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.
I felt like doing bit of editing this evening, and decided to work on some bird photos that wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to take flight.
Enjoy!
A pair of guinea fowl going for a morning jog. May, 2015Ostriches are one thing that are not plentiful on Londolozi. We came across this one while driving in for our stay. The sunlight on her backside is not an obvious lighting choice (but hey, work with what you get, right?). I do like the way it show the detail on the feathers. May, 2015A pied crow with the amazing Damaraland landscape in the background. Namibia, April 2015An orange breasted sunbird resting in the shade of one of the lovely flowering bushes at the Cape Town Botanical Gardens. April, 2015A double collared sunbird at the botanical gardens. April, 2015Another red winged starling, this time at the Cape of Good Hope. April, 2015A pair of black oystercatchers on Robben Island. April, 2015One of the incredibly tame red winged starlings at the top of Table Mountain. South Africa, April 2015A robin chat tucked deep in the bushes. I resorted to laying down on my tummy and shooting through the deck railing posts to get some shots. This was the best that I could managed. South Africa, April 2015
One of my dream wildlife sightings / photo opportunity was to see a leopard in a tree. I’m sure I mentioned it before, but it happened in what I felt was an unlikely place, the Okavango Delta.
I was looking through photos with my Mom yesterday and came across these after not having seen them for awhile, and I thought they would be great to edit in black and white. I still have a lot more shots to get through 🙂
If these are the type of photos you’d like to own, you can find them here:
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.
A group of zebra and tsessbe hang around a termite mound. Okavango Delta, April 2015A group of bronze mannequins enjoy splash baths at the edge of the pool. Phinda Game Reserve, May 2015A group of female impala bunched together, ready to bolt at a moments notice. Okavango Delta, April 2015
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!
