Mostly Critters

Here's a few shots that were taken in the early autumn.

I noticed a lot of birds last summer/fall looking quite bedraggled. Molting is rarely pretty I reckon, but some of these poor beasties really looked awful, especially normally-handsome birds like Cardinals.

No wonder this poor fellow was trying to hide when I spotted him.

Even with a crop and beak full of nuts, this Blue Jay maintains his good looks and dignity.

But have you ever seen a Jay battle a strong wind?

Pretty goofy, eh?

While walking around the pond near Hil's place, looking for birds, I found I wasn't alone in that pursuit. There, on a fence, was a competitor.

I believe he was a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk, or possibly a Cooper's. He noticed me immediately but remained supremely unconcerned until I took one too many steps in his direction.

I love ducks as subjects. (And as food - but let's not talk about that right now.) Female Mallards, in particular, are favourites. They often seem to make eye contact and exude grace and wisdom.

This one was resting but peeked at me shyly.

A couple of moments later, she began to preen. In the following shot, you'll see she has closed the nictitating membrane over her eye. Although opaque-looking in the photo, it has a transparent center, allowing ducks (and many other birds) to see while underwater or diving at high speeds (like falcons).

Here she is one more time, seconds after the previous shot. This time, I have a caption for her.

"I've got a what stuck to my what?"

If any animal deserves the title Rascal of the Woods, it's our next subject. Yeah, he's cute, but he's also trouble. He'll chase away squirrels three times his size and chatter angrily at any human that interferes with his antics. And if a window screen is all that separates him from food - well, bye-bye screen.

Speaking of trouble, here's Ben looking for some.

For the most part, the weather at the cottage during our last visit was cold and dreary, with lots of rain. But even drab days can offer splashes of colour.

And if you're lucky, as we were near the end of our stay, the sun might pop out and favour folks with a rainbow.

Hope you enjoyed. See you next time.

Oooooo...Pretty Colours! And Stuff.

Before I inflict my latest batch of photo fodder on you poor folks, I want to extend a public "Thank-ee Ma'am" to Hilary for spiffing up this blog. I get the vapours when confronted with templates and margins and that sort of thing. Luckily for me, she does not. Thanks, Hil.

As mentioned previously, I'm still wading through summer shots. Here come da latest batch.

I think I would have ignored this first pic if I hadn't noticed the jet's contrail. The sunset (by cottage standards) is just so-so. But the pic illustrates a world where a couple of guys can fish quietly at dusk while thousands of feet above them, folks are hurtling off to god-knows-where. Same world, way-different realities.

I like frogs. Their metamorphosis is amazing. And they are the canaries in the mindshafts of our environment. Their porous skins make them susceptible to atmospheric and aquatic anomalies. If something is wrong in a particular ecosystem, frogs are often the first to indicate it.

All this healthy fellow below is demonstrating, is how well he's mastered the art of camoflage.

No intro for the next shot. But I have a caption below it!

"Anybody seen that dang dog?"

Next up, how about a pretty flower?

I featured a pic of Hilary's wrist bling a while back. But apparently I took another shot some time later, and darned if I don't like it too. So, have a deja view.

What caught my eye on the next shot was the vivid splash of orange sky which offset the near-monochromatic aspect of the lower two thirds.

While playing with my macro (and still buffaloed by some of its subtleties) I came across this interesting, little green fellow. I have no idea what kind of bug it is. It was perhaps an inch long. Nifty, though.

There's no dearth of fine sunsets in cottage country. (I used to be able to vouch for the spiffy sunrises too. But now I'm too old and lazy to get up that early.) This next one, with its fiery sky, offered a treat-per-minute as the Creator played with his palette.

That evening, Hil and I and my brother-in-law Evan, shot a zillion photos. (Evan is a pro photographer with his own business, Magic Portraits.) In the next shot, I shoot the photographers as they go about their business.

I am going to wrap up this entry with what might very well be the first photograph of its kind - ever. Yep. Of all the umpteen quadrabazillions of photos ever taken, I believe this next one is unique.

Brace yourselves, good people.

Yes. I caught a grasshopper reading a book. Who'da' thunk it?

It's A New Year But

I still haven't processed half the photos I took in 2011. But I've now nearly worked my way through June.

So, unsurprisingly, you folks will be seeing summer shots from this corner for quite some time. Maybe you won't mind so terribly if you're in wintry climes.

I'm a huge fan of dragonflies. They are aerodynamic marvels who eat mosquitoes, deer flies and other bugs that eat people. Godbless'em.

They come in lots of colours.

