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I flew from Michigan to the U.K. where I spent a few days with my dear friend, Anita Stokes - http://www.anitastokesphotography.com - because she was also going on this Polar Bear trip. Actually, she asked me if I wanted to go - so - it was all her idea. Anyway, we flew from London to Oslo and then took another flight to Longyearbyen in Svalbard. From Longyearbyen we boarded our boat and headed north. We were a relatively small group - about 25 photographers - plus the crew and our leaders: Norbert Rosing, Mark Hamblin, Peter Cairns and Rinie. We traveled 80 degrees north (the North Pole is at 90 degrees). Our leaders were told that there was a whale carcass with bears - so - off we went. We stayed with the carcass for a few days and then continued around Svalbard. Last changed on 12/30/09. This album contains 37 items. This album has been viewed 409 times since 10/11/09. |
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A friend of mine, Dr. Jay Levin - http://www.pbase.com/drjaysel - said, "Hey, Judy, how would you like to go to Newfoundland and photograph Puffins?" Well, let me tell you, you only have to ask me once when it comes to Puffins, I'm ready! I LOVE Puffins - absolutely adore the little critters. So...off we went to Newfoundland. We had to get a one-day permit to photograph them at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. After getting our permit, we then had to make our plane reservations to St. Johns and then our room reservations at Bay Bulls and then we had to book a private boat to take us from Bay Bulls to the protected Gull Island. Gull Island is located in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve in southern Newfoundland which is just off the eastern coast of the Avalon Peninsula near Witless Bay. It contains four islands—Gull, Green, Great, and Pee Pee. We also had to have a Nature Guide. Let me tell you: it was well worth it! I also have to say that I did very little except save us 1/2 price on our airfare. By flying out of Windsor Canada instead of Detroit, we saved over $400 each and it was easy going through customs at the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel. Dear Jay did the rest of the work: applying for the permits, getting our rooms, arranging the private boat, arranging for our Nature guide and even the rental on our car (at least I did do ALL the driving...Jay navigated.) It was a great one-week trip which I'd be willing to do again. Last changed on 11/21/09. This album contains 30 items. This album has been viewed 297 times since 10/15/09. |
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It was proposed by a dear friend that for those who cannot make it to my show that I make it available on my website. I thought, "Sure...why not."
Also, if you click on each thumbnail, a bigger picture will come up. Under each picture is a place for "Comments." (You have to scroll down past PayPal.) If you choose "Slide Show", which is at the upper right, you will bypass my "descriptions."
Thanks again. Last changed on 03/09/10. This album contains 72 items. This album has been viewed 1060 times since 01/05/09. |
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It is with great sadness and sorrow that we had to put our beautiful and beloved boy, Boris, to sleep on Friday, October 19, 2007. Our hearts have been broken, and it will be a long time before we're mended. In quoting a friend: "Until you have loved an animal, a part of your soul remains asleep. When you loose a special one, it's pawprints remain in your heart forever." We will miss him terribly. Last changed on 02/22/10. This album contains 12 items. This album has been viewed 3747 times since 05/25/05. |
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These photos from E. Africa are from two separate trips: one during the animals migration and the other during the birthing season. During the migration period, the wildebeests were confused most of the time -- they were coming and going in all directions -- running frantically -- which is why a number of their young are orphaned. The second time (January 2006) was the birthing season. The Wildebeests hadn't started having their babies as yet, but we did see a couple. There were quite a few Zebra foal and even a couple Cape Buffalo babies and quite a few Wart Hog Babies. Last changed on 10/20/09. This album contains 63 items. This album has been viewed 15146 times since 05/20/04. |
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I visited Japan in February 2007 with one desire: to see the Japanese Cranes in their mating dance - and I was lucky. It was the most beautiful spectacle I've ever seen bar none. I only wished that I had had a video camera. It was so wonderful, that I want to go back and, hopefully, see it again. Last changed on 03/06/10. This album contains 24 items. This album has been viewed 2483 times since 05/08/07. |
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These photos were taken at various places: some in the wild but mostly at a game farm in Minnesota. Last changed on 01/29/10. This album contains 27 items. This album has been viewed 12077 times since 05/20/04. |
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I visited three places in South Texas to do the birds on this site: One was a nature center on Padre Island which is adjacent to the Convention Center and right across the road from the LaQuinta Inn. The 2nd place was the Cozad Ranch and the 3rd was at Steve Bentsen's Ranch. All three places offered different birds, and the time period was from April 26-May 2. We flew into McAllen Airport (a great little airport, by the way) and rented a car. It was the best and easiest way since the three places are relatively close together. Last changed on 01/08/09. This album contains 32 items. This album has been viewed 2414 times since 05/05/07. |
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The Warblers migrate through an area in Ohio along Lake Erie called Crane Creek. Then they move on to Point Pelee in Canada. In 2006, it was the first time I had ever been in Ohio to see them, and the weather was terrible - raining and drab. However, I did manage to get a couple shots. I went back this year (2007) for just a couple hours and managed to get 5 relatively decent shots. They are the first ones on my site. Last changed on 01/08/09. This album contains 17 items. This album has been viewed 4542 times since 05/13/06. |
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Inside this album are about 3-4 different Wood Duck families: one mother with 6 babies, another mom with one baby and another mother with 2 babies. I don't know why some mothers have more than other mothers, but I do know that the Snapping Turtles are predators of ducklings. Last changed on 11/26/09. This album contains 21 items. This album has been viewed 4440 times since 06/09/05. |
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There were a set of triplet Siberian Tigers born on August 12, 2003. These particular snow pictures were taken during a pretty hefty snow storm and, consequently, it was their first "real" snow day. Since the weather was so bad, people opted to stay home, and I was lucky enough to be there that day. Last changed on 12/27/08. This album contains 10 items. This album has been viewed 8800 times since 05/20/04. |
