Coyotes and Valentines, Romance is in the Air

  

Canis latrans singing the desert's music

With February being the month for Valentines I thought how appropriate to blog about one of the wild critters who also feels romance in the air this time of year. The month of February is most often when the coyote's attention turns from stalking a favorite snack to wooing a mate.  Coyotes are known for being good parents as both mother and father feed their pups by regurgitating food they have found while hunting.

 Following a gestation period of only sixty days, the mother may have a litter of up to nineteen pups.  The pups mature quickly, are ready for weaning in about one month and reach their full size in a year.  Keeping a close family unit, the males most often leave the pack while the female pups remain in the unit.  

Coyotes prefer to hunt at night in pairs, but on several hikes I have been fortunate to spot a single coyote hunting during the morning.  I have never been allowed to get too close and that is where my telephoto lens comes in.  I've been asked numerous times if I wasn't afraid of being attacked and the answer is No.  Maybe if I cornered one in a barn, but that isn't likely to ever happen. 

A family of coyotes lived across the pasture at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park and on summer weekends I would go out to the park for exhibits and events.  One day on my drive out, I saw a duck get hit by a car.  I stopped to retrieve the dead, warm duck  in a plastic bag.  I wanted to see if one of the coyotes would come and take the duck back to the den.  Sure enough, I hardly had time to focus my camera when one of the coyotes grabbed the duck and ran back out of sight. 

Every time I hear Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Music of the Night", I think of the coyotes singing at night.  There is something about their howls on a warm desert night that just seems right.  I will never forget during our Wildflower Photography Workshop at Death Valley hearing the coyotes break the silence in the early morning hours before dawn. 

In my opinion, Coyotes are given a very bad rap and it breaks my heart to know that they are being hunted and killed just for sport.  Coyotes do their part to keep nature in balance by eating rodents, rabbits and squirrels.  Their diet may also consist of birds, lizards, snakes, plants and fruits.  Yes, they will kill and eat cats and small dogs, which is why I keep my cats inside at night.  The main predators other than humans to coyotes are bears, wolves and mountain lions.  It makes me wonder when we continue to target all the natural predators what will keep nature in check.  

So as long as there are the Canis latrans, the "barking dog", I will enjoy the desert night where the greatest sound is silence and I anticipate like with a blank sheet of music for nature to supply the notes

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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Deserts, Stars and a Rose

The Story Behind the Inspiration

I have been asked many times how I came to adopt the Southwestern Desert as my home and the inspiration behind my photography.   My answer to this that I try to keep as simple as possible is, I was offered a coaching position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).  However my intrigue with the desert began long before I ever stood on the sandy soil and marveled at the amazing beauty on a clear, warm night.

During my freshman year of college, a friend who was getting ready to graduate presented me with a special gift, the novella. "The Little Prince" by French writer, poet and pioneering aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Little Prince is written as a children's book with self-illustrated watercolors about a pilot who becomes stranded in the Sahara Desert when his airplane crashes.  While trying to repair his plane, the pilot  meets up with a young prince that has just arrived to Earth from his home on a small asteroid.  In essence, through vivid use of characters and symbolism, Saint-Exupéry explores the childhood innocence lying dormant in all of us and the sacred bond of friendship that extends beyond distance and time.

Some of my endearing exerts from The Little Prince:

"I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...".

"The house, the stars, the desert -- what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!"

"If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers."

“What makes the desert beautiful,' said the little prince, 'is that somewhere it hides a well".

“All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems... But all these stars are silent. You-You alone will have stars as no one else has them... In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night..You, only you, will have stars that can laugh! And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me... You will always be my friend.You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure... It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh”

From the time spent exploring the Mojave Desert, watching the sunsets or hearing the laughter of the stars on a warm, clear night, a bond formed and the desert became my home. I do not know when or how the aviation bug bit me or if it was sparked by Saint-Exupéry, however on a warm March morning in 1982 I passed my private pilot's proficiency test and began to marvel at the desert's beauty from the cockpit of a single engine airplane.

