Current mood. Is it bedtime yet???
Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!
2020-07-06: Monochrome Monday
2020-07-05: Photo Art – Rhinos
For my Dad’s Father’s Day gift, I adopted a blind rhino named Maxwell, being cared for at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, in his name. Rhino’s were the animal he was most excited to see on our first trip to South Africa, so it seemed like a good fit (and proved to be a very popular gift, as was the elephant I adopted for my Mom for Mother’s Day).
I try to make homemade cards whenever possible, and created these two images to make my Dad’s Father’s Day card. These were done with images I shot my last time in South Africa, using a variety of filters in the Topaz Studio program.
2020-06-28: Hummingbirds
For a while it seemed that all hope was lost for hummingbirds this season, as all but a couple disappeared within two weeks of showing up (that’s what Prince George weather does to you!). But I kept filling my feeders for the couple that were around and enjoyed the brief glimpses that I had. Then quite suddenly it was a flurry if activity, at one point counting 15 individuals, and I’ve been filling up 5 feeders at least once every second day, if not more often.
They don’t stick around long so I am enjoying it while it lasts, although I do call them my little piggy birds.
While I would much prefer to get shots in a natural environment, we have so few flowers that the feeders are the only attractant, and they disappear deep into the forest when not feeding.
2020-06-22: Monochrome Monday
Even though it was the rutting season, when males can begin to lose condition from spending all of their time and energy fighting over access to females, this one looked to be in fine form, with a shiny coat and a small herd to call his own… at least for a day or two.
Impala are beautiful animals and definitely interesting to watch while out in the bush. But the sound the males make when they are fighting, that is something else.
2020-06-21: World Giraffe Day
Today is World Giraffe Day, and an opportunity for me to not have to think what to post! I can just share a few images of these adorable and goofy looking animals 🙂
This image was so brightly coloured it looked like some type of HDR image; so I had to do some serious desaturation to get it to look reasonable. I’m not sure what causes that to happen every once in a while, but it does make for interesting editing. This young giraffe was part of a group of 4 or 5 that were scattered in the trees enjoying some browsing.
Have a great week everyone!
2020-06-17: Wordless Wednesday
2020-06-14: Civet
On my 6th journey to Africa, I was fortunate enough to add two new species to my wildlife list; both on the same evening and both quick, blink and you’d miss them, type sightings. And both on the 1st game drive of the trip 🙂 The first were honey badgers, which I had desperately wanted to see (and if you missed the photos of those, you can find them here) and the second is the civet that is pictured below.
I don’t know much about civets, and as we had such a jam packed game drive, while sharing our vehicle with some wonderful safari newbies, our guide didn’t have a chance to provide too much of a chat about them. While I am sure any search engine could yield me more information on a civet than I ever could need to know, I might just leave this one and hope I see one again, and get a bit more information on it while out in the field. As if I needed another excuse to return to Africa!
Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.
2020-06-10: Wordless Wednesday
2020-06-08: Monochrome Monday
Being on safari in the dark is quite a magical experience. Some people find it scary, I am sure, as predators are more active after dark, but I find the experience exhilarating, even if the photo opportunities are more limited.
We came across this particular pride of lions on the way to a bush supper, and our spotlight was busted. Another vehicle came along and we had their spotlight for a minute to get a look at the cats, and then we were both off. This was the lead lioness, and the rest of her pride was a few paces behind her on the road and in the bushes. I’m sure my supper was far more easy to come by that evening than the lion’s was!
I’ve shared other lion at night images, if you missed them the first time around check here.
Wishing you a wonderful week!
2020-06-07: Local Birds (and more)
We have had some truly dismal weather the past few weeks, so much so that almost all of the hummingbirds have disappeared, presumably to find somewhere a little more hospitable to nest. But, I have seen a fair amount of wildlife, even though I haven’t had a chance to take pictures of all of it. The western tanager couple is back, and I see them flit through the yard usually once a day. Out on my walks, there have been frequent sightings of hermit thrushes, which surprises me after all the years I listened to them singing without being able to see one. There have also been a few different warblers; the Townsend’s, which I didn’t manage to get a photo of, and the Wilson’s warbler, which I managed a couple of ID shots of.
In addition to the variety of birds, I’ve seen both black bear, a cinnamon bear, and I finally caught a glimpse of the lynx that I saw tracks of all through the winter. I was walking my dog early one morning and saw it at the side of the road off in the distance, and it was so far away that I needed my camera to figure out what it was! Gratefully it stayed put for enough time to let me snap one photo, and then it evaporated into the bushes.
That’s all for today, wishing everyone a wonderful week.