Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Eagles and a Coyote

Today at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area, I saw a bald eagle. Within just a few minutes of getting setup this young bald eagle flew over head.

Shortly after that, I saw a coyote walking on the ice.



And then another eagle landed on a dirt pile on the ice:



I also saw a half a dozen crows, about 20 mallards flying over, a downy/hairy woodpecker and some chickadees.

Nowhere Near the AHATS WOA, I Saw Buildings Implode

Gage Tower Implosion Collage-.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

I went to Minnesota State University - Mankato on June 29, 2013 to watch them demolish the old Gage Towers dorm.  It was great fun.  The photo on the right is a collage of the highlights.

Please visit my other blog for link to a slide show of more photos and some videos.

Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Clouds

Clouds_46098-.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

I saw a lot more than clouds today at the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area. After work, I stopped by with the 50mm lens and the D4 because the clouds were looking pretty cool. We had short burst of snow here and there.

Clouds make for great black and white images, in my opinion so I focused on that in my minds eye.

After a few minutes, I noticed fast movement on the ice between the cattails. Within a few seconds, I determined it was a coyote running hard. There was a second one either following or chasing it. They ran all the way across the lake, by "the tree" and onto the road. They didn't stop for nothing. A few minutes later, I saw another coyote follow the trail of the previous two through the cattails but it didn't cross the frozen lake. I'm kind of bummed I didn't have the big glass but it was still fun watching them.

Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Curves in Snow

Curves in Snow_44489_.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

I stopped by the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area after work today to try out my new/used 20mm f2.8 lens. I was laying down in the snows for this shot on the right.

Previously Near the TCAAP WVA, I Saw a Curve in the Sunset

Curve_3692.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

I made it out near the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area this morning but came home only with a crummy shot of a wild turkey. It was too blurry to share with the world.

It was very busy in the area so I opted to head home early.

Nowhere Near the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Eagles

Eagle_43446.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Spent the day in Red Wing Minnesota photographing all the eagles and ducks.

Today Near the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Deer

Deer_41646.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

I saw maybe four different groups of 3-5 deer today near the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area. I surprised this one in the pine trees.

In my quest to find owls, I actually got out of the truck and strapped on the snow shoes. Five steps into the pines and one flew off. Didn't get a shot.

Saw two different dark-morph rough-legged hawks and two others, either light-morph and/or normal.

Did not see a single turkey, which was weird. Their tracks are everywhere.

Nine swans again in the pond....and a jillion mallards.

Previously Near the TCAAP WVA, I Saw the TCAAP WVA

TCAAP WVA_6127.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Here is a sunrise shot of the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area from the other side of Lake Marsden. The sun just started lighting up the grass in the foreground before hitting the fog.

Today Near the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Flying Saucer

Flying Saucer_6196_.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Not really a flying saucer but a pretty cool water tower in the fog.

Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Butterfly Weed

Bridge and Clouds_.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

The orange flowers you see in this shot are called Butterfly Weed. They are in full bloom at the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area today. If you like bright orange flowers, stop by soon.

I made this particular shot and processed as an HDR from three exposures two stops apart, handheld. The sky and clouds were too bright when I exposed for the grass and flowers. HDR worked perfectly for this situation.

Previously Near the TCAAP WVA, I Saw a Watertower

Minneapolis.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Here is the water tower within the Arden Hills Army Training Site with Minneapolis in the background.

Here is another view of the water tower in front of a great sunset.

Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw a Goldfinch

Goldfinch_6051.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

I saw a goldfinch on the barbed-wire at the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area.

Briefly spoke to a portrait photographer who was having what looked like an engagement shoot at the WVA. I bet she spends lots of time in post-production. She doesn't use flash where I felt a little fill flash would have helped a lot. She also told me she hates birds because they are scary.

Nowhere Near the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Mountain Bluebirds

Mountain Bluebird_2032.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Didn't feel like getting out to the WVA today. Spent some time processing more photos from The Black Hills area. I have lots of eastern bluebirds on the barbed wire at the TCAAP WVA so I figured I'd stop by a mountain bluebird nest box in Custer State Park, SD. Mom and dad were bringing insects to the babies pretty regularly the whole time we were there. This shot is not cropped in post. I was that close.

Here is one of dad:

Previously at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Angry Clouds

Angry-D5K4862-.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Here are a few more shot of the great sunset yesterday at the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area. These were taken with my Nikon D5000 and a Nikkor 10-24mm DX lens. All handheld.

I used the Nik plug-ins Viveza and Dfine on all the and added Color Efex Pro 4 to the most saturated one at the bottom.

Previously at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw The Tree

The Tree D5K-2729-.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Here is shot from September 2010 of The Tree at the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area. The bogs had filled the south end of the lake that day.

Here a shot a few months later:

Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw a Bolt

Bolt-0035.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

This is one of the bolts holding the bridge together at the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area.

I saw lots of birds today: northern flicker, yellow-rumped warbler, common loon, Canada geese, trumpeter swans, coots, wood ducks, osprey, bald eagles, turkey vultures, eastern bluebirds, song sparrows, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, brown-headed cowbird, red-winged blackbird, killdeer, turkey, northern cardinal, American goldfinch and American crow.

Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Bluebirds...again

Bluebirds-2595.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

The bluebird couple stopped by the nest can to move some grass around today. I saw a chickadee briefly check out the other can.

I also saw 6 turkey vultures soaring overhead, a male northern harrier, an eastern phoebe, a female hooded merganser and lots of Canada geese.

Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Mr. Bluebird

Mr Bluebird House Furnishing-2518.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

I was at the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area tonight for a few hours. There was almost no bird activity until the light was perfect. The eastern bluebird pair stopped by the nest can closest to the purple martin hotel. This male flew around with grass in it's mouth for a while.

There was also a cool sunset with a number of airplane contrails converging.

Previously at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw a Phoebe on Mullein

Phoebe on Mullein-1343.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Eastern phoebes are frequent visitors to the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area. I find it fun to watch them hunt for bugs.

Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw Bluebirds Housekeeping

Housekeeping-1346.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

A pair of eastern bluebirds haven't yet decided which of the two nest boxes to choose at the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area. I can't quite see inside this one from the angles available so I kind of hope they chose the other one...but that one is crooked.