This time last weekend, there was snow on the ground and it was a soggy, rather miserable day. But on my afternoon walk, I spotted one of the deer families and managed to get a couple quick pictures. It’s wonderful to see that this mom has managed to keep the young ones safe, especially with the coyotes in the area.
That’s all I have for this week, hopefully there will more photo opportunities in the week to come.
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!
An older male with lots of scars. I wonder what his story is? Clashes with other males perhaps?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.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.Beautiful light on a beautiful bird – a northern flicker.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.The young male pausing for a portrait.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.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.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.Something startled one of them, and they all scattered. That repeated a few times throughout the morning.An evergreen with a light dusting of snow.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!
Last week it was all about the birds, this week, it was pretty much all about the deer. They stopped by singly, in pairs and in a group of four, and were around every other day, if not more. The one day I didn’t take my camera out on my afternoon walk, I spotted the great grey owl again. I got a snapshot with my phone, but as it was getting dark, I didn’t head back out with the camera and try to capture some better photos. I spoke with one of my friends in the neighbourhood, and she said that the owl has been spotted in her yard a couple times, and I am quite certain I caught a brief glimpse of him or her as she flew into the bush last week. Fingers crossed I’ll get to spend more time with the owl in the future.
I picked up some additional editing software during black Friday sales, and have finally had the opportunity to play around with some of it. Hence all the photos look completely different this week, as I wanted to see what different filters and treatments did.
I think that’s about all, so onto the picture.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week.
Browsing through the selection of evergreens in the yard.The lovely grey jay, enjoying a nibble from the deer feed bowl.The whole gang together. In the fall I would see either a group of two or a group of three in the neighbourhood. Either they have lost a member overall, or just split into different groupings when I saw them before. Regardless, it was great to have them all here.A few moments after I shot this, two of the deer headed off into the forest.A pair of pine grosbeaks perched on a small evergreen in the back yard.Enjoying a new years eve lunch.Taking a pause from eating. Isn’t he a beautiful boy?I keep the bowl full and what do I get? She sticks her tongue out at me while I’m taking her photo! The nerve 🙂On my afternoon walk today, I found a happy face in the snow. When the universe smiles at you, smile back 🙂A watery winter sun tries to peek through a combination of clouds and fog.
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 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!
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 🙂
Spencer all suited up for his morning walk. I always swore I wouldn’t make him wear boots, but with the miles we put on every day, they really help.Frosty branches, snowy ground, leaden sky… feeling chilly yet?Early morning + fog = not great (wildlife & bird) photos. But very cool to see this coyote a few mornings ago.A large and very fluffy coyote watching me, watching him.Not the most inspired landscape composition, but the sky this afternoon reminded me of a watercolour painting.The young one isn’t so young – almost the size of mama.Mama deer hanging out in the yard today.Mama having a nibble of the feed we have out in the yard (a winter treat only, just like the bird feeders).Good thing there isn’t a flag pole nearby!!!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.
This week, let’s great straight to the pictures! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend 🙂
A pine grosbeak working on a pinecone. I’m getting closer to getting a decent photo of the brightly coloured male. 1/640sec, f8.0, ISO 400Getting even closer, but still not the type of shot I’m hoping for. 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO 2200I love the shape of this crow flying overhead. 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO 400Such 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 400It was so beautiful I had to include two photos it. A brilliantly foggy sunrise.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 6400Trying 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, ISO6400My 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, ISO2800I 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.Silhouetted trees and heart shaped clouds at sunrise. 1/400sec, f8.0, ISO 400
I’m going to start with the most recent pictures and work my way backwards. Yesterday, I started the day reading a post on Facebook by Cheryl Richardson that said “Stop trying to make sanity out of an insane situation. If your schedule is crazy busy, you don’t need time management, you need space.” Lately I have definitely been feeling that is something needed in my life; but looking back at the compositions I made yesterday morning, I guess it was also something I also desired in my photos.
