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Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse

9/29/2015

The Blood Moon (click to see larger)

It was a cool and absolutely clear night for watching and photographing the 'super-moon' on the night of September 27, 2015 as the shadow of the earth passed over the moon creating a total lunar eclipse. It is a super-moon because in the moon's elliptical orbit around the earth the moon is at its closest point making it about 7-8% larger. Because of the orange or reddish color while in the total eclipse it is also called the 'blood moon' - which lasted for over an hour. The sequence above are random photos taken with a 500mm lens over the 3 1/2 hour period from 8:07 PM until 11:27 PM CDT. The individual photos were then assembled in to a composite in PhotoShop.

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Super Moon and a Lone Tree

9/28/2015

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(click to see larger)

I drive by this tree nearly every day. It stands alone in an old fence row, this year among soy beans and other years among corn, its brethren trees long ago removed to make way for larger farm equipment. It stands alone. I wonder why this lone tree was spared? I have often thought that it would be great to share a sunrise or moon-rise with this tree. How many has it seen? How many sunsets or moon sets? It soaks up the sun, the rain, the sleet and snow, all alone, among the beans or corn. On this clear, cool September eve', I joined it in watching the full super-moon as it slid out of the horizon on its arc across the clear night sky. We watched together, that tree and I. Its spindly branches seemed to be reaching, touching, caressing the moon, an old friend, as it passed in to the night to shine down from above. We'll meet again some day, but for now, I am glad that we could share this moment together.

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Milky Way at Union Hills

9/13/2015

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Milky Way (click to see larger)

It was a clear, crisp night as I watched the stars last night at the Union Hills Wildlife Management area. I was alone at midnight except for an occasional car racing for home. Well, not quite alone, because the darkness was filled with the sounds of crickets, frogs, ducks and other birds, many unidentifiable sounds in the dark and... yes, coyotes. Quiet at first, then a howl to the left.... another to the right.... pups yipping and yapping, and incredible snarling, growling and screeching, then quiet, as they apparently found their evening meal. It gave me goose-bumps. I decided to not venture far from my parked car.
The stars were bright last night with no clouds in the sky, and the Milky way visible from horizon to horizon, but there was a glow on the horizon in any direction. It is hard in this part of Iowa to find a truly dark sky because there is so much light pollution from nearby towns and cities. Facing west-southwest the Milky Way was the brightest and had the least amount of glow from nearby towns.
17-35mm lens at 18mm, f/2.8, 25 seconds, ISO 2500, edited in Lightroom.

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Black Swallowtail

9/12/2015

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Female Black Swallowtail (click to see larger)

Summer is waning, and the butterflies and dragon flies are very active. I chased this female Black Swallowtail butterfly around the flower garden on a sunny afternoon as it busily checked out every single phlox flower in the garden. She did did not seem to be bothered by my presence, but I did keep my distance with the telephoto lens. The fairly close focusing distance (about 6 feet) on the 400mm lens and shallow depth-of-field also made the background go out of focus. (More Butterflies...)

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Pelicans - Union Slough NWR

9/7/2015

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I always enjoy photographing Pelicans. I found these guys at Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge near Titonka and Bancroft, IA.. There is a a one-lane road from north to south through the wildlife refuge with almost no pull-outs. You can stop to view the birds in the slough as long as you like, until a car approaches behind you, then it is time to leave because the other cars likely can't get around you. It doesn't allow one much time for photos if there are others taking the drive also. These Pelicans are within viewing distance but not close to the road. I used the 500mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter for a focal length of 700mm and still had to crop the photos some.

Pelicans can be so graceful in flight and yet at other times so clumsy. The bird in the middle below is dragging his feet in the water while he pumps with his huge wings to get enough lift to get up out of the water. (Click an image to see larger)

Coming in for a landing below. It is amazing that somehow they find a place to land in the midst of a large flock of roosting pelicans on a very tiny protrusion of rocks. The bird on the right below seems to be scratching an itch while in flight.

See more Pelican photos...

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Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse

Super Moon and a Lone Tree

Milky Way at Union Hills

Black Swallowtail

Pelicans - Union Slough NWR

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