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A warm hello to our friends and
associates! Please enjoy this
inaugural edition of The Bookmark: our new monthly e-newsletter
about all things bookish at Farcountry Press. This month,
we’d like to introduce you to a member of our staff,
share some mind-blowing bird facts, get you behind the scenes
with a landscape photographer, and more.
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What the...?
A woodpecker’s long tongue coils up
inside its skull. The flicker’s tongue is so long that it
curves into the base of the skull, winds up over the forehead,
and attaches near the nostrils. Strong muscles shoot the tongue
out and pull it back again—like a party blower or a tape
measure. Tiny bones inside a casing of muscles add strength to
this ant-eating tongue.
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NAME: Kathy Springmeyer
TITLE: Director of Publications
YEARS AT FCP: 10
INTERESTING TIDBIT: Kathy has an ever-growing
collection of office knick-knacks, which includes but is not
limited to: a boxing nun, a cow skull, and Tiger Balm.
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Northern flicker
The northern flicker comes in a
red-shafted form that lives in western states and a
yellow-shafted form that inhabits eastern and northern areas of
North America.
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This email was sent to you from:
800-821-3874
To opt out from receiving this newsletter,
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If opt out link is not visible, please
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Meet the Staff
Q/A with photographer Chuck
Blackley
FCP: With the time you
spend in the field, you must have some surprising wildlife
encounters…
CHUCK: While I was
hiking and photographing on the Appalachian Trail a few years ago, I
startled a mother black bear and two small cubs not 30 feet from me.
One cub immediately climbed a tree. The other ran directly toward me
through the dense shrubs. The little guy was so small that all I could
see was the rustling of the bushes as he sprinted in my direction.
Suddenly, he popped up through the shrubs just a couple of feet from me
and looked directly at me. His eyes grew large and he made an
“o” with his mouth—just like in the cartoons.
Immediately, he dropped back down and I again watch the rustling shrubs
as he made a bee-line back to his mom. I guess he ran the wrong way the
first time! In the split seconds of this encounter, I didn’t
shoot one frame. Photography is much like fishing. Sometimes the best
shots get away. However, being there is priceless.
FCP: It seems that
some potential photographic subjects run right up to you…but
what’s your hardest-won photograph?
CHUCK: Two particularly
hard-won photos appear in Blue Ridge Parkway Simply Beautiful. In the wee hours of a cold
and snowy December morning, I arose and headed for the Parkway some 20
miles away. The weather forecast the night before called for the clouds
to part early. Being on the Parkway for that would be special. In
recent years in western Virginia where we live, there are only one or
two snowfalls per winter when photographic conditions are ideal.
I had set out in the dark that morning hoping that this would be
one of them. After driving on mostly salted main roads, I turned onto
the 4-mile stretch of country road that parallels the Parkway. Slipping
and sliding on what proved to be ice, not snow, I made my way to the
point where that road is closest to Humpback Rocks and parked. Donning
my ski pants, snow gators, and down coat, I set out in the light of
dawn on the 1.5-mile trek along the Parkway through the ice-covered
snow to the Humpback Rocks Farmstead. My luck was good. No
cross-country skiers had been there first, and the clouds were just
beginning to part. Ice hung in the trees, and new snow blanketed the
area. It was magical. Within one hour the sun had melted the snow from
the trees and the scene was crisscrossed with ski trails. The best part
is that the resulting photos do the scene justice—a happy result
of preparation and being blessed with perfect conditions. (See
thumbnail at right. Click on thumbnail or here to see larger)
FCP: Any product tips for gear junkies?
CHUCK: Last year
we replaced our old aluminum Gitzo tripod with a new carbon tripod that
is so much lighter and just as sturdy. It is a joy to use. This model
is the GT3540XLS. It weighs only 4.3 pounds and will extend from 3.5
inches to 6.5 feet. With that height range, we rarely have a situation
where this tripod will not provide the platform we need.
We've been getting excellent feedback about our new
release, Bird Feats of Montana! We wanted to share, so here
are a few facts from page 20 of the book. The author, Deborah Richie
Oberbillig, has been busy promoting the book with signings (See
slideshow below. Download full size pdf slideshow by clicking here)
and even a little video (to view click here). Awesome!
Happy Birthday
Feats of authordom! Congratulations to author Caroline Patterson and designer
Shirley Machonis for their work on Who Pooped at the Zoo? San Diego Zoo, winner of the Bronze Award
for juvenile nonfiction by ForeWord
Magazine. Kudos to author Jack Horner,
editor Jessica Solberg, and designer Shirley Machonis for their work on
Digging Up Dinosaurs, a finalist in the same
category. Find full list of awards here.
Next month... we
plan to have more new and fun info, another Q&A, and much, much
more. So keep us bookmarked!
If you have anything you would like to share
related to Farcountry Press or have feedback for us, please send us an
email at [email protected]. Even if you just want to say hi, don't be shy, we would
love to hear from you!
Northern Flicker