George Owens Nature Park is located at 1601 S. Speck Rd., Independence Mo. 64057 The park consist of 86 acres of beautiful forest with lakes, hiking trails and wildlife.  It includes Six hiking trails, two fishing lakes. Organized group campground, Family Picnic area, Nature Center, Rain Gardens and a Pavilion.

Some of the upcoming events this park has to offer are Winter Hikes, Groundhog Day Celebration, Bluebird and  House Class etc. For more information please visit the website at http://www.ci.independence.mo.us/parksandrec/Owens.aspx.

Nature isn’t something you should take lightly.  If you like watching birds and other creatures then you have to be willing to be patient and allow mother nature to accept you on it’s terms.  People today are so removed from the wildlife around them that when they see Deer, Birds etc. they expect them to accept people as non-threatening.  This is a mistake to think they will not perceive you as a threat.  As individuals people are always a threat.  We intrude, encircle, and approach animals when we perceive safety and not when the they are ok with our presence.  All creatures have a body language, understanding that language is key to understanding them.  I will be the first one to tell you that it’s impossible for one individual to learn the body language of all animals, but we can all learn the basics. We actually know quite a bit already that’s why we look at some dogs and suddenly feel threatened and others we do not.  We just have to take a little time to learn the basics.

While visiting George Owens you might see Wild Turkey, Deer, Cardinals, Wood peckers, and other species of wildlife.  You have to be patient the deer are not going to come up to you just because you are there.  The birds are not going to land on your shoulder and chirp in your ear.  Although I have seen that happen.  On my visits I often see turkey.  In fact just about every time I have been there I have seen turkey.  They spent most of the time hiding from me on this day.  Its ok because I was not really interested in photographing them.  I was more interested in photographing small birds, mainly because I saw a dozen or more hanging around the front entrance to the park.  Before settling down to photograph the birds especially the Cardinals.  I spent a couple hours walking the trails.  I wanted to see what had been in the area.  Its pretty easy to track animals in the snow.  You never know what you will see.  I spent a couple hours just waiting for those Cardinals to accept my presence on this visit.  The snow was deep, the day was cold and by the time I had gained a little confidence from the birds my feet were pretty cold and the snow found a way into my boots.  Within the first two hours I had closed the distance within 65 feet.  I needed to be closer and that was going to take more time.  I was willing to put in another hour being patient before leaving for the day, not because of being a little cold but for the reason that the lightning was changing.  With an overcast day the proper lightning wasn’t going to last more then hour.   Despite my willingness to stay longer my decision was made for me.  Like a lot of small birds when there is danger around they hide or fly off.   I had been making my way closer to them.  I had been waiting patiently.  After moving another foot, I settled in my new position, planted my tripod legs waiting for the right opportunity to present itself when all the birds went silent and flew off to the safety of the trees.  I was wondering what happened.  Was it something I did!  When I gazed across the sky I noticed a large bird flying about.  It was something all small birds don’t like to see.  It was a red tailed hawk.  I understood why they took off.  It wasn’t me, they were afraid of being a meal. So, with that my patience, time and effort were shot. It was time to go home and take a warm shower.

From a prior visit a few years back.  Here a couple images.

Red Cardinal

Dark-Eyed Junco

Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis

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1. A rant with a twist.

The many times that I have been to Yellowstone, it’s always a new experience.  This year I wanted to arrive early during the time the Bison are having their young.  I should have been there in June, but I decided I would take my Niece to Yellowstone. She enjoys nature as much as I do.  I thought she would enjoy seeing a different side of nature then she normally does, but it meant that I had to wait until she was out of school so July was the next best time.   On top of that it’s much more fun to have someone along who enjoys the same things you do.  I enjoyed having her with me on this trip. In fact it was her who spotted that fawn in Wyoming.  It also was her that kept me planted on my mission.  I just wish I could have gotten a few images of that fawn before the little guy took off. Yellowstone dealt us plenty of trouble this time around.  It stormed a couple times there in the park while visiting. One night it managed to soak the tent and get our sleeping bags wet.  That was a dreary night for us. She caught more trouble then I did though and I felt pretty bad about that. We managed to pick ourselves up the next morning having plenty to talk about and sleeping bags to dry.  We spent most of the morning doing that, but that is what is all about.  The rest of the day went off without a hitch visiting Lower falls of Yellowstone River investigating the wildlife in Hayden Valley. We walked another path down to the Lower falls that I had never been to and took a few images.  It’s more eye to eye then some of the other locations. The climb was pretty rough on the way back up, but worth the effort.  We both had a good time.   Wish we could have stayed a little longer.

