Monday ~ April 01, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 1, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Monday!

I was in Maquoketa last Thursday and had lunch with a great friend.

As I used to do when leaving work, I decided to take the Hurstville Road out-of-town as it goes past the “Duck Pond.”  I stopped at the observation deck and was going to watch some of the geese being busy building their nests when I noticed a bald eagle sitting on top of a dead tree about 200 yards away.

I thought, what the heck might as well get another image of an eagle sitting in a tree.  Besides there were no obstructions between the eagle and me so it would make a decent shot.  I got out of the truck and got my long lens and even thought about setting up my tripod.

Of course when I looked back at the eagle he was already in the air flying away (or so I thought.)  He actually was flying towards me.  I’ll admit I was a little nervous because I imagined how great it would be to capture a head on shot of an eagle.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get a focus lock on him until he was almost over me as the first two images show.  I’m thankful they were in focus as I figured I was going to have a half-dozen brown blurry balls.

I couldn’t get him in the center of the frame and was lucky to capture about 6 images of various parts of the eagle.  🙂

As many eagles as I have photographed over the years I still get an adrenaline rush when I see them. Such a magnificent creature!

Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Sunday ~ March 24, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 24, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Sunday!

Jeanne and I went down to the river yesterday to look at the rise in the water.  Nothing like the Missouri River is getting but still the river is higher than normal.

I have taken and posted hundreds of photos of the critters I am showing today but I find it hard to resist photographing any of them when they let me get this close.  Jeanne actually spotted this guy in the marina as we were headed to the river.  At 900mm focal length I felt like I was right next to him.  🙂

Click on any image to make it larger and reveal more detail.

The ubiquitous Canada Goose is a common subject but couldn’t resist photographing this pair searching for food in at the Mud Lake park.

Finally one of my favorite subjects.  This little ringed-bill gull was waiting on something but after watching him for about 7 minutes he never once moved so this is the pose he offered and the one I took.  🙂

We saw a couple of eagles on the ice but they were too far away to get a decent picture of them.

We decided to eat lunch at a place we had never been to before.  So we dined at 1ST & Main.  Nice restaurant, good service, and great food.  We’ll stop there again.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ March 22, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 22, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Happy Thursday!

I took a road trip up to Edgewood, Iowa to visit a long time friend of mine.  Turned out that on this day he was in Dubuque for other reasons.  🙂

Found this old guy at Greeley, Iowa.  It won’t be long till it no longer stands.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ March 04, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 4, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Monday!

I can say happy Monday because I am retired! 🙂

Yesterday afternoon I had some errands to run so I took my camera with me and then did a little ride through the countryside to see if I could find some photo opportunities.

This image happened by accident.  I saw a large hawk perched on a tall tree limb and I stopped well short to set up my camera and long lens.  I got in position, rolled down the window and as soon as the lens came out of the window opening he took off.  I was disappointed but as I lowered my gaze I saw this deer just staring at me.  🙂

I decided to go by the Buffalo ranch to see if any of them wanted their picture taken.  They weren’t very cooperative and even though he had his back to me I was determined to get a shot of him.

I hadn’t been out in the country for a long time and I was amazed as to just how much snow they have had.  There were drifts higher than the top of my vehicle.  The snow is crusted over with a layer of ice and it was just as cold as it looks in this image.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ February 09, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 9, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Happy Saturday!

We had a fair amount of ice this week in Eastern Iowa.  The sun came out yesterday and made everything look so beautiful.

Jeanne and I took a ride through the country to look at the landscapes and I came home with some images on my memory card.

Although beautiful with the sun glistening off the ice it was only 1 above zero and the wind was blowing pretty good giving us a wind chill of around -15 degrees.  I didn’t stay out very long.

The good news is that we didn’t see many farm animals out in the cold.  Most were in some type of shelter.  There wasn’t much wildlife at all but we did see a large bald eagle.  Unfortunately by the time I got the car stopped and the camera up to my eye he had decided to leave the area.

Finally, yesterday was my birthday.  The best birthday present I have ever received was given to me by my two children.  They spent an hour and half with me and even bought my breakfast.  They are such amazing young people and I am very proud of them.  I took this with my iPhone so I’m not totally happy with the quality of the image but the image itself is priceless to me.  It is now my new desktop image.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Friday ~ February 08, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 8, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Friday!

Yesterday I celebrated my one year anniversary of being retired.

I have enjoyed retirement more than I could have ever imagined.  It doesn’t seem like it’s been a whole year but the calendar does not lie.  There were some things about retirement that turned out to be more difficult than I would have thought but on the whole I highly recommend it. 🙂

We have a fair amount of ice here in my little corner of the world and I captured this image of our bench in the back yard.  Too cold to sit there today.

Enjoy your day and be careful.