What will I need?
Obviously an excellent question but not one with an obvious answer.  Short version would be the best you have, but here is a more informative list.
The two items you really can't do without is a camera that shoots well in low light and at least one long lens.  
It's going to be cloudy most of the time, and you will be shooting over bright water so you will have to overexpose, usually more than one stop.  Plus to bring out the bears sunken eyes it's usually best to push at least another 1/3 stop.  Hence to get the speed I need for a running bear in the water and to stop the action I'm usually set at ISO 1600.  If you have a camera body that can handle that speed without grain, you are good to go.  If not, I'd really suggest renting one for a week.  You're not going to get this opportunity often and you want to make the best of it.  Many bear photographers I know shoot a higher ISO than 1600 (3200 for a few) so I can't emphasize that enough.
What size long lens is harder to answer.  However, for the Katmai Trip I think a 500 is the ticket.  I've had people come with a 400 but I think they were a little disappointed. Especially since most cameras that shoot high ISO are full frame you will need distance "most of the time".  I personally like to have another camera close by with a shorter lens, I use a 70 - 200 with a 2x.  But the new Canon or Nikon 1 - 400 are much sharper than the old ones so they are great as well.  Teleconverters are great, as long as your camera body can handle the loss of light.  We will get close, too close for a long lens at times but I try to keep those encounters to a minimum. 
I had one person use a walking stick instead of a sturdy Tripod, but I would strongly suggest a sturdy tripod that is somewhat heavy.  You will be setting it up in moving water and you want it heavy enough that the current does not take it away.  Most graphite tripods are fine as long as you have a heavy Gimbal type camera mount that will let you swing with the bear.  I have a ball head that claims it's a gimbal mount but I would never use it for my camera in the water, not sturdy enough.
Filters such as a polarizing lens or ND are not really needed.  It would be nice to cut some of the glare from the water but I don't think you want to lose that much light.  I like my shutter speeds to be at least 1/400, and 1/250 at the lowest.  Rushing bears often blur at slower speeds.
Even though the larger camera companies claim much of their gear is water or weather proof I think it's silly to tempt fate.  I arrive with at least 4 rain sleeves to cover my camera and lens.  You can spend from $8 to $180.  I personally go with the $8 ones, and have not had a problem.  See this item on BandHphoto.com http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1022872-REG/op_tech_usa_9001252_25_mega_rain_sleeve.html
They work fine for me but if you want a better one go for it.  I don't have a lot of need for rain sleeves in AZ.
You also will need a good sturdy camera bag, preferably one you that has a backpack type feature.  And it needs at least a rain poncho over it to keep it and your gear dry.  Each day we will leave the lodge and drive to the float plane dock, there you will load your gear in the plane.  When we land we may have as short of walk as 25 yards, or one as long as half a mile.
I think a helpful list for you to decide what to take would be to look at my own packing list
Camera bodies
Canon 5D Mark III (high ISO but full frame)
Canon 7D Mark II (not as good in low light but a superior video DLSR and I'm moving in that direction more and more)
Lenses
Canon 500 F 4, (I've had clients bring an 800 and were happy with it but it's not necessary; If I was going to rent a large lens it would be a 600 only because my best high ISO camera is full frame)
Canon 70 - 200 2.8 (I will almost always have one of the below on)
1.4 and 2X teleconverters
24 - 105 F 4.0 (I do like to get some landscape shots of the areas we visit as well).
I carry all of this in a LowePro backpack bag which is my "older version".  It's tougher, waterproof with a rain cover, and I don't care if it gets muddy, because it will.  My more often used Think Tank Traveller stays at home to stay cleaner.
I hope this list helps anyone that reads it, but most importantly any one that comes with me.  If you are on one of my trips, and you have any questions please drop me an email with your phone number and a time I can call so I make sure you understand what I'm suggesting.
Good shooting.

