Archive for the ‘Wrangell - St. Elias National Park’ Category
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
A male Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator), perched on a small spruce tree in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
Here’s a photo I took last spring of a male Pine Grosbeak. I had set up a couple of feeders around the Shack and these gorgeous birds would come in every day and have a good ole time. Other regular visitors to the buffet were Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees, Common Redpolls, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Gray Jays and, of course, the effervescent Red Squirrel. Ravens came by, from time to time, but rarely dropped down to the feeder. The Pine Grosbeaks were my favorite though.
The grosbeaks are actually a finch, the largest of the boreal finches. A group of these birds together is called, wait for it, a ‘gross’ of grosbeaks. They’re such a cool bird, and very tolerant of my puttering around the cabin; they’d generally ignore my comings and goings.
I grabbed a small white spruce sapling that some snow-machiners had run over and destroyed, and used it to set up the perch. For a background I hung a fleece blanket up and positioned it for a nice clean background. It’s a little bit ‘contrived’, but hopefully it works OK. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Birds, Carl Donohue, finches, photos, Pine Grosbeak, Pinicola enucleator, Skolai Images, Wildlife, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Birds, Wildlife, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Skolai Pass, the north end; Sunset over Skolai Pass, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
Skolai Pass has rocked into March 2010. This month’s edition of backpacker magazine, which I wrote about earlier, has a full page image of mine from Hole in the Wall, accompanying an article about hiking the Goat Trail. And this month’s edition of Popular Photography includes another photo from Skolai Pass by photographer Doug Roane, taken on one of last year’s Skolai Pass Photo Tours. Check out a large version of Doug’s amazing photo here. Better yet, take 15 minutes and browse the collection of images on Doug’s website. Awesome stuff!
Skolai Pass, the south end; Waterfalls overlooking Skolai Pass and Russell Glacier - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, AK. For a gorgeous larger version, visit Doug's website at www.dougroanephotography.com
Doug’s photo was voted 2nd place in the March “Your Best Shot” competition. Huge congratulations Doug, a recognition well-earned. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, Doug Roane, Landscape features, photo tour, scenics, Skolai Images, Skolai Pass, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Cool stories, Glaciers, Landscape features, Mountains, News, Photo Tours, Photography, Waterfalls, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
Great Horned Owl chick (owlet - Bubo virginianus), in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The chicks were just flegding, and learning to fly. This little guy had landed on the grounded, and before long flew off to a nearby white spruce tree in the boreal forest. Great Horned Owl, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks
Just a quick photo for the weekend. A Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) chick in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The young owls were just fledging, learning to fly, and this little guy wasn’t quite sure what to make of the weird guy with the camera, laying prone on the ground nearby.
Have a great weekend all.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Alaska, avian, babies, Birds, Carl Donohue, chicks, Great Horned Owls, owls, Skolai Images, spring, Wildlife, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Birds, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 7 Comments »
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Miles from Facebook; Ross Green Lake, fall, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
Remember this post a few months ago, comparing Facebook with Walmart? In that post I pointed out that Facebook had more than 300 million registered users. Well, now, just 4 months later, Facebook has over 400 million registered users, and in January apparently surpassed Yahoo in traffic numbers, making Facebook the 2nd most heavily visited website in the US. Google, of course, is #1 (Skolai Images is #5 or 6, depending on if update the blog or not). But yes, that’s right, Facebook is now bigger than Yahoo. Until 2008, Yahoo was the #1 website in the world. News article here.
Google apparently love their #1 ranking, and have just released Google Buzz – if you haven’t already, you might want to click on my Buzz profile, (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, facebook, Fall, Google buzz, Landscape features, Ross Green lake, scenics, Skolai Images, Social Media, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Landscape features, Miscellaneous, Musings, News, Photography, Social Media, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Backcountry cross country skiing (XC skiing), Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey folks,
In honor of my ambitious plan to go skiing tomorrow, tuesday, I thought I’d post this scene from last spring – cross country skiing in Wrangell St. Elias National Park. It seemed like every day for the entire month of April was like this last year, and this is pretty much how I spent each morning – gliding over a nice crust of snow, surrounded by snow-covered mountain ranges, wide open spaces, blue skies and wildness.
I’m enjoying my time in Anchorage this year, but am OH SO wishing I were over in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park again. There is no place quite like it. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, cross country, horizontals, Mountains, skier, Skiing, Skolai Images, snow, sports, spring, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias, XC skiing
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Landscape features, Mountains, Musings, Skiing, Springtime, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | No Comments »
Friday, February 5th, 2010
Winter snowshoeing, boreal forest, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click the image to view a larger version.