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I just returned from Ohio (September 4) with two friends of mine to do migrating shorebirds. I didn't get many different species; however, I thought I would put in a few shots of the four or five that we did get. I've also added "other" birds that were not in Ohio. Last changed on 10/20/09. This album contains 20 items. This album has been viewed 3182 times since 09/04/05. |
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A friend and I went to New Jersey to check out the migrating birds, and became known as an "exploratory." It was interesting but cold and quite windy. The winds made it difficult to get sharp photos even with the IS lenses. The Red-breasted Merganser isn't "tack sharp", but it's about as good as I could get considering the conditions and time limitations, but we did try and did mange to capture a few. We plan on going back - hopefully - in a few months. We tried counting how many different birds we saw and came up with a nice round figure of 30. Last changed on 10/20/09. This album contains 16 items. This album has been viewed 3695 times since 03/06/06. |
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Since I've been getting so many House Wren pictures, I've decided to dedicate one album to them. They won't be around much longer since they've been in the nest at least one month. Last changed on 10/30/09. This album contains 18 items. This album has been viewed 4286 times since 07/29/05. |
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I just returned from Iceland (June 2005). It was a great place: really, really nice people with lots and lots of nice birdies. I was on a photo tour with two fellows: one from Iceland named Daniel Bergmann (www.danielbergmann.com); and the other fellow from Scotland named Mark Hamblin (www.markhamblin.com). Both are wonderful photographers and two of the finest gentlemen found anywhere. I had been with Mark on a few other trips (Scotland, Africa, Iceland, etc.) and am going with him again to Africa in 2006. Anyway, in this album are a few birds that we photographed. I also photographed a few Icelandic horses and a sheep or two. I've added a few horses at the end of the album - but no sheep. Last changed on 10/20/09. This album contains 67 items. This album has been viewed 7320 times since 06/29/05. |
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I have been fighting chipmunks and squirrels for quite some time and decided that if I couldn't keep them off my bird feeders, then I just take full advantage of the situation: start photographing them. These little guys were photographed in my side yard just a few steps from my patio door using mostly a 500mm lens and at times adding the 1.4x. Last changed on 10/20/09. This album contains 17 items. This album has been viewed 3602 times since 06/05/05. |
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I have never been to an Airshow and was invited by Huntington Banks this year. It was a wonderful day: beautiful weather, great people, good eats and an astronomical show! I thought photographing airplanes would be like photographing birds. Well...not quite. They move a bit faster than my little birdies - especially when they're going 650 nauts (a nautical mile is 6,076.12 feet or 1.15 miles) an hour! Of course, not ALL of them were going that fast, but they can really move. EVERYBODY wants to see the Blue Angels and they were absolutely fantastic, but I dearly loved the "Wing Walker" - she was something else. I remember the old movies of wing walkers, but I never knew they flew UPSIDE DOWN! Trust me - it was really something. I will be loading pictures from time to time, so please keep coming back and checking out the new images. Last changed on 07/02/09. This album contains 49 items. This album has been viewed 3936 times since 05/22/05. |
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I visited Denali National Park in September 2004 and stayed at the North Face Cabins -- 90 miles inside the park. It was a great trip -- saw lots of animals and beautiful scenery. All of the animals (with the exception of the Sea Otters) were taken within Denali National Park. The Otters were at Seward in Prince William Sound and photographed from a boat -- a not "too easy" task. A couple of the scenics (not the panorama) were taken between Denali and Seward. Also, with the exception of the Beavers, all of the animals were photographed from inside the bus. These images were taken with my new Canon Mark II Digital and mostly with my 500mm IS lens -- sometimes with a 1.4x. Also, I used a beanbag in the bus window which worked quite well. I did try using my tripod, but it was too awkward, and more often than not, I would miss the shot. So, if you plan on going, I would definitely recommend a beanbag for the bus. Last changed on 10/20/09. This album contains 24 items. This album has been viewed 4385 times since 09/27/04. |
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These pix are from my first trip to Bosque del Apache New Mexico. We drove west (from Michigan) and left the day after Thanksgiving of 2004 and returned a couple weeks later. This is a magicial place to see and hear Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese. I just wished that I could add sound to the photos, but I can't. Bosque del Apache is south of Socorro (which is about an hour south of Albuquerque) and east of I-25. Everyone stays in Socorro and then drives to Bosque - it's only about 20 minutes away. Last changed on 10/20/09. This album contains 22 items. This album has been viewed 4016 times since 12/13/04. |
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All of the birds in this particular album were done just a few steps from my patio door using a 500mm lens and at times, with a 1.4x. Cardinals are quite tough to photograph since they're such nervous nellies, and the only time I see the House Wrens is during their breeding season. The Wren in my gallery is just one particular fellow who sang and sang and sang looking for a wife. I was starting to feel sorry for him and thought maybe I should "rent-a-Wren" -- but -- alas, he finally got one! Now, they've mated, had their eggs and hatched their babies. At one point, both parents were out and when one of them came back with a bug, instead of giving it to the chicks, he ate it himself!!! The parents have to eat too! Since I photographed the two Wren families (he ended up with two "wives" -- all have flown the coup. Hopefully, they'll come back next year! My Robins have been coming around for quite some time now -- I have had dozens and dozens of them at once in my yard. They hear the water running in my pond and that attracts them. They come looking for baths and drinks. They're so much fun to watch. Only this year (2005) have I been able to photograph my Blue Jays. Even though they're bullies, the are quite timid (as far as 'people' are concerned.) Last changed on 10/20/09. This album contains 70 items. This album has been viewed 9899 times since 05/20/04. |
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©2004, 2005 Judith G. Yaker
Contact Judy. |