I travelled to Nome this summer to combine a little work with a lot of pleasure.  I wanted to photograph the animals in the area along with some landscape and time lapse photos that I could use to show my students what the Arctic Tundra looks like. To make sure I got the birds I wanted I went with Mathew Studebaker (StudebakerStudios.com) and I was able to get almost everything I wanted and many many more.  I highly recommend him as a guide, check out his images and you will really be impressed.
Three of the species I really wanted to see and photograph were ones that I talk about in my classes I teach on Avian Migration, the Arctic Tern (above), the Bar-Tailed Godwit, and the Northern Wheatear (below).  I just missed the Northern Wheatear but my new friend Angela McCain lent me one of her excellent photos she got as I chose to go photograph muskox the morning they had one "pose".
My reason for wanting to see these birds and get good images is that they are the "true olymipians" of bird migration.  What these animals do over the course of their lives is truly amazing, and almost unbelieveable.  The more I read about what these animals could do compared to a human made it a "bucket list" item for me to see them for myself.
The Arctic Tern could be called a constant migrator.  This pair above fly almost non stop throughout the year, as the travel from pole to pole, only stopping to breed before they get going again.  In one year, the pair above will leave the northern arctic for Anarctica, then fly back again to travelling 50,000 miles in one year!!!!!  Terns are long lived birds and if they live to 30 (not abnormal) it is estimated they have flown 1.5 million miles in their lives.  That's 3 times around the moon and back.  Below is a figure taken from birds with satelite transmitters showing their annual routes.
I got exhausted riding a jet airplane riding in a seat from Phoenix to Nome, these guys don't have that luxury. Metabolic physiologist estimate flying takes 4 - 5 times the energy humans can produce at high exertion, so 4 X that of a Tour De France athelete while they are competing.  Birds are kind of like Race Cars with a 1 gallon gas tank.  With respect to metabolism the tern is an Indy race car and a mammal is a Chevy Impala at best.  It's no wonder they have to eat all the time.  Above the male is feeding the female as she sits on an egg (s).  They pair bond throughout life, only taking a new partner if one dies.

The third species I really wanted to see was the Northern Wheatear.  I call them the non stop traveller.   This small 25 g bird (less than on ounce) has one of the largest ranges in the world, certainly for it's size.  Although they breed in the northern and western hemisphere (North American Arctic), they choose to winter in sub saharan Africa, the eastern and southen hemisphere.  A short 14,500 km away!!!!!!!  This journey lasts up to 3 months and they average 290 km a day.  This is the only known North American bird with links to Africa.  Their route was determined from a new technology known as geolocaters as they are way too small for satelite transmitters.  Why this species evolved such a long route is unknown, but they certainly are the smallest long distance migrator.



Many of the species I saw there have impressive journeys, particularly when I think of the physiological and energetic problems all of these species face.  Why do they fly all the way to the Arctic to breed????  Well that one is easier to explain, the same reason humpback whales and many other species go to the seas there, an overabundance of food enabled by a 24 hour day of light.  As long as there is light, algae and plants will continue to produce energy benefiting every species up the food chain.   Many of the species that nest there only need to spend a couple months because they can replenish spent fuel supplies and/or grow so fast.  If the plants and algae are growing, the insects, small fish, and crustaceans are also increasing and that's a good thing for breeding birds.  But the breeding bird travels certainly are amazing and it was special for me to witness these bird species I have read about, wondered about and lectured about in person and capture their beauty on digital (can't say film any more can I)
I hope to post much more about the arctic and it's species but like the Northern Wheatear I'm off the African next week. I'm going to let Delta do the flying and I'll still complain about the 27 hour trip!!!

Many people that love bighorn sheep like I do know that they can age a ram by counting the horn rings but there are a couple tricks and concerns if you want to do it correctly.  On the young desert ram above you can see each horn ring all the way out to the end of the horn.  But you are only going to be able to see all the rings on a young ram, as the older ones will "broom" off the edges when the horns get long enough they affect their vision.  (NOTE:  I realized these smaller images in the text are more difficult to see so I've put them in the Gallery below as well.  You can click on those images for a larger size).