I went with the task of capturing some images of Grizzly bears, Black bears, Moose and wolves.  Although I did see moose and and Black bear it was the Grizzly that provided me with the shots that I thought said the most.  My Niece and I spotted a wolf near a den in Hayden Valley, but he was to far away from where we were, it was not worth evening considering photographing.  With no such luck of getting a decent image I was pleased to just see they were in the area.  Amanda felt the same way.

The Black-tailed prairie dogs in Northeast part of Wyoming were pretty interesting little critters with their crazy antics and constant barking.  I had a grand opportunity to photograph a fawn that had been laying down in the tall grass below an embankment.  I tried my best to move in position to get some shots of the little guy, but those Prairie Dogs sounded the alarm and alerted the fawn an it’s mother to high tail it out of there.  They didn’t know I meant know harm.  I wasn’t that close, but me being at a higher elevation didn’t help. I was little disappointed, but we moved on leaving them be without capturing any images of the little fella.  Yes, this trip was full of excitement and trying times but it was worth it.

You can view some the work we did in the New Releases on this trip.  I encourage you to take a look around you might find something that suits your fancy.  For now here are a few images from the trip.

My Niece, Amanda

©2009 Copyright, Chad Davis

Here is the squawk box that sounded the alert on me.

Alert! Alert! Alert!

©2009 Copyright, Chad Davis

This third beautiful image of a Bumble Bee in Northeast Wyoming near Devils Tower was taken by my Niece an photographer Amanda.

Bumble Bee by Amanda Dawley

©2009 Copyright, Amanda Dawley

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1. Here we go…
2. Florida Opportunities at the Rookery

In the last year in a half I have been looking for a lens to extend my bag of equipment, a 500mm.  It’s a beautiful lens to have and it’s been difficult to find one.  I didn’t want to spend more money then I had to, especially when the economy is the way it is.  I’m sure things will get better as time goes by but as an artist you try not to spend to much money and concentrate more on your art. The art of photography doesn’t come cheap.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is sadly mistaken.  In my search for this lens I could have just decided to buy it new, but that would have meant taking out a small loan.  Something I was not willing to do. So with that in mind I found someone advertising to sell the same lens I had been looking for and wanting to buy.  I was lucky to find it and I didn’t have to take out that small loan either.  In my efforts as a photographer I set out to practice my art with my new tool of the trade.  I’m happy that I found this lens.   It was well worth the money I spent for it.

Now I have plans to visit a few areas to photograph using this lens in the future, but for now I decided the closes place to do some guarantied animal shots would be at the zoo.  It’s not always the best place, just relaxing.  On top of that the animals are always there and it’s good place to test a new camera lens.  With that in mind.  The weather has been changing here in the midwest as summer slowly turns to fall and then winter.   I guess the animals can sense that as well.  Some critters like the cooler weather and tend to be more active. On this day was really surprised that most of the animals were very active. The Gorillas were out. They were pretty social on this visit.  It was kind of odd because they choose to either turn their back to you or stay out of site. At least this is what happens when I choose to visit.  Not all the time, but most of the time.

Gorilla

The Meerkats are pretty social little buggers, but I tend to wait for them to react in some way to their environment.  In Africa if there was a bird of prey flying above they would seek cover.  In a zoo, it’s not that much different.  They still look for trouble from the ski.  The weather was pretty cloudy that day and the local plane traffic was flying low most likely because of those thick clouds. That in turn made these Meerkats take notice of those flying beasts or planes. They were huddled together looking in all directions. Something you normally don’t see often. This was a rare day for me.  They are so funny and they were hamming it up for the camera. I could not resist.  Most of my equipment was left at home that day.  I kind of regretted not having it with me.  Sometimes you do things you wish you hadn’t. I did however manage to capture a few good likeness of them, so all was not for nothing.   Looking into the short future I look forward to writing more.  For now here are a couple more shots.

