While looking around for something the other day I happened to find my video camera (which I haven't used in a couple of years, I think) and decided that, since it will be part of my summer job (if I get it), it could be fun to create a "RoxyCast".

After some experimentation with other options for creating the video, the display size is a little larger than I'd originally posted but the quality is far better (file size is a little over 13 megs - ouch - if you have a slow connection). In the original version it was hard to tell that there was a Bald Eagle in the tree (in order the clips are: Roxy, a Horned Lark, the Bald Eagle, a Red-tailed Hawk, and a Utah Prairie Dog). Another lesson I've learned is it is really hard to hold the camera steady with the zoom at full magnification - and that problem is really magnified when a certain black & white passenger won't sit still while I'm trying to shoot from inside the cab of the truck. Only the last clip of the prairie dog was shot using a tripod (of course I knew the necessity of a camera support from shooting stills all these years). Then there was the problem of the sound of either constant panting and/or lapping up water - that's one reason why I dubbed in music instead of you hearing actual sounds of nature.

This shot is a panoramic of the Grand Staircase I stitched together from separate images - another experiment. I've done it before and have learned a few things about shooting this kind of stuff since the last time but, to be honest, the software I used doesn't do a perfect job. I shot the sequence from the north end of the Kaibab Plateau looking to the north up the Grand Staircase. The Grand Canyon is about 30 miles behind me and from where I was standing I could see over 250 million years of Earth's history in the rocks.

The first set of cliffs are the Vermilion Cliffs (210-230 Million Years Ago) , then the White Cliffs(210-180 mya), Gray Cliffs (~140-100 mya), and finally the Pink Cliffs (60--40 MYA and includes Bryce!). Click here for a version that points out each of the "steps" in the Staircase. There is a first step, the Chocolate Cliffs (240 mya), but they are not visible from this vantage point. This "staircase" climbs over 5,000 feet in a just over 30 miles!