Category: Landscapes - Bruce G. McKee Photos

Grand Lake, CO, Forest Fire Aftermath

3/25/2021

In mid October, 2020 a massive forest fire quickly engulfed the area around Grand Lake, CO, the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park, then jumped the continental divide heading for Estes Park, CO, burning nearly 200,000 acres and destroying or damaging hundreds of homes and buildings. You can do a Google search for Grand Lake forest fire to find many articles about the destruction.
In the aftermath of the fire blanketed with snow there is an strange silence in the forest. Most of the trees are incinerated to only the trunk standing. Others still retain their pine needles but are completely scorched. In some places the heat and strong winds caused trees to fold in half bending to touch tops to the ground. There is almost no underbrush in the forest and it seems to be devoid of most wildlife. In some areas the barren trees create interesting shadows on the snow in the early morning and late afternoon. All of these photos show some of the burned and scorched trees on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. [Click the images to see larger.]

More Rocky Mountain National summertime photos.

A Sandhill Crane Sunrise

3/23/2021

I left home at midnight to drive to Nebraska to photograph Sandhill Cranes at sunrise. Arriving at the Platte River near Alda, Nebraska just before sunrise I quickly set up my camera and tripod just in time to get a few photos of Sandhill Cranes in silhouette and a video of this sunrise as the Cranes flew up from their roost on the river. I've been to see the Sandhill Crane spring migration in Nebraska many times, but I am still amazed by this awesome spectacle every time is experience it. You can see more on previous posts.
[Click images to see larger and view the video below.]

Click below to view the short video.

A Frosty Morning

1/4/2021

Jack Frost painted his magic across north Iowa again last night. What a beautiful day. With thick fog and below freezing temperature the frost grew on everything. We drove around for many miles and there were thick frosty trees, shrubs, grasses and fences everywhere we went. I don't usually post a bunch of photos at one time, but I couldn't help myself. Click or tap to flip through the images. Enjoy. [Click Images to see larger]

Paddling with Purpose

11/8/2020

The Cupola Inn Bed and Breakfast is a charming B&B on the banks of the Winnebago River between Mason City and Nora Springs, IA. One of the fringe benefits is that guests have the opportunity to paddle the river with co-owner Dale Mills, an avid paddler for nearly two decades. On this float I accompanied Dale and a guest (Greg, a family friend) to enjoy paddling on an unseasonably warm November day as Dale made stops along the way to inspect and clean out several Wood Duck nest boxes only accessible by water. Along the way we saw Bald Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Canada Geese, Kingfishers and White-tailed Deer. The reflections on the river were wonderful even though most of the leaves were gone from the trees.
[Click images to see larger]

Autumn Reflections

10/11/2020

While paddling the Winnebago River I took a little different abstract view of the of the fall colors reflecting along the side of the kayak.Click images to see larger.

Fall Canoe Float

10/9/2020

Yesterday was the most beautiful, calm fall day for paddling the Winnebago River with good friend Dale, co-owner of the Cupola Inn Bed and Breakfas t. The colors of the Ash and Silver Maple trees were brilliant, with spectacular reflections in the slow-moving, calm water. Besides taking time for photos we spent a lot of time just floating and enjoying the view. We really were in awe at such a perfect, beautiful day. We saw several eagles, two owls, Canada Geese, and a Kingfisher bird that was just taunting me, continuously flying just a head of us all the way down the river, just a bit too far to get a close-up photo. I did get a couple of photos of two of the eagles though.
Click images to see larger.

A Neighbor's Barn and the Milky Way

7/16/2020

After photographing the NEOWISE Comet (see previous post), it was a beautiful nearly clear night, so I went over to a nearby neighbor and took a few photos of their old barn with the Milky Way. Of course, there is always light pollution and haze on the horizon. The two bright planets just above the barn are Saturn on the left and Jupiter on the right.

NEOWISE Comet in North Iowa

7/16/2020

My first glimpse of the NEOWISE comet last night about a half an hour after sunset while there was still sunlight on the horizon. It becomes more visible as the sky gets darker. The tail of the comet always streams away from the sun, it doesn't indicate the direction of travel. The comet in a huge elliptical orbit around the sun will be visible as the sky gets dark for at least the next couple of weeks (or more?) with a clear sky to the north. It can be seen now to the lower right of the Big Dipper, gradually, each night, moving closer to and into the Big Dipper in the NNW sky. If you miss it this time around it will be back again in 6,766 years.
[Click images to see larger]

A Stormy Day in North Iowa - Video

7/11/2020

Some summers the corn behind our property is too high for me to see the horizon. This year there are soy beans planted so I have no problem taking photos and videos of clouds and storms approaching or passing. The forecast today was for scattered storms, some severe, throughout the day so I set up the time-lapse cameras to capture the action. There are several clips in here taken throughout the day. My camera battery lasts two hours while letting the camera run with one exposure every five seconds which yields about 1 minute of video or one exposure every ten seconds for about 30 seconds of video. Then I have to change the camera battery.
Click below to view the video.

