wildlife – Page 43 – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

February 8, 2016

2016-02-08: Monochrome Monday

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February 7, 2016

2016-02-07: What I’ve seen this week

It was quite an exciting week for photos this week! Given the continued icy conditions on my road, I’ve been driving a short distance away to one of the main roads to walk Spencer. Tuesday morning, there were a huge group of ravens and magpies surrounding a ravine, so I stopped the car to see what had happened. During the night, the local coyote pack took down a deer, and the birds were tucking into the leftovers (evening at 9am, maybe only 1/4 of the deer remained.

We set off again at lunch for another walk, and this time the ravens and magpies were absent; while walking I figured out why – a beautiful bald eagle was watching over the area. I grabbed a few shots and he or she flew off through the field, and I carried on with my walk. On the drive home, I spotted the eagle again and grabbed a few more shots through the open window of the car, before realizing that there were two eagles in the area. I followed one to the end of the cul de sac, and was lucky enough to be able to get a few more shots in before it was time to get home and get back to work.

Fingers crossed this coming week brings more wonderful photo opportunities.

Have a great week!

20160207_What I've seen this week — On Monday afternoon I spent a bit more time with the northern hawk owl. It was late afternoon and snowing lightly, and he chose the top of the tallest tree possible to perch. This was the best of the few shots I got.

20160207_What I've seen this week-2 — First spot of the eagle; this was only the second time I have seen eagles in my neighbourhood. The first time was a fleeting glimpse far too quick for me to capture.

20160207_What I've seen this week-3 — The deer carcass was at the base of this hill. The previous day, the snow was untouched; there certainly was a large amount of activity that went on in the night.

20160207_What I've seen this week-4 — I stopped the car, put on the four way flashers, and took a few photos (I live in a really quiet area so it’s not a safety issue).

20160207_What I've seen this week-6 — This is the second of the eagles I saw. I don’t know of the distinguishing features between sexes, so I don’t know if I saw two males, two females or one of each.

20160207_What I've seen this week-7 — I couldn’t have asked for better light. Midday sun up north in the winter comes in at a pretty gentle angle.

20160207_What I've seen this week-5 — The branch shadows are a bit unfortunately, but at least the body positioning leaves the stunning yellow eye exposed.

20160207_What I've seen this week-9 — Up and away. I did briefly see the pair when I returned home, circling high up, reminding me of the vultures in southern Africa.

20160207_What I've seen this week-10 — What more could you ask for on a Tuesday lunch break?

20160207_What I've seen this week-8 — I always love the opportunity to capture birds in flight. 1/1600sec, f5.6, ISO 180

January 27, 2016

2016-01-27: Wordless Wednesday

20160127_Wordless Wednesday

January 26, 2016

2016-01-26: WPC Optimistic

I am optimistic that all of these beautiful creatures will have the opportunity to live out their lives in the way nature intended, without the influence of poacher’s or trophy hunter’s bullets. That is my hope, and if like minded people continue to join together, perhaps it will happen in my lifetime.

20160126_WPC Optimistic-3 — A leopard with one of her young, as they worked to reunite with the second cup (gratefully we were able to witness the reunion).
Ngala Game Reserve, May 2015

20160126_WPC Optimistic-4 — Part of an elephant parade on route to a waterhole for an early evening drink.
Sabi Sands, May 2015

WPC: Optimistic

January 20, 2016

2016-01-20: Wordless Wednesday

20160120_Wordless Wednesday.jpg

January 18, 2016

2016-01-18: Monochrome Monday

As it turns out, I didn’t end up liking a single photo I took last week, so instead, I edited one from the archives that I was looking at over the weekend.

January 17, 2016

2016-01-17: WPC Weight(less)

A bit late with posting this one, but this little one is too cute not to share.

WPC: Weightless

January 13, 2016

2016-01-13: Wordless Wednesday

20160113_Wordless Wednesday.jpg

January 11, 2016

2016-01-11: Monochrome Monday

If the day ends in Y, it’s a day that I will happily edit some elephant photos – so that’s what I’ve done 🙂

I hope you enjoy, and have a wonderful evening.

20160111_Monochrome Monday-2 — Such beautiful texture!

/640sec, f5.6, ISO 640

20160111_Monochrome Monday-3 — I just can’t resist the look on this elephant’s face as he reaches up for the perfect branch to chew on.

1/800sec, f8.0, ISO 6400

20160111_Monochrome Monday — My favourite baby elephant, testing to see if sand is good eating.

1/640sec, f9.0, ISO 2000

January 10, 2016

2016-01-10: What I’ve seen this 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!

20160110_What I've seen this week-9 — An older male with lots of scars. I wonder what his story is? Clashes with other males perhaps?

20160110_What I've seen this week-7 — 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.

20160110_What I've seen this week-8 — 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.

20160110_What I've seen this week-5 — Beautiful light on a beautiful bird – a northern flicker.

20160110_What I've seen this week — 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.

20160110_What I've seen this week-10 — The young male pausing for a portrait.

20160110_What I've seen this week-11 — 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.

20160110_What I've seen this week-2 — 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.

20160110_What I've seen this week-3 — 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.

20160110_What I've seen this week-4 — Something startled one of them, and they all scattered. That repeated a few times throughout the morning.

20160110_What I've seen this week-6 — An evergreen with a light dusting of snow.

20160110_What I've seen this week-12 — 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!