Wildlife – Page 73 – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

December 24, 2015

2015-12-24: Gathering

20151224_Gathering — A group of female impala bunched together, ready to bolt at a moments notice. Okavango Delta, April 2015

December 20, 2015

2015-12-20: What I’ve seen this week

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.

20151220_What I've seen this 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.

20151220_What I've seen this week-2 — 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.

20151220_What I've seen this week-3 — 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!

20151220_What I've seen this week-4 — 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.

20151220_What I've seen this week-8 — 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!

20151220_What I've seen this week-5 — A female common redpoll.

20151220_What I've seen this week-6 — Redpolls and a chickadee sharing the seeds (and the granola too – this was before the big visitors!)

20151220_What I've seen this week-7 — Not the best photo, but it is the first time I have seen a brown creeper, so I am including it anyways!

20151220_What I've seen this week-10 — Definitely the largest guests at the bird feeders!

20151220_What I've seen this week-9 — 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!

20151220_What I've seen this week-11 — The little deer has the most comical eyebrows. To me, she looks like a cartoon character drawn to be grumpy!

December 14, 2015

2015-12-14: Monochrome Monday

A couple more photos of the deer that visited yesterday. I think I prefer the black and white edits more the the colour ones.

20151214_Monochrome Monday-3 — Getting a good sniff of the air.

20151214_Monochrome Monday — Mom and daughter hanging out on my front lawn…make that snowfield.

December 13, 2015

2015-12-13: What I’ve seen this week

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 🙂

20151213_What I've seen this week-2 — Frosty branches, snowy ground, leaden sky… feeling chilly yet?

20151213_What I've seen this week — Early morning + fog = not great (wildlife & bird) photos. But very cool to see this coyote a few mornings ago.

20151213_What I've seen this week-3 — A large and very fluffy coyote watching me, watching him.

20151213_What I've seen this week-8 — Not the most inspired landscape composition, but the sky this afternoon reminded me of a watercolour painting.

20151213_What I've seen this week-10 — The young one isn’t so young – almost the size of mama.

20151213_What I've seen this week-5 — Mama deer hanging out in the yard today.

20151213_What I've seen this week-6 — Mama having a nibble of the feed we have out in the yard (a winter treat only, just like the bird feeders).

20151213_What I've seen this week-9 — Good thing there isn’t a flag pole nearby!!!

20151213_What I've seen this week-7 — 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.

December 9, 2015

2015-12-09: Wordless Wednesday

20151209_Wordless Wednesday

December 8, 2015

2015-12-08: Eye Spy

Eye Spy

December 6, 2015

2015-12-06: What I’ve seen this week

This week, let’s great straight to the pictures! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend 🙂

20151206_What I've seen this week-5 — Getting even closer, but still not the type of shot I’m hoping for. 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO 2200

20151206_What I've seen this week-4 — I love the shape of this crow flying overhead. 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO 400

20151206_What I've seen this week — Such an epic sunrise. At the time I was thinking it’s a shame to have the road and the wires visible, but I probably wouldn’t have had this view anywhere else. 1/640sec, f8.0, ISO 400

20151206_What I've seen this week-2 — It was so beautiful I had to include two photos it. A brilliantly foggy sunrise.

20151206_What I've seen this week-6 — A young deer grazing on my lawn. The early morning and dull day certainly didn’t do me any favours for photography; I was just happy to watch this little one and her Mom relax and graze around the yard. 1/250sec, f5.6, ISO 6400

20151206_What I've seen this week-7 — Trying to capture a decent shot before sunrise on a dull day… not happening. But I was walking along thinking about white bunnies and hoping I’d see one soon that I could capture a photo of, and then I spotted this one 🙂 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO6400

20151206_What I've seen this week-8 — My lunchtime walk brought another sighting of the bunny, in better light. I snapped a quick photo, and started to slowly move closer, hoping to get something better than this. 1/400sec, f5.6, ISO2800

20151206_What I've seen this week-9 — I tried to move closer to take a better photo of the bunny, but it got spooked by a passing car, and all that was left was this tiny clump of fur caught on a branch. There was a tiny sunbeam coming through there; perhaps it was enjoying the warmth of the day.

20151206_What I've seen this week-10 — Silhouetted trees and heart shaped clouds at sunrise. 1/400sec, f8.0, ISO 400

December 4, 2015

2015-12-04: International Cheetah Day

I wouldn’t have known that it was International Cheetah Day if I hadn’t come across a post about it on a blog I follow (de Wets Wild, which I would highly recommend if you are interested in South African wildlife).

I’ve been fortunate to spend a fair bit of time with cheetahs now, both during my time with Wildlife Act last year, and this past holiday. I’ve seen a somewhat half-hearted (and unsuccessful) hunt, but I have never seen them going at full speed, except on the wildlife documentaries I’ve seen on TV. Perhaps my time will come to see that in person 🙂

I hope you enjoy my selection of cheetah photos today. TGIF, and have a great day everyone!