After the Rain - Waterfall

6/26/2020

Click to see larger

I like waterfalls, but they are pretty scarce in the flat lands of North Iowa. After a heavy rain the a few days ago I found this trickle of a waterfall at the Lime Creek Conservation Area. It probably won't last long.
Click the image to see larger and watch the short video below.

Windmill and the Milky Way

4/20/2020

It was a peaceful morning in the pre-dawn hours for photographing an old windmill and the Milky Way with a long exposure to enhance the stars toward the center of the galaxy. Jupiter and Saturn can be seen in the lower left of the windmill. Of course, as always there is haze and light pollution on the horizon in North Iowa.

Social Distancing with the Milky Way

3/31/2020

It's a new era as we try to stay safe from rogue viruses. I combine my social distancing with getting some fresh air. I photographed this local barn and the Milky Way at 4:30 AM this morning (with no people around). There was a lot of haze on the horizon and as always in North Iowa farm lights and nearby towns lit up the haze with the long exposure for the stars. There are very few places in North Iowa to find dark skies. The barn was lit by the headlights of a single passing car. Note the three bright stars on either side of the old windmill tower. The bright one to the right is Jupiter and the two between the barn and the tower are Saturn and Mars. The barn isn't really leaning. It is a bit distorted due to the wide angle lens. (This was a single exposure with processing in Lightroom.)

Iowa Sunset

3/8/2020

I was out for a drive this evening and stopped to enjoy a wonderful sunset from a rural North Iowa road.
(Click images to see larger)

Yellowstone in Winter Video

1/31/2020

Here is a short video of wildlife, waterfalls, geysers and thermal features taken during our five-day trip to Yellowstone National Park in mid-January 2020 with the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) photo tour. (At the end of this, YouTube will probably take you to a page with a whole bunch of videos that aren't mine. Sorry. Just reload the page or click the back-button to get back here.) See also the Yellowstone in Winter photo gallery linked from the previous blog post.

Yellowstone in Winter

1/30/2020

[TLDR - Click for Yellowstone in Winter photo gallery]

Soda Butte Creek in the Lamar Valley (Click to see larger)

We've been to Yellowstone National Park several times in the Summer and Fall, but being there in the Winter is a different experience. Just getting there can be a challenge. You could fly to Bozeman, MT and rent a car and then drive an hour and a half to Gardiner or West Yellowstone, MT, but we choose to drive from Iowa, and yes, we ran in to snowy roads both directions.
We stayed in Gardiner, MT, at the North entrance to the park for two nights. The first day in the park we drove the only road open to public traffic which is in the North part of the park from Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs through the Lamar Valley to Silver Gate and Cook City. Sometimes called the 'Serengeti of Yellowstone' the Lamar Valley is a great place to see wildlife year-round. We did see elk, bison, Bighorn Sheep, and three moose, but missed the coyote that several others reported and no wolves this time.

Snow Coaches

Then we drove to West Yellowstone, MT, where I participated in a three-day Winter photography tour sponsored by the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA). There were twenty one photographers and three guides in three snow coaches. The snow roads in the park are not plowed, but rather packed down by a groomer and used by specially designed snow coaches - a small bus with giant balloon tires or treads like a snowmobile. The snow roads are only open to guided tours or guided snowmobile groups, but the wildlife use the roads also. Orange and yellow stakes along the side mark the edge of the road. The snow coach drivers were great at helping to spot wildlife and finding a place to park to safely get out and take photos.

We had three great guides with many years experience of photography in the Yellowstone and Grand Tetons area - Michael Francis, Jeff Vanuga and Trent Sizemore. We went with a different guide each day and got a different photo experience with each. Cold, snowy and windy, we ventured out each day to the geyser basins, rivers and waterfalls, for scenic photos, and all along the way watching and stopping for any wildlife which was mostly Bison, Trumpeter Swans and ducks. We saw fresh tracks of a bobcat, but couldn't locate the cat, and watched a long-tail weasel running across the top of the deep snow about sixty miles per hour, but didn't get any photos. The highlight was a stampede of several hundred Bison right down the middle of the snow road past our snow coaches, and the many thermal features steaming in the fresh-fallen snow. It is a beautiful place in the Winter without the crowds of the rest of the year.

Coyote on the snow road.

Our last day in the park Suzanne and I took another snow coach ride on a sunny day with a group that for the most part was on a sight-seeing, but not photography tour. It was a beautiful sunny day. We saw more of the thermal pools and geysers and got to see Old Faithful erupt (it happens about once every 90 minutes). In addition to more bison we saw three Coyotes that day. (but still no wolves, bobcats or foxes). Despite the misses it was a good trip and I'm anxious to go back again.

Click here to see the photos of Yellowstone in Winter.

See also - Yellowstone in Winter Video