2014, Day 190 - Curved

I haven't been to the zoo in a while, it used to be a regular stop for me but when I moved my office and they started charging for parking on top of admission it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth.  Still, I love to watch the animals and, for the most part, our local zoo does quite well in keeping the animals stimulated and happy.  The flamingos are always fun because they're so odd and at the same time elegant that I find them fascinating.

Fuji X-E1, Fujinon 55-200/f3.5-4.8R OIS
200mm, f4.8, 1/850 sec @ 500 ISO

2014, Day 171 - Alight

Photographing birds in flight is extremely difficult.  Most birds are both small and fast moving so tracking them is difficult.  Using a telephoto lens is the best way to get close but the field of vision is so narrow it is easy to lose track of your subject.  Fortunately pelicans are big birds and they're not especially graceful so they're a good bird to practice with.  I love the shape of the wings as this bird prepares to land.

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f4, 1/2000 sec @ 400 ISO

2013, Day 363 - Gliding

On a stormy afternoon while visiting the Yucatan we went to Puerto Morelos.  It is a small town whose major draw is scuba diving but the weather wasn't really conducive to diving so we walked along the beach.  There were a lot of bird on the two small docks and the high winds allowed them to merely spread their wings and be whipped into the air.  It was a lot of fun to watch and we spent a good half hour observing the birds take off and land.  After a while it was so windy that it didn't feel safe to be out on the dock so we retreated to have a little dinner.

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f4, 1/1600 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 316 - Gusts

Given our long grueling day yesterday and our late night getting cleaned up we all slept in relatively late today.  I was the first up a eight o'clock and used that time to catch up on email and world news.  As I sat with my computer on my lap the sky opened up and it began dumping rain.  When we left almost three hours later to get something to eat it had eased up to a light sprinkle.

We ate a quick lunch, having skipped breakfast, and wandered around the grounds a bit taking pictures.  There are lizards all over the place and we found a couple nice spiders hiding in plain sight.  It was a nice low-key kind of morning.  We soon returned to our room to plan for the afternoon.

Unfortunately it started raining again so we decided that if it stopped we would head out to Puerto Morelos.  It is the biggest shipping port in the state but the population there is small as it is caught between the ocean and a mangrove swamp.  What the community is best known for is the reef about three hundred feet from the shore where there is abundant sea life and as such has been designated a marine park.

Sadly for us the weather was not conducive to being out in the ocean.  Still, the rain eventually let up and we went to check it out.  Along the beach the winds had picked up and the ocean was getting choppy.  There are a couple docks that serve the community, one public and one private.  The private dock has a gate to keep non-members out but when we saw all the birds lined up we wandered out.  When we approached the more skittish birds simply opened their wings and allow the wind to carry them gracefully into the air.  Most merely landed ten feet further away but it was pretty to watch.

We also some a couple cormorants, some frigates who look beautiful airborne but rather ungainly perched, a number of sandpipers, and come hunting pelicans.  The latter would fly along the shore and when they saw a potential meal would dive straight down into the water.  It was fascinating to watch but rather difficult to photograph as they were generally too far from the shore.

As the tide started to come in we decided to wander back into the town and explore a little more.  There wasn't much to see; a few shops and some restaurants.  By the time we completed the circuit we were getting hungry and decided to stop off for some dinner.  All the places serve fish and seafood so we shared a variety of fish tacos, a torta, and some pasta.  It was all delicious and once we cleaned our plates we went in search of a taxi.

Tomorrow we are going to visit more ruins and will be having an early start so it is time to get some sleep.  Below is one of the many shorts of birds in flight.  I keep marveling at their beautiful streamlined shape and their effortless flight.  Maybe tonight I will have one of the flying dreams....

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f4.5, 1/400 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 304 - Drag

I know, I am a day late with my blog update.  While I am not dead I did get sick and I blame the dodgy eggs I had for breakfast on Thursday.  By Thursday evening I was feeling a little off but generally okay and then through the night I started getting chills and frequent bathroom breaks.

Since Araceli was arriving yesterday we had planned to stay around the hotel until she arrived anyway and I spent much of that time laying down feeling achy and reading my book.  Araceli arrived at about noon and after getting her stuff dropped off in the room she joined us on a bouncy bus ride into town.  Rather stupidly we sat in the last row and with my achy body and bad suspension I felt pretty beat up when we arrive.

Fortunately there was a good restaurant right where we hopped off the bus so we stopped in for some lunch.  I ordered the tortilla soup and was going to split an order of fish tacos with Francene but struggled to eat even half the soup.  Too bad because it was tasty just too much for me.  After eating we stopped off a the place that sells the frozen chocolate bananas that have a candy filling and walked down to the beach so Araceli could get an idea of what the town is like.

Soon after I was really dragging and they kindly suggested we go back to the hotel.  After chatting and catching up for a bit I took a showed and crawled into bed.  The rest of the afternoon I spent resting fitfully and making trips to the bathroom after which I worked of staying hydrated.

