Here are pictures from some of my favorite photoshoots this past year. And by photoshoot, I mean a five minute time frame in my nature world. These are some of the best moments I experienced.
This Northern Goshawk startled me by landing in a Ponderosa Pine above me. I was excited to see it because, though they are not a rare bird, they are rare to see. They are distinct with a long stripped tail and barred gray chest. It flew from that tree to another, looked around, flew to another Ponderorsa. After a minute or two at most, it flew off deeper into the woods and was gone.
I came up to an open field area while walking in the woods and these pronghorn were standing there eating. They did not notice me at first, but once they did, they took off running/jumping like they do. What was really awesome was that they did not run away, they just ran to the edge of the woods and along its perimeter, to my left, in front of me, then to my right before stopping a distace away to continue eating in the same field.
As I drove up and parked at this pond area, I saw this bald eagle on a tall snag on the edge of the woods, overlooking the two ponds we were about to walk around. As I waited for my friends to bundle up for our walk, this bird flew off the snag toward the water. It touched down on the edge of the pond and flew back in the air, heading north. We watched it until it was out of sight.
NOTES-IN-NATURE.ORG 