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!
As soon as I saw this week’s topic, I knew exactly what I would share – the fairy circles of the Sossusvlei desert in Namibia. I was lucky enough to see them from the air, and also from the top of a small dune while out quadding my first evening in the desert. No one had an explanation of how they were formed; nothing grows in them, the are simply barren sand surrounded by scrubby plants.
There’s a Wiki pages with more info about them, in case you are interested: Fairy Circles – Wikipedia
A view of the fairy circles from the top of a dune (taken with my mobile phone). April, 2015A view of the fairy circles from the air. We saw several areas with these on the flight from Windhoek to Sossusvlei. April, 2015
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 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.
