Peacock

Wandering around Toulouse, France, we found a beautiful park... with peacocks and peahens, just wandering around! What wonders you find in a milder climate. :)

Family Time

Merlin

Ring-Billed Gull

Birds, part 2! Today will focus on the Ring-Billed Gull, one of many different gulls you can find around here.

Angry bird is angry! I believe he was angry at another gull, but who knows. As you can see, whatever it was, it wasn't close.

I caught this one having a snack. I am very pleased with the timing, but I'm also sharing it because of the vibrant colours. The oranges and reds are stunning.

BE GONE!

Seriously, it looks like the one on the right is casting a spell at the one on the left. And the spectators seem none too concerned about what's going on. "Oh, it's just Maggie getting mad Joe was out late again." Really pleased with a lot of things in this picture, but wondering if maybe I should have cropped it more at the top, or even cloned the people out...

My favourite of this bunch! Really pleased with the timing, the crispness on the bird to the left, and the colours. It was actually quite empty water around them, but I cropped it way in to just focus on the birds. Thoughts?

Canada Geese

I recently spent a couple of hours at a local park taking pictures of the birds. So I hope you like birds, because there will be a lot of them over the next few days! This post will showcase some of my favourite pictures from that day of Canada Geese.

A beautiful day to ponder life, the universe, and everything. Or at least whether that gull is going to steal a tasty morsel he wanted.

I think this is my favourite from this set. I caught these two in take off. It's not a perfectly sharp, clear image, but that's okay. I was working more on getting my camera in the right place at the right time. They aren't a completely fuzzy blur, so I call it a win.

I imagine he was studying his reflection. He was probably looking below the surface for a bite to eat. He just looks so calm and stately.

A moment later, surveying his domain. I love his reflection in the water. Not completely clear, but quite nice.

Framed Duck

Almost perfectly framed by the grasses at the edge of the lake. But not quite perfectly. Which makes me sad.

1/160 sec, f/5.0 aperture, ISO 80, 35.6mm focal length

American Crow

He could be a bit sharper. But I love the profile, I love how he seems to be looking out from behind the tree. I love how soft and out of focus the background is, with the sharp leaves in the foreground.

1/200 sec, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

Great Blue Heron

Absolutely at the distance limit of what my camera could manage clearly. But it is very obvious that this is indeed a Great Blue Heron. We actually followed him for quite a while, unintentionally. When we got too close (which wasn't close at all) he would take off, and watching him in flight was just breath-taking.

1/160 sec, f/5.7, ISO 80, 100mm focal length

Too good to miss

This duck was diving for lunch under the water. The view was priceless - including the feet visible beneath the surface of the water! Strangely, I actually like that it's off-center. Usually I'm not fond of it, but this one works. Maybe that's because it's only a little off?

1/125 sec, f/5.0 aperture, ISO 80, focal length 41.4mm

A long absence

A long time since the last post! Between having a broken computer for several weeks amd yhe amount of time spent on my two new favourite hobbies, the blog has fallen by the wayside. (Those hobbies are playing with/teasing the puppy, and Geocaching.) My camera does provide great cover though, when I'm trying to be stealthy in hunting for a geocache. I've gotten some great shots while waiting for people to walk past, so I can dive back in to the bushes or a tree!

Like this one! It probably breaks a million "rules" - like rule of thirds, since the bird is smack in the middle of the shot. But for me, it works.

Bird Stalker Pt 3

This guy came to visit us at work. Getting a good shot was hard, given the time of day and that it was through a dirty window.But I think it still turned out alright!

Bird Stalker Pt 2

Another little guy sitting above me. He kindly stayed still long enough that I could get a good shot!

Bird Stalker Pt 1

Once again, I have been a bird stalker lately. For me they are a great challenge because they don't usually sit still for a long, involved process of composition and fiddling with settings. Especially these little guys.

I haven't got a clue what kind of bird this is. I love the contrast though between this very lively little bird and the old bars and concrete around him.

1/80 sec exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 44.5 mm focal length, ISO 200

Owl in the City

I looked out the office window the other day, and the City was hosting an event downtown, where they were showing off city services and attractions. It seemed like a fun way to pass lunch, so I headed out to see what was what... and discovered that the local zoo had brought 3 raptors to show off!