Lowland Gorilla

Curious Meerkats

All image are © 2009 Copyright  Chad Davis

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First let me say, it’s really not difficult to find Bald Eagles to photograph.   You can even find them in Florida.  You just have to know where to look.  You ask why Bald Eagles.  Well, I have always loved this graceful and majestic bird.  They just seem to fly with ease.  There feathers on the end of their wings curl as they pump their wings for lift. You know when your in their presence when they speak.  It’s a distinctive sound.  Their fiscal appearance demands your attention.  On top of all that it’s the national bird of the United States, so why not.

Washington State is a beautiful part of the country.  I have written extensively on Washington and I like to visit when I can.  Besides it’s beauty, it’s easy for me to visit because I have family there. This allows me to cut cost. When you don’t have family to stay with, you make due or find another way to cut your expenses.  I wanted to expand my library of landscapes and this was to be my main goal.  The best times to photograph landscapes are often during the early morning or late afternoon.  During the mid day I will look for other opportunities to photograph, such as birds, elk, or deer along with other species of animals. In the area I was of Port Angeles and Sequim the weather is often overcast which makes it easy for photographing the wildlife without harsh shadows.  I’d rather have a slight overcast day, but not such an overcast that it blocks out the brilliance of what the sun has to offer.  You desire quality light and not dull light.   I was actually hoping for a little snow storm.  A heavy snow covered Fur tree would have made for beautiful photo’s.  It would be my luck that it never snowed while up there on this trip.  Arriving back home I found out that it snowed the next day.   No such luck for me!

One day the clouds were just too heavy to be photographing landscapes.  So, I set off to find some Bald Eagles.  I kept looking for areas that might photograph well for landscapes when the weather was little better.  You never know if the weather will shift for the better and keeping your options open is something you just have to do.  I like to photograph birds doing some type of activity to give the photo’s character.   A bird staring at the open sky can be boring if there isn’t something else to give character to the image. Intense colors, a sparkle in the eye can help, but often it’s not enough.  My intent was to capture a photo or two of Bald Eagles swooping down for fish in the rivers of the area.  I found it difficult to find a location where they might be feeding.  Sometimes those pictures are just luck.

I knew of a place down the road from where I was staying that took care of Bald Eagles called the Northwest Raptor Center.  The Center is a non profit organization with the goals to rescue and rehabilitate and release wildlife.  It’s run by volunteers and the very dedicated lady by the name of Jaye who will gladly take donations that will benefit the Center and it’s inhabitance.   Injured Bald Eagles and other raptors that need rehabilitation can be found here, but a few other species of animals are there as well.  I had been there before to observe the Bald Eagles up close. I didn’t really want to photograph them there, just gather a little information about them. The Northwest Raptor Center has a website for more information and you can make donations if you wish as well.   Link here: Northwest Raptor Center.  You can also find it on the featured link area of the blog.  Information on the subject your wanting to photograph is key if your going to have any luck at all in capturing a beautiful shots.  Doing a little research will pay off in the end.

