JDW Photos and Life

Click on READ MORE for the full post. Click on the blog photo to see full size and detail.  If leaving a comment, please provide a hint who you are. I will wrap-up the sea otter photos with this post and move to another subject. This guy was sitting up in the water and taking one last look at us before leaving the area. I like the face detail and those front paws! Thanks, Doug White

Click on READ MORE for the full post. Click on the blog photo to see full size and detail.  If leaving a comment, please provide a hint who you are. As we watched one of the otters, he decided I had failed to pay my modeling fee so it was time to leave. You have to look at this photo in the perspective of shots before and after to realize that he is twisted a full 180 degrees between his front and back. This is also one of the very few shots I have of an otter tail. The tail of a sea otter is considerably shorter (% of body length) than that of a river otter. You can also see his little ear in this shot. Thanks, Doug White

Click on READ MORE for the full post. Click on the blog photo to see full size and detail.  If leaving a comment, please provide a hint who you are. Another photo of a sea otter floating in the middle of the bay. It looks like we told him he is under arrest and to hold up his hands and don't move! This photo give a little better view of the pads on the front feet. I still struggle to fully understand those hind feed - probably because humans have their longest toe on the inside instead of the outside like this otter. Thanks, Doug White

Click on READ MORE for the full post. Click on the blog photo to see full size and detail.  If leaving a comment, please provide a hint who you are. Though an endangered species, Sea Otters were easy to find during our boat trip. We saw singles and a few small groups. They were not worried about boats or people for the most part. We saw them just floating/resting/napping on their back or just casually swimming along in the middle of the bay. They are larger than I expected and are the largest species of the weasel family. From an Alaskan wildlife site:  Adult sea otters can reach lengths of up to 6 feet (1.8 m) but average about 4.5 feet (1.4 m). Adult male otters weigh from 70 - 90 pounds (32-41 kg) with some males reaching up to 100 pounds (46 kg). Adult female otters average 40 - 60 pounds (18-27 kg). This is probably my best photo of otter details and I would estimate it to be in the average size range cited above. I cannot get over those hind feet! Thanks, Doug White

Have you ever made something and then wondered why (no children jokes - I like mine)? I saw this project from a woodworker I follow. It looked interesting and would require me to develop a few skills I had not tried (segmented ring, router circles, deep router hollow-out, template cuts). It came out reasonably OK (after having to remake a few big mistakes). Like all first-time skills, I know what I would do the next time to make it better. But the better question is why would I make it again? It has a walnut base with cherry trays. It is meant as a serving dish for veggies, chips, whatever. The challenge is that we don't do much of that type of entertaining in our hermit lifestyle. The larger problem is where and how do you store such a piece? These are questions I have posed to Donnice! We will see if she can answer them. All of the trays come out where you could use the base as a chip holder or maybe a non-wood bowl of salsa/dip for example. The underside is also pretty. What are...

I felt like I made a slight mistake yesterday when I added a fourth photo to the message with the gull and tern having an argument. This photo of a  Glaucous Gull perched on a rocky cliff face with a beautiful cascade of Alaskan BlueBell flowers deserves its own post. It is no secret how these flowers got their name. Thanks, Doug White

While enjoying the action sitting in the boat, we noticed some action on the far end of Puffin Island. A small Artic Tern was totally unhappy with two Glaucous Gulls. We watched this tern dive-bomb these two gulls for probably 30 minutes. I think we gave up before the tern gave up. This action was quite a distance from the boat and I'm surprised at the detail as I thought they were wasted shots at the time. Off to the side of this location were cliffs with several Glaucous Gulls perched on the rock face. I think this one was admiring the Alaska Bluebell flowers cascading down the cliff. Thanks, Doug White

While out on the boat exploring Puffin Island (Kodiak), we ran across a few other interesting subjects. This is a really nice photo of an oyster catcher on barnacle-covered shore exposed with a low tide. This variety of oyster catcher is slightly different than what we see on the gulf coast. Along the shoreline, Josh and Lauren spotted a bald eagle - not a rare find in Kodiak but I enjoyed the sight! Having already taken our bear viewing trip on the float plane, it was cool to see "our" plane flying overhead. Thanks, Doug White

Click on READ MORE for the full post. Click on the photo to see full size and detail.  If leaving a comment, please provide a hint who you are. I know, more puffins....... Enjoy these in-flight shots. These shots may look easy but they are far from it. The birds are flying fast and often with backgrounds that challenged my camera's ability to focus on the subject. They are always farther away than these photos make them look. This shot is one of my favorites. I love the shore background and colors. The surrounding gulls make this an interesting shot - not to mention a mouthful of food! I have NO IDEA what this puffin is bringing back to his/her nest. There is something in the beak - maybe a special treat for their mate. I surprised myself with the detail in this shot. One more with nice detail as the puffin flies close to the water. Thanks, Doug White