If you look at the ram above, you can see the ragged edges of the end of the horn.  He's broken those ends off, most likely by banging them against a rock.  I believe I can see the first year's ring just a few inches from the ragged edge but on larger rams they could have the second, and on occasion even the 3rd year broken off.  
Before I go too much further I should explain why bighorn have these rings.  The horns on a bighorn ram, and other horned species (antlers are shed each year, horns are permanent), grow until the animal dies.  The core beneath the hard sheath is alive with blood running through it.  Although the growth will slow as the animal gets older, it will continue and later in life the horns will get more "mass" or thickness and a large ram becomes more obvious.  Bighorn, like almost all wild animals, go through a rough period each year as well.  For the Rocky Mountain Bighorn above it would be the winter, for the Desert Ram at the top it would be mid to late summer.  During this period the animal is nutritionally stressed and the horn growth really slows, leaving a ring which you can see later.  Ewes (females) do the same but their horns are so short it's impossible to really distinguish a horn ring from the normal texture you can note above.
What has been studied and is used as a general guide is the deepest ring is the 4th year.  If you use that method on mid to old rams you don't have to worry about how many years have been broomed off.  Just start with 4 and count to the base as I did on the 2 below.

I've labeled each year, the one on the left is about as old as most sheep get, and you can fairly easily see the rings all the way to the base.  And it's fairly easy to see the rings on the out of focus ram on the right as well.  I didn't even bother to try and determine if or how much either ram broomed off and went straight to what I thought was the deepest ring.   The study that looked at this determined that the deepest ring is the 4th year close to 90% of the time.  We don't have laws in Biology like Chemistry or Physics, just "most of the times".  The problem still is which ring is deepest is in the eye of the beholder.

I've labeled what I think is each year's ring, but I would not bet my next paycheck on it.  I think he's broomed his first year off, but that's more based on the thickness of the horn where I see that ring.  As I say above, it's not easy.  Several times I've aged a hunter killed ram with another biologist and we disagreed on how old the bighorn was.  That's more common than we would like to admit but it was rare that we were more than one year different.  I tell my students on exams as long as they get within one year of what I think it is they're good.  Rarely do any of them miss it with that amount of leeway.

The lighting can not only affect your image quality, but also your ability to see the rings as with this nice desert ram above. The problem with photographing Desert Bighorn is the easiest way to get close to them with all that large photo gear is to wait until the summer when they come to water.  Unfortunately they don't need to drink in that sweet early morning or Dusk light that all photographers love.  They drink during mid day and the AZ sun is brutal.  Even on a photo it's hard to see the rings.

This Desert ram is really tough to age, and I used my 10 years of field experience with horn diameter (mass) to help me pick out the 4th year ring.  But I'm not taking any bets I'm correct.  Any one who thinks they are right all the time is worth walking away from.  The gesture you can see the ram is giving the ewe is known as a lip curl in bighorn, but it's not uncommon in other species and it's also known as a Flehmen response.  The theory is it helps a male smell and taste if the female is receptive. It's also interesting to note that he has lost all of his lower front teeth (incisors and canines).  He's not that old so I'm assuming he fell or lost them when horn butting with another ram.  That will make things difficult for him. 
I've put a series below in the gallery and see if you agree with me.  Get some practice before you go out shooting bighorn again.

The best way to age a bighorn, or any other mammal.  Pull a tooth.  Mammal teeth continue to grow, although barely.  And rings are laid down during that stressful period just like the rings on the horns.  After the tooth has been pulled, it can be sent to a lab where they acid melt the enamel off, freeze the tooth then take very narrow shavings.  Then stain those shavings on a microscope slide.  That's the most accurate way for any animal I've ever photographed, BUT, except for a few species like bears it can leave the animal in poor condition.  Therefore it's only done with animals that have already died, or in extreme research situations.

I had hoped to spend many days with a couple different populations but the monsoon rains coming early spoiled my plans.  I still may try in August.  I say that because the best time to get desert bighorn shots is during the hot summer when they are forced to come to water.  I have 2 places I like to go, one a river the other a lake where I can cover a lot of territory in a boat.  It's just too hot and I'm too old to try and go chase them through bighorn habitat with all that gear and temps in the 120's near the rocks these guys live in. As usual, I've got some bighorn natural history on the captions on the photos below.  I hope you enjoy the images and the information.

Because of family illnesses and loss I had to put photography on the back burner from December to May.  However I was able to get away in mid April for a Colorado Chicken Photo Tour with Tropical Birding.  The trip advertised visiting both prairie chicken lek sites and sharp-tailed and sage Grouse with possibilities for other species as well.  A lek site is an area where males display or dance and females visit eventually choosing a mate.  I had always dreamed of visiting and photographing just one species lek site so I didn't want to pass on the chance to visit all 4 prairie species.  We met in Denver and our first stop was a small lesser prairie chicken lek less than 6 miles from the NE border.  I was surprised we were even able to visit the site since the species has just been listed as Threatened just 2 months before the trip.  Although the birds were some what timid and stayed a distance away we were still treated to a great show as the pictures below indicate.  Just after we were done we were stopped by the Colorado Division of Wildlife that asked our guide not to get that close in the future because of the recent designation so we were quite lucky.

