T-Peak Photos - Mike Lee

T-Peak Photos - Mike Lee Photography page for Mike Lee, northern California, USA.

The view from the shoreline of McCoy Flat Reservoir at dusk last night as I was waiting for it to get dark for my latest...
06/04/2026

The view from the shoreline of McCoy Flat Reservoir at dusk last night as I was waiting for it to get dark for my latest photo failure 😂 It never got super colorful but the clouds had cool enough texture to point a camera at and at least I got SOMETHING on the card to go with the bug bites. I'll take another run at that OTHER thing I was going after soon - stand by to stand by. Ok, stand by.

06/03/2026

Lunch time at the nest box today...

05/31/2026

So, I find myself feeling like I should print a retraction 😂. A couple weeks back I posted a video of a nuthatch that appeared to be doing a little "wing yoga" at the door of this birdhouse. That clip was shot from the side, tight to the house, using a timer so I wasn't physically there. Lacking context, I was thinking it was perhaps a fledgling exercising its wings in preparation to fly off into the world. However, as I was walking by a few days back I got my context 😁 We have gray squirrel babies (likely born in another bird house of mine their parents destroyed, but I digress) chasing each other around the property right now and this drama has been unfolding as that tree has lots of traffic on it.

Sorry for the lighting - the overall dynamic range was more than my camera can handle.

The Pacific Flyway funnels millions of waterfowl down the western edge of North America each fall and spring, and Northe...
05/31/2026

The Pacific Flyway funnels millions of waterfowl down the western edge of North America each fall and spring, and Northern California sits at one of its most critical bottlenecks. The Great Basin wetlands — including Eagle Lake and the Honey Lake Valley, my home area — serve as major staging and wintering grounds for ducks, geese, and swans moving between Canadian and Alaskan breeding grounds and their southern wintering areas. Tule Lake and Klamath Basin just to the north handle some of the continent's largest waterfowl concentrations, with numbers that can push into the millions during peak migration. My little area doesn't see quite that much activity but it sees a great deal, especially in wetter years.

Mallards are the backbone of the Pacific Flyway, moving through Northern California's wetlands, marshes, and reservoir edges from fall through spring. Year-round residents breed locally in the Great Basin and Central Valley, while migratory birds push through in waves — making them one of the most consistently visible waterfowl species in the region regardless of season. They're also pretty popular with waterfowl hunters so they get shot at a fair bit and can be quite skittish at times. This beautiful drake landed right near me at McCoy Flat Reservoir recently as I sat behind some camouflage netting I had draped over my camera and tripod. At one point I had a problem I rarely have with wildlife; I needed to zoom OUT (in later frames than this one when the bird got out of the water and I wanted its entire reflection in the frame). This was a problem because the inexpensive netting I was using is plastic and not very quiet when rustled. When I attempted to move the zoom ring, the aforementioned rustling noise was all it took to make this beautiful water bird "shake the spot" with an indignant series of quack quacks. At least I got a few frames before that happened.

05/30/2026

Can I milk one little bird into 3 posts? Same junco I posted recently at McCoy in the process of getting all dolled up....

On a recent bird watching morning at Eagle Lake (which I didn't do NEARLY enough of during the brief 2 months the fishin...
05/30/2026

On a recent bird watching morning at Eagle Lake (which I didn't do NEARLY enough of during the brief 2 months the fishing season was closed) , Mr. and Mrs. Lesser Scaup swam by and posed for pictures. Lesser scaup are pretty little diving ducks and in spring breeding plumage the drakes get a bit of iridescence to their head feathers to complement the fine barred back feathers and bluish bill.

Full disclosure: This looked cooler in my head than it did in the end but I paddled a kayak half a mile round trip, don...
05/29/2026

Full disclosure: This looked cooler in my head than it did in the end but I paddled a kayak half a mile round trip, donned waders, and risked gear wading around in near darkness so someone gets to look at it 😂

All joking aside, I spotted these snags on my recent fishing trip to McCoy Flat. So I left the kayak in the truck and went back the next evening. If you saw my junco post yesterday where I mentioned killing time, one of the things I was doing was watching the high clouds in the area to see if it was worth heading out or not. If the sun would have set an hour sooner there would have been amazing potential but the really cool clouds to the west while I was taking birdie pictures had moved to due north where they didn't help me any in the end. However, there were a few around and I got a couple frames I like and learned a few things to improve if I get another chance before this is all dry land this summer - it was waist deep right here so I hopefully have a bit of time.

First Fridays at the gallery are always fun and this one looks extra fun - I won't be able to make this one though - ta...
05/28/2026

First Fridays at the gallery are always fun and this one looks extra fun - I won't be able to make this one though - taking the granddaughter camping 😁

The last Wednesday each May is .There are 13 otter species worldwide, 12 of which are in decline — seven classified as ...
05/27/2026

The last Wednesday each May is .

There are 13 otter species worldwide, 12 of which are in decline — seven classified as vulnerable, five as endangered — threatened by habitat loss, reduced prey, roadkill, and illegal trade for fur and pets. Otters are keystone species that help regulate fish populations and maintain healthy aquatic ecosystems — sea otters, for example, keep sea urchin populations in check, which protects kelp forests from being grazed out of existence. This year marks the 10th anniversary of World Otter Day, with events planned across 50 countries.

Fortunately, the River Otter is in decent shape after being trapped/hunted to dangerously low numbers in the late 19th and early 20th century. I was lucky enough to hang out with a group of them in the winter of 2022 in a bit of open water in the mostly frozen Lake Almanor.

In the golden light of one of the evenings I was there, this one looked my way as if to say, "Come on in. The water's fine." I'm happy to say I didn't fall for it.

I wrote a short blog over at tpeakphotos dot art with a few more images if anyone feels inclined to go take a look. I also have my subscription form/newsletter thing working reasonably well now. I try to send a note out about weekly if I post things, have specials on my print on demand site, etc. I don't spam anyone and I never sell any contact information (I wouldn't even know how 😂 )

Same junco I posted a few minutes ago after it finished putting itself together and hopped down on a basalt rock...
05/27/2026

Same junco I posted a few minutes ago after it finished putting itself together and hopped down on a basalt rock...

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