1/200sec, f8.0, ISO500
Foggy Morning
1/200sec, f8.0, ISO500
1/200sec, f8.0, ISO500
Bushtit
All summer I saw groups of tiny grey birds on the dikes near my work, but never had a camera with me to capture a photo so I could look up what they were. A few days ago, while working on the computer at home, I heard loads of chirping through the open window, and when I went outside, there was a group of the tiny grey birds in the bushes alongside my building. Luckily, I managed to grab my camera and capture a single decent photo, and figure out what I had been seeing were Bushtits. I had never seen them at home before, and who knows if I will ever see them flying around my neighbourhood again, but I certainly am happy to have a few months of wondering “what do I call these?” finally over.
Surveying murky water
I’m sure the purpose of the orange floating plastic is to prevent debris from entering the pumping station (which is to the left just out of the shot), but this time of year, the only purpose seems to be separating murky water from even murkier water. The herons seem to find it a great place to spend the mornings, as it has been a rare walk the few months when I haven’t seen a heron in or around this location.
I was lucky as I was able to get quite close to the heron to take the photo below. Spencer stayed calm and quiet and I think we got within about 15 feet before the heron started looking a bit uncomfortable, so we backed off to allow it to get back to searching for some breakfast.
Belted Kingfisher
A couple of weekends ago, I was out for my usual morning walk with Spencer when I finally had the chance to get some photos of the kingfisher that I have been seeing intermittently for the last year. The kingfisher was out along the river where I normally see the herons and ospreys, so I wasn’t able to get the crisp, clear shots I have been hoping for all this time. But, I had a great sighting, which is all that really matters to me!
While we were on our return along the dikes, the kingfisher was flying from one wooden post to the next, in the same direction we were headed. I tried a few shots each time she stopped at a different location, but the distance was the always just about the same, so there wasn’t much difference in the shots. Right near the end of the dike, I stopped to take one more shot, and managed to catch a sequence of the kingfisher diving, catching a small fish, dropping it, and then flying away.
World Rhino Day 2014
Pitt Meadows Fire
While heading out for my walk last Sunday morning, I saw a huge column of smoke the minute I left my building. I snapped these photos from out of the passenger side window, as even when pulled well over on the road, I didn’t want to be out of my vehicle and get in the way of emergency services heading to the blaze. It only seemed right to wait to go through the photos until I had heard the news report about what happened. Thankfully, loss of property only.
Deer at Pitt River
It was a wonderful weekend for photography while out walking with the dog. I’ve got lots of photos to go through and edit 🙂
1/500sec, f7.1, ISO5600
I’ve only seen deer along the Pitt River a few times, and each time it has been on the far side of the dike, away from the river. Yesterday, I caught a pair of deer relaxing in the long grasses in the flats along the river. Once they caught sight of me, they didn’t stick around long, but it was lovely to have the chance to watch them for a few minutes.
1/500sec, f5.6, ISO3600
1/500sec, f7.1, ISO6400
1/500sec, f7.1, ISO5000
1/500sec, f7.1, ISO4000
1/500sec, f7.1, ISO2000
1/500sec, f7.1, ISO2200
Cooper's Hawk
Today was a great day for bird watching out along the dikes while on my morning walk. I arrived a bit later than usual and ended up heading in a different direction to avoid following another walker with dogs that had arrived just before me (Spencer would not have been pleased with that scenario). The change in scenery worked out well though, as I saw heron, an eagle, a northern flicker and I was lucky enough to see a cooper’s hawk for the first time in many months. I managed a few shots while it hunted along the grassy edge of the river.
1/500sec, f8.0, ISO200
Spencer – August 2014
Spencer gets a lot of mentions in my posts; he’s always with me when I’m out walking, and he is such a good, patient boy while I am shooting. I try to resist the urge to post photos of him though, or this could well turn into a Spencer fan page, rather than a wildlife and landscape photography blog!
But, this weekend there was nothing to shoot, and I just spent the past half hour having some fun doing a couple black and white conversions of photos I took of him, so I thought I would share.
Next post, back to topic 🙂
