Today I visited Mercey Hot Springs near Firebaugh California (merceyhotsprings.com). located in the hills west of I-5 in the central valley. For those who have not travelled this stretch of freeway, it's considered one of the most boring freeways in California; winter at least has some green in the grasslands, but in summer the hills are light brown with dead grass and the sky, influenced by automotive pollution and grass fires, is nearly the same color.
Mercey Hot Springs is an oasis with a year-round water supply and a small grove of tamarix trees, the only substantial plant growth for many miles. During the winter months these tamarix trees are host to numerous Long-eared Owls who hunt for Kangaroo Rats in the surrounding desert by night and roost communally in the tamarix trees by day:
http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/strigidae/leow01.jpg http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/strigidae/leow02.jpg Technical stuff: (both photos) R8/DMR, tripod leow01: 560mm f/6.8 Telyt at f/6.8 leow02: 280mm f/4 APO at about f/8 for DOF.I also expect to have some film photos of these birds in about a week. All comments welcome.
Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com ========================================================= To Unsubscribe: Send email to leica-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. The acknowledgment that you then receive MUST be replied to per instructions. You may also log in to the Web interface to unsubscribe.