This is Cortez, a South American Spectacled Owl from Edmonton's Valley Zoo. He was very calm, but definitely aware of and interested in what was going on around him. He only tried to take a nibble out of one person, and even then it seemed like only a half-hearted attempt - he didn't move very fast! It was also quite warm out, so he may have been feeling a bit lethargic. The zookeeper was paying close attention to signs that the heat was getting to Cortez.

And this is a close-up of the foot of Cortez! I'd rather not find myself on the wrong side of those powerful talons. The detail of the feathers is also great, I love how sharply in focus this image is.

This was an amazing experience. To be so close to this bird - I even got to pet his chest! Beautiful bird.

First image: 1/250 exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 80, 19.8mm focal length (the slight zoom was just to minimize the background)

Second image: 1/200 exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 100, 22.4mm focal length (slightly zoomed in to focus on the foot)

Blurry bird

This little guy is out of focus. I may as well admit that right off the bat! However, there is a reason I'm sharing this anyway.

There are many steps involved in becoming a good photographer. One that I've been struggling with it right place, right time. In the past, a bird in flight has been nearly decapitated. With a faster shutter speed, this would have been a great picture, because the other elements are all there. He's well within the frame, the rest of the picture isn't too busy, there's no wires or other interfering objects. It's maybe a smidge dark, and issue that would have been exacerbated by a faster shutter speed, but that's a risk when shooting in the shade.

I was zoomed waaaaaay in and looking up about 1 storey to get this image and several other uninspiring pictures of this guy and others.

1/400 sec exposure, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 85.2mm focal length

Spot the bird

Can you find the bird in this picture?

Remember that if you click on it, you get a larger image.


 (scroll down if you need help finding him)






Here's a cropped version. Spot him now? He's staring right at you!

1/400 sec exposure, 5 aperture, ISO 80, 47.5mm focal length

Back to the birds! A Crow

Another pair of bird pictures, this time a grumpy crow. He was not being cooperative at all, but I still got a couple of nice shots (and a couple of empty grass or pavement.)

Oh yes, this one I definitely cropped. But it's a neat shot of him mid-snack. 1/400 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

So with a branch blocking his head, this one won't win any awards. But I love the look of his wings, fully stretched out and so crisp and clear. No cropping. 1/800 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 80, 100mm focal length

Blue Jay series

I hope I didn't scare the people who live in this house. I spent quite a bit of time with a long zoom on my camera stalking the birds in their yard. The result was this trio of images of a blue jay.

This picture I did crop to get in closer to the bird. He was in the shade, so 1/40 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 200, auto white balance

A slightly different view and uncropped this time. He'd turned his head away from me, but it gave a great, full profile. Same details as the last, 100 mm focal length.

This one I also cropped just slightly to remove a distracting element on the left. I love how clear and crisp his silhouette is in this picture. 1/1000 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 80

Ring-Billed Gull

I have recently discovered that what I was calling a "sea gull" is in fact several different, very similar-looking birds from the gull family, none of which have "sea" in their names. Go figure. I've been trying for a while to get a clear shot of one, so I could figure out just which type of gull I was looking at, and I'm very pleased with how this one came out.

Meet the Ring-Billed Gull, set against a flawless blue sky. I really like the simplicity of this picture.

late day

Very late today, however, it's still Sunday, so it still meets the requirement!

One of the 30 day challenges I assigned was a bird. Here are two pictures of the guy I caught!

I honestly thought I had missed this guy completely. I looked up, and 2 mapgies were coming straight at me between the houses. This picture is not cropped, that's really how close I came to missing him. However, since catching a bird in motion has been a real challenge for me, I'm still quite pleased with the picture, because he's not just a blurry smudge, he's actually fairly clear.

And here's a nice picture of where he landed. As I've said before, I love the contrast between the bare branches and a bright blue sky, and with that fluffed up magpie, I really like this picture. I did try to get around more to the front of him, but he flew away in short order. The challenge of trying to capture uncooperative wildlife!