See more on my blog! https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/ Click on READ MORE for the full post. Click on the photo to see full size and detail. If leaving a comment, please provide a hint who you are. Look at the differences between a Horned Puffin and a Tufted Puffin. Which is your favorite? They are both beautiful birds. We saw more Tufted Puffins on our boat trip this day. Tufted Puffin Horned Puffin - interesting that they have a white underbelly and the Tufted have a dark underbelly.  It makes you wonder which one provides better protection / camouflage from their predators. I would have guessed that they share the same predators but maybe not. They seem to get along with each other once away from nest sites. Thanks, Doug White

As I said earlier, puffins are not aerodynamic or graceful flyers but they get the job done. They take off like a duck - walking on water until they can get airborne. These photos did a good job catching a sequence of take-off action. Unfortunately, they are butt shots. Stay in touch! Doug White

Tuesday was my last first day of a semester! I am ready to get this last semester rolling and completed. It seems only appropriate that the semester started with a full moon that will dwindle away. The moon will go through a few more cycles before I dwindle away but you get the idea! Once retired, I think it would be fun to try and capture the moon in all phases just to see what detail is there. I need more flexibility in schedule! It's coming - I must be patient - but I'm not good at patience. I am always amazed at how much detail a camera can bring from such a long distance. I don't think this was a 100% full moon as you can see the horizon edge off to the right. Where the shadows block the moon, we can get a glimpse of the elevation of the moon surface. This photo was taken on 1/17/22 at 5:44 PM. For perspective, here is a moon photo taken on 1/12/22 at 9:42 PM. This photo is rotated to get at least close to the rotation in the previous photo. I was laying on the ground ...

Did I tell you how Lauren and Josh spoiled us during our trip to Kodiak? It would be difficult (or very expensive) to duplicate everything we got to see had we visited as common tourist. They had everything lined up and there was always something new. Even on repeated trips to some locations, there was something new. Them having a boat was really special. The next round of photos (probably a lot) will be from the boat trip to Puffin Island and surrounding waters. I believe I have shared some of these before but I decided to edit them again and share the new edits. I could spend days sitting on the boat and watching this action. The days are limited by weather. There was a breeze that kept the boat rocking enough to make photos with a large zoom lens a challenge. Puffins are such a funny bird. Their short, squatty body doesn't look like it can fly but they have big wings compared to their bodies. They are not graceful flyers. There is little or no soar in them. They are flying fast ...

After a bit of time off preparing for the upcoming semester and archiving previous messages to my blog, I'm ready to share a few more photos. You can now find past posts at this location. This is any easy way to see posts you may have missed or revisit some of your favorites. https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/ If you leave a message on the blog, please include your name of initials or something. The one issue I have with this blog site is that you do not have to identify yourself. I could force that but then you would have to sign in and add another layer of inconvenience. As we hiked Fr. Abercrombie, there were some pretty flowers along the way. This bee was busy working this flower. Kodiak (and Alaska) are know for these two pretties along the path. The foreground is fireweed in bloom and the berry is a Salmon Berry - a favorite food of the bears and other critters - including humans. We picked several sacks of these berries so Lauren can make Salmon Berry Jelly. She made some last...

After our bear trip, the next day we decided we needed a hike to work out the soreness. This was our third day in Kodiak and the only clear day was the bear trip. As we look back, the best day of the whole two weeks was that bear trip. We were so fortunate! The sky was overcast but that is also the best diffuser of light ever invented. As I noted earlier, Fort Abercrombie has a ton of trails and we only hiked a couple. More hiking of this park is definitely on our return trip agenda. This hike was through the forest but we occasionally got a keyhole glimpse of the ocean/bay and surrounding landscape. Alaska is so green and lush in late July / early August. You can see Pillar Mountain in the background with its wind turbines. Lots of flowers (and bees) along the mountainside. Stay in touch! Doug White

I didn't take a lot of photos at Fossil Beach so this message will wrap up that portion of our trip. Nature is amazing when you think about the ability of a beautiful flower to find a perch 50 feet up a cliff and survive. The face of this cliff was mostly vertical but this flower found a small indent with just enough soil and nutrients to bloom. There was nothing but rock anywhere near this flower. This photo is an interesting rock formation at ground level behind the sandy beach. It is a phone picture as I didn't have a wide angle lens with me. Even with the phone, I struggled to get the entire formation in the frame while balanced on a nearby rock to get a little height - thus the nearly 45 degree angle. This rock looks like a squid to me. You see it's body, eye, and tentacles. I told Donnice and Lauren that I found a fossil and they needed to come see. I don't think they were as amused as me. It's not easy living with me. Most of our adventures included Lauren an...