Adventures with Duck

So while on my trip I spent a day at Winston Wildlife Safari, I mean when will I ever get the chance to actually go on a real safari? So this is about as close as I will ever get to one and it was actually pretty fun. They are one of the top Cheeta breeders inn the world and have quite a few there at the time I was there. They even have one you can have your photo taken with. (I was to late to have that done that day). But they have the full gambit of critters, Lions, Tigers and Bears (Oh my). So let me post a few photos to get started with. I tried my best to get shots withouy fence in them, but some of the animals were just to dangerous to not be fenced/caged. Now I don't know the name of each breed of animal that I photographed I had a list but I can't find it as of making this post. I held off hoping to find it but no luck so on some of the more extic ones you'll have to forgive me. Plus there are a few that I won't be posting on this one because

I was at Malheur wildlife refuge on Saturday. Its a big birding hot-spot in Oregon. All the reveiws and video's I watched said it was the place to be. Well, yes and no. Most of the marshes are dried up, so therres not a lot going on there, but where there is water there is life. I found water and I found life, lots of it. The White-faced Ibis was my target species for the trip. Thats the first photo above. I think you know what the other two are. (Bald Eagle on its nest and two Mule Deer) There were two other birds that I had on my list that were must haves to make the trip worth while. The first photo is of a Long-billed Curlew. I know it isn't all colored and such but I really like it, I just wish I would of seen more than one. The second is a American Avocet. With its up-curved bill its just way cool I think. I also got a new Duck while I was there one I had never heard of, let alone seen. Its called a Cinnamon Teal and you'll know why its cal

So I just had to make a trip to the coast while I was down here. I wanted to get some photos of the Elephant Seals. Well I got my wish... sort of. They were way out on the rocks and sleeping. The bonus was that there were also California and Northern Sea Lions as well as harbor seals. Even better I got all four in one shot! I also got the two remaining Cormorants and once again I found an Elk with not only funny antlers but the fact that it was the only one that wasn't in "Velvet" also made it stand out. Seriously, they look like they should be on a mid sized Deer.The second photo is what it should and all the other eight Bulls looked like. This is just a short post as I'm waiting for the rain to slow down enough to get out and run the shutter a bit. I have several post in my head to post, but I'll do them off and on while I travel. I'm in Bend Oregon today and will be heading East in the morning for a big shoot with some more rare birds

Well the first Two days of the trip are in the books. I have gotten Seven new critters all but One has been a bird. I knew birds would out number animals and so far its been true. In fact the only new non bird I've gotten so far is a Western Pond Turtle. I already had the Painted Turtle and those are the only Two that we have in the area that I know of. Now just because I'm not getting new and different critters dose not mean that I'm not getting any good shots, because I am, I mean I'm getting some great shots and a few that I wouldn't of thought I could get. I'll post all those photos with a little info on them as I go. So I'll start it off with some Osprey pictures. They are building their nest and I was lucky enough to catch one bringing a stick to the nest. I think for a bird in flight these turned out pretty damn good. Now for that Turtle I mentioned above. Now I have seen these around for many many years. I just never took their p