Copper River Delta Shorebirds

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel, Wildlife 7 Comments

Copper River Delta Shorebirds

Resting shorebirds for as far as the camera can see!  And after flying thousands of miles, who can blame them.  I stopped down the f/18, but it is hard to get much depth of field when using telephotos.  I kind of like the out of focus effect.

Today (Tuesday) there weren’t as many birds as on Monday when I captured this image.  High tide is when the best photography takes place, but today a predator (I believe it was a Merlin) passed over at high tide and cleared the birds out in a hurry.  We did get a nice break from the rain.

“O My God!”

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel, Wildlife 16 Comments

Cordova Shorebirds

Flocks of shorebirds in Cordova,  Alaska.

What a fantastic day!  Wow!  Not just the sheer quantity of birds, but the way they fly together.  It isn’t in perfect unison, but more like a synchronized dance where the entire group can continually vary the size, shape and color of the flock with endless combinations.  I was mesmerized.  Hugh Rose has lead tours here for many years, he says there had to be over a 100,000 birds today – they basically just arrived today.  I was shooting non-stop thinking it couldn’t possible get any better, and that was when I heard the words “O my God!Read More

Cordova Boat Harbor

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 5 Comments

Cordova Boat Harbor

Cordova Alaska boat harbor during a stormy, rainy night last night. 

Yesterday we took the Alaska State Ferry from Whittier to Cordova, one of may favorite Alaska towns, to see the amazing shorebird migration.  I have always wanted to see this amazing event, and it currently is a big hole in our Chugach National Forest coverage.  Unfortunately, we have seen lots of rain, and very few birds, but that should change during the next few days… hopefully!

Confessions of a “Professional” Photographer

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 13 Comments

deep-snow.jpg

Look at how deep the snow is along Exit Glacier Road!  Hard to believe it is May 3rd.  This is near the Resurrection River bridge and is as far as you can drive right now.  Judging from the snow depth, it may be awhile before you can drive the rest of the way to the glacier.  Now this really isn’t the photo I was going after this morning – I better explain.Read More

Sailboat Rigging

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 2 Comments

Sailboat Rigging

I was wondering around in the boat harbor this evening and found this sailboat rigging kind of interesting.  It seems like there are endless little photo opportunities in a commercial boat harbor.

The Milepost 2008

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Shameless Self Promotion, Travel 7 Comments

The Milepost

Well I haven’t subjected you to my shameless self promotion in awhile, but this one is too excited to pass up.  For the second year in a row I have a photo on the cover of The Milepost! 

As I wrote last year, this is a special cover for me, as I remember growing up, every traveler through Glennallen carried a copy of this extremely valuable travel guide.  To this day, I still make sure I have the current Milepost with me as I travel around Alaska and Canada as it has detailed mile by mile descriptions of anything you may encounter – not only the mountains and rivers, but the restaurants and campgrounds as well.  If you are driving to Alaska, you must have the latest copy of The Milepost!

The photo was taken in late September at Tern Lake, part of the Chugach National Forest, about 35 miles out the Seward Highway from Seward.  Wait a second, a quick peak at The Milepost tells me this lake is 37.2 miles from Seward. 🙂

Home Sweet Home!

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 13 Comments

Seward, Alaska Aerial

Aerial of Seward, Alaska.

Well aside from the one to two feet of snow South-central Alaska received last Saturday, it is great to be home!  I love that drive down the Seward Highway, through the mountains and along the coast – I think I counted five moose on the way home.  I also love the fresh air, it hits you as soon as you step out of the airport terminal.

This photo was captured during summer a couple of years ago.  Here are more Alaska photos.