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Temps in the low teens with thick fog means one thing...thick frost. I hadn't planned on waking up early. I don't remember why I woke up. I would guess I was cold and needed to turn the space heater back on(I've said to hell with the whole gas furnace idea). I looked outside and was like, well crap, guess I will have to actually get up and go take some pictures, since I could already see that the trees looked pretty neat. I wish I had gotten up even earlier and went and done some lower light shots of the fog. Anyway, I left and drove to the city park. There was already another person there taking pictures.
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Here's an idea how much frost was on things. This is a full sized crop out of a larger picture. I took my finger and knocked some of it off. That's not snow. Thick frost can be pretty dang cool. There was just a light northerly breeze, so the north sides of things collected the most frost.
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Courthouse viewed from the top of the "sled hill" there at the park.
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Randy Chamberlain swung by on his way back through Blair. I mentioned to him that I was probably going to head over to Desoto and look for some shots, as well as for the Bald Eagles over there. So, we drove on over. Bob Matzen from Blair would later show up as well. The little Eagle photography I've done over there has been enough to annoy me. 400mm just isn't enough reach. That and I realize I have to find ways to get closer...such as just sit on the river bank and hope for a shot. I don't know how many Eagles are around there, but it's a lot. There's at least 10 for sure. Sucks they've decided to make the other side of the river their "home". The first day I saw them they were mostly on the refuge side. I'm motivated to get some much better images, though I realize it's not likely to be easy. It always shocks me just how far 400mm doesn't get a person. It really points out how close some of the more amazing eagle images must have been taken. Here's a good example on photosig....though you'll need an account there to see them larger... (photosig is a great motivator and way to realize what GOOD really is...at least the best stuff on there) http://www.photosig.com/go/users/viewportfolio?id=147230 I thought oh he must have a bigger zoom, but on the ones I looked at he doesn't even get to 400mm. He's got a 70-200 with a 1.4x converter. I will just have to sit on the river bank and wait. I really want snow shots of close eagles, but I guess any close shot will work for now. None of mine are close yet, and most aren't that terribly sharp.
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Just a scene in the refuge of the fog and highly frosty grass and trees. I'm not sure it rose above 20 all day. I know I was fine in the coveralls until I stopped moving. I was out pretty much from 7:30 a.m. till around 8:30 p.m.
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It was strange around the refuge. You get near the river and there really wasn't that much fog. Out by the entrance and along highway 30 though, it was thick. I saw this scene on the way in but blew it off, thinking there'd be more in the refuge, and I wanted to show Randy where the Eagles were. Well the only real thick fog area was out here, so I had to drive back out here later for this. It's taken on highway 30 looking south. I really do not understand why the fog liked this area. The lake is froze over so I know it's not coming from there. The river pretty much has no ice in it, yet near there the fog let up. One thing I noticed later was a little stream going into the lake was not frozen. It's so small you could jump across it, and there's hardly any flow to it. That not being froze over made little sense too. Perhaps it's something fed up from the ground, I don't know.
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Squirrel crossing the road in the refuge.
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This is the Missouri River looking upstream. I think there are two eagles in this picture, left of center in the trees.
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This is cropped in quite a ways from the original. I need to just head on over there and sit around all day long. And again, none of that on the trees is snow. It's all frost.
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This was cool. Bob found me around this point, and Randy has now left. There is one eagle in the tree down there. Wave after wave after wave after wave after wave after wave after wave after wave of ducks were flying north now. I was really floored at the number of them. Maybe there were some geese mixed in, but there was no honking. All you'd hear as they flew over was this jet like sound. Zoooooooom. They weren't flapping either. Fix winged and hauling along. There were so many waves of them, I began wondering if they were in one massive circle just going around and around. You'd think there was no possible way more could come out of the fog, but they always were.
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This road in the refuge pulls into a small loop up there, where you can see the river. Actually the river can be seen right of the road between those trees.
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I found a whole bunch of these guys back near the visitor center. I really should have spent more time shooting them than I did. I'm sure there are some really cool pictures to be had so close to big gatherings. We need a big snow storm and they need to stay here till then. A snow storm would just add more to any possible photo ops with them.
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I'm not a real big bird person. I wonder if more of these are ducks than geese. I almost think so. I know I saw several geese in there(Canadians I think).
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Frozen lake and frosty trees. I'm actually standing on the edge of the ice.
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I thought those two frosty tree-tops looked neat behind the birds. I again should have spent more time on these than I did.
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Back to the river trying for Eagles again. Seems there is always something to make shooting more confusing(like which to go for more.....eagles, or fog scenes).
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This one is preparing to take off, as I crunch through the snow trying to get closer on foot. This snow had melted some, then refroze. Now it's really crunchy and loud. You can just about walk on it without breaking through. It's terrible for trying to sneak up on these guys. I've yelled from the car before, blared the radio, pounded on the door, all in an attempt to get one to fly off so I can get its picture doing so. Will they leave in those cases? Hell no. Walk through a little crunchy snow and they are gone in a hurry.
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Hey a use for the cargil light pollution! Normally I'm mad because I have to drive so far if I want to get star trail pictures. This time I'm actually glad the lights are so bright there.
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They make the frosty trees at night look pretty cool(above was taken at night).
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These last three were actually taken a few days before the freezing fog.
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Here is another shot I should have spent more time on. I was like, hey cool ducks flying by...I will get them with their hunter...the eagle.
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Taking off(as I tried to sneak through the snow). I plan on getting some much better images of the eagles. Something tells me it is not going to be easy, since these were really not that far away from them. I should buy a 2x converter for my camera, but trying to hold 800mm still scares me just thinking about it. Oh yeah, it was cool to listen to the Eagle calls. I'd never heard them before. Certainly a unique noise. I thought they just made that screeching noise.
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