Hey Folks,
All photo sales are unique, but this one was pretty weird. My phone rings around 5:30am, I kinda half open my eyes, clasp for the phone, miss, knock it off the table beside my bed, try to catch it, bang my head on the guitar standing against the wall, drop the phone, and it crashes to the floor. My go-to response in this situation is pretty simple; I curse. It’s a sin, I know, but it’s a hard habit to break. So I curse again, and then pick up the phone.
Surprisingly, the person on the other end of the phone is still there. I gurgle a quick greeting;
“hello, this is Carl.”
“hello, this is special agent ——– ………. “ (more…)
Tags: Alaska, boreal forest, Carl Donohue, CIA, forest, hiking, Skolai Images, snowshoeing, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Cool stories, Snowshoeing, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 12 Comments »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Snow covered spruce trees in the boreal forest, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
This photo from my most recent trip to Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, over the Xmas- New Year. The note below was penned one beautiful evening last winter, by candlelight in a tiny cabin in the Alaska. There’s nothing quite like the silence and the cold of the boreal forest in an Alaskan winter.
The Paradox of Silence and the Cold
Silence is the aural equivalent of stillness. Both appear related to time, or at least our perception of it. Winter in the north seems to be abundant in both. The northern winter, often so harsh and unrelenting, is also the time when the place becomes still and silent. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, boreal forest, Carl Donohue, Landscape features, scenics, Skolai Images, snow, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Forests, Landscape features, Trees, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 5 Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Skolai Pass, Hole in the wall rock formations, glaciers, Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The flowers you see here are (white ones) Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala) and Dwarf Fireweed (Epilobium latifolium)
Hey Folks,
It’s always nice when a magazine editor wants your photo for their story, and you get published. But it’s WAY nicer when you get published in a magazine you enjoy, read and value. This image posted here is in the current edition of backpacker magazine, page 65 – full page vertical, which is nice. The image accompanies an article on backpacking “the Goat Trail”, in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This was the first route I ever hiked in Wrangell – St. Elias, and definitely a favorite of mine, so having my image chosen to accompany the story represents much more than just another published photo and a check to me.
It’s also cool for me because a few of my friends are published in the same edition of the magazine. It’d be remiss of me not to mention Bret Edge, Jon Cornforth and Ron Niebrugge, all of whom are photographers I admire. T (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, Hole in the Wall, Landscape features, photos, scenics, Skolai, Skolai Pass, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Landscape features, Mountains, Summertime, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Dawn touches Mt Sanford, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click the image to see a larger version.
Hey Folks,
After the George Harrison classic song of the same name – Abbey Road is such a great tune. This song is actually the first Beatles tune I ever learned how to play on guitar. it struck me when I learned it how similar it was to a classic song my favorite band at the time, Cream. The song ‘Badge’ has a similar intro-guitar riff. Come to find out that George Harrison actually co-wrote the Cream tune with Eric Clapton, for the Goodbye album, and it was that same song-writing session that produced “Here Comes the Sun” for Abbey Road. On the record, Harrison’s song-writing name was “L’angelo Mysterioso”. Sly devil.
This photo is of Mount Sanford, as the peak reaches high into the cold night air to meet the first light of the coming morning. The light gracefully kisses the mountain top good morning, and comes down to say hello to my cold fingers an hour or so later.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, dawn, Landscape features, Mount Sanford, Mt Sanford, Sanford, scenics, Skolai Images, sunrise, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Landscape features, Mountains, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Dawn rising over Mount Blackburn, elevation – 16,390 feet (4,996 M), winter, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Click the image to see a larger version and to browse the rest of the gallery.
Hey Folks,
I thought I might make a blog post, the first for the new year, with a quick presentation of my favorite images from the past year. Not necessarily a “best of”, but just a collection of 12 images, one from each month, each of which mean something to me. Some of these have appeared on the blog before, some have not.
The first one is my favorite image of Mt. Blackburn I’ve taken so far, taken one cold morning a year ago. One of the primary reasons I wanted to spend winter in the McCarthy area was this particular scene. I knew the mountain would get great light in the winter, though I’d only viewed it from here in the summer previously. During the summer the great light is on the northside of mountains here in Alaska, so I’d never really viewed this scene in the great alpenglow you see here. A couple of winters in a cabin in the woods rewarded me in many ways, and I consider this image a nice memory of those days. Good times.
The 2nd photo (more…)
Tags: 2009 review, Alaska, bears, Birds, Carl Donohue, Moose, National Park and Preserve, photos, scenics, Wildlife, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Glaciers, Katmai National Park, Landscape features, Mountains, Musings, Photography, Reviews, Skiing, Snowboarding, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 14 Comments »