Most Bald Eagle prefer a habitat around the seacoast, rivers and large lakes with an abundance of fish.  This wasn’t going to be a problem being that I was on the West coast and within a couple miles of the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  I figured I would find a few Bald Eagles on my search for them and I was right.  I visited the Dungenese Recreational area located along the coast of the Straights.  Gathering my gear I headed that way.  In deed I found them, but they were busy flying pretty far above and none that were perched in trees for easy access from roads.  I needed an Eagle a little closer in range of my longest lens.   So, thinking of a few other places that might be a better to photograph them.  I knew of place called the Olympic Game Farm.  It’s a small drive threw zoo in Sequim.  I was not thinking I could photograph Bald Eagles in the Olympic Game Farm.  What I was thinking was that the Game Farm sits below a cliff area with tall trees overlooking several acres of farm land and a river goes along the farm as well.  The perfect area for Bald Eagles.  The Game Farm was just a location that I had knowledge of.  I drove to the area and positive I would see a few in this area.  I drove up a hill and around the back side of the farm.  There was back road to another farm that went just to the side of the Game Farm of the main road.  This road sits right next to these tall trees with limbs bent over, perfect for eagles looking to perch.  Plus it was pretty high up.  One tree alone had over five Eagles perched overlooking the hole area.  I counted over 20 eagles in the area.  That was pretty good count.  It was perfect for photographing.  Some of the juvenile Bald Eagles were a little paranoid and flew off to the next tree over, but the adults were not afraid of me.  They aloud me to photograph them for several hours.  I spent most of my day patiently waiting for them to fly off or come back with something.  It was beautiful opportunity and I took my time photographing these majestic raptors.  I never did get the shot that I wanted.  I guess it wasn’t my day, but none the less they did grace me with a few beautiful shot of them.  Despite my patients waiting for them along the river I never saw them along the river.  They spent most of their day perched in those trees.  They would come and go, flying off to survey the area returning to the same area time after time.

Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis

Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis

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1. Florida Opportunities at the Rookery

In the prior post I stated that I searched for a couple hours for the wildlife in the parks. There are more then a few in Florida. Some you have to pay and others you do not. You can guess that ones you have to pay to get in would have plenty of wildlife to photograph. That’s not always the case. I have payed plenty to photograph the animals in Sea World and have come out with very little quality shots. That’s not to say that you can’t get some good shots, but you don’t get the type of shots that say wildlife. You get the shots that say wildlife in captivity.I prefer to photograph animals in there natural environment. When money is tight and you can’t afford the safari to Africa or what have you, then parks are the next best thing. I personaly like to visit local parks that wildlife tend to hang out in. Wildlife refuges are a good place to check out as well.

My visits to local parks in Florida entailed Sea World, community parks and one camping park. The Camping park I had to pay to get in. It didn’t cost much, but hey I thought there would be few possibilities. So I went ahead and payed the money. It included a large lake which usually invites the wild birds and a few alligators if your lucky.

I once tried to photograph an alligator up close. He was pretty small, but when I tried to approach he split in about two seconds. With his small size of 3 1/2 feet long, he was probably more scared of me then I was of him.

I parked my car and grabbed my bag and strap my lucky camera around my neck and made way to the water front. At first glance I wasn’t very impressed. I couldn’t see much in the way of wildlife. The only wildlife I saw was a fish on the end of a little boys fishing pole. Right away, I new what the problem was. The family with the little boy!  Most waterfowl are going to keep there distance from people.  So I decide I would see if there were any opportunities around the dock area. Sometimes the bigger birds will see if they can snatch a snack or two from people fishing and such. There was no such luck. I looked off into the distance an took a few shots of the area for reference and to capture something pleasing. Often when the wildlife are not around I will see what possibilities lye with scenery. It was big lake, and I thought surely there would be wildlife somewhere around the area. I continued my hunt walking the shoreline of the lake. I finally came across some White Ibis foraging for food in shallows of the lake. About seven in all. My plan was simple get within range and snap off a few shots while they were foraging. Hoping to catch one with something in his beak with water dripping at the end. Those crazy birds had there beaks underneath water more then anything. I guess they couldn’t find much in the way to nibble on because they searched for sometime finding very little except for a little moss here and there. I managed to only capture one shot of one with something in his mouth. The lightning was all wrong so it was a loss. I however did manage to capture a nice liking of one. Normally I try not to disturb the wildlife, but this time.  I had to make them a little nervous so they would bring there heads up out of the water to get a nice portrait of one. There a crazy looking bird, long curved and pink beaks. A Full body of white feathers and blue eyes. I spent the better of two hours just watching them along the shoreline. Sometimes you just have to be patient. Often the lightning would be just terrible and I would have to wait until they went to a new area. After catching a hundred shots or more I decided that it was time to go.

