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Posts from the ‘Sonoran Desert’ Category

Jan 28

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Hummingbird Saved by Textures

Two friends and I hiked to a spring high up in the McDowell Mountains this past week and as we approached, we were delighted to observe a hummingbird gathering fluff from cattails for her nest. I instantly raised my camera but in my excitement, forgot to double check the settings. The image was greatly underexposed. I waited for about 30 minutes but she never came back. I almost deleted this image but then remembered that texture blending can do wonders with underexposed images and they did! At least it is good enough for a small print and a wonderful memory 🙂

Jan 21

Poppies on Toms Thumb Trail!

Lesley F, Kellie E. and I hiked up the Tom’s Thumb Trail yesterday and found Poppies!!! We had been noticing hundreds of Poppy and Lupine sprouts on the way up but didn’t notice this open flower and one other until the return trip to the Gateway. Very exciting! Barring a hard frost, this might be a fantastic year for Wildflowers. I’m so excited 🙂

Jan 17

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Sears Point Petroglyphs

The Sears Point Petroglyph Site is located about 40 miles beyond Gila Bend. A long drive from Scottsdale but well worth it especially if you want to see a tremendous amount of rock art in just one place. This panorama shows just one of multiple panels. Very exciting…to me anyway!

Jan 15

Red Tailed Hawk Juveniles

I spotted these sitting atop a Palo Verde tree near my front door! They stayed just long enough for me to run in and grab a camera. My exposure wasn’t the best but with added textures and processing, I really like how it turned out. Either way, a great memory 🙂

Jan 14

Glided Flicker Textured

This female Gilded Flicker was so engrossed in eating she didn’t mind me moving in for a closer look. I noticed she had a crooked beak but it didn’t seem to hinder her eating. (Another old image reworked with added textures). CLICK HERE and then click on View All Albums to see more of my photos on Google Plus

Jan 5

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Desert Drive-by Shooting

Call me crazy but I love sticking my camera out my SUV window and shooting while driving. Jack Davis (artist and digital guru) was the first one I saw do this back about 2003 and I was instantly intrigued. I don’t always get something worthwhile but occasionally I get something I love. This was one of those times. I added to the left side of the image and I printed this on a large canvas and it looks great! I love the painterly look.

Jan 1

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Harris Hawk Juvenile

This Harris’ Hawk was very noisy which probably means he is a juvenile. I learned that young ones will call and complain just like they used to do in the nest when they wanted to be fed. They hunt in family groups and we’re very lucky to see them regularly. In fact, when I first got the outside enclosures for the cats, we had a couple of Harris Hawks land close to check them out! I was afraid they might be able to lift the enclosure but they just looked and flew away.

I added some textures to this because the sky was boring.

Dec 30

Sun Kissed Granite

A quick end of day shot during an evening walk. I was hoping for some clouds and a nice sunset but this sun kissed granite boulder looks good too 🙂

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