The next stop was a private ranch in northern Colorado for greater prairie chickens.  This rancher opens his ranch to many birder type trips and all he asks is that he meet everyone and give his side of ranching and how he perceives conservation. It was an interesting presentation and from the photos on his wall I was quite excited for the next morning.  When we arrived the lek the next morning we first saw activity from the van headlights.  However, as light increased so did the wind and we endured up to 50 mph gusts.  The birds were still there in numbers and were seemingly unconcerned about us but strong winds affect all animals.  I only saw males and the lack of females reduced the display activity.  We were still able to get some good shots but not some of the displays we had seen the day before.  I'm sure a visit on a less windy day would have been great.  The birds were there in large numbers.

Again we hit the road after the lek activity and drove another couple hundred miles with a couple stops for some other Colorado birds.  This time our quarry was sharp tailed grouse which proved the be the show of the tour.  We were actually allowed on reclaimed strip mine land by the mine and I was quite impressed with their reclamation process.  We also saw elk, deer, and pronghorn there along with numerous other species.  Given the number of awards the mine has been given I wasn't the only biologist impressed with their reclamation.  We had a couple blinds and soon as we had them up we were surrounded by sharp-tailed males dancing even before first light.  The pictures below give an indication of just how good it was, but it was better.

Our last stop was the one I was most looking forward too, sage grouse.  I had seen many in the years I lived in Wyoming but never a lek.  The fact that sage grouse populations have drastically reduced even heightened my interest in this large lek area.  As with every morning, we arrived well before first light and we were treated to quite a show acoustically and then in low light.  My conservative count of "booming males" was 50 but I'm sure there were more as a blind limits visibility.  I was super excited and took a few shots even in the low light.  Glad I did because right as the sun was about to rise 2 Golden Eagles zoomed through the lek causing all the birds to flush, never to return.  If sage grouse are disturbed they normally don't return and this group followed that rule.  A few males returned to see if any action was going to start and we were able to photograph a couple of them from close range but none of the booming we had seen before it was light enough to shoot.  Although disappointing it's hard to pout over 2 golden eagles breaking up the action.  That's nature and photography.  I will have to be happy with what I got below and the guide, Andrew, gave me the GPS location of the lek so it looks like a trip to Colorado may be in the cards next April.

The Mearn's quail, otherwise known as the Harlequin and Montezuma quail is a species I thought I'd probably never get a clear photo of. The reason why is this primarily tropical species lives in grass, tall grass, associated with Arizona's Pine Oak woodlands also referred to as Madrean woodlands. I've been fortunate enough to see them several times in various sky islands in SE Arizona all the way up to the Mogollon rim.  But always in at least knee high thick grass and my only view was their back side as they flew away.  From the pictures you can see they are quite an attractive species and sought after by both birders and hunters.  The distribution map below shows they are also found in some pockets in West Texas and into New Mexico, but the bulk of their population is south into Mexico. 
As a quail species they are highly prized by quail hunters.  Because of their secretive nature it takes a really dedicated hunter with an excellent pointing dog or three to find them.  This characteristic tends to bring out the best of the quail hunters that often end up very taken with the species.  So much so they have often forced the Arizona Game and Fish Department to lower limits and seasons even when the data biologist collect show that the harvest is minimal.  I know for those of you that don't hunt this may be hard to understand but hunters often become very fond of their prey and hold a deep respect for them.  They can become the best conservationists as they are willing to put a great deal of volunteer time and money into preserving and enhancing the species and it's habitat.  Mearn's quail hunters are some of the best in my opinion when it comes to concern for the species and it's habitat.
Mearn's quail are different from Gambel's and scaled quail in that their reproduction is dependent on summer rains, not the winter.  They are paired up now (June) but won't start nesting until after the first of the monsoon rains in July.  Several studies have shown that the amount of summer rain is the most important factor influencing the population, good rain - good populations and visa versa.  That's assuming the habitat stays in good condition.  Two factors found to negatively influence the habitat, thus bird numbers, is overgrazing by cattle and over harvesting of oak by fuelwood cutters.  A reduction in grass height or tree density tends to increase the amount of predation.  Since those 2 factors were identified by earlier studies (60's and 70's) the AZGFD and the Coronado National Forest have done a good job of protecting the habitat and the population is stable, but fluctuates a bit depending on the rainfall.
The only reason I was able to get this photo is a friend of mine alerted me to a small guest ranch outside of Sierra Vista where several pairs are coming into water.  I sat in a blind at the water source and was able to get some great shots.  I'm hoping the birds will keep coming and the access with continue.  You do have to pay a fee to enter the property though. Contact me if you are interested.  
Until then,  Good Shooing!
Stan

