2013 Blue Lion Year in Review- Part 1 of 6

As 2013 winds down and I review my photography of the year, I have been enjoying spending time looking over the images I have produced this year. 2013 allowed me to explore my true love of nature photography through my amazing trip to South Africa and the Ngala Game Reserve in July as well as more local spots such as the Hagerman National WildlifeRefuge in North Texas, and the jewel that is the Texas Discovery Gardens in Dallas. I was also able to “shoot” some people in 2013 as I explored more Civil War reenactment photography at local events in Texas. Thanks to my wife’s love of theater, I have also started to dabble with doing cast images and some head shots of local community theater productions here in the Dallas Metroplex.

For this year’s review, I have selected 30 images that represent a combination of my personal favorite shots as well as my most widely viewed images on my website (http://www.bluelionphotos.com), social media such as my Facebook page and my Twitter account (@BlueLionPhotos).

This review will occur in six parts with this post being my 10 “honorable mention” images. The remaining top 20 images will be divided into four more postings until the final image in revealed in a posting all by itself.

 I hope you enjoy this journey through my photographic year – I welcome your comments below as I savor getting to know how my images impact you the viewer! Each of the images is viewable and available for purchase by clicking on the image here, which will take you to my website. 

Young Lioness ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

Perching Owl Eye ~ Texas Discovery Gardens, Dallas, TX

Watchful Cheetah ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

"Fence Sitting" ~ Hagerman NWR, Sherman, TX

Young Male Lion ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

Northern Harrier Hawk ~ Hagerman NWR, Sherman, TX

Spring Blue Bird ~ Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Glen Rose ,TX

Hedwig  - I was thrilled to meet one of the actual "avian actors" who played the part in the Harry Potter movies.

Ellies at Sunset ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

Blue on Blue ~ Hagerman NWR, Sherman, TX

Continue exploring the next five images in my 2013 Countdown - http://bluelionphotos.blogspot.com/2013/12/2013-blue-lion-year-in-review-part-2-of.html

On Safari - Wounded Pride

As you may recall from earlier posts, during my African Safari I had the opportunity to follow a small lion pride over the course of several days. On the Ngala property there are three different prides of lions that crisscross much of the territory. It seems that this property was on the edge of their territories and thus none of the three prides staked it out as core territory. The largest of the prides, the Birmingham pride numbers over 20 different lions. Unfortunately, they were spending most of their time in the Kruger National Park during my visit so I did not get a chance to see them. The smallest of the three groups with several new, young males were looking to take over an existing pride. These young rogue males also didn't make an appearance during my visit. The lions I did get a chance to see were a pride of four lions: One adult lioness and her three sub adult children. We encountered them at three separate times during my visit. The first encounter (documented in my post "On Safari - Part One") involved them stalking a herd of impala.



The second encounter involved us following them through some very heavy brush. Despite the thickness of the brush, I was able to get some nice views but you can definitely tell they were not too keen on us being that close!



The third and final encounter with this pride was at the far side of the property as they came down to drink at a water hole in the early morning.




We had heard reports that they had been involved with a carcass in the overnight hours. No one was able to tell if they had made a kill and this was their carcass or if they were trying to steal it from some other predator. The result was that there had clearly been a battle over this carcass. When we caught up with this pride, we observed that the mother lioness had certainly taken the brunt of a very significant fight. As you can see from these images, she had some significant wounds to her flank and her head. What the still images don't show is that she was walking remarkably easily given the nature of her wounds. Those of us with less experience were concerned that these wounds might indeed prove fatal to her. However, our ranger assured us that such wounds while certainly running the risk of infection usually would not be fatal. Another concern brought up by these wounds is if the matriarch of this pride was wounded, would it impact her ability to make sure that her sub adult children could survive to adulthood with the hunting skills they needed. Only time will truly tell.

 One thing this encounter clearly demonstrates is that life in the African bush is never easy. Those of us who do not encounter the drama of the African bush on a daily basis easily forget that hunting for your food each day is not without great peril. Aside from the dangers inherent in killing prey that does not want to be killed, there's also the risk of dealing with confrontation from other predators who want what you may have. The story of this lion pride and my visits with them clearly shows the grittier side of Mother Nature. As much as we may want it to seem like it's a Disney movie, survival often has a rather R-rated script to it.