I stopped off at another park to see if there was anything of interest. That park was limited, very limited in fact. Don’t ask me what the name of the park was because often I just come upon them going to one location or another. Just driving around or exploring is the best way to see wildlife. You never know what you will see. It was late in the day and it was wearing on me. Not seeing much. I headed out of the small park when I looked up to see an Osprey nest on the wooden electrical pole with an Osprey perched just to the left of the nest. He was pretty high up and it wasn’t the best place to photograph this majestic looking avian. A small pool of water was near by. The possibilities of it having much in the way of fish was pretty slim. If there were any, I’m sure this bird and already picked it clean. My decision to leave was based on that assumption alone. Catching a nice shot of him there was pretty unlikely. My day was pretty uneventful. If there was a good shot in the bunch, it lied with the White Ibis birds. I headed back to base for the remainder of the day.

Here are couple shots from that day of shooting. One you may have seen on the front page of the site already.

The next post will be on the pursuit of the natinal bird, the Bald Eagle in Washington state.

The lake

Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis

White Ibis of Florida

Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis

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1. Florida Opportunities at the Rookery

Well, I’m back from the west coast. Actually I have been back for sometime, I just haven’t been able to get around to writing anything in the blog. I truly apologize for that. Even know I have been back for sometime I have been working pretty hard catching up with business, editing and analyzing all the pictures that I took from Florida and Washington. I have plenty of new photos up on the website. More on that a little later.

I wanted to talk a little about the places I visited in Florida and Washington. My trip to Florida involved more then taking nature pictures. My visit to the warm southern state of Florida was actually for a wedding. Since I would be down that way I would make the best of my off time while there. When I was done working I would be able to photograph the wildlife, my true passion. So with the little time I had left on this trip, I visited a couple local parks and because of the time of year. I would visit a well known place called “Gatorland”.   If you have never been there and you might plan a trip to Orlando, look them up. You can find out more information about them here. www.gatorland.com . It’s a pretty neat place and the opportunities for photographing wildlife are abundant during certain times of the year. You can buy special package to be allowed in Gatorland early and late in the day when the lighting is at it’s best. Of course your always assured of photographing the abundant reptiles on exhibit. I spent more time photographing the wildlife flying above or roosting on nest then the Crocodiles and Alligators in the area, which is what the topic of this post will be.

When I first arrived, within an hour I had spotted an Osprey hovering above the palm trees. He was a good distance from my long telephoto lens. I never bothered with him except to keep an eye on what he was up to every fifteen minutes or so. So, my main concentration was the Osprey from the start, but I also would not throw away any opportunity if it came along. Often that would happen, but I would still have that beautiful Osprey in the back of my head wondering what he was up to. Every time I was distracted I would find him again hoping he was still in the area. Sure enough he would be. There was a fellow photographer there from Austria. The gentlemen and I would spend more time walking along the rookery waiting and photographing the area talking shop. Late in the evening we watched the Osprey I had been watching earlier perched in a tree.  The day was growing long so we decided to watch this beautiful bird for awhile. Waiting for the right moment we positioned ourselves in an open area along the walk way for him to take off from his perch. After a couple hours he finally flew off. We managed to get a few shots of him, but nothing really to brag about. Thinking the opportunity was a bust, we photographed a few White egrets flying about. At that time I was still interested in the Osprey, wondering where flew off too. He was more impressive to me and I had been watching him all day. I didn’t want to be defeated.  I invested a lot time in this bird. I walked a little way from the spot I had chosen earlier when all the sudden out of the corner of my eye. I spotted him flying toward us with something grasped in his claws. I couldn’t make it out, but I was almost positive it was a fish. I just had to capture him with that fish. The question was, “Where was he going with his meal”. We didn’t know, but I wanted to be ready if he got in range of my camera. Sure enough he flew around these two trees planning a landing.  At least that is what I was hoping for.  I was ready and managed to capture a series of shots of him with the fish grasped in his claws and wings wide open en between those two trees. Only one of these shots was the one. So you see, I really waited all day to get the one shot that made the hole day worth while. The result of that long wait was beautiful. You might have seen it already on the front page of the site.

