Desert solitaire

RAILS IN THE WEST TEXAS DESERT, JANUARY 26, 2010

Pentax K20D
Sigma 17-70 DC at 26mm
1/3000 sec. f5.6
ISO 400

This shot was taken from the rear sleeping car vestibule of Amtrak's westbound Texas Eagle/Sunset Limited on the old Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) main line through the Chihuahuan Desert somewhere between Alpine and El Paso. It reminds me of these lines of T.S. Eliot from "The Dry Salvages":

Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past
Into different lives, or into any future;
You are not the same people who left that station
Or who will arrive at any terminus,
While the narrowing rails slide together behind you.

Click the photo for a large, screensaver-sized version.

Finally!

MOURNING DOVE, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 11, 2010

Pentax *ist DS
Sigma APO 135-400 at 400mm
1/15 sec. f8
ISO 400

Mourning doves are not the sharpest knives in the avian drawer. It took this one -- who lives in the neighbor's back yard -- three weeks to find the free bird seed on my deck, long after the sparrows had discovered it. I had to Photoshop out a couple of distracting elements in the blue background; it took a bit of time and patience.

Where's your napkin?

HOUSE SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 10, 2010

Pentax *ist DS
Sigma APO 135-400 at 400mm
1/180 sec. f9.5
ISO 200

Sparrows pay little mind to table manners, such as politely wiping the seed hulls off their beaks as they feed. I really should install a heated bird bath so they can wash their faces from time to time. That is a lot of indulgence for such a lowly and common species, but perhaps it would attract more colorful birds to my back yard in the winter.

Sugar-dusted squirrel

GRAY SQUIRREL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 7, 2010

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/45 sec. f6.7
ISO 1600

This specimen, I think, is the same one that always shows up to scarf the birdseed seconds after I get back into the house from the back yard, even in the middle of a snowstorm. The light, fluffy flakes made him look almost as if he had emerged from a pastry chef's oven.

Thou shalt not pass

FIRST GRAY SQUIRREL OF 2010, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 2, 2010

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax FA-J 75-300 at 300mm
1/1000 f9.5
ISO 800

This glowering specimen looks for all the world like a defensive tackle determined at all costs to protect his quarterback from an enemy blitz. He had just spotted me with the camera behind the office window and likely was debating with himself whether to dash for safety or stand his ground with the birdseed.

Blue moon

THE SECOND FULL MOON OF DECEMBER 2009, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS (Click for large version)

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm ED (IF)
1/125 sec. f11
ISO 200

Yes, I lowered the color temperature toward the blue spectrum in post-processing to make this image seem truly a "blue" moon. It was a perfect night for such a shot -- black, nearly cloudless, and severe clear -- what World War II pilots called a "bomber's moon." The next time we'll have a blue moon (the second full moon in a calendar month) will be on August 31, 2012.