The hummingbird fest

Birds two posts in a row! Whodathunkit? You guys are going to be thinking I've gone over to the bird side, but not so. I've always said that I'm not particularly a wild life photographer, if the critter poses nice, I'll oblige.

This morning Celina was out on her harness, doing her vole patrol. She is a good kitty, contributing to the household economy. 4 voles so far! At the least that is fewer plant roots getting chewed by voles. Our neighbour 2 doors down has caught several voles in mouse traps, so we suspect there is a  vole colony in the yard between us. Maybe we should ask if we can let Celina roam in there.

I digress. While checking on her to make sure she wasn't tangled up on something, I noticed a hummingbird checking out the delphiniums. I'd heard one last night, but didn't see it. I watched this one then ran for the camera, since it seemed to be sticking around. 

So today you get several hummingbird photos. These are cropped way in on a 200mm lens, and the shutter speed is slightly too slow. Enjoy the uniqueness, at least. This is the first time in 3875 posts you've seen hummingbird photos.

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Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

And a serendipity from 2019. This isn't a freelance artist, those rocks are glued or pinned in place.

Peony

Flower

Yukon

Film (new)

Medium format Acros II.

Film (old)

I actually remember taking this photo. It's probably one of the first ones where I saw composition and walked a bit to get in the right place, getting the roof aligned to the mountain. This is probably late 80's.

The owl sequence

 You read about the canola trip that was photo-bombed by a steam train. That was fun, though I'm not a train chase kind of guy. Well, for this train I am. But that was only part of the day. We got a late lunch and carried on with the tour. We eat in all sorts of places, and this was another. Let's just say Carseland is in no danger of becoming a culinary destination.

I am constantly amazed at what my fellow roadies see along the way. Often they'll say, "there's a x over there", and then they talk about the details of what it is, or what it might be, down to individual feathers. Typically I don't have a clue where it is and see nothing. All this is happening as the van is zooming down the road. "There's an owl in that tree." The van slows a bit. "It's a great horned owl, shall we stop?" Usually that's a yes, and we all get out carefully so we have a chance. Usually the owl flies away.

Or it will be a critter in the bush, or canola, or in the ditch, or on the road, or beside the railway tracks. I think it's usually between 200 m and 1000 m away. I'd be a hopeless hunter gatherer.

So there we were, zooming along. 

1. Someone spotted the owl in the barn when we were 'bring the van to a safe stop' distance away. We got out and took the first photos. This is with the 200mm lens. I didn't see the owl with my eyes at first, and then I thought it was a piece of wood sticking out. The others had better eyes and 500 or even 600mm lenses, so they can practically count feathers from here.

2. The owl promptly disappeared, flying out the other end of the shed into a grove of trees. There was no fence or a no trespassing sign, so we walked in to see if we could see the owl in the trees. I was a bit behind them, looking for a landscape or abandoned building photo, when I saw the owl flying out of the trees toward the shed. It flew directly over the other people, only a few feet over their heads. They heard nothing but saw me aiming the camera. None of them were able to catch it. I was fortunate enough to have focused the lens to about the distance to the owl, though it's slightly out of focus in these first two photos. The time stamp on the first one is 6:31:17.

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3.  Still 6:31:17

4. Now it's flying into the shed, and about here the owl disappeared, since it was fairly dark. I didn't care. I clicked the shutter button. 6:31:18.

5. 6:31:18

6. 6:31:20 It took me a second to change from 70mm to 200 mm and find focus again. This is not cropped, so you can tell how far away I was.

7. 6:31:20

Normally I'm about trying to get the face of whatever critter is posing, but those feathers in that light are just gorgeous! On the camera I could see just enough to know it was in focus, but could only hope in Lightroom I'd be able to brighten up the shadows a bit. And so I did, but not too much. I wanted it to look like I was aiming into a dark shed, and not that I had a search light shining in there. This is cropped in quite a bit to get the feather detail.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

With several faces.

Peony and Film (new)

Flower, I just love the little towers the hens and chicks build to reproduce.

Yukon, The water in Miles Canyon really is that colour. I was imagining this whirlpool sucking down a paddle wheel boat.

Film (old)

Linda saying goodbye to Nefertitti just before that last visit to the vet.

Flowery Friday 2, the May 23rd edition

In the pipeline is the owl story from the canola/steam train tour. But because it's Friday, and there's lots of flowers in the pipeline, ready to show off, you get the flowers of May 23. A couple others from that day have been blogged already and are not included here.

In a surprise development, I'm pretty sure I know what all these are. Which means you probably do as well. 

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13. Not a flower, of course, but I liked the ripples.

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17. Last year our neighbour's apple tree didn't produce any apples at all. There was a frost at just the wrong time. This year there are a great many apples. One of the branches is weighed down enough that I have to fend it off as I'm tending the barbecue. I'm quite sure that our late summer sleeps will be interrupted by the BONG of apples falling on the barbecue or the white water barrels. We're pretty sure that our elderly neighbour will never live there again. We're told that she's enjoying the assisted living facility, and that her son is planning on selling. I hope our new neighbours don't cut down this tree. We love the shade.

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Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

Yukon, Miles canyon.

Film (new) 

Typically swamps don't make good photographic subjects, but I wanted to see how this film (Lomo 100) looked in subdued light. I'm pretty pleased.

Film (old)

In the spirit of flowery Friday, evidence I was taking flower photos long before the digital camera showed up. This particular bed has been taken over by a couple roses intent on world domination.