After quite a windy day earlier this week, colourful leaves in my neighbourhood are getting few and far between. 1/320sec, f11, ISO320A few leaves clinging on. 1.320sec, f11, ISO320Naked branches reaching into the blue. 1/320sec, F11, ISO320Half moon and about a half dozen leaves. 1/320sec, f11, ISO320Probably my favourite picture of the bunch; I can’t put my finger on why 🙂 1/320sec, f11, ISO320Hot and cold. I think this would have been a lot better with my macro lens, but that isn’t the best walking around lens, in case an interesting bird decides to fly by. 1/200sec, f5.0, ISO640
This week has been an interesting adjustment photographically, as I have put away my D610 and my Tamron 150mm-600mm, as both need to go in for some work. My first thought when primarily shooting with my D5100 again was how wonderfully light it is! It also doesn’t have the same warm colour cast when using auto white balance that I have found my D610 has. The downfall for taking it out walking early in the morning is it does not have an auto ISO option in manual mode, so there’s one more thing to remember to do. Hopefully this week I can get all the equipment shipped off (and hopefully get everything back working good as new). Here are the photos I selected from the earlier part of the week.
A young male deer at the top of my road. The light wasn’t very favourable, but that just made the photos less than stellar, not the moment. 1/1000sec, f7.1, ISO800This really isn’t a great photo, but it’s a bit of a family portrait of the three deer that were grazing. 1/1000sec, f7.1, ISO 800I’ve seen lots of bunnies around my area, but never when I have my camera. This little one was about 10 feet from my driveway, spotted on the way home from our morning walk. He was quite calm and I felt bad startling him when I got too close, but I had to get in and get on with work. 1/640sec, f7.1, ISO2000I’m glad I managed a picture of this guy (or girl) as the flock was too far away to ID without taking pictures. One of the photos taken before the Tamron got packed away. A juvenile red crossbill. 1/100sec, f7.1, ISO800
I was originally planning to hold off on this post, in the hopes of including some photos of the super blood moon eclipse… but it’s mostly overcast here at 4:45pm, and it seems pretty unlikely that it will clear in time to see anything. C’est la vie.
This week has seen me finally sort out the annoying camera spots (sensor dirt, so time for a trip to the service centre). I’ve also started having a somewhat annoying issue with my Tamron 150mm-600mm; it occasionally will register f0 and stop working. I need to turn the camera off, unmount and remount to get it back to normal. Sadly it seems like it is a common problem after doing some research; so that might end up taking a trip to a service centre too.
Hardware issues aside, I’ve managed to remember my camera on most of my walks this week, and was prepared to capture what I saw along my walks. I hope you enjoy!
A black billed magpie flying through the fog. 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO 2000I like this shot because it shows off the beautiful wing tips. 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO280The wire perch was to my advantage, as the fog wasn’t as much of an issue. 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO 6400One wildflower clings on, it’s neighbour having already given in to the chill of autumn. 1/160sec, f6.3, ISO800Earlier this week, a Mom with a fairly large fawn spent some time in the front yard; again I saw them when heading out for our afternoon walk. These ones were far less comfortable with my presence and hopped off deeper into the bushes very quickly. 1/500sec, f6.3, ISO2800A couple days in a row, this ruffled grouse was in the long grasses at the roadside (I couldn’t see him at all) and when Spencer and I walked within about 20 feet, he shot off noisily deeper into the bushes. On this occasion, he flew straight towards us and passed within about 5 feet, but it allowed me to track him to his perch in a evergreen tree, and finally get a few better shots. Still not ideal with the low light and the fog, but an improvement nonetheless. 1/640sec, f6.3, ISO 6400Looks at the fluffy legs! 1/640sec, f6.3, ISO4000Cow-moo-flage. A pair of calves nearly disappear within the tall grass. 1/800sec, f7.1, ISO 6400Just as I was leaving to take Spencer for his afternoon walk, I noticed this young deer grazing in my back yard. He spent a few moments watching me watch him, before getting back to eating. 1/1000sec, f8, ISO 2200Nibbling on some select bushes. 1/1000sec, f8.0, ISO 1600This little chickadee was clinging quite precariously to a branch, almost upsidedown. I like how the autumn leaves create a frame for the bird. 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO1000