danwiz.com
This is Page 1 of 3 - the best of December 2016!
posted: January 2, 2017
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This page begins with a single photo which was taken on November 30th and then jumps to December 2nd, some birds and a new snow storm. Then we go to December 8th and a drive out to Ski Land to take some photos. After that there are five shots which were taken on December 9th and that ends this page.  Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin November 30th - December 2nd
  On November 30th Kazuya captured this first photo of four Pine Grosbeaks (Pinicola enucleator) sitting in our Platform Bird Feeder enjoying the free food. We see this fairly often, but we can't always capture it. We have seen up to six at a time feeding here. The second shot, taken on December 2nd, shows two separate shots that I constructed in Photoshop. The third shot shows a male and a female in the feeder.
Nov30th_015_BirdsRC
Nov30th_015
_BirdsRC
Dec2_02_04_SnowyYard_PineGrosbeak_2RC
Dec2_02_04_Snowy
Yard_PineGrosbeak_2RC
Dec2_03SIP_SnowyYard_PineGrosbeakRC
Dec2_03SIP_Snowy
Yard_PineGrosbeakRC

  Here are two shots of me cleaning the snow from our pickup truck on December 2nd. As you can see, it snowed about 4 or 5 inches during the night.
Dec2nd_006_DanRC
Dec2nd_
006_DanRC
Dec2nd_010_DanRC
Dec2nd_
010_DanRC

  Here are three more December 2nd shots, showing the fresh snow in our yard.
Dec2_08_SnowyYardRC
Dec2_08_
SnowyYardRC
Dec2_11_SnowyYardRC
Dec2_11_
SnowyYardRC
Dec2_06_07_AutoPano_SnowyYard_2RC
Dec2_06_07_AutoPano
_SnowyYard_2RC

End November 30th - December 2nd, Begin December 8th
  On December 8th we took a drive out to Ski Land at Cleary Summit on the Steese Highway. This is about 20 miles out of Fairbanks and is home to "the farthest north chairlift in North America." it is 3,300 feet long and serves 1,057 feet of vertical rise. The first two shots in this row show Denali (Mt. McKinley) at 20,310 feet, from an overlook on the way to Ski Land. The third shot was taken from Ski Land and shows the Alaska Range near Delta. Oh, the first shot has been manipulated to bring out Denali a bit better than it was in the original photo.
Dec8th_001_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_001_
WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_004_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_004_
WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_006_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_006_
WinterSceneryRC

  These three shots were all taken from Cleary Summit at Ski Land. The distant mountains in the second and third photos are the White Mountains.
Dec08_01_ElliottHwy_SkiLandRC
Dec08_01_Elliott
Hwy_SkiLandRC
Dec08_02_ElliottHwy_SkiLandRC
Dec08_02_Elliott
Hwy_SkiLandRC
Dec8th_018_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_018_
WinterSceneryRC

  Here are three more shots taken at Ski Land. The first shot shows Kazuya in his Canada Goose Expedition Parka, the second shot shows the White Mountains again and the third shot shows me in my 46 year old Expedition Parka. Thanks to only having to use it a few times per year, it has lasted all these years!
Dec08_04_ElliottHwy_SkiLand_KazuyaRC
Dec08_04_ElliottHwy_
SkiLand_KazuyaRC
Dec8th_026_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_026_
WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_028_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_028_
WinterSceneryRC

  On the way home, we once again stopped at the same overlook which we stopped at in Row 4, but now the sun is setting and Denali shows up better. The sun is pretty low on the horizon, but at this time of the year it only rises to 2° above the horizon anyway.
Dec8th_030_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_030_
WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_033_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_033_
WinterSceneryRC
Dec08_07_ElliottHwy_DenaliRC
Dec08_07_Elliott
Hwy_DenaliRC

  Here is another shot of Kazuya in his Expedition Parka. The second image is a cropped out portion of the first photo to show the smile on his face. The third photo once again shows Denali.
Dec08_09_ElliottHwy_Kazuya_2RC
Dec08_09_Elliott
Hwy_Kazuya_2RC
Dec08_09_ElliottHwy_Kazuya_Small_Head
Dec08_09_ElliottHwy
_Kazuya_Small_Head
Dec8th_037_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_037_
WinterSceneryRC

  The first shot in this row is the final one which was taken from this overlook on the Steese Highway, notice the sunset colors on the trees. The second and third shots again show the Alaska Range near Delta. These shots were taken along the road only about a mile from our house.
Dec08_10_ElliottHwyRC
Dec08_10_
ElliottHwyRC
Dec8th_042_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_042_
WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_045_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_045_
WinterSceneryRC

  Here are two shots of the setting sun, again taken from along the road only about a mile from our house. The time was 2:29 PM.
Dec8th_044_049_AutoPano_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_044_049_AutoPano
_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_048_WinterSceneryRC
Dec8th_048_
WinterSceneryRC

End December 8th, Begin December 9th
  These three shots all show Redpolls (Acanthis flammea) at our platform bird feeder. We don't see Redpolls so very often so this is the first time we were able to get decent photos of them.
Dec09_03_RedpollsRC
Dec09_03_
RedpollsRC
Dec09_10Adj_RedpollsRC
Dec09_10Adj_
RedpollsRC
Dec09_13_RedpollsRC
Dec09_13_
RedpollsRC

  The first shot again shows two Redpolls (Acanthis flammea) at our platform bird feeder. The second shot also shows a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). It is pecking on a suet cake, which is pretty darn hard seeing as the temperature is about -10° F (-23° C).
Dec09_20Adj_RedpollsRC
Dec09_20Adj_
RedpollsRC
Dec09_22_RedpollsRC
Dec09_22_
RedpollsRC

End December 9th, End Page 1
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