My visit to Ramsey Canyon today was to photograph Coues (pronounced Cows) Whitetail Deer bucks in rut chasing does.  So up the canyon I went walking slowly hoping to find the "good" buck a visitor had claimed to see earlier.  I was fortunate to find a couple fairly quickly and then spotted a smaller but respectable 4 x 4 buck following 2 does.  With some luck I might get him out in the open with some decent late afternoon light.  But, like most of my photo quests, the animals were not cooperative and within minutes the doe the buck was interested in lay down, so the buck did as well some 50 yards behind her.  No photo opps for a bit.  I found a high spot where I could see them both and sat down as well.  Within minutes both were "chewing their cud", what biologists call ruminating, which helps the breakdown of hard to digest plants.  So with nothing to do for a while my mind started to wander.  Since I was just watching the chewing motion, I began to ruminate on what I consider one of the most fascinating symbiotic relationships in nature; the process that allows those deer (all deer, elk, sheep, cattle, pronghorn, and other antelopes worldwide) to actually get energy from the plants on the surrounding hill side.  I was hungry, but I couldn't eat the acorns and oak twigs these 2 were browsing on.  In reality, without a lot of help from other species, neither could they and that takes some explaining.

                To lay some ecological ground rules I'll start by stating that every calorie of energy on this planet was originally converted from sunlight by plants (or algae).  So even if you are eating meat, the calories you ingest came from the plants that animal ate that had converted energy from the sun using chlorophyll in a process known as photosynthesis.  So all animals need plants and we benefit from their ability to convert sunlight to an energy form we can use.  The problem is, plants don't normally want to be eaten (there are exceptions but that's in another chapter).  Plants don't have a brain to think about it, but it's not hard to imagine that a plant that is indigestible (so avoided by animals) would probably produce more seeds that grow to adult forms versus one that is digestible.  So in each generation of plants, a mutation that makes them more indigestible will probably become more common and more and more plants will become difficult to digest.  Give plants a few 100 million years and they are pretty good at preserving their energy and nutrients.  Case in point…as I sit surrounded by millions of calories that I can't digest.  Herbivores have to keep up with these changes and mutations that make them more efficient at digesting plants will become more common over time as well.  The chief defense in most of the plant kingdom is a tough cell wall known as cellulose.  Many animals, certainly you and I, do not have a digestive system that can cut through most plant species cellulose walls to get at the glucose (energy) and nutrients.  I could chew all the acorns I wanted and not get enough energy to survive because of the cellulose.  The deer seemingly has no problem, but actually the cellulose is indigestible to them as well so they need help.

                Deer and the animals I listed above are known as ruminants, which are even toed, hoofed animals with a specialized digestive system, specifically a 4 chambered stomach that allows them to obtain energy from indigestible plant matter.  There are just over 150 species of ruminants and it includes wild and domestic species including deer, sheep, goats, cattle, camels, giraffes, yaks, llamas, pronghorn, and the antelopes.  They actually don't do the digesting, the quadrillion (that's 15 zeros) of bacteria and protozoa that live in the 4 chambered stomach complete the breakdown of cellulose because they have the ability to break it down.  So by providing the microbes a place to live with the proper conditions, the deer get the energy released from the cellulose and hemicellulose in the form of volatile fatty acids (vfas) and from the bacteria themselves.  To take advantage of this “deal” they have evolved a complex 4 chambered stomach with conditions almost perfect for the bacteria and protozoa which results in a superior fermentation chamber.  A little different than your favorite winery, but similar in nature (excuse the pun).

