Tag: #photography

• 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

• Hitchhiker butterfly

  The other day, I came in from a photographic moment down on my knees in the front yard. This put my legs in direct contact with a pile of dead plant matter. So I should have seen this coming— a hitchhiker apparently crawled onto my blue jeans. So it was not until I came inside…

  jwilce

  September 30, 2016

  #butterflies, #FlagstaffArizona, #insects, #photography, #photonarratives, insect photography

  #Arizona, #insects, #photoblog, #photography, butterflies, Flagstaff

• 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

• Monarch Discovery

  Google Doodles— the graphics atop Google’s splash page that change every day—are sometimes worth taking the time to consider. Such was the case with the 9 January 2016 Google Doodle. The Doodle acknowledges the “41st Anniversary of the Discovery of the Mountain of the Butterflies” The mountain in Mexico where the monarchs “overwinter” is the…

  jwilce

  January 11, 2016

  #butterflies, #outdoor photography, #photography, insect photography, outdoor photography, rural America, wildlife photography

  #insects, #nature, #photography

• The Ducks That Swim in Circles

  On a recent trip to the wonderful Sedona Wetlands Preserve, described in a previous post on this blog, I shot video footage of a fascinating group behavior by ducks, specifically Northern Shovelers. Shovelers are “dabbling” or surface-feeding ducks. The species has evolved a collaborative feeding strategy. Swimming in what John Andrew Eastman calls a “pinwheel”…

  jwilce

  January 2, 2016

  #photography, #wildlife photography, Arizona, bird photos

  #Arizona, #birds, #parks, #photography, #publicspaces

• What Wikipedia calls the “default desert bird”

  If you have never heard of Curve-Billed Thrashers, you probably don’t live in or near a desert. But if you google “default desert bird” you’ll see a lot of text etc. devoted to Thrashers.  Unfortunately, the phrase “default desert bird,” with or without proper attribution is a misquote. At least Wikipedia rightly cites Dunne as the…

  jwilce

  December 6, 2015

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

  #Arizona, #birds, #desertbirds, #DesertBotanicalGarden, #nature, #parks, #Phoenix, #photography

• Arizona Desert Botanical Garden 11/24

  The “DBG” is a source of endless pleasure, a space of glorious plants that attract equally wondrous birds and butterflies! Here are three shots from a recent visit. Stay tuned as I post more photos from this visit to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. Click here to visit my professional photography page and…

  jwilce

  November 26, 2015

  #bird photography, #photography, Arizona, outdoor photography

  #Arizona, #birds, #desertbirds, #DesertBotanicalGarden, #Phoenix, #photography

• Laguna Beach sojourn

  I’ve spent the last week in southern California— in Claremont (subject of a future posting) and Laguna Beach, a lovely smallish city lapped by the waves of the Pacific Ocean, some-time home to dolphins, with attractive old cottages in the town above, overlooking the ocean. Photos from this trip can be found here: http://www.wilcephotos.com/Beyond-northern-Arizona/ I…

  jwilce

  August 9, 2015

  #California, #photography, #photonarratives

  #birds, #Crescent Bay, #Hummingbirds, #insects, #Laguna Beach, #nature, #Pacific Ocean, #photography, #photonarratives, #publicspaces, #Shorebirds, #Southern California

• Looking back: New and old photos

  I was looking through some photos that are up to a decade old today, because I remembered some of them fondly. Three cameras are represented here— a Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z6 (2004-2008), a Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd, and my current Canon Powershot SX50 HS (with just a few shots between the Finepix era and the Powershot era…

  jwilce

  July 30, 2015

  #accipiters, #digital cameras, #hawks, #photography, #photonarratives

  #Arizona, #bees, #birds, #bumblebees, #hawks, #insects, #nature, #photography, #photonarratives, #raptors, #technological improvement, #technology

• Do birds pant in the heat?

  Some, including Kathryn Knight in the Journal of Experimental Biology, say they do. And during our visit to Phoenix yesterday we were overwhelmed with the heat, especially as we tried to amble around the Arizona Desert Botanical Garden. The roadrunner pictured here might have been feeling the heat, too. Or I might have caught him…

  jwilce

  July 24, 2015

  Uncategorized

  #Arizona, #birds, #desertbirds, #DesertBotanicalGarden, #parks, #Phoenix, #photography, #publicspaces

• Another great day for insect photography in Flagstaff

  Until just two or three weeks ago it’s pretty safe to say I knew nothing about butterflies and moths (except that they like milkweed), let alone other insects.  (Well, of course I knew a bit about honeybees, bumblebees, wasps, flies, mosquitos…) But did I know anything about butterflies? Only monarchs. Dragonflies? Re. the order “Odonata”…

  jwilce

  July 19, 2015

  Uncategorized

  #insects, #nature, #photography