That was the rest of my evening, sleeping or resting on and off and making trips to the bathroom.  Now you are completely caught up on my Friday.  Below I included another picture of a pelican because I took absolutely no photos yesterday and I really like this image of her in flight.  Although it looked good in color there is such a richness in texture that I prefer it in black and white.

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f4, 1/2000 sec @ 400 ISO

2013, Day 303 - Preening

This morning we got off to a sunny start.  From our seventh story windows we could see men fishing just off the beach of our hotel so we both put on some clothes and wandered down.  When we arrived it was clear that they have an eager flock of pelicans waiting for their rejects to be tossed back into the water.  Why work when someone practically hands you a meal?

After watching them work for a while Francene found a piled rock breakwater further down the beach where the pelicans were congregating.  It was still early and most were just standing quietly in the shade but as the sun rose they began to hold our their wings to the warming light and to groom themselves.  Birds came and went and I captured a few good frames but I liked this guy grooming his head on his back.  It looks so awkward and uncomfortable that I had to share.

We stayed too long watching the bird but it was so much fun.  As other people began to come see what we were looking at Francene and I decided that was our queue to leave so we went back to our room to get cleaned up so we could head into town to meet her friends for breakfast.

Our arrival was a little late as it took us some time to walk from where the bus dropped us to the restaurant.  It was rather unremarkable but we caught up with everyone so it was nice none-the-less.  Afterwards we wandered around the old part of the city center looking at shops and checking the menus at restaurants.  Soon we were sweating pretty heavily so we ducked into a little coffee shop for a drink, some air conditioning, and a bit of internet access.

By now it was well past noon so we decided to head back to the hotel for a little rest.  That means another harrowing ride on one of the local busses where the drivers race every car on the street and each other as well.  Still, it is a bit of a rush.

Much of the afternoon was spent enjoying the air conditioning, reading, and relaxing.  It was peaceful and by about four o'clock we agreed we were hungry so we went back into town where we wandered for a while before finding a place that specializes in Mexican cuisine heavily accented with mole, a rich savory sweet sauce.  It was delicious and very filling but no so much that we couldn't split a frozen banana with a caramel center dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in almonds.

By this time it was dark and there were lots of little kids trick-or-treating along the waterfront.  We walked its length where we reunited with some of Francene's friends briefly before deciding the sprinkles of rain combined with the hot weather was encouraging us to retreat for the evening.

Tomorrow my friend Araceli arrives so we will probably sleep in and hang around the hotel until she gets here.  I am looking forward to a lazy morning!

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f4, 1/2000 sec @ 400 ISO

2013, Day 254 - Migation

The migrating birds weren't a planned element but when I looked at this photo it struck me that they're really missing out.  There are sunflowers everywhere ready to drop their seeds and they're flying away from the fields.  It made me wonder if there is some kind of unseen deterrent at play.  Either way, it was a pretty morning!

Fuji X-E1, Fuji 18-55/f2.8-4 OIS
39mm, f5.6, 1/500 sec @ 320 ISO

2013, Day 213 - Lawn ornament

With the cool overcast morning I decided to make a quick stop off at the zoo before it got too busy.  Well, in summer the place gets busy early and even though I got there ten minutes after they opened the gates I still had to book it to the far end to get away from the crowds.  Fortunately there were only a couple other people when I came to the flamingos.  They are a relatively new addition to the zoo although it seems that they have displaced the spoonbills which I also enjoyed.  I was able to get a few good shots before it got overrun.

Fuji X-E1, Fuji 55-200/f3.5-4.8 OIS
200mm, f4.8, 1/1400 sec @ 800 ISO

2012, Day 49 - Stillness

This evening I went down to the waterfront to take a few long exposures and while I was there waiting for the minutes to go by I was kept company by a heron.  He stayed for about fifteen minutes, hardly moving and saying even less.  Ducks swam by and he just stood there so when I finished one of my seven minute exposures I changed lenses and took this picture.  The water in the background is reflecting the lights from downtown Portland but he didn't seem to mind the bright lights at all.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
165mm, f4, 2.5 sec @ 1000 ISO

2011, Day 322 - Angel lost

I was running around today and as I got out of my car on an errand I saw this dead gull and was struck with a sense of sadness.  There were other birds around the lot, pigeons and gulls mostly, but they were keeping their distance so this single bird was left alone and abandoned on the asphalt.  Despite my grief for their bird's loss of life there was something beautiful about it, the pale blue-gray against the blackness.  I am not a religious person but I immediately thought of an angel that had been struck down which seemed a bit incongruous given that gulls are loud birds with an unpleasant cry that we associate with stagnant beaches and trash heaps.  Still, it does not diminish the marvel of evolution that produced these amazing creatures.