Osprey with Fish

Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis

Also If you wish to purchase this image click this link below.

http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewImage=3865

The Gatorland visit was one day only, but I would have loved to come back a second day and maybe a third. To get some of these great shots, I spent most of the time at the rookery of Gatorland. This time of the year the birds are building nest and mating. I happen to be a little early when I visited. The time to be there would be late January and February and into March. The birds would be many, that catching a great shot would be guaranteed if you have the patients.

My visits to the local parks.  I spent hours just searching for the wildlife to photograph. In deed I found them but getting something beautiful was all together a different story. On the next blog posting I will talk about the visit to the local parks. With that I leave you with a shot of an alligator coming in for a closer look and a link to the newest photos on the website. http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1005

Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis

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When I stopped inside the sanctuary and looked up, I wasn’t at all impressed. There was plenty of birds to photograph.  That wasn’t much of problem. The problem lied with the overcast sky. A little to much for me, and I was afraid the storm was moving little faster then anticipated. I sweated it out and looked for a few beautiful scenes to photograph. After all I drove a 100 miles and I was intent on taking a picture of something.  I didn’t happen to see much of interest. It just wasn’t my day I guess. Of what little I did manage to capture, I thought these two were the best of what I got.  With a little warmer morning I think the potential for some beautiful shots would have been there.  These photographs look more impressive if enlarged.  Fortunately, having to make these files small doesn’t do them justices.     

 Copyright ©2008 Chad Davis

Copyright ©2008 Chad Davis

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I spent a lot time searching and waiting where I thought for sure I would find them critters. Many stories were told of seeing them, sometimes not far away from where I had been.  I learned my lesson in that if you move often, those animals you were searching for travel threw the exact same area you happened to be only a few hours earlier.  It wasn’t for lack of trying because in fact I spent more then a fare amount of time just waiting in one place alone in several different area’s. Photographing nature does take patients.  Anyone too tell you otherwise is just dead wrong.  Like I said, there was plenty of opportunities to photograph scenery and that’s exactly what I did.  

Troubles are always to be expected when in the field, but sometimes you just wish things would go right. On the way from one location of Yellowstone to another that I had planned.  Driving down the road, I didn’t have plans to deal with a small creature not on the list to photograph.  That happened to be a big bumble bee.  Packing my gear, getting in the car rolling up the windows somehow he slipped threw and thought he would hitch a ride causing me to panic somewhat.  Not knowing whether I had inadvertently took on board a honey bee that would not be so happy once I started slapping insects on my legs, you can see my dilemma.  Now, I’m sure he had no intention of inflicting any harm.  It was the fact he wanted to use me as a landing pad of sorts. I’m all for mother nature, but I can’t handle being used as a perch for a large bumble bee.  They belong outside with the flowers.   So, I quickly rolled down the window and with a little humility tried to gently push him outside. That didn’t work so well.  I thought it should have obviously. He decided to fly around my head and the car a little more before finely leaving once close enough to the window.  He and I parted ways with a wave from me and a flyby for him.  

The photograph below is from the next stop I had in mind.  Here is a colorful shot from the West Thumb area. One of many photographs taken from the area.  

Copyright © 2008 Chad Davis

If you would like to see more or purchase any photograph from this trip you can find them at this address http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1005  Please write or call if you have any questions. I would be happy to hear from you.

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When it was almost time before the reenactment to start, I had been watching what was going on in the field before me. Soldiers bringing up cannon’s, troops from both sides lining up in the distant fields on horse back.  When the cannon’s were lined up I noticed a group of soldiers lying underneath this cart for shade that stored the ammunition for one of the cannon’s.  There was one individual that was sitting not underneath as the other’s, but next too the wagon wheel.  His head down, clothing dirty, hot and sweating under the heat of sun.  Thinking of who knows what, his contemplation was important to the inner workings of this photograph.   I could not help, but think during the young history of the United States what did go threw a soldier’s head just before battle.  Would they think of their wife’s, their children, home or would their thoughts be of, will I dye today!  It was then thinking to myself, I understand what this picture is about.  Thoughts of life and death.

Often a picture does not come together like that for me, but I leave the photograph for your interpretation and thoughts.  Feel free to write a little something.  I would like to read your thoughts as well.

Copyright © 2008 Chad Davis

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