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This is Page 1 of 3 - the best of February 2020!
posted: February 29th, 2020
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This page begins with February 1st at home watching our platform bird feeder and then proceeds through the day of a trip up to Murphy Dome to check on the weather and amount of snow and so on.  We found a couple of moose on the drive to the summit and then found some exquisite hoarfrost and scenery.  It was a good day.  Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin February 1st - 3rd
  This shot shows our platform bird feeder with a single Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) sitting there. The peanut butter jar has just a bit of peanut butter remaining in it and there is one bird who really loves peanut butter - it goes all the way into the jar and then looks out now and then to check on its safety. The chunk of unsalted butter fell on the floor, so we gave it to the Chickadees and there is one bird who loves it like the other one loves the peanut butter.
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  On February 1st we drove up to the summit of Murphy Dome (2,884 foot, 879m) to check on the snow depth, view and so on. On our way we spotted this large female moose and its yearling calf. We stopped the rig and Kazuya got several photos. They were very content to just stand around and eat, they were not alarmed by us at all. It would probably have been a different story if we had stepped out of our pickup truck, but we didn't step out to see if they'd be alarmed and run off, or if we'd be approached and attacked. We always show a great deal of respect to these animals - they can move fast and they are huge.
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  Here is a photo (both images in this row are the same) which shows the hoarfrost on a small branch at the summit of Murphy Dome. The second image has been "Auto-toned" in Photoshop®. It's very interesting what the Auto-tone did to this photo.
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  These three photos all show amazing hoarfrost on some brush. These shots are close-ups of the brush which is shown in the row above. The first shot has had the Levels adjusted in Photoshop® to make it more white.
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  These three shots all show more hoarfrost and some scenery at the summit of Murphy Dome. The wind was blowing like a banshee on this date and while at the summit it was about 30°F below zero (34.4°C below zero), so we could not stand outside of our pickup for more than a couple of minutes. The chill factor was probably 60°F or 70°F below zero.
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  The first two photos in this row show scenic shots taken from the summit of Murphy Dome and the third shot shows a scene as we began our drive back down the mountain.
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  Here are three shots we got as we were driving back down the Murphy Dome Road. Note the rabbit tracks in the first and third photos.
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  The first two shots in this row again show hoarfrost. The third shot is a strong telephoto (40x) and was really horribly vignetted due to the long lens effect, so I made the vignetting purposeful and created this vignetted frame.
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  Is it obvious that both of these shots were taken to show the rabbit tracks? If it's not, that was the reason for them.
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  These two photos were taken while looking out the window of our pickup truck. The first shot was taken with the window open and the blurriness is caused by the heat waves - the heat escaping through the window. It does show the color of the setting sun nicely. The second shot was taken with the window closed - in this shot there is no heat wave blurriness, but there are also no setting sun colors - because the window is tinted.
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  These two shots were captured on February 3rd as the sun approached the horizon to show itself for the day.
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  These two shots are zoomed less than the previous two, but they still show the wonderful sunrise colors we saw on February 3.
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End February 1st - 3rd, End Page 1
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