Bird of the Week – Long-tailed Jaeger
Jaegers, called Skuas outside of North America, are cousins of gulls that have a more raptor-like lifestyle. The smallest Jaeger, and the most common in North America, is the Long-tailed Jaeger. This is a mostly pelagic – sea-going – species that comes ashore to coastal and alpine Alaska to breed. Handsome and elegant in flight, with a long tail, it is highly territorial. More than one alpine backpacker has been ambushed by a Long-tailed Jaeger protecting its nest. This species’ diet in during consists primarily of lemmings and voles, so it is vulnerable to cycles in the populations of these rodents. The Long-tailed Jaeger…
Bird of the Week – Northern Goshawk
Unlike the wussy other raptors WC has posted recently, the Northern Goshawk usually remains in Alaska all winter. A big, fierce, highly territorial bird, it is specialized to hunt in the dense boreal forest. WC doesn’t have good photos of this species. In fact, this is probably the oldest bird photo WC has posted on the Mudflats. There was a nesting area outside of Fairbanks, but some dirtbag came in and cut down all of the birch trees in which they nested. The extended failure of the Snowshoe Hare populations, a primary prey species, hasn’t helped. It’s astonishing to watch…
Around The Lens with Photographers Carl Johnson and Andrew Renneisen
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/44561/Around%20the%20Lens%20-%20Episode%2026.mp3 This week’s panelists were Carl Johnson and Andrew Renneisen. We discussed the French photojournalist who’s facing legal trouble due to the recent shooting in Paris, which tutorial we like and 256gb micro sd cards. Our picks this week included The Making of 40 Photographs, the B&H Photography Podcast, the TASCAM DR-60 Mark II and how to excel as an artist. Watch the show here. Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or YouTube, or via our direct feed, follow us on Twitter and and like us on Facebook.
Bird of the Week – Merlin
Here’s another falcon, slightly smaller than last week’s Peregrine Falcon. The Merlin is a remarkably fierce predator; WC has watched them kill and fly off with birds as large as a Lesser Yellowlegs. An adult female Merlin weighs about 8.5 ounces; a Lesser Yellowlegs weighs about 3 ounces. That’s 40% of the Merlin’s weight. Merlins seem to prefer open and semi-open areas, nesting on the edges of fields or swamps. Their primary prey is small (and not so small) birds. Alaska’s Merlins are all migratory; the winter from the Southwestern U.S. down to Central America. They breed across Alaska, but…
Bird of the Week – Peregrine Falcon
It’s hard not to like the Peregrine Falcon. In many ways, it is the poster child for the environmental movement. The species was nearly extirpated by DDT and other environmental contaminants. The populations have recovered and adapted to humankind to some extent. It’s not at all unusual to see Peregrines nesting on skyscrapers in big cities, feeding on pigeons. But the Peregine is wholly admirable in its own right. A cosmopolitan bird, it can be found in deserts, swamps, alpine reasons and agricultural area. WC has seen Peregrines in almost all Alaska habitats. It’s a champion flier, with some birds…
Bird of the Week – Northern Harrier
There’s still a few Alaska raptors to have a look at. This week it’s the Northern Harrier, formerly known as the Marsh Hawk. This is how you will most often see a Harrier, flying low over an open field or swamp, rocking back and forth a bit, head turned down, looking for prey. Northern Harriers hunt a wide range of prey, mainly small- and medium-sized mammals and birds, coursing low and buoyantly over the ground. Unlike other hawks, the Harrier frequently relies heavily on auditory cues, as well as visual ones, to capture prey. Annual breeding numbers and productivity are strongly influenced by…
Bird of the Week – Swainson’s Hawk
The Swainson’s Hawk is uncommon, even rare, in Alaska. This bird was seen and photographed in Interior Alaska in 2013. The normal range of this species extends only to the Canadian prairie. Oddly enough, a second Swainson’s Hawk was seen in Fairbanks that same spring. Like other Buteos, this is a polymorphic species. This is a dark morph, as was the one in Delta, although they are obviously different birds. Swainson’s Hawks are best known for their spectacular annual migrations, moving in vast flocks from North America to the pampas of South America. It’s not uncommon for hawk watches in…
Around the Lens – Episode 22 – Federica Armstrong, B.A. Van Sise
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/126783/Around%20the%20Lens%20-%20Episode%2022.mp3 This week’s show featured panelists Federica Armstrong and . Our topics included discussion of the Pulitzer Prize winners, how technology had changed our work and the pixel stick. Our picks this week included the Ice Light, coverage of the Panama Papers, the recently announced winners of the Visual Information Awards Program and a great photography magazine website. Watch the show here. Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or YouTube, or via our direct feed, follow us on Twitter and and like us on Facebook. To see our bonus topic support us on Patreon.
Bird of the Week – Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is the most common hawk in Alaska. This another polymorphic hawk, presenting a bewildering variety of colorations. In fact, the dark morph, “Harlan’s Hawk,” was at one point thought to be a different species. In Alaska, look for the dark head and the dark “belly band” and you’ve probably got a Red-tailed. In flight, it’s a little easier. Red-tailed Hawks breed throughout interior and southcentral Alaska. Alaska and Canada birds migrate to the southwest U.S., to Mexico and Central America and even to northern South America. Elsewhere in the U.S. they are present year-round. Camera geek stuff:…
Bird of the Week – Rough-legged Hawk
Rough-legged Hawks are rare in most of Alaska; they breed on the North Slope along the bluffs along the north-flowing rivers. But they move through eastern Alaska in the spring to get there. The big agricultural fields have a lot of small rodents, which gives the hawks a chance to fuel up before heading further north. This bird is snacking on a Red Squirrel. The hawk takes its name from its heavily feathered legs; most hawks have bare, unfeathered legs. Presumably, it’s an adaptation to the bird’s seasonal arctic habitat. The Rough-legged Hawk is polymorphic, meaning it comes in a…