20 Friday May 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
I forgot to edit my photos from the zoo!! Except for the monkeys and the flamingos, the rest have been sitting quietly, patiently, waiting their turn on my external hard drive.
They were forgotten in my zeal for my new camera, purchased the next week. Tonight they squawked just enough to get their due.
I realized that most of what I took that day were birds.
Tomorrow I’ll show you the few Beasts I got.
29 Tuesday Mar 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
This is the third year in a row this Robin has come to our house and tried to mate with the bird in the mirror of our cars. The first two years it was just the Durango. This year he is trying both mirrors on both cars.
This bird is making us CRAZY.
His name is Earl.
And I’m not saying how, and please don’t judge us, but we have a plan,
And Earl has to die.
27 Saturday Mar 2010
Tags
Last Saturday was my birthday and I decided I wanted to spend the day on Whidbey Island because it’s closer than Oahu and I could go for just the day. John and Debbie and Rick and I had a great day meandering around the island, checking out wineries, eating, drinking coffee, talking, laughing…It was a perfect birthday full of unplanned surprises:
1. John was talking up this little bakery “on the way” to Oak Harbor in a little town called Edison. I’ve seen the sign for Edison Washington, but I had no idea there was a TOWN! It’s more of a village really. And he talked up the bakery to the point I was pretty sure I would feel let down once we found it. But no. No let down. No way. Holy cow! Love Love Love, I’m in LOVE with this place! A pastry case filled with scones so bumpy and fat and full of berries, cinnamon rolls bursting with pecans and no icing, but you could have it put on if you liked. I meant to take a picture of the scones Rick and Debbie were eating, but I was much too busy shoving my pecan filled cinnamon roll into my mouth after snapping this. MMmmmm….
2. After leaving the bakery, Rick pulled over so I could shoot these:
(Rick is such a trooper when it comes to me and my camera)
3.
I have no words.
Rick pointed, said, “OMG, look at that dog!”, and I grabbed my camera before the light turned green. Snapped the pic THROUGH the windshield. My favorite picture from the day.
And yes, apparently Rick does say “OMG”. It’s documented right on his facebook.
4. At one of the wineries we visited, Rick and John spent money, real quarters on this: (I didn’t think to take a picture until Rick walked out of the scene, but it was pretty funny seeing them both looking at a real genuine peep show. These machines are over 100 years old, and so are the pictures inside them. Debbie and I snuck a peek too and they were actually really cute.
5. At the same winery, the door to a garage was open and we saw this:
6. These Herons are like 5 feet tall and weigh about as much as Abbie, and yet they roost and nest (is that redundant?) in the branches of trees! Rick and John spotted these guys flying in and landing on these branches. I can count 7 in this photo, but there were many more than that! Amazing!
7. Late in the day we happened upon this Chess Board.
And the best surprise was no surprise at all: Any day spent with good friends is a blast! Happy Birthday To Me.
22 Monday Feb 2010
Posted in Photo
Tags
I have learned a thing or two about snow geese this weekend.
On Saturday my Mother In Law and I went on a guided bus tour in and around Camano Island and Stanwood Washington hoping to find Trumpeter Swans or Snow Geese, and more to the point, hoping to get amazing and award winning photographs of said, Trumpeter Swans or Snow Geese.
We saw no swans. Well, we actually saw a few small flocks scattered about, and positioned so deeply in the fields, so as to not be able to get near them. They’re smart that way.
As the bus pulled out to begin the tour, Bob the Tour Guide apologetically told us the previous 2 tours of the day had not had any luck finding the elusive snow geese, and warned us not to be too hopeful. But even knowing we probably would not see any birds, Bob the Tour Guide, always the professional, gave us loads of information as our short little bus mosied down the country roads, our bus driver looking this way and that for spots of white to track down.
We learned much useful information:
Snow Geese weigh up to 4-6 pounds and can grow to 36-44 inches tall, while Trumpeter Swans can weigh 21-30 pounds, as big as our Thanksgiving Turkey, and grow to 84-96 inches tall!
Snow Geese, like Swans, mate for life and travel in families, Mother, Father, and Babies, but they join other families and form large “flocks” that then travel together. We’ve all seen these families of geese flying south or north, depending on what time of year it is. We’ve all seen them in their familiar V formations, sometimes up to 30 birds at a time, and can hear them calling to each other as they pass overhead.
When the driver of our short little bus rounded a field and pointed to a flock of Snow Geese, Bob the Tour Guide came alive. This was the flock he’d been looking for all day! Cameras in hand, we spent the next 20 to 30 minutes along the side of the road, between two fields watching, taking pictures, listening. Bob the Tour Guide continued his lecture out there on the road.
We learned how to identify the young birds by their gray coloring, that while the birds in the middle of the group were eating, those on the outsides of the group were standing watch, their heads held high, ready to warn the rest of the flock of approaching eagles or coyotes. I did not know before this weekend that eagles prey on Snow Geese. That is why you can see the wood cutouts of eagles in the fields along I-5 in Skagit Valley. The Snow Geese ruin their fields in their eating frenzy between now and May when they begin their flight back up to Wrangle Alaska.