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 24/f1.4L Mark II
24mm, f2.5, 1/5000 sec @ 200 ISO

2011, Day 277 - Scavenge

I was thinking back through photos I've taken and there was a series of birds of prey that I quite enjoyed.  They were taken over three years ago at the Oregon Zoo while it was undergoing renovations.  During that time none of the raptors were on display but they were brought out be handlers every day at 11:30 so that people could see them.  It took a little digging through the archive to find the photographs I sought but as you can see it was a successful search.

I like this photo, the body language of the vulture is great and there was a nice dark backdrop that was easily enhanced to really highlight the bird.  One of the big surprises, apart from my vastly improved processing skills, is that this photo was taken on the now venerable Canon 1Ds Mark II at 800 ISO.  Now to normal people that probably means very little but for photo nerds like myself I have to admit to being impressed.  The noise is very well controlled and the image is tack sharp.  It's funny to think that since 2008 I've had a 1D Mark III, a 5D Mark II, a 1Ds Mark III and a 1D Mark IV; all have served me well and I still have the 1D Mark IV but I sold all the rest including my original 1Ds Mark II but I have since purchased another and I would be hard pressed to let it go for a second time.

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS
200mm, f4, 1/500 sec @ 800 ISO

2011, Day 271 - Circling the drain

This is a regular occurrence during the month of September in northwest Portland.  The swifts stop off on their migration south and every year their favorite roost is the old disused chimney at Chapman Elementary School.  At their peak there may be more than ten thousand birds but as the cold weather becomes a fixture the numbers quickly dwindle down to hundreds and then to none as they move further south.  It is an amazing sight as the birds move in a synchronistic mass, moving as one large entity rather than the thousands of individuals that comprise the flock.  It is simply mesmerizing...

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
168mm, f3.2, 1/200 sec @ 1000 ISO

2011, Day 238 - Feeding on the sun

This morning my friend Terri came up bright and early from Salem to go out and play with me.  I can hardly believe we're at the end of August already and our pact to get together monthly to go shooting has been obliterated by busy schedules.  Last time we met up it was to take pictures of butterflies down towards Salem so today we went out to Sauvie Island to take pictures of flowers.

The sunflowers are is full bloom though there are some plants that are still budding.  While much of the nation has had a hot summer ours in the Pacific Northwest has been cool and it didn't start until almost July (with it starting in earnest only last week).  Don't get me wrong, I love a mild summer and have enjoyed this summer immensely but it means that the crops are all off, the sunflowers included.

As I moved through the field it was obvious that there were all kinds of birds feeding on the seeds.  The darted in and out of the rows causing the flowers to dance and sway as they landed and then returned to the air.  I walked slowly and waited for what seemed like forever to someone with the attention span of a five year-old and this is what I was rewarded with.  I will acknowledge that in terms of wildlife photography is may not be the most dramatic image but I am proud of it and hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS MarkII
185mm, f8, 1/1000 sec @ 250 ISO

2011, Day 228 - Pirate's companion

Another parrot portrait, this time of a macaw.  I will readily admit that these birds are a little intimidating, not only are they large but they have beaks that exert enough force to open the toughest nuts so taking off a finger or two would be a breeze.  Add to that their propensity to be a little mouthy and to have strong feelings about people, both positive and negative, and you have a recipe for a hand like a shop teacher.  However, none of that detracts from the beauty of these animals.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f2.8, 1/60 sec @ 640 ISO

2011, Day 225 - Chatterbox

Saturday ended up being a bit of an adventure.  I took some photos are the Dock Dogs competition, went with my friend Julie to get parrot supplies, had lunch, worked, napped, worked some more and now I am working on the day's pictures.  Due to the large number of photos from Dock Dogs I am going to hold off until tomorrow and instead share a picture of an African grey parrot.

These remarkable birds are considered amongst the most intelligent animals on the planets.  Some have equated their intelligence with that of dolphins and chimps.  They have also been observed solving basic problems and are renown for the ability to mimic noises and human speech.  Their language abilities are remarkable and some have recorded vocabularies of almost a thousand words.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f2.8, 1/80 sec @ 800 ISO

2011, Day 108 - Gobble

Yesterday I went out to visit my friends Deanna and Jared at their homestead in Estacada. They have animals everywhere but I was taken with their turkeys. Strutting around, calling to one another and and flashing with tail feathers. Unfortunately they are not the most beautiful creatures, I am reminded of something out of a Jim Henson movie like The Dark Crystal...


Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f4, 1/1250 sec @ 200 ISO

2010, Day 343 - Knee-deep

While running around this afternoon I decided to stop at one of the wildlife areas. Unfortunately it was closed due to the high amount of rain which had cause some flooding. Fortunately all that water attracted a number of migratory birds, unfortunately my view was from the other side of chain-link.


Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f5.6, 1/800 sec @ 100 ISO

2010, Day 311 - Sandy shores

With a somewhat foreboding forