Photographing the American Dipper
Wildlife Steve Eckes Wildlife Steve Eckes

Photographing the American Dipper

The target for our vlog video this afternoon was Gateway Natural Area. We had wanted to return for a couple of reasons. The first and biggest was to see if the Pygmy Owls had returned to nest in the picnic area. The second was to photograph Kingfishers, of which we had seen plenty in past visits. These goals were not to be met. Well, mostly not met. A park ranger would distract us by dangling the offer to see an American Dipper’s nest. The offer was way too tempting.

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In Search of Newborn Animals
Wildlife Steve Eckes Wildlife Steve Eckes

In Search of Newborn Animals

It was a beautiful spring day. We decided to go out and scout some local locations for future YouTube videos. To make it more interesting we made it a goal to find newborn critters to photograph. We did find a few but we were for the most part a little early.

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Sandhill Crane Migration part 2
Wildlife Steve Eckes Wildlife Steve Eckes

Sandhill Crane Migration part 2

After some breakfast and an additional cup of coffee, we headed back to the visitor center to catch the bus for the daytime tour to photograph the Sandhill Cranes in the fields as they were feeding. The bus was half full so we could all line up on one side of the bus to observe the cranes. For equipment, I brought my camera, a Sony A7R4, a 200-600mm Sony lens, and a 50mm lens. Monique brought her 200-600mm lens and her trusty 70-200mm Sony lens. We were also warned, before we left, to use the restrooms now as there would be no pit stops for the next couple of hours or so. Then we were off.

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