I was hoping to find birds on the rooftops in our neighborhood as I went out on a mission to shoot a photo for today’s challenge- rooftops. I ended up liking the views of bare birches against the winter sky. . .
. . . and mossy branches against our neighbors’ garage. Maybe tomorrow I’ll find some interesting rooftop views.
The Subaru had to go in for servicing in today, so, while we were waiting, my husband and I drove around looking for things that were pointed, today’s Flickr group challenge. I took photos of roofs, gazebos, Mt. Diablo, fence pickets, and even my husband pointing at me (I posted that one to the group- loved it!). I am choosing this bird (with a pointed beak) on a street lamp as my photo of the day, with a little texture added for no good reason (except I felt like playing with Photoshop).
f/5.6, 1/3200, ISO 200, 200mm
Textures: Kim Klassen’s break free and scratches, very reduced opacity, applied to sky
My constant backyard visitor. . .
When we were at Yellowstone, one of my photography goals was to photograph a bald eagle. I have a very tiny image of one I took last year with my kit lens, so this year I took my longest lens hoping for a good shot- but no luck. I found out recently that a bald eagle has been spotted hanging out at a small lake a mile or two from us, so today we took a walk, hoping to see him.
Almost immediately we saw a red-tailed hawk circling a field- and then three osprey, as we neared the lake. A fellow photographer (a Canon shooter) pointed out the tree where he had seen the bald eagle earlier in the day- and said he had photographed the eagle trying unsuccessfully to steal a fish away from one of the osprey.
Long story short- no bald eagle was seen- which calls for a return trip! I did get many shots of the osprey flying overhead.
f/7.1, 1/800, ISO 200, 300mm
I’m deep into a novel, so sat outside reading this morning with my coffee- and, of course, my camera. I was rewarded by the presence of this cute little guy, who sat on the retaining wall for the longest time- beak open, as if wishing mama would come back with a worm for him.
f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 640, 300mm
Today I visited my college roommate and photoblogging friend, Carol for the second time ever at her home in Antelope. You may recall that she is a volunteer for a bird rescue organization and that she received her first call the only other time I had been to her house.
Well, you guessed it- she got her second call today shortly after I arrived. What are the chances of that?
A baby hawk had been found on a golf course. It was unable to fly or get around- and had already been put in a box by the man who had found it (another baby was found with it- already dead). Apparently, the hawks had fallen out of their nest.
The baby hawk was about the size of a kitten and was downy and fluffy- very cute. Yes, I am still squeamish about touching birds- but I enjoyed being a part of the rescue process. I hope baby makes it!
f/5.3, 1/1600, ISO 200, 95mm
I told myself today that, although I am staying at home, I would not take any flower or bird photos. Instead, I would try to take artsy photos of things outside using new and interesting angles. Welllll . . . that didn’t last long. This whole photography thing has got me interested in the birds in my backyard.
I watched the scrub jays poking around in the dirt and then a woodpecker(?) in the neighbors pine tree. Suddenly a robin landed ten feet in front of me- and the jay swooped down to chase him away. I gave up my idea of being artsy and went inside to get my longest lens (70-300mm) in case there was any more interesting bird action. I had one of my custom user settings set up for just such occurrences (aperture priority, continuous autofocus, auto ISO). Today I changed that custom setting from auto ISO to ISO 200, because I really do not like the lack of control using auto ISO. I was playing around in manual, taking flower photos, when all of a sudden, the robin returned, landing on the deck railing. I quickly switched to my custom setting and captured some quick photos as he looked around.
f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 200, 240mm
I’m on my way out to a retirement party and had really good intentions of taking my photo in my friend Kathryn’s beautiful yard- but decided to look outside here for another photo- just in case!
And my friend the scrub jay (thank you, Carol) came to call. I’ve actually seen two in our garden recently and wasn’t sure what they were.
(S)he spent some time on our lawn eating worms (ewww….)- so here is my photo of the day!
f 5.6, 1/320, ISO 900, 200 mm
Weird settings- I used aperture priority and auto ISO. You would think the camera would choose a lower ISO. I know my camera is smarter than me, but still…
melinda anderson photography 