Category: Ducks
Happy Valentine’s Day From The Birds
The pTerodactyl posed perfectly in the Tangle Heart Tree for Valentine’s Day.
Miss Stripy Sparrow
Mama Owl
Sparky Sparrow
Daddy Owl snoozing at sunrise.
A congregation of cranes at dawn.
Tommee Towhee
Cranes celebrating the frosty sunrise.
The other side of Miss Stripy Sparrow.
A pTerodactyl takeoff.
A silly duck on takeoff.
“¡Hasta la huego you silly goose!”
As a thunderstorm blew in this evening lots of crows were flying all around us.
Quick Change Skies
Looking west @ 5:31 pm February 10, 2021
Mama Owl @ 4:23 pm February 10, 2021
Looking south @ 5:42 pm February 10, 2021
Cranes @ 5:44 pm February 10, 2021
Looking east @ 5:45 pm February 10, 2021
pTerodactyl with ducks doing vespers prayers. 5:53 pm February 10, 2021
Looking west @ 6:01 pm February 10, 2021
Spunk Approves
Murder over the bosque
Lavinia asked if I had used a telescope to photograph the moon last night. Lavinia never lets me down on being observant and asking questions when something seems different like a whole lot of detail in the moon photo. As I answered her, I did not use a telescope, I used a 400mm lens that is equivalent to a 640mm lens on my Canon 7D Mark II body. I have been considering getting a long telephoto lens for quite some time.
I was originally looking at the Canon 100-400mm lens, which is one of Canon’s best telephoto zoom lenses for mere mortal photographers, such as myself. However, the 100-400mm lens is ƒ/4.5 to ƒ/5.6, which is a little slow for as much low light photography as I do. I really needed a faster telephoto lens. I seriously considered both the Canon 400mm ƒ/2.8 and the Canon 300mm ƒ/2.8 lenses. The problem with those lenses for me is their weight. The Canon 400mm ƒ/2.8 weighs in at 12 pounds, and the 300mm ƒ/2.8 weighs 6 pounds, 1/2 the weight of the 400mm ƒ/2.8, but still a heavy lens.
I ended up compromising on speed for lighter weight and bought a 400mm ƒ/4.0 DO lens with Refractive Optics, which enables Canon to put a 400mm ƒ/4.0 lens in the same body as the 300mm ƒ/2.8 lens, shaving 2 pounds off the weight in the process. At 4 pounds, the 400mm ƒ/4.0 DO is easy to handle, and fast enough to get decent images hand held in low light. In the photos of the owls below, we could only see outlines of the owls with our bare eyes like in the first photo, but not nearly as close up. The new lens is able to focus on the owls in relative darkness, through the branches and get an amazing amount of detail.
Spunk loves my new lens
Preening
Spunk’s a lens hugger
Intermission photographed using a Fuji XE-1 with 27mm ƒ/2.8 lens
“Who are you calling a ‘lens hugger?’ Stupid Paparazzo!”
RAW image of the owls before I cropped the image and adjusted the exposure, contrast, color balance, etc.
“Oh my! The paparazzo found us again.”
Mirroring
The streak photographed using a Canon 5Ds with a Canon 70-200mm ƒ/4.0 lens
A little over half a moon on 01/21/21
No Help From Spunk
“This paw ain’t made for plumbing.”
The instant hot water heater I have connected in the hot water line under the sink quit working. The quickest way to remedy the problem was to change it out with the instant water heater I had in the darkroom. I tried to enlist Spunk’s help, but he isn’t into helping with plumbing projects. He supervised from the hammock.
“Hey Paparazzo put your camera down and get back to work on changing out that hot water heater.”
Flying duck intermission.
“Hmmm, Paparazzo! You are not giving me much entertainment here. You’re like really BORING!”
“Watch your language, Paparazzo! I asked for entertainment not colorful expletives about the ‘Blankity blank’ water heater. Plus there are innocent little kitten ears out and about.”
Afterglow
“It looks like the wind is blowing in a nice afterglow tonight.” Wise words Daddy Owl.
Crows on the crow highway.
Ducks basking in the afterglow.
Cranes, ducks, and geese enjoying the glow.
More crows heading south.
Sandias catching the afterglow long after sundown.
Clouds from the bosque view.
Travel Photo Challenge Day 10 Cranes In The Mist Then & Now
Cranes In The Mist. November 2009.
Cranes In The Mist is one of Susan Brant Graham’s favorite photos that I have done. Below are some cranes in the mist from this morning, but they don’t quite have the same magic as the original taken in 2009. Susan is not only my photographer of the day for my last post in the Travel Photo Challenge, but she is also one of my favorite photographers, period.
Laurie and I have known Susan for 20 years now. It all started with the Albuquerque Rose Society where Susan, Laurie, Tristan, Susan’s mother, and I all competed in rose shows and rose arranging competitions. I believe it was the summer of 2007, Susan was taking photos of roses in our garden when her camera broke. She had a Canon point-n-shoot then. That incident inspired her to get a Canon 5D full-frame camera, and she started taking photography seriously. She upgraded to a Canon 5D Mark II soon after it became available. Susan is an OBGYN and also has a Ph.D. in Anthropology. Over the years she has won many awards for her photography. She wrote the American Rose Society guidelines for judging photographs of roses and published a book on matting photographs for rose shows.
Susan and I share the same birthdate, so we have used our birthdays to do photography day trips. Susan, Laurie, and I have also photographed various special events together. Susan retired a few years ago and has recently been working on projects that show how colorblind people see color and on genealogy. She has published books on El Dia de los Muertos parade in Albuquerque, her colorblind project, and she is currently working on a book or books based on her family genealogy. Susan’s blog is http://susanbgraham.com/blog/. She has not been active on her blog this year with all her other projects and the craziness of 2020.
You can see photos from one of our more notable birthday excursions to Abó Ruins and Quarai Ruins at https://wp.me/p1yQyy-2cH and https://wp.me/s1yQyy-quarai. El Dia de los Muertos parade and the Blacksmith World Championships were two of the more memorable events we photographed together. Photos from those two events can be seen at El Dia de los Muertos: https://wp.me/p1yQyy-Vg. Blacksmith World Championships: https://wp.me/p1yQyy-1BG.
My last set of travel photos for the challenge are of Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge along the Rio Grande about 55 miles south of Albuquerque. The photos were taken in December 2009 when Laurie and I drove down to explore the area. It was cold and wet, and we saw very little wildlife that day.
Jupiter and Saturn were in the trees tonight. December 31, 2020.
Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
The Five O’clock Hour Más o Menos
Mostly blue skies tonight a little after 5:00 at pm.
Cranes catnapping a little after 5:00 pm.
Mia’s tree under a wild sky at five till five.
A Pterodactyl catnapping with ducks at ten till five.
Marina’s Incognito Tree just before sunset.
Resa’s tree in the snow yesterday around noon.
Dale’s Peach Tree in daylight under blue skies the day before yesterday.
The Spat
Cranes having a spat on the Rio Grande.
A group of cranes flew into the shallows on the Rio Grande this evening and decided to have a spat over something. They are doing a nice crane dance as part of the spat in the GIF below.
The duck walks out of the middle of the spat.
Walk On Water
If you didn’t know coyotes walk on water, now you do.
Off Center & Not Even 