2016-04-17: What I’ve seen this week

It’s been a great week for birds around the neighbourhood, especially yesterday, when I managed to capture photos of 5 different species in one morning walk (plus 3 different bunnies).

Wishing everyone a wonderful week 🙂

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I actually saw a pair of flickers yesterday, and while they conveniently perched together in a tree, I didn’t manage to get any shots of the two together worth sharing, as they were so high up, and I didn’t have to big lens. This one was working hard tapping at this dead tree; I heard it long before I saw it.
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A hairy woodpecker pauses from pecking between the tree branches early yesterday morning.
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A sure sign of spring are the robins singing from the treetops every morning. I caught this one searching for worms on the roadside.
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Earlier this week, I saw frantic activity below a large pine tree; I snapped loads of photos just so I could try to identify the birds. This was the best that I managed, but I include it here as it was a new species for me, a white winged crossbill.
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The juncos are back in town, but generally don’t visit the feeder; they are part of the clean up crew that keeps that area beneath the feeder tidy (thanks guys!).
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The pileated woodpecker was tapping away at the top of this pole, making quite the racket.
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One of the 3 bunnies I saw yesterday; this one was right next to my driveway at the end of our walk. Luckily, Spencer only barks at them about 1 in 10 times that he sees them. Mostly he just patiently waits for me to finish taking a photograph.
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I’ve been hearing the ruffed grouse drumming for some time now, but this was the first time I’ve seen one this year. This beauty hung around under the bird feeder, cleaning up fallen sunflower seeds.
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I was happy I was able to quietly sneak outside and get a few photos (I was hiding behind the garden hose reel so I didn’t disturb the grouse browsing).
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Sunflower seed success.

2016-04-10: What I’ve seen this week

I went for a quick drive this morning, after hearing about tree swallows and potentially mountain bluebirds nesting in a field fairly close to home.  I was rewarded with seeing both.  I’ve never seen mountain bluebirds before this, and the intensity of the males feathers reminds me of the brightly coloured birds of Southern Africa.

It’s far too nice today though to spend much time indoors, so I’ll get to the photos and wish everyone a wonderful week ahead. 🙂

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The first time you ask your partner to do something around the house…

 

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The 87th time you’ve asked your partner to do that very same thing around the house!
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So nice to have the sun shining to show off the beautiful iridescent feathers of the tree swallow.
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A perfect portrait pose.
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My first view of a Mountain Bluebird.
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One couple was hanging out around nest box 20.
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Another preferred nest box 30.  How I wish I could have captured the male and female together.  Perhaps next weekend!
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The shockingly blue male Mountain Bluebird.
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Moments before he took to the skies.

2016-04-03: What I’ve seen this week

It’s been a very quiet week here for photos.  We’ve been having some lovely, and unseasonably warm weather (20C in the afternoons!) which has really changed the dynamics with the backyard birds.  The redpoll groups had been waning over the last couple weeks, but I’ve not seen any for days, so I assume they’ve finally headed back north.

The snow is all gone (hurrah!), and one creature that hasn’t caught up to that are the neighbourhood  bunnies.  They are very conspicuous in their white coats at the moment…making it easy for me to spot them while out on early morning walks.  I’ve seen bunnies a few times this week; I assume it’s always the same one since it’s in the same area each day.

That’s all I have for today, enjoy your week everyone 🙂

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2016-03-27: What I’ve seen this week

Straight to the photos this week 🙂

Enjoy!

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No chocolate bunnies for me this year; this morning I came across the real thing! This was snapped moments before it started raining; the dull grey day did nothing for the photographs, I was just happy to see an actual bunny. Lately, I’ve just been finding lots of fur tufts around, after they’ve been attacked in the night.

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I took Spencer out for a quick wee before bed, and came across a pair of salamanders on the driveway. I didn’t want to annoy them with the camera flash, so this was the best that I could capture.

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I always love the chance for a silhouette photo. A northern flicker pausing from pecking at the top of the phone lines.
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I stopped by the observatory Friday evening. Various stars were being pointed out with a high powered green laser.  It was an interesting place to visit and certainly a great place to have a view of the night sky.  I probably should have paid a bit more attention to my camera settings than chatting with people though.
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Star observers – it was packed there so I didn’t get a chance to go up into the dome.  The big dipper is just barely visible top right.
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My first attempt at a star panorama, and it’s something I definitely need to research more. I spent a fair bit of time in Photoshop playing around with the warp feature to turn this into a rectangle again, not a ball.

