Bluebonnet Longhorn

Digging through the archives and I found this shot. One of my favorites and prominitely displayed in our home where it greets me daily. Always makes me dream of spring in the Texas Hill Country. One of my favorite times of year. Being in the middle of winter at this point, spring cannot get here fast enough. I like to think too this is a shot that proves it's not what kind of camera you have, but who's behind the lens. This was taken with a Kodak point and shoot several years ago as we drove through the Hill Country bluebonnet hunting. Photo by Steve Coyle Photography (www.stevecoylephotography.com)

This brown pelican was waiting for a handout from the passing ferries going to and from Port Aransas.

Happy President's Day!

This pair of doe were watching us on the trail at Inks Lake State Park.

Nesting

Caught this guy gathering materials for his nest down by the lake on Colter Bay in June. Warm periods are short in Grand Teton, so I reckon he spent a lot of his time getting ready for colder weather.

Sheep Camo

The steep mountainsides on the road to Corn Creek on the Salmon River provide excellent camouflage for the Bighorn Sheep. If these were not so close to the roadway when we passed through I do not know if we would have noticed them at all.

Elk

Nice bull elk grazing close to the roadside as we drove through Yellowstone.

Barely

After looking around Yellowstone for days for bear, we finally found this grizzly as we were leaving the park. He was much more interested in the grubs in the ground than us, but something definitely had his attention as I grabbed this shot.

Yellowstone Traffic Jam

Bison wandering down the road give a whole new meaning to traffic jam. These guys don't move for anyone and they are on their own schedule. If you honk at them, you're just as likely to get rammed instead of them moving out of your way.

Swarm

As the moon rises the bats emerge into the night from the Old Tunnel WMA outside Fredericksburg, Texas. This time of year, the park estimates there are in the number of 3 million Mexican freetail bats living in the tunnel.

Romeo

Finally got brave enough to put the DSLR in the kayak with me, after the purchase of a dry bag to stow it in. I love the angles I can get from the kayak. Got this shot of our friends' dog Romeo as he was relaxing on the dock after a swim in Lake Travis at their marina. So nice being able to get this shot from below to really show him off.

Sun Worshippers

Caught these turtles hanging out on a rock as we were paddling around Lady Bird Lake on Sunday.

Swan Lake

I have been bitten by these swans when I drove glass bottom boats at Aquarena Springs back in the '80s. They are beautiful birds, but they can be quite aggressive. Good to keep a healthy distance.

In Flight

Paddling around on the Lanterne Rouge on Brushy Creek Lake on Sunday when I captured this guy. Much prefer shooting birds with my DSLR. Got a little motion blur, but I liked that his eye was spot on. To me the blur in the rest of his body showed exactly how fast he was moving.

Coola Grinder

When we were in Vancouver we took the gondola up to Grouse Mountain. We hoped the views would be better than we had, but the clouds were socked in and it was drizzling at times. So we decided to head over to see the two resident orphaned grizzlies. I'm not sure if this is Coola or Grinder, but this was taken shortly after the two of them had a wrestling match in the snow (even had a little blood drawn as seen in the snow in front of his nose). He looks about like I feel most mornings, but luckily I haven't been in a wrestling match with another grizzly. For more information on Coola and Grinder, check out their website at https://www.grousemountain.com/wildlife-refuge. In honor of the hump on the grizzlies back, Happy Hump Day y'all.

Chillaxing Molly

I was trying out my new Nikon D810 and Tamron 70-200 2.8 lens this weekend at my stepmother's. It was late and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Molly was relaxing so I grabbed a few shots. I shot this hand held at ISO 4000 at 200mm at 1/25 without flash. I am amazed with the quality of the shots under these conditions. There would have been no way to have done this back in the days of film, and other digital cameras photos would have been a LOT grainier from pushing the ISO so much. If this is any indication of what this camera and lens can do in low light I'm going to be one HAPPY photographer.

Peek-A-Boo

Captured this lone prairie dog on the lookout in Prairie Dog Town at the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in March. The scope of this shot helps convey the sense of how big the refuge is. A shot of the prairie dog alone was boring, but to me this provided a much better 'feel' for how wide open the spaces are in this part of Oklahoma.

It's a Bird

Or at least it thinks it is. One of our many food thieves in our backyard. Caught in the act. How are our birds supposed to get any food with these guys around?

Lost and Found

Found this Mexican Black Bear waiting for us at the start of the Lost Mine Trail in Big Bend National Park last week. Thinking they might need to rename the trail the Lost Bear Trail as this guy (or gal) had separated from another bear higher up on the trail that we thought may have been his mother. I had heard of people seeing bears around the Lost Mine Trail in the past, but had never seen one myself and didn't expect to see one as late in the morning as this shot was taken. He had been rooting around under the trees looking for food when he decided he had enough of that effort. The other bear had moved off higher up the trail and had crossed the road by the time this one made it to the trailhead. He didn't appear to be particularly interested in us, but we were still giving him plenty of berth in case he decided otherwise. Of all the shots I got of him, it's this one that I liked best as it shows exactly where he was., no GPS needed. So if you wonder if there are bear in Big Bend, the answer is a resounding YES! Photo by Steve Coyle Photography (www.stevecoylephotography.com)