The small novella by Saint-Exupéry not only touched my emotions, but perhaps left a huge impression that has influenced my adult life.  After all these years, I still hear the laughter of the stars and become sentimental when I see a single rose.

For more information follow these links:

The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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Celebrating the Season

 Special Time for Embracing Nature

As the countdown begins toward that big time of festivities and traditions on Christmas Day, I look out my office window at the trees shuttering in the cold wind and am reminded of how I love to celebrate this special day.

 With all the rush and frenzy to buy the right gift, plus the hours in preparation for the holiday feast, there is nothing more pleasing than taking a quiet walk in nature.

  I suppose my desire to spend time in nature was developed by my dad when he took interesting drives after our big noon-time meal on the back roads in Georgia.

Christmas Day to me is a time to embrace and celebrate peace and to reflect back on treasured moments with loves ones.

 What better way to celebrate the peace than a picnic on leftovers with some hot spiced tea, surrounded by the wonders of nature.

As I reflect back over special times and cherished  memories of Christmases past, I wish to you a peaceful and joyous Holiday Season.

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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Roaming Free

WILD BURROS OF NEVADA

A hike in the desert along one of the many natural streams may reveal a group of wild burros quenching their thirst. Burros are curious by nature and most of the time, if they feel unthreatened, will pose for the camera with their heads high and long ears forward. However, on a few rare occasions, I have been warned by the burros not to come any closer. During a hike at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, I came upon a large group of at least 20 wild burros foraging in an ash grove. As I was preparing my camera, I noticed the herd come to attention and stand their ground, while several began to make snorting sounds. I slowly turned around and retreated to a different trail. I believe in allowing wildlife their territory and taking photos only when the animal is unaware or gives consent. When I’m tracking wildlife, I will use a long focal length lens, either a Nikon 80-200mm F/2.8, or a Nikon 500mm f/4.0. Both lenses allow animals to be photographed up close and personal without invading their space.

Wild burros are not indigenous to the southwestern desert, but are descendents of the African Wild Ass, which was introduced to the Americas in the 1500’s by the Spaniards. The present day wild burro has inhabited the area and thrived since the 1800’s when they were either turned loose or escaped from miners who used them as pack animals for gold and silver prospecting. The hardy, sure-footed modern day wild burro adapts well to the desert’s arid conditions where sources of digestible food are limited and water is even scarcer.

The ability to locate food in a barren terrain allows the wild burro to sustain its diet on dry foliage in the winter months. During the hot summers, when temperatures average 110 degrees Fahrenheit, the burros find shade along streambeds where vegetation is plentiful. If available, their preferred food sources include native grass, Mormon tea shrubs and Palo Verde leaves. A wild burro can experience a 30 percent loss of water, and then become rehydrated in as little as five minutes.

A wild female burro can give birth to one foal a year, after an eleven-month gestation period. Although birthing can occur anytime during the year, it happens most often from June to July. On average, a wild burro will grow to approximately 400 pounds, reach about half the size of a horse and have a life span of around 25 years.

Because of the low number of natural enemies, populations of burros in the wild have grown to around 10,000. A mountain lion is the only natural predator to mature wild burros, but coyotes have been known to prey on the immature, sick or those too old to defend themselves. Due to their increasing numbers, some agencies consider wild burros to be a nuisance and destructive to the fragile desert environment. Many wildlife biologists blame the wild burros for the decline in a number of native plants and animals, including the Bighorn Sheep.

Wild burros, along with wild horses, are protected under the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. This act mandates the protection, management and control of wild, free-roaming burros and horses on public lands at population levels that ensure a thriving ecological balance. To keep the population in check, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) places wild burros up for adoption each year through the National Wild Horse and Burro Program.

For additional information, please visit the following links:
www.wildburrorescue.org/
www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/
www.digital-desert.com/wildlife/wild-burro.html

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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