Great horned owl

I went for a walk through the neighborhood tonight with our youngest son and our dog, Mr Beau Jangles.  We came across a great horned owl pair calling to each other from across the street.  At first we heard just one and it was right above us in the tree although it was too dark to actually see it.  A few minutes later we heard another across the way answering the call. I can still hear them now from the bedroom window.  Pretty cool.

ThisIsFlyDaily.com shares this nice looking video trailer for the fly fishing photography/videography blog fly-focus.com.  Check out the blog.  There are some really cool images posted that make me want to get out and go.

FLY-FOCUS Trailer from Marcus Sies on Vimeo.

Lazuli bunting (via utahbirds.org)

I recently “celebrated” my 5 year anniversary of employment at my current job.  They were kind enough to let me select a gift from a little online catalog.  I ordered some binoculars which have turned out to be pretty nice.  It is hard to imagine that I enjoy watching birds and prior to this haven’t owned a decent pair of field glasses (it is bad enough that I don’t have a decent camera for close ups). Today I noticed some birds that looked slightly different in size and behavior from any birds I have seen recently at the feeder.  To my surprise they turned out to be lazuli buntings (and this from utahbirds.org) and there were about 7-8 of them both males and females. They are strikingly beautiful birds.  Hard to imagine this is my first sighting of these little flying gems. Now I just wish I had a nice camera to capture them.

Zion National Park vintage poster

A recent article in the Deseret News brought together two of my favorite things: vintage graphic art and Zion National Park. I really love seeing these old photos, especially of the one where the little kid is hanging on to the rope for dear life. I think the poster to the left is super cool and I always try, but never really succeed at making cool vintage designs.  Hard to be the actual images.  Thanks Deseret News for sharing.

Pentax W90

The critics at Photography Blog have reviewed the recently released Pentax Optio W90.  Sounds like a good camera with some unique features, good image quality (except low light), and a decent price.  Click below for the full review.

Pentax Optio W90 Review (via Photography Blog)

Canon D-10

I have been watching these cameras since last summer and I think at this point if I was to pick up, I would get the Canon Powershot D10 which is reviewed here by tech gadget blog, Engadget. We currently have a Canon for the family camera and it does a great job and is easy to use.

Big Weber River brown trout

Wildlife biologists in Utah have been busy in recent weeks conducting gill net and electroshock studies on local fisheries.  Generally the reports have been quite positive.  Here are links to some of the results:

• Weber River survey report (via Salt Lake Tribune Fishing Blog)
• Big tigers and wild browns (via Utah DWR)
• Flaming Gorge survey report – big fish (via Salt Lake Tribune Fishing Blog)

Let’s get out and get some!

Beaver dam from space (Google Maps)

From Fox News comes an article about the world’s largest beaver dam, which is visible from space.  Those beavers are committed to getting the job done and done right!  This thing is twice the size of the Hoover Dam.  I have a theory that they were aided by bigfoots.

World’s Biggest Beaver Dam Visible From Space (via Fox News)