Category: #northern Arizona

• Motion Blur #2: Photographing American Avocets in Flight

  I live hundreds of miles inland from the Pacific, but late in August, Flagstaff was visited by a flock of American Avocets. As you saw in my first Motion Blur post, the technique produces some cool effects. (By the way, like yesterday’s post, this shot was taken at the Old Walnut Canyon Road Ponds. I…

  jwilce

  September 14, 2020

  #bird photography, #digital cameras, #FlagstaffArizona, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #photography, #photonarratives, #wildlife photography, #wings, Arizona, bird photography, bird photos, Canon EOS Rebel Cameras, Digital single lens reflex cameras, outdoor photography, wildlife photography

  #northern Arizona, #Shorebirds, Avocets, Flagstaff, Flocking behavior, Motion blur photography, Nature photography

• Gray Fox In Our Neighborhood

  A few weeks ago, on back to back days, I had magical encounters with a gray fox, which was standing on one of the huge boulders adjacent to the Cheshire Pond (Cheshire Park). My wife and I had last seen one in our neighborhood about 16 years ago! I took this photograph during the first…

  jwilce

  September 11, 2020

  #northern Arizona, #photography, #wildlife photography, animal behavior, Arizona, outdoor photography

  Family Canidae, Mammals, Open spaces, Public parks, Suburban wildlife, the "dog" family

• Waterfowl on Frances Short Pond (Flagstaff)

  It’s been a frightfully warm winter, but not so warm as to completely melt the ice on our fair city’s beloved municipal pond near a couple of our public schools. Frances Short was an “educator and city councilperson” in Flagstaff. (For more information, click here.) The pond and its immediate environs are home to waterfowl…

  jwilce

  December 28, 2017

  #bird photography, #digital cameras, #FlagstaffArizona, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #photography, #wildlife photography, animal behavior, Arizona, bird photography, bird photos, outdoor photography, wildlife photography

  #Arizona, #birds, #publicspaces, coots, ducks, Flagstaff, mallards, municipal parks, waterfowl

• Spring (or at least nest-building material) is in the mouth

  It’s always nice when I discover that my camera has seen more than I did when I took a shot. That has happened lately, as spring gets ready to turn to summer, when I see “Well well, the little creature seems to be building a nest!” (Of course I am also very aware of seeing…

  jwilce

  June 4, 2017

  #bird photography, #digital cameras, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #photography, #wildlife photography, animal behavior, Arizona, bird photography, bird photos

• Photo Walk With Jim Wilce, June 24

  Ordinary Cameras, Extraordinary Encounters:Taking Wildlife Photos From the Heart A Workshop Led by Jim Wilce, and Sponsored by the Northern Arizona Audubon Society Saturday, June 24, 8-10 a. m., Kachina Wetlands (near Flagstaff, Arizona) What do you want from outdoor/ wildlife photographs? How can you take photos that you and others will enjoy? And how…

  jwilce

  May 30, 2017

  #bird photography, #digital cameras, #FlagstaffArizona, #insects, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photography, #wildlife photography, Arizona, bird photography, bird photos

• Dragonflies mating mid-air

  One of my favorite places in Flagstaff is Frances Short Pond. It is a hotspot for members of the Order Odonata— dragonflies and damselflies like the one below, which is, I believe, a “bluet.” But now the show I promised—a shaky video of two orange dragonflies and their mid-air mating dance. The still photos on…

  jwilce

  September 30, 2016

  #dragonflies, #FlagstaffArizona, #insects, #mating rituals, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photography, #photonarratives, #wildlife photography, #wings, animal behavior, Arizona, insect behavior, insect photography

  #Arizona, #insects, #nature, #parks, #photoblog, #photography, #wings, Flagstaff

• Reflective great(-tailed) hop

  Back in April I visited Frances Short Pond here in Flagstaff— a pond fished by man (sometimes woman) and osprey alike. Blackbirds and grackles occupy trees and the marshy island in the middle of the small pond. Here is a great-tailed grackle (I think), caught mid-hop. Click here to see the full-sized photo of the…

  jwilce

  August 6, 2016

  #bird photography, #FlagstaffArizona, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photography, Arizona, bird photography, bird photos, outdoor photography, wildlife photography

  #birds, #publicspaces

• Unidentified insect: Beetle?

  I’m posting this on Reddit ( /r/whatsthisbug). For you who once saw me post HERE rather regularly, I apologize for my long absence and offer this strikingly beautiful insect (a beetle?). I was seeing this orange-winged insect (probably a beetle) this spring, then suddenly it reappeared today in the Rio de Flag, Cheshire neighborhood, Flagstaff,…

  jwilce

  August 1, 2016

  #FlagstaffArizona, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photography, #wings, Arizona, insect photography

• What’s With the V-Formation?

  It is an inspiring, though common, thing to see flocks of ducks or geese flying overhead in V-formation. A duck flying alone is also beautiful, as is this mallard… http://www.wilcephotos.com/Northern-Arizona/JMW-Birds-Bees-Etc/i-qndbZbn/0/Th/BIF-Duck%3B%20BubblingPonds%3B%20IMG_9073%20C1PSD1-Th.jpg … but a group of birds synchronizing or coordinating their behavior presents us with a different kind of beauty.  This group of Canada Geese flying…

  jwilce

  February 18, 2016

  #northern Arizona, #photography, #wings, Arizona, bird photos, outdoor photography, wildlife photography

  #birds, #nature, #northern Arizona

• Hawks: Chasing and Being Chased

  Anywhere you see hawks you are likely to see them being chased by smaller birds and not just chasing after them. The following photos (some of which are links to wilcephotos.com) tell two stories. The first story consists of a single photograph of what we might expect to be most common—a bigger, more carnivorous bird…

  jwilce

  February 18, 2016

  #accipiters, #bird photography, #FlagstaffArizona, #hawks, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #photography, #photonarratives, #raptors, Arizona

  #Arizona, #birds, #nature, #northern Arizona, #photography, #photonarratives

• What’s the beetle doing to its companion?

  This brief video (about 7 seconds long) captures a pair of beetles, apparently “Darkling Beetles” (family Tenebrionidae). It shows one beetle touching the other with its antennae.  The video was shot September 5 on Fatman’s Loop trail (Mt. Elden area of Flagstaff, Arizona).  I removed the sound track and edited out most of the effects…

  jwilce

  September 7, 2015

  #FlagstaffArizona, #insects, #MountElden, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #wildlife photography

  #beetles, #insects, #naturevideos

• A summer of learning: How to tell butterflies from moths

  It has been a summer of wonder and amazement, based on apparently chance encounters of this insect or that. But of course what we see— if we are watching—reflects what is here for now, in this season (or sub-sub-season). And so, it seems that one week, quite suddenly, our Cheshire neighborhood (Flagstaff, AZ) was home…

  jwilce

  September 5, 2015

  #insects, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #photonarratives, #wildlife photography

  antennae, butterflies, insect diversity, Lepidoptera, moths

• A Humming-good story

  On Tuesday (8/18/15) my early morning walking feet took me to a strip of land covered with wildflowers like scarlet bugler penstemon and gilia. I have been visiting the strip for a week now because it’s a common place to find hummingbirds. And of course the hummers visit the strip because of the wildflowers. At…

  jwilce

  August 21, 2015

  #bird photography, #hummingbirds, #mating rituals, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #wildlife photography