, I just like the challenge of photographing them. I have to keep the field guides to birds at hand to look up any unfamiliar species. I also search for information about my feathered subjects online. In a recent search, I learned that the mountain chickadee stays only a short time near the nest where it hatched. It then moves to a new location and spends the rest of it’s life there. No migrating away from winter weather for these little birds. No wonder they seem so appreciative of the seeds I put out for them.

Chalk Cliffs, Moon, Mt. Princeton

Con Daily — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:14:00 +0000

This wide angle image was captured in early morning sub-zero weather from just outside our room at the hot springs the last week of December. You see part of Mt. Princeton on the right and Mt. Antero on the far left with the chalk cliffs of Mt. Princeton at the center and the moon above. The moon called to me to come out with the camera and tripod in the wind and cold. Fingers and toes cried for me to go back inside even though I wore boots rated for the temperature and ski gloves while out. You may click the image to see it a bit larger.

Mt. Princeton

Con Daily — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:32:00 +0000

When I saw the image above was not the best of my color shots from a recent trip, I decided to do a b&w conversion for Trina, my friend who loves black and white photography. Mt. Princeton is one of our favorite mountains and this capture shows a cool snow devil swirling into the air above the mountain. The time was mid-day, not the best for the landscape shot, and the cold and wind were fierce. I had spent a few days in the area hot springs, but didn’t take many photographs as the night temperatures were well below zero and the days were not much warmer. It seemed wiser to soak in the hot pools than to freeze out in the snow and wind. I drove into a roadside park when leaving the area and hopped out just long enough to capture the scene.