Two weeks in a row now, I haven’t spent much time out with my camera. 🙁 The weather has been a big factor again; the warmer temperatures have continued, cycling just above and below 0C, plus heavy rain one day and snow the day before that and after (the roads around my place are a bit challenging for walks at the moment, navigating sheets of ice and piles of frozen slush). The birds have not been around as much as usual, and I’ve barely seen the deer at all this week (though my neighbour told me yesterday there was a coyote pack hanging around, and that could definitely have something to do with the scarcity of the deer).
Fingers crossed for a more successful week of photos coming up!
I spent some time out yesterday evening with a few members of the photo club; we had hoped mother nature would provide clear skies and the original plan was to go to a local lake for star photography. Alas, mother nature does what she wants, when she wants. With the lake fogged in, we stayed around town and photographed the winery across the river from town.There were too many trees along the edge of the river to get much in the way of light trails with tail lights, but I thought that this logging truck provided some interesting detail during a long exposure.It wasn’t all doom and gloom; a beautiful morning while out walking early in the week.
Earlier this week, I was getting concerned that I would end up with another weekly post dedicated to deer and bird, birds and deer; so I headed out in the yard with my macro lens to play around a bit and see if I could come across anything interesting. Also, it was simply a gorgeous, brilliant blue sky day, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend fifteen minutes while taking a lunch break from my work. I also got out that evening for a few night sky shots.
Don’t worry though, most of the photos are still deer and birds!
I hope you enjoy my selections for the week. Have a great day!
An older male with lots of scars. I wonder what his story is? Clashes with other males perhaps?This girl has a very unique left ear… and a hearty appetite for birdseed! She makes quite a mess, but the redpolls and grosbeaks seem to enjoy pecking around in the snow for all the seeds she’s dumped out.A younger male who happened to be heading into the yard while I was outside with my camera (and refilling the bird feeders). He kept to the bushes, luckily in some beautiful light.Beautiful light on a beautiful bird – a northern flicker.It was snowing quite heavily at the start of the week, and this young deer was cloaked in snow from tip to tail. I loved this view though, something a little different.The young male pausing for a portrait.My little walking buddy, wanting to get in on the photo action when I took my camera out on a morning walk for a pretty sky at sunrise.For the past few weeks, I’ve had a few common redpolls every day at the feeders. Early this week though, I ended up with an entire flock in my backyard. Here is a smaller part of the group, all trying to get to the suet cake.Not a great shot, but I included it anyways just to show a part of the redpoll flock. I counted 28 on the ground, and there were loads up on the feeders as well.Something startled one of them, and they all scattered. That repeated a few times throughout the morning.An evergreen with a light dusting of snow.This could have been so much better, if I hadn’t been too lazy to go to the detached garage and turn off the exterior lights. I’m including this as a reminder to self to take the time to do the proper prep work!
Last week it was all about the birds, this week, it was pretty much all about the deer. They stopped by singly, in pairs and in a group of four, and were around every other day, if not more. The one day I didn’t take my camera out on my afternoon walk, I spotted the great grey owl again. I got a snapshot with my phone, but as it was getting dark, I didn’t head back out with the camera and try to capture some better photos. I spoke with one of my friends in the neighbourhood, and she said that the owl has been spotted in her yard a couple times, and I am quite certain I caught a brief glimpse of him or her as she flew into the bush last week. Fingers crossed I’ll get to spend more time with the owl in the future.
I picked up some additional editing software during black Friday sales, and have finally had the opportunity to play around with some of it. Hence all the photos look completely different this week, as I wanted to see what different filters and treatments did.
I think that’s about all, so onto the picture.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week.
Browsing through the selection of evergreens in the yard.The lovely grey jay, enjoying a nibble from the deer feed bowl.The whole gang together. In the fall I would see either a group of two or a group of three in the neighbourhood. Either they have lost a member overall, or just split into different groupings when I saw them before. Regardless, it was great to have them all here.A few moments after I shot this, two of the deer headed off into the forest.A pair of pine grosbeaks perched on a small evergreen in the back yard.Enjoying a new years eve lunch.Taking a pause from eating. Isn’t he a beautiful boy?I keep the bowl full and what do I get? She sticks her tongue out at me while I’m taking her photo! The nerve 🙂On my afternoon walk today, I found a happy face in the snow. When the universe smiles at you, smile back 🙂A watery winter sun tries to peek through a combination of clouds and fog.
I had a little time on my hands and decided to check the WordPress photography topic of the week, and just after, I looked out my office window, and saw a deer at the feeder. So here is the lovely lady that is currently hanging around in my back yard. I’m so very grateful for the opportunity to watch wildlife while I work!
Since I likely won’t post again today, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for checking out my blog over the past year. It’s wonderful to know that something I’ve created has touched someone in some way, and equally wonderful to have had the opportunity over the year to view other’s photography and chat about technique and composition.
Wishing everyone a wonderful new year – may 2016 bring you many blessings.
This week, all the photos were taken in my backyard, watching the birds. The pine grosbeaks have discovered the bird feeder, and a flock of them now frequent the area; today I got distracted by the group fluttering around and lost count after 12. I think here were around 16 or more individuals at one point. It’s wonderful to have them close and listen to them calling to one another.
We’ve had some significant snow yesterday and today, and I’m late getting on with editing and posting as I was busy using the snow blower on the driveway and shovelling out a new pathway to the feeders.
Some of the photos were taken out the window from the basement, giving a unique angle to the feeder… I’ve had to shovel out in front of the windows to be able to see the birds on the ground!
That’s enough chatter for this evening, I hope you enjoy seeing some of the lovely birds that have visited this week (the deer have been around too, but always after dark so no photos of them this week).
The pine grosbeaks have been around in force since they discovered the feeders:
A pine grosbeak shares the feeder with a common redpoll
The hairy woodpecker stopped by for some seed as investigating the trees.
The flickers have been visiting regularly, though are usually quite skittish and fly away if anyone is outside.
The grey jays have been around frequently as well. They are usually quite skittish but I was outside taking photos of the grosbeaks Saturday and one of the jays stopped in for a snack; previously they would fly away if they saw someone move too quickly at the window.
I’m not a fan of the squirrels on the bird feeders (and with the set up I have, that hasn’t been a problem) but I’m happy for them to stop by and act as the clean up crew.
I had a few photos of trees and branches against a brilliant blue sky, so I thought I would see what they looked like with some different monochrome edits.
My personal favourite is the one in the middle.
A neutral to high key approach…maybe a 6.5/10 on the brightness scale.A low key take on tree branchesSelenium tinted during B&W processing
I managed to take a lot of photos this week; the skies cleared after a large snowfall, and I spent some time shovelling a pathway out to the bird feeders, and then hung around with my camera to see who would show up.
It’s been a full weekend and I almost bailed on putting together this post, but since going through my photos and editing is one of my happy places, it seemed wrong to deny myself that joy just because I’m a bit fatigued.
I hope you enjoy my selections for the week.
A beautiful grey jay. These were taken while standing on tip toe in my office through the window; I couldn’t risk trying to go outside as these guys are very shy.The other grey jay of the pair, dropping the suet chunk tat it was trying to eat. I like how it is using its tail for counterbalance.A chickadee pauses long enough for me to get a decent photo 🙂 I have some seriously chunky chickadees that visit my feeder, some of them, I wonder how they manage to get airborne!I was so excited when I saw the first common redpoll earlier in the week; now there is a fair sized group of them joining the chickadees for some sunflower seeds.A male common redpoll perched on a snowy branch. I’ve only seen these starting this week; they are winter migrants to my area from locations even further north!A female common redpoll.Redpolls and a chickadee sharing the seeds (and the granola too – this was before the big visitors!)Not the best photo, but it is the first time I have seen a brown creeper, so I am including it anyways!Definitely the largest guests at the bird feeders!I recently bought some organic granola from the bulk store, and it was horribly stale. I put it out when I refilled the feeders, thinking something might pick away at the oats and nuts. This was definitely not the visitor I had in mind!The little deer has the most comical eyebrows. To me, she looks like a cartoon character drawn to be grumpy!
I’m posting this quite a bit later than I originally anticipated, so I’ll keep the chatter to a minimum and get right to the pictures. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week, and best wishes for a great week ahead 🙂
Spencer all suited up for his morning walk. I always swore I wouldn’t make him wear boots, but with the miles we put on every day, they really help.Frosty branches, snowy ground, leaden sky… feeling chilly yet?Early morning + fog = not great (wildlife & bird) photos. But very cool to see this coyote a few mornings ago.A large and very fluffy coyote watching me, watching him.Not the most inspired landscape composition, but the sky this afternoon reminded me of a watercolour painting.The young one isn’t so young – almost the size of mama.Mama deer hanging out in the yard today.Mama having a nibble of the feed we have out in the yard (a winter treat only, just like the bird feeders).Good thing there isn’t a flag pole nearby!!!The young deer got spooked by the dog as we were heading out on our afternoon walk. It was fun watching her hop away through the snow (it reminded me of the springbok in Botswana). I managed these three shots and put them together as a pano. I thought it was a great way to show the height and distance travelled in a single bounce.
