Sandhill Crane Near Othello, WA
Here comes one right over the top of me. I was hand holding my camera and almost fell over backward as the crane flew directly over my head. The Sandhills are sure pretty and graceful creatures!
Sandhill Crane Near Othello, WA
This image is technically better that the one in my previous post. However it is still not as sharp as I would like. The original image was taken with a 600mm equivalent configuration on a full size image sensor camera. In addition I cropped the image by a 16x factor.
I need a lot more practice to get the image as sharp as I would like. I do not think that I am at my equipment’s limit yet.
I just returned from a weekend photographing Sandhill Cranes near Othello, WA. The cranes are on their migration path from central California, where they winter, to Alaska. I am relatively new at bird photography. I practice a lot to get decent images. I took around 3500 images over a three day period. My “decent image” percentage is about 2%.. The following sequence is what we went through to photograph the birds. #1 – Find the birds. The first day we spent about 4 hours before we saw any Sandhill’s. #2 – Position myself to get the sun behind my back. Hope that wind is coming from the same direction. The birds land and take off into the wind. #3 – Have a lot of patience. Don’t get excited and take hundreds of images of birds on the ground not doing anything or birds that are flying off way in the distance. #4 – Wait for the birds to do something interesting like taking off/landing or “dancing” on the ground. #5 – Anticipate, be be ready. You do not have a lot of time to focus and shoot. #6 – Make sure you are focused on the bird before you shoot. I had a lot of blurry images (I meed a lot of practice). #7 – Pray that you captured a few good images. My success rate was not very good. #8 – Shoot with someone who knows what they are doing. Thank you Jack!!!
The above image was not my best, but it had some interesting lighting. It was a good opportunity to do a little post processing. I will include sharper images in future posts.
After looking at this, I laughed at myself. This is not a sandhill crane … it’s a Canadian goose. It is still a beautiful sight though.
Rattlesnake Ridge and Pasco Basin from Saddle Mountain, Washington
This image was taken from the top of Saddle Mountain looking southwest toward Rattlesnake Ridge. During the Missoula Floods, the water level of Lake Lewis between these two ridges was about 600 feet above the current basin floor.
As I was photographing on top of the mountain, I felt a cold wind pick up. The skies turned dark and I could see the rain coming toward me. I decided it was a good time to pack up my gear and head down the steep gravel/dirt road before it turned to mud. It was the end of a good day and a great trip driving around the Pasco basin exploring for traces of the Ice Age floods.
Sentinel Gap, Washington
This image was taken north of Sentinel Gap, looking south. The Columbia River is barely visible in the center of the photo. During the Ice Age Missoula Floods, Crab Creek thundered through here joining the Columbia River. This was the western path for the waters rushing through Drumheller Channels as it was diverted by the Saddle Mountains. The small rocks in the foreground are likely to have been carried by the rush of water as it carved out the scablands through the Drumheller Channels.
Sentinel Gap, Washington
This image was taken looking north through Sentinel Gap. This gap cuts through the Saddle Mountains which separate the Pasco and Othello basins in Eastern Washington. The Columbia River runs through this gap on its way to the Oregon/Washington border. At the time of the Missoula Floods, the water level going through the gap reached the top of the left ridge, flowing into Lake Lewis which covered the Pasco basin.
The erratics in the foreground most likely are from the gap, carved away by the raging wall of water that flowed through it.
Granite Erratic in Pasco Basin, Washington
The Central Washington Basin is covered with layers of basalt, totaling as much as 2 miles thick, created by huge lava flows 8-15 million years ago. The nearest source of granite rock is several hundred miles away. This photo was taken near the Hanford site north of Richland. The granite rock was about 1/4 mile from the road. My lens combination was 560mm. For reference, the actual height of the rock (above ground) is about 12 feet. It is a big granite rock. How did it get here???
The current theory is that it was brought here as part of the ice dam that broke loose during one of the Missoula floods around 15,000 years ago. As the ice melted, embedded rocks were released. The Pasco basin and its surround hills have many such erratics.
Pasco Basin and Columbia River, Washington
This image was taken from the top of Saddle Mountain looking south toward the Pasco Basin. (Yesterday’s post was from the same location looking north toward the Othello Basin.)
Can you believe that this was once a 800 foot deep lake? During the Missoula floods, water entered the Pasco Basin northeast from the Palouse, north from the Drumheller/Othello Channels and northwest from the Columbia River through Sentinel Gap. Wallula Gap blocked the water from flowing freely through the Columbia Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. The result was the temporary Ice Age Lake Lewis. Today, the Columbia River meanders through the basin. The Hanford Nuclear Research facility is located south and east of the river. Rattlesnake Ridge is visible in the background.
Basalt, Yaklma River Canyon
These pieces of basalt (approximately 18 inches in length) caught my as I was exploring road cuts in the Yakima River Canyon. They seemed to be accented by an artists brush. Different patterns and different colors abounded in adjacent rocks. Since the rocks were adjacent and seem to be part of the same basalt flow, why are they so different in surface color and pattern. I need to do a little research on what factors determine the color and patterns.
Drumheller Channels in Distance from Top of Saddle Mountain
This image was taken from the top of Saddle Mountain (~1,300 ft elevation) looking north east over the Othello basin toward the Drumheller Channels. Imagine a wall of water 200 – 300 feet high racing over an 8-11 mile stretch over the Drumheller Channels at over 60 miles per hour. This was the amount of water that was released (multiple times) when the Lake Missoula glacier dam broke releasing the water over the Eastern Washington basin. Saddle Mountain broke the onslaught of water. Some flowed west through the Crab Creek Coulee to the Columbia River and Sentinal Gap. The remainder rushed around the eastern edge of the Mountain and into the Pasco Basin and Lake Lewis.