The USAF Thunderbirds performed at the Defenders of Freedom Airshow at Offutt AFB, on August 28-29, 2010.

I’ll be adding a Thunderbirds gallery to the main site soon.

A very small tree frog on the back of my shed. Approximately 1.25″ long. 300mm macro.

I was chasing this tiny baby American toad around in the dark with a flashlight the other night. I didn’t think it was ever going to hold still long enough for a shot. Eventually it stopped for breath up against the side of my shed and I got a few quick shots.

Sigma 150mm 2.8 EX Macro + Sigma 2x TC and Sigma EM-140 DG ring flash. A great setup for nighttime macros with my Canon 1D3.

A young American kestrel (aka sparrow hawk) contemplates taking the big leap to join a sibling already out of the nest.

The first juvenile kestrel to leave the nest. It was not yet able to fly, but could flap its wings to maneuver around.

The final shot of the first bird to leave the nest. After failing to make it back up the tree (above) it relocated to a nearby mulberry clump. At that point I decided it was time to leave. The parents were already quite suspicious of me and I didn’t want to interfere with this youngster getting his lunch.

I went back to check on them a couple of days later and they were all gone from the nest.

Thanks again to Mid-American Energy for notifying me about the electric pole replacement.

Back in early May I got a call from Mid-American Energy telling me that the electric pole at the far end of my property was scheduled to be replaced soon. The kestrel box was fastened to that pole, so I decided to move it. When I climbed the ladder to take it down, I found several eggs inside. I carefully moved it to a nearby tree and thankfully the birds didn’t seem too disturbed by this sudden relocation of their nest.

There were 5 or 6 eggs in the nest, and I saw as many as 3 of the babies at the same time.

The new location enabled me to approach the box without being seen by the birds - something I was never able to do when it was fastened to the pole.

An American Kestrel (aka sparrow hawk) delivers a mouse to the nest.

The mouse.

An American Kestrel with a small ring-necked snake.

This was the only snake I saw them bring to the nest in the many hours spent observing & photographing them. All of the rest of the prey I saw them return with appeared to be mice.

A pink crabapple bud from the tree in my front yard.

The catbirds are really going after the grapefruit here this spring. I got quite a few nice shots this past weekend. These are a couple of my favorites.

I saw my first oriole this weekend too, but have not seen one on the grapefruit yet.

A Prairie Fire crabapple tree in my yard.

I shot this from the observation tower at Pony Creek park on a foggy day last Fall.

Dolly posing for a portrait.

I think these little vacuum cleaners would eat 20 lbs of birdseed a day if I was willing to put that much out.

My first Northern Saw-whet owl !! I shot this at Glenwood Lake Park last November. This little owl was very calm and didn’t seem to mind my presence at all.

I’ve been neglecting my site for too long. I hope to get back to posting on a regular basis soon. I’ve also added new photos to the gallery on the main site.

A tree frog I shot in June at my Dad’s place in southeast Iowa.

There have been quite a few white-lined sphinx hummingbird moths on my lilac bush just after dark.

A couple shots from when I burned weeds the other night.

A spot of color for ya.

The trees in my yard.

The West Nishnabotna bridge on the Wabash Trace.

I used a B+W 093 (87C) infrared filter for these photos.

A few more from last month.

A foggy morning at Glenwood Lake Park. I shot these last September.

A couple from last summer. This storm produced a small tornado near Elliot, IA.

I think it’s a Cooper’s Hawk. It looks too big to be a Sharp-shinned.

Interesting stuff to look at, but that’s about all I can say for it.

Autumn in Mills county.

“Help !! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”

I found this very large wolf spider in my basement yesterday morning. I believe it’s taken up residence under the dryer. It’s a beauty !! Hopefully, I’ll get some more photos of Smiley.

There were about 200 Monarchs roosting in the mulberry trees here last night. The most I’ve ever seen in one spot. It was very calm. The second photo is a 30 second exposure shot as the twilight was rapidly fading away. Hopefully there will be even more butterflies this evening.

A night shot on the Lake of the Ozarks near Sunrise Beach, MO.

I found this tiny frog on the back of my shed last night. It’s the first tree frog I’ve seen here in several years. It’s been a wet year, though the immediate vicinity could use a good shower about right now.

A floating seed that was temporarily stuck on a very thin strand of web which is barely visible in the full-size version of this shot.

Getting some photos of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was my number one photographic goal for the summer. I often hear the thrilling call of these elusive birds, but rarely do I catch more than a glimpse as they fly about my yard and the surrounding area.

Last Sunday I had the most wonderful sighting a birdwatcher could ask for - but the camera was just out of reach, and the bird flew when I moved. I moved to a new location in my yard and sat down for an hour of mosquito swatting. Curiosity eventually got the better of the Cuckoo and it had to come see what I was doing & scold me (the second photo) for good measure.

I’ve heard them around alot this week and I’ve been out a few times with the camera, but the birds have not been cooperating. I hope to set up my blind and stake-out some large clusters of web worms later in the summer, as cuckoos love to eat fuzzy caterpillars.

A storm cell from about 100 miles away.

Look out bunny !!

This is the same bunny featured last month. It moved out from behind my garage several weeks ago and I’ve seen it around the yard a couple of times.

I was taking some empty jars down to the basement the other day when I heard a peeping sound coming from behind one of the boarded up windows in the back room. I did’nt give it much thought, but when I heard it again a few hours later I went outside to check it out. I found this baby sparrow - just out of the nest - stuck in the window well. I got ahold of it and turned it loose after a few pics.

A tiny morel mushroom forces its way through the leaf litter.

I was burning last year’s sunflower stalks when I made this photograph.

A Brown Thrasher on the sidewalk outside my house.

Some people actually try to kill these things !!!

I just want to say thanks to those of you who still stop by here to check out my work. Once I get off this slow dial-up connection I’ll get back to visiting everyone’s blogs & websites more often.

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. Cheers !!

Some Downy Phlox I saw when I was out mushroom hunting.

This little bunny was born and continues to spend its nights under the overhang behind my garage, where I park the old mower. I’ve been trying to earn its trust, but it’s very suspicious. Hopefully I’ll get a few more nice shots before it grows up too much and moves on.

The first was done using Adobe Lightroom’s Split Toning feature.

The second was converted to B&W with the patented Russell Preston Brown Tonal Conversion Technique (at the bottom of the page).

A morel mushroom at an undisclosed location

Another one from last weekend.

Water spills into a pool from a culvert near my house on a sunny afternoon.

A Mourning Cloak butterfly feeds on tree sap.

I found this small tree yesterday at Foothills Park that was scraped by deer and the sap had attracted Mourning Cloaks, Question Marks, a Red Admiral, and several flies.

This young Red-tailed Hawk battled high winds to catch the tiny snake.

Another shot from when I burned weeds last month.

I was burning weeds yesterday when I snapped this shot with my Canon Powershot SD1000. It has no manual controls but I was able to manipulate the shutter speed by varying the amount of sky in the frame.

Another spider from my basement. I was going to post another ice photo, but I just could’nt do it…