                The 4 chambered stomach has a chamber for each of the following functions, a sorting and filtering chamber for the chewed up vegetation, a fermentation chamber, a water absorption chamber, and a gastric stomach that is not as acidic as you and I have but serves somewhat the same function.  The honey combed sorting chamber (ever eaten menudo?) or reticulum is the largest, and the series of folds and villi make sure that only small particles pass through to the bacteria.  Larger particles are passed back up to the mouth to be rechewed, hence rumination or cud chewing.  The next section, the rumen houses the bacteria.  The animal must ensure that conditions are correct for the bacteria which require a warm temperature, a lot of water (saliva), and the opposite pH of our stomach.  To keep the area moist and buffered, every ruminant produces an enormous amount of saliva, a cow is estimated to produce 100 – 150 liters a day.  Once the bacteria do their job and the particles are small enough, they move into the Omassum where the ruminant tries to get as much water back from both the saliva and any water the plant had in it as it can before the mostly digested food continues on to the gastric stomach, the small intestine, and finally the large intestine.  From an energy standpoint, the 3 byproducts of fermentation are the volatile fatty acids, the water soluble vitamins produced by the bacteria, and the superior proteins contained in the bacteria themselves.   The vfa's are absorbed into the blood through the rumen wall, most of the vitamins and proteins a little later in the small intestine.   As the foods continue to move along the digestive tract some microbes move along with it and food value and nutrients continue to be extracted throughout the small intestine.  The large intestine is the chamber where the all the water possible is extracted before the feces is released.  So by creating a stomach that has ideal conditions for a microbial population, the whitetail I’m watching can ingest things and get food value from items neither of us can properly digest.

Ruminants aren’t the only animals that take advantage of this symbiotic relationship however, most herbivores do since plants have built up defenses for over 500 million years.  Other mammals such as rodents, birds, and even a couple of our lizard species have digestive chambers that evolved to house bacteria so the cellulose and hemi cellulose that protects plant energy and nutrients can be extracted.  Most don’t have near the efficient system as the ruminant however.  A couple other herbivores I can see as I wait for the deer to move are cottontail rabbits and Arizona gray squirrels.  The rabbit doesn't have a 4 chambered stomach, but it does have a cecum located at the end of the small intestine.  It's located the same area as our appendix.  It's a large chamber (up to 60% of the digestive tract) and it's a most important part of the tract.  The cecum is a fermentation chamber that has the same function as the rumen in the whitetail.  The rabbit absorbs vfa's produced by the bacteria as they process the grass the rabbit ate.  But the big difference between the two species is that the cecum is located at the end of the small intestine, not before it.  Because of that, all the proteins and vitamins absorbed by ruminants are not absorbed by rabbits or other herbivores known as “hind gut fermenters”.  The rabbit has a special adaptation that other animals do not.  It's not appetizing to think about, but it works well.  Rabbits actually produce 2 types of feces, a hard fibrous feces and a soft moist one known as cecotropes.   To absorb the vitamins and proteins that the whitetail absorbs in the small intestine, rabbits eat the moist soft feces and then the proteins and minerals can be absorbed in the small intestine.  Other species will eat their own feces as well, which is known as copraphagy.  (Sometimes I need to tell my students to get the copraphagic grin off of their face!)   The gray squirrel has a digestive system more like ours.  A highly acidic gastric stomach, a long small intestine, and a cecum that is not that large.  Their bacteria population is not large enough to digest the cellulose found in many plant parts and species thus their diet is more selective.  Without softer berries, nuts, fungi (mushrooms) etc., they would starve.  They are better at processing cellulose than you and I, but not that much better.  You and I, we need to stick to our soft green beans, corn, lettuce, etc., all plants that have a weak cellulose wall if we want to access that energy.  If you want to add Brussels sprouts to that list and eat them, fine.  I think I'd rather try acorns.

If you gave me a pair of binoculars and said go watch a bird for a day, I know which one I’d pick immediately.  The reddish egret.  Not the prettiest like some North American warblers or tropical trogons, not majestic like an eagle, not an Olympian flyer like a Peregrine, or a long distance migratory marathoner like an Arctic Tern.  In fact they are hard to find as recent estimates put them at only 2000 pairs in North America, still trying to recover from near extinction during the feather hunting era in the early 1900’s.  But for sheer fun to watch, the foraging antics of the reddish egret has to bring a smile to your face and you can’t help but wonder what he/she will do next.