Including red.

And white & brown. The one above almost disappeared into the rock on which it perched. Only the brown spots ruined its camoflage.

I don't usually fiddle with much post-production stuff but in the next pic, I played with the saturation and hue a little. It didn't affect the dragonfly too much, but I like what it did to the wood of the dock.

Next up, a clever bunny renders itself invisible by standing still. (No wonder they provide lunch for so many predators.)

The next two pics are titled "Peas & Thank You."

What follows is not one of my sharpest photos but I like the colours.

This next fellow was caught enjoying a bask at the pond near Hilary's.

I am charmed by chickadees. I flat-out love these little birds. They have an abundance of wonderful qualities all out of proportion to their tiny size. I find them difficult to photograph, though. They are constantly flitting and their black eyes often disappear within their black caps. I'm always happy when I get a shot of one and I can see his eyes.

I'll bid the old year adieu with a pic of one of the young cardinals which graced my backyard for several weeks this summer. They were as cute as cute could be.

Hope the next 12 months are great ones for you and yours (and chockful of photo opportunities for us camera jockeys).

Mostly Bugs

I'm still working on processing photos I took in the summer, so you can expect to see out-of-season shots in this corner of the internet for quite some time. Without a whole lot of further comment, here's a few from July/August.

No idea what this fellow is but he was nifty looking.

Again, I'm clueless about the identity of our next subject. The focus could be better but I like the iridescence of the wings.

This one I know! It's a bumblebee!

And next up: a green bottle fly on a rose stem.

This wasp was gathering minute bits of wood for nest repair.

I walked around the pond at Hil's one day and happily chanced upon a Swallowtail butterfly. Even more happily, it stayed within range for a moment and let me take a couple of shots.

Enough with bugs? Okay. We'll wrap up with a few birdies.

Here's our own Lucy. I like the background pattern of the bars of her cage.

On another amble around Hil's pond, I came across a rare sight indeed: a female mallard doing yoga.

I mentioned iridescence earlier. Here's another fine example from Mr. Grackle.

Ever seen a bird with fur? Me neither. But this one nibbling at the feeder is kinda cute.

That's it for today. Thanks for taking a peek. Hope you enjoyed.

Flora & Fauna & Etc.

You folks may have noticed I have a thing for herons, especially the Great Blues. (I always have, and will try to explain the connection someday, likely in a book.) And although I live in the country and Hilary in a large city, I had never seen a Night Heron or Green Heron before visiting the mid-city pond near her home. Though not exactly common, we might spot night herons 10 times a year and greens two or three. Usually we see them roosting on some deadfall along one side of the pond -- the side farthest away. Even with a spiffy 400mm lens, sharp shots, depending on lighting, range from difficult to impossible.

On a walk around the pond earlier this summer, I startled a night heron and took a hurried shot as he flew away. Fortunately, the photography gods favoured me and I actually caught the bird in the frame and pretty much in focus. I know! I was amazed too! Here's the pic.

This past summer was a great one for flowers. The lilies were especially nice.

What colour describes that one - burgundy maybe?

I don't know what this next flower is called but there's a bunch of them in my yard. Hilary was kind enough to tilt it towards my lens.

Did you notice her colourful wrist bling? Hil's notoriously camera shy but I have permission to show her wrists whenever I wish. Here's a closer look.

Neighbourhood urchins, I mean, children, are frequent visitors to Hil's. Sometimes, we need to feed the little buggers and they're not the most fastidious eaters. Sometimes, they'll drop something on the ground, oh, like a small piece of cracker. Sometimes, a guy with a camera will spot that piece a half-hour later and take a picture of it.

Nothing is wasted in nature.

A bottle of bubble solution, the stuff that keeps Benny airborne, attracts a fly. Both of which attracted me.

Back to the fauna for a sec. I like Clematis plants. They're a great plant for guys with brown thumbs as they require no care and bloom much of the summer. And they look nice, even when a tad wet and bedraggled.

Sandpipers are busy little birds and fun to watch.

A flowering thistle is an apt symbol for sending a mixed message: The flower says "come hither" while the thorns say "stay away."

There's more but I've seen a few of you tapping your feet and checking your watches. So, I'll wrap this up with a pic I took when Hilary and I were visiting a mall specializing in Asian products. Most of the shops seemed to sell cell phone/iPod-related products, or foodstuffs from the Orient. There were hundreds of colourful signs designed to lure folks into the booths. The following one was my favourite.

That'll do for this go-round. It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canuckland. I hope wherever you are, you're enjoying friends, family, and nature's bounty.