When Bob the Tour Guide told us that the little Snow Goose Families join other little Snow Goose Families and travel together in larger flocks, I didn’t realize he really meant they travel in SWARMS. If you have never seen a Swarm of Snow Geese, I will tell you, it will leave you weak-knee’d, scrunched down to the ground, hunched over your camera, and crying for your Mama!
I had walked up the road a ways from the rest of our tour group. The birds were closer to the road and I wanted to try to get a closer shot. I know these pictures look serene and peaceful, but I assure you, geese are nothing of the sort. They were loud, talking, chatting, arguing, scolding; constant noise! So when the entire herd, I mean flock suddenly became quiet, I could hear the other tourists, my Mother In Law included, gasping and asking “what is THAT?” They were pointing out beyond the geese in front of us.
And there it was. The SWARM. This was a swarm of geese of Biblical Porportions, and they were heading directly toward the flock in front of us:
When this larger flock tried to join the flock on the ground, I can only describe it with words like Mayhem Cacaphony Chaos Dischord Utter Terror!
Our original little semi-peaceful flock would have none of it! They rose up off the ground as if made of one body and fought off the larger flock:
Later, once peace was established, and the tribes had merged, Bob the Tour Guide estimated there were 5000-7000 Snow Geese swarming above our heads trying to land in the very spot we were standing. At this point I remember I am up the road from the rest of our group, there are over a million (I’m given to exaggerations) 30 pound TURKEY size birds trying to land on me, and well, I suppose I Kind of freaked out a little.
These birds were flying so low I knew they were either going to
A. Crap All Over Me
B. Skim my already wind-blown hair with their feet
C. Nose-bomb me and peck divets in my head or
D. Reach down and carry me off in their talons
I actually did visualize being carried off by the whole flock of 5000 to 7000 geese, but regained a bit of my sanity and remembered they don’t have talons, they have webbed feet and couldn’t pick up a squirrel with them. So, back to A. Crap All Over Me…I’m hunching over my camera trying to protect it from Swarming Snow Goose Poop, at the same time thinking I’m missing the shots of a life-time, at least as far as Snow Geese are concerned, I’m crouching, making my way to the bus where there are other people, namely my Mother In Law, who might just care if I’m carried off or nose-bombed by 5000 to 7000 Swarming Snow Geese.
Somehow, in the midst of all the mayhem, cacaphony, chaos, the 5000-7000 Swarming Snow Geese are accepted by the first little flock and are allowed to land and frenzily feed among them.
That day I learned a few other things.
I learned that I need to wear a hat when out photographing wildlife.
I learned that I need a lens that will go from 28 to 300mm so I can capture the whole range of what’s going on around me and not get caught with only my zoom lens and no time to change it, let alone clean Snow Goose Poop Free air to change it in.
I learned that although I’m pretty independent and like to walk off on my own, when things get a little out of hand, I really want people near me who know me and love me and would notice if I was carried off by a Swarm of 5000-7000 Snow Geese.
17 Wednesday Feb 2010
Posted in Photo
Tags
Having an unplanned, unexpected day off, with no plans, nowhere I needed to be anytime soon, I headed out the door at 8:00 a.m. having thrown my camera, tripod, mudboots, water bottle, and a snack in the car. No idea where I was going or for how long. I ended up parking at Boulevard Park and walked into Fairhaven, weaving around the blocks, and then down to Marine Park, and back to Boulevard.
How is this February???
Scoters:
I was hoping to see an eagle today. But really, I can’t complain, can I?
What a great day.
18 Sunday Jan 2009
15 Monday Dec 2008
Tags
14 Sunday Dec 2008
Tags
I’m a little disappointed in myself. Rick and I have been looking for the swans on the weekends, and hadn’t had any luck until yesterday. Actually, Rick had been out Mt. Baker Highway during the week and spotted a field with a couple hundred swans feeding, so that’s where he took me yesterday morning. There were a few dozen in the field when we arrived with more flying in over the next 30-45 minutes that we took pictures. Rick knocked on the door of the house next to the field and asked the couple who lived there if we could cross their yard to take photos. They were very nice and friendly and said, of course we could. They only asked that we try not to spook them because they love sitting in their living room watching them all day.
I wasn’t afraid of spooking them. I was afraid of being attacked by them! There is a christian conference center out a little further where a mating pair of swans make their home each year, and I have been chased by them several times. They are very territorial. So, here we are, in a field of swans, with new couples arriving every few minutes, and although I took a hundred pictures, I was too afraid to get close enough to get some REALLY good detail shots. Here are a few that I like:
They come in pairs and they fly in tandem
14 Sunday Sep 2008
Watcha got in there?
Who me?
I'm outta here
We're walking, we're walking...
Here's MY lunch!
Ok, I know. That was totally cheesy. But it was really funny to watch that seagull walk nonchalantly over and hop on top of that kayak. He looked around almost like he knew he’d get busted before looking down in the seat. And when the owner came back to it, instead of flying away he very slowly hopped off and walked over to the crab. Very whimsical. I love Saturdays.
20 Tuesday May 2008