2016-03-20: What I’ve seen this week

Happy first day of spring! 🙂

It’s a very bird centred post this week – I had some infrequent visitors to the yard that I managed to capture, and I took a trip out to Vanderhoof on Saturday to visit the Nechako Migratory Bird Sanctuary, where there a currently a fairly large population of swans.  The light wasn’t in my favour, but I made the best of it (and be sure to check out tomorrow’s Monochrome Monday post, where my favourites from Saturday will be featured).  The lacklustre light has let me play around with editing a little more than I would otherwise, which has actually been a lot of fun.

And with that, I’ll leave it to the photos.

Have a wonderful week!

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Not a phenomenal photo by any stretch; I just think it’s so cool that I can capture Jupiter and 4 moons with my set-up. From top right: Io, Ganymede, Jupiter, Europa, Callisto. Being out looking at the stars makes me want to go rematch the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. 1/8sec, f6.3, ISO 1000
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Since I was already outside taking a picture of Jupiter, ignoring the moon just didn’t seem right. 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO 1000
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I frequently see magpies around the neighbourhood, but it’s rare to see them hanging around the yard. This one stuck around just long enough to grab a photo through my office window. By the time I got outside, it was long gone. 1/1250sec, f6.0, ISO 1000
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Another bird I often see in the neighbourhood, but rarely in the yard. I’m pretty sure this is a raven, not a crow, but I’ll be totally honest, from photos I have a hard time distinguishing them, especially when perched. 1/1250sec, f6.3, ISO 1000
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A couple of swans having a morning gossip session. 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO 800
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I was told the number of swans that were there Saturday was really low (only maybe a hundred or so), but for me, I’ve never seen more than a couple at one time, so Iw as still impressed. The chattering was non-stop.

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For me, this one is all about the wing shape.
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Going for a little pre-flight jog across the water 🙂 1/1250sec, f6.3, ISO 1600
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As soon as one group set off (apparently for foraging at a nearby farmer’s field) the rest soon followed. I was happy to capture a group of them in various stagesof taking off.

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So low to the water, the wingtips are nearly touching.

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Off they go. 1/2500sec, f6.0, ISO 1250

 

2016-03-14: Monochrome Monday

I came across a few shots  over the weekend that I thought deserved a re-edit.  Just please don’t ask me what type of birds these are, as I believe the majority are one of the many sparrows that are common around the lower mainland, but I really don’t have a clue!

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Happy Monday!

These, and others are available over at my Smugmug site

2016-03-13: What I’ve seen this week

Last Sunday brought clear skies and a showing of the aurora; unfortunately I knew I would be really busy Monday morning, and decided to just hang around the yard and snap a few photos.  I did see a few glimpses, but I’m sure if I would have headed for an area with fewer tall trees, the view would have been outstanding.

I spent a bit of time outside today watching, and photographing, the redpolls.  I don’t think they will be here for much longer, but I know their absence will be filled with other birds heading back after wintering further south.

Signs of spring are all over the place; tree branches in bud, and more visible ground than snow, though yesterday we had quite the afternoon storm with driving wind, hail and a bit of snow.  My attempts to photograph the near sideways hail left me flat.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week; here are the photos.

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Aurora glow and a satellite passing by.
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The house, garage and forest getting in the way of a clear shot!
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There was a green glow to one side of the house, and magenta on the other.
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The hairy woodpecker stopped by one morning for some suet and to browse the trees in the back yard.

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The lovely redpolls.  I will be sad to see them leave, they are very spirited and chirpy in the yard.

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2016-03-06: What I’ve seen this week

I took my camera with me everywhere this past week, but just didn’t have any inspiration to use it.  It happens sometimes!  Last night though was brilliantly clear, so I headed outside for a couple shots of the stars.  I was too tired to head anywhere more exciting then my front yard though.

Here are a couple shots from last night.

Have a great week everyone!

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I do love that I can walk outside to inky blackness like this. I wish I would have had the foresight to see what stars I was photographing last night.
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I put the Tamron on my D5100 to get an effective 900mm lens. I had read and heard before that the movement of the stars is exaggerated by longer lens. Is it ever. This is Jupiter at 20sec, f6.3, ISO 800
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The best I could do with frozen fingers – Jupiter and one of it’s moons. 1.6sec, f6.3, ISO 2000
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