Waxwing Berry Delivery System

Waxwing Berry Delivery System, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

I think this Cedar Waxwing was the berry-toss grand champion this year! ;-)))

Explosive Destruction of the High Park Fire: June 10th, 2012

Explosive Destruction of the High Park Fire: June 10th, 2012, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

We have one heck of a forest fire raging right in my backyard. The High Park Fire has proven to be the most destructive wildfire in Colorado state history after destroying at least 189 homes, but there are likely many more. Today it still is growing at nearly 70,000 acres (placing it third in size for all-time CO fires) with 55% containment.

This image was taken on Sunday June 10th, which likely was the day of the greatest fire growth (roughly 30k acres in a day). Thanks to all the brave firefighters! For information on donating to the fire recovery and victims please see here: http://helpcoloradonow.org

Energized Turbulence

Energized Turbulence, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

My wife and I went out to the eastern plains of Colorado to find the super moon on Saturday night and were gifted with a beautiful lightning storm for the encore. I feel fortunate to have gotten a chance to photograph such a photogenic storm!

Image Notes: photographing lightning can be dangerous, please be careful if you give it a try. I use an Ebay radio remote to trigger my camera wirelessly and occasionally use a window mount (such as here). I would love some day to own a lightning trigger but for now rely on repeated exposures with as long shutter speed as I can manage. It's a bit like photographing meteors, you never know when you are going to get lucky but can take steps to increase the odds of landing a big fish. ;-)))

Morning Meteors of the Perseid Kind

Morning Meteors of the Perseid Kind, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

I went out both Friday and Saturday night this past weekend for an early preview of the Perseid Meteor Shower. This image highlights many of the meteors I saw Saturday night on a very early morning sky.

This weekend (August 12-14) will be the peak of the shower. NASA has put together a page featuring some of my photos to help plan your Perseid viewing experience. You can see it here: www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/perseids_2011.html

And the BBC has blogged this new 2011 Perseid image here: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/23degrees/2011/08/even_with_the_full_...

Iridium Flare Over Lake Dillon

Iridium Flare Over Lake Dillon, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

I managed to catch a bright -3 magnitude (-7 at center) Iridium Flare on Saturday night on a camping trip at Lake Dillon to celebrate Father's Day with my in-laws. The flare occurred at 22:53:37 and can be verified by the Heavens Above website Iridium Flare calculator here.

This is my third Iridium Flare to catch by luck when doing some night photography. For those new to them, Iridium Flares are caused by a constellation of highly reflective communication satellites (Iridium system) that regularly and predictably glint off the sun.

Seeing Forever For Over One Hundred Years

Seeing Forever For Over One Hundred Years, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

A perfect vanishing point road bathed in the golden last light of the day leads to a century old farm near Carr in northern Colorado. I'm sure in other parts of the world that hundred-year old farms are probably common, but in state settled so late they are a pretty big deal and rare.

Big changes are coming to this area though, recent oil finds in the Niobrara Shale Formation have set off an oil rush, the likes of which we have not seen in NE CO in my lifetime. It's still a bit too early to tell how big this is going to get, but I've seen figures indicating billions of dollars in oil development is likely on the way. For those of you in Colorado, now would be a great time to begin documenting a boom as it happens.

Elegant Trogon Sighting!

Elegant Trogon Sighting!, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

I've been hoping to see an Elegant Trogon ever since my parents moved near Madera Canyon in SE Arizona, and on our second visit Madera delivered! We even got to hear their awesome odd frog-like song that goes Ko-ah, Ko-ah. What a spectacle of a bird!!!

These tropical birds only make it into SE Arizona (prefering "Madrean sky islands") and a small patch of SW New Mexico-- making them very special and rare in the United States. For nesting they often use old woodpecker cavities (there are plenty of these in Madera). In the U.S. portion of their range they migrate and don't often return until April, so this was a lucky sighting indeed!