Jim Coda Nature Photography

August 10, 2017May 1, 2018Other Bird

Raven Nest, Yellowstone National Park

Young ravens scream for more food. — “Feed me”!

I was driving through the Golden Gate area of Yellowstone on May 24, 2015, scanning the cliffs for mountain goats as I drove. I didn’t see any goats (as is usually the case), but did see this nest of ravens. The babies were small (and with few feathers), but I made a mental note to check on them every time I drove through there for the rest of my stay in Yellowstone. The last time I saw them was June 14, a few days before I headed home. This photo was taken June 3. Believe it or not, there are six of these little ravens in the nest. These three just happened to be the most hungry when I shot this photo. Note the blue eyes common to young animals.

I don’t enter photo contests very often because it is hard to win when there are thousands of entries, at least in the most prestigious ones, and judging is, understandably, very subjective. However, I decided to enter the 2015 Yellowstone Forever Photo Contest put on by Nature’s Best Photography Magazine and the Yellowstone Park Foundation because Yellowstone is my favorite place and I have lots of images from there. There were 11,000 entries from 31 countries. This raven nest photo was awarded an Honorable Mention as was the black bear spring cub below.

Black Bear Spring Cub, Yellowstone — “Hey, I’m pretty big when I stand up”!

Two friends, Max Waugh and Daniel Dietrich, were also awarded honorable mentions. In fact, Max won seven honorable mentions! Click here for a list of all the winners and honorable mentions.

There are several reasons I tend to not enter many nature photo contests. The first reason is that entering takes a lot of time and the odds of winning are very low because there are thousands of entries. The odds are also low because of the subjective nature of judging. Art can’t be judged objectively.

Another reason is that some (but not the Nature’s Best contest) are designed to be rights grabs. By that I mean they charge you to enter and they provide in the fine print that they can use your photos for any purpose with no compensation to you. Think about that. Instead of you getting paid by for the commercial use of your photo, you in effect pay them to use it when you enter the contest! What a great way for a magazine to get many years’ worth of photos without having to pay for them! Read the fine print before you enter a contest!

Yet another reason I pass on most nature photography contests is because they strictly follow photojournalism standards. In other words, the photo has to be a faithful representation of the original scene, except dust spotting, cropping, exposure changes and color balance are usually allowed because they were practiced in the film/darkroom days. I have had to pass on entering many photos I like because a little twig is in the way of a clear facial shot. I wish the dust spot exception were expanded a little to allow the removal of the twig that crosses an animal’s face. Another solution would be to have an “artistic” category in contests where some manipulation is allowed. After all, we are way past film and darkrooms. Photoshop rules and I think nature photography contests need to recognize that. If an artist were painting the same scene, you can be sure that little twig would never make it onto the canvas.

There are other concerns I have about nature photography contests, such as use of captive subjects and baiting, but I’ll save those topics for another day.

December 19, 2010Uncategorized

American Crow, Point Reyes National Seashore

American Crow Sits on Post — American Crow, Point Reyes National Seashore

Crows aren’t the most beautiful or colorful birds. The same holds true for ravens. However,they are both blessed with one attribute that would seem to be more important in the wild — intelligence. Studies have shown crows and ravens to be among the most intelligent of all birds. What I like about this photo is the effect from the eye’s nictitating membrane.

June 22, 2010Uncategorized

A Week at Blacktail Pond (Continued from Yesterday)

Yesterday’s post ended with mama bear attacking her cub. While I said that I thought it was probably because she was agitated over the wolf having been at the carcass, there is more to it than that. The cub is 2 years old (actually 21/2 years old) and from mom’s point of view it’s about time for the cub to hit the road. Biologically, she’s ready to mate again. This fact is not lost on nearby male grizzlies. Here is one suitor who has come calling. The cub moved off when he came on the scene.

A grizzly sow and boar stand near a bison carcass in Blacktail Pond. — Grizzly Sow and Boar, Yellowstone National Park

The next time I saw the sow and boar they were in the act of mating a bit beyond the pond. The cub was in the vicinity of the pond, but making sure it kept a good distance between itself and the boar.

As I mentioned before, there were other scavengers who benefited from the misfortune of the two bison. One was a coyote who got some meat from the carcass on the east side of the pond and promptly left. It probably felt that with grizzlies and wolves around it could find a better place to enjoy a meal than at Blacktail.

A coyote leaves Blacktail Pond with some meat from one of the bison that died in Blacktail Pond. — Coyote, Yellowstone National Park

I mentioned earlier that bald eagles and ravens also benefited from the misfortune of the bison. I wasn’t sure I had any photos of them, but I looked and found one.

A raven harasses a bald eagle as it leaves Blacktail Pond. — Raven and Bald Eagle, Yellowstone National Park

This photo was quite underexposed probably due to the surface of the pond. It also has some noise. Note the blood on the beak of the eagle.

In addition to the wildlife, Yellowstone visitors benefited from the demise of the bison. The Blacktail Pond area was crowded with visitors, and photographers in particular, for more than a week.

For the most part, these photos were taken under less than ideal conditions due to poor lighting and excessive distance. The bear and wolf photos were shot at about 175 yards. In my experience you can’t get good quality images at that distance. The equipment used was as follows: Canon 500mm f/4 lens; Canon 1.4 TC; Canon 7D. I should also mention a book I have found to be very valuable in understanding bears in general and Yellowstone’s in particular. The book is “Yellowstone Bears In the Wild.” The author is James C. Halfpenny. You can find it at almost any book store. If you’re in Gardiner, Montana, you can pick up a copy of Jim’s book at The Paradise Gallery. If you go there, you should also check out the wildlife photos on display by several wildlife photographers, including yours truly.

June 19, 2010Uncategorized

The Bison of Yellowstone

In my last post about baby bison I said that seeing and photographing them gave me a new appreciation of the adults. But for that I might not have stopped to watch and photograph this cow bison as she grazed on the succulent grasses in this pond. I wonder what the starlings are saying?

A Cow Bson Feeds on Succulent Grasses in a Small Pond — Cow Bison, Yellowstone National Park

Bison sometimes get into trouble when they enter the waters of Yellowstone. Not far from this tiny pond is Blacktail Pond. At the time I took this photo (May 2010) there were two bison carcasses in Blacktail. I’m not sure how they got in there, but once they got in they were in trouble. Blacktail is much deeper than this little pond and it has very steep banks. Because of its body shape, I think a bison would have a tougher time getting out of Blacktail Pond than any other species of Yellowstone. Their deaths, however, provided needed protein for several predators this spring. I saw grizzlies, wolves, bald eagles, ravens and at least one coyote feed on those carcasses.