I have certainly been bad about posting anything here except the quizzes this month. I have spent a lot of time writing both at work and at home and that may be why I haven't had anything creative to talk about here. I spent last week in Florida visiting with old friends/family and four days working at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. It was, as usual, a great time though the weather wasn't the best so I didn't much photography in while I was there. The hardest part of that trip was leaving Roxy behind with a sitter. My field workshops weren't as well attended as last year but my 3 Image Editing classes were. I took the photo of the Roseate Spoonbill on the morning of my first field class which began with a driving rain.
I was supposed to leave yesterday to assist with an astronomy festival at Death Valley National Park. I'd hit rain and snow on my way home from the airport Sunday afternoon and what I had encountered was the beginning of the "Blizzard of '08". By the time my truck was loaded and ready to roll we got word that Utah 12, the main east-west route just outside the park was being closed. So much for that; we'll try again today though as of 5:30 this morning the road had been closed again. My schedule at Death Valley is packed with things to do but I hope to get little time for some photography there, too.
In my travels around Utah for shopping and such this month I have added 6 species to my year list for the state, most of them raptors: Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, American Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, and White-breasted Nuthatch. It's a pretty weak start to the year but, hopefully, I will be able to find more time for such endeavors (and blog entries) in February.