                Reddish egrets will stand like other egrets as above, but that’s not when they are actually hunting.  That’s most often a rest break.  Although all egrets will involve some action (running, flapping wings, jumping etc) to try and entice fish to move so they can see them and grab them, no other egret puts the work into it that a reddish egret.  They jump, fly circles, spin 360’s, fly 20 feet then fly or run back, flap wings, twirl 180 to 360 degrees and this can last 20 to 30 seconds before the bird catches a fish, or until the bird just decides to stand stationary again until the next round.  I could try and describe it but the short video I posted here will do a better job.

                If you are looking for one in the US, the Florida or Texas coast would be your best bet (Click here is you want to see their range map http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/reddish_egret/id).  The AZ bird breeding bird atlas lists them as rare.   There is a population just over our border in California in the Salton Sea so that’s probably where we get our visitors from.  Most of my experience with them was on the Texas coast and that’s where these photos and video come from.  There are actually 2 morphs (color phases), the dark you see here and a pure white morph and they are one of 6 species in their family (Ardeidae) to have a white form. The dark form you see here is the most common as only an estimated 6% of the species are white and most of those are in Florida.

                So next time you’re out near the sea shore or a salt marsh and you’re lucky enough to see one of these guys, pull up a stump or a piece of beach and watch.  It’s more fun with a camera but be sure and take the time to enjoy what you are seeing as well.

Two years ago I enrolled as a volunteer at Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior; it’s an Arizona State Park and a 300-acre collection of towering trees, cactus gardens and paths -- fall foliage each November, and colorful wildflowers in March-April. All that vegetation means lots of habitat for "camera-ready" small animals - and the park boasts an impressive bird list.  I’ve found it a good place for bird photography, some small mammals, and I finally got some shots at a couple of the foxes I know lived in the area.

If you go, the following is a suggestion from my go to friend at the Arboretum Paul Wolterbeek.  “Get to know the groundkeepers and park staff; they're a friendly crew, welcoming to photographers, and usually quick to share insiders' tips about places and times to see and photograph animals and birds. When you pay your admission in the gift shop ($10-a-day, or $50-a-year to be a member), ask if Becky or Gonzalo are on duty that day, and if they'd have a minute to speak with you. Ask for Ricky, or Ruben or Chris Spencer -- each a knowl edgeable outdoorsman who knows the gardens and the animals which live there, knows their habits and what fruit trees they're feeding under this week!”

Paul alerted me this week about the Gray Fox, a tough species for anyone to photograph.  He pointed out that the foxes have been seen daily - gobbling up the fallen fruit beneath the palm trees. They're also being seen climbing up in to the large, shrubby myrtle that overhangs the main trail just past the "pumphouse" (that's on your trail map), between the suspension bridge and the "catwalk"  (that's not on your map - but any BTA staffer can point out the location. Fox are excellent climbers and will venture into trees after fruit, to raid nests for bird eggs, or just to nap on a limb.  It wasn’t easy to find them but persistence and walking back and forth paid off.

I started this post saying I had signed-up as a volunteer, and here's an invite to meet me and learn why. Dec. 22 (Sunday) I'll be at BTA giving a lecture about bears, and showing a slideshow of recent photos. That's in the morning at 10am, and included with daily admission. That afternoon I'm giving a talk to the BTA Photo Club; that's not a public event, but you can attend if you're a BTA annual member and you're into photography. This is the 3rd time I've been involved with the BTA photo club - last year Lisa Langell and I offered a "tag team" presentation on wildlife photography, and then guided a walk into the gardens to demonstrate a few of the camera techniques we'd been discussing.  Meet me at BTA on Dec. 22! As an added bonus, after the event at the Arboretum my family and I are heading over to one of my favorite Christmastime events in AZ, the once-a-year "festival of lights" up at the Besh Ba Gowah archaeological park in Globe, another 45-minutes drive east of BTA. The event is free, and lures photographers from across the valley. Read more & check out photos:
http://ag.arizona.edu/bta/luminarias.html