Osprey at Hyatt Lake in Southern Oregon

As mentioned previously, I headed into the Cascades earlier this month to try and find a nest of bald eagles on the edge of Hyatt Lake. I found the nest, but ma and pa were nowhere to be found. There was one juvenile in the nest staring at me stare at him/her. After about an hour of this I was about ready to call it a day as it seemed I would have to wait forever for the white-headed parents to return. Suddenly, the juvenile stirred for the first time and made a little fly around. I captured today’s photo at the beginning of that moment.

Posted on May 24th, 2012 under nature, outside of ashland. Tags: AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E 1.7X II for Nikon, hyatt lake, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, wildlife. Comments: 1

May 20, 2012 solar eclipse as viewed from ScienceWorks in Ashland, Oregon

I had planned to head down to Weed, California to photograph yesterday’s eclipse (as that is where the eclipse was supposed to be closest to 100% in the area), but a number of factors caused me to stay in Ashland instead. Even though the sun was behind clouds, that didn’t seem to change the view of the eclipse. It looked great through proper instruments including my Nikon D7000. I didn’t look through the viewfinder. Instead I used sunglasses and live view.

For best results in photographing an eclipse, reduce your ISO to 100, increase your shutter speed to maximum (1/8000 for the above photo), and use your smallest aperture possible (f/40 for the above photo).

The above photo is as total as the eclipse got in Southern Oregon, better than expected with sun coming around all parts of the moon (annulus) even if the moon wasn’t perfectly centered.

Eclipse viewers at Ashland's ScienceWorks

A surprise appeared on the wall behind me as the tree’s shadow showed signs of the eclipse as the eclipse progressed. The crescent moon shadow pieces in the tree’s shadow were only there as the eclipse approached its annulus stage.

Posted on May 21st, 2012 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E 1.7X II for Nikon, eclipse, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, scienceworks. Comments Off on May 20 Annular Solar Eclipse 2012

Today’s annular eclipse as it approached its peak…

Posted on May 20th, 2012 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E 1.7X II for Nikon, eclipse, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, scienceworks. Comments: 2

Some Oregon Ducks for you today… These ducks aren’t from the University of Oregon in Eugene. No, these ducks were enjoying the day in Lithia Park’s Upper Duck Pond which will be celebrating its 100 year anniversary in just three more years.

Posted on May 17th, 2012 under lithia park, nature, only in ashland, places. Tags: lithia park, national register of historic places, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Lens, nikon d7000, wildlife. Comments Off on Ducks on the pond

On Wednesday I had a bit of free time in the afternoon, and the clouds began to break up, so I headed up Highway 66 into the Green Springs. I was going to look for a bald eagle I heard had nested near Hyatt Lake. More on the eagle later….

On my way home I came down Dead Indian Memorial Road into Ashland and took several photos which I photomerged together to arrive at the above panorama picture.

Posted on May 11th, 2012 under nature, only in ashland, outside of ashland, places. Tags: clouds, nikon d7000, panorama, skywatch, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens for Nikon. Comments Off on Dead Indian Memorial Road Panorama

I picked up a Nikon 70-300mm VR lens second hand for a great price about 10 days ago. Today’s photo is one of the first photos I took with it. I’m not sure if I will keep the lens or not as I already have the Nikkor 70-200mm VRII which is a much better (albeit much larger and heavier) lens. The 70-300 seems to do fine in good lighting though. I’m not sure exactly where I was when I took this photo. I was east of I-5 and either in Phoenix, Talent, or somewhere in between. That’s Wagner Butte in the distance.

Posted on May 8th, 2012 under nature, outside of ashland, places. Tags: flowers, Nikkor 70-300mm VR, nikon d7000, wagner butte. Comments Off on Pear Blossoms

I went for a walk in Lithia Park yesterday, a lovely day after a day of rain. I took this photo by the Upper Duck Pond.

Posted on May 6th, 2012 under lithia park, nature, only in ashland. Tags: flowers, lithia park, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Lens, nikon d7000. Comments Off on Lithia Park flowers

I love waking up in the morning to look out the window and see what kind of magic is happening. Every day the scene is different. Some aren’t spectacular, but a surprisingly large number of days are. Today’s photo is from yesterday morning. I took this after the sunrise, which wasn’t as amazing as it sometimes is, but the clouds, sun rays, and brand new leaves on the trees made this one special.

Posted on May 4th, 2012 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: clouds, home, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Lens, nikon d7000, spring, sunrise. Comments: 1

It’s now May so the temperatures are a bit warmer on average, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of the snow or that there isn’t still a lot of snow on Mt. Ashland. In fact, there is more snow up on Mount A now (and the ski season ended on April 22) than when I took today’s photo back in January, when there was such a lack of snow on Mt. Ashland the slopes were not open for skiing. For the photo just after this one click here.

Posted on May 1st, 2012 under nature, only in ashland, people, places. Tags: ellie, mt. ashland, nikon 18-200mm vr ii, nikon d7000, snow, winter. Comments Off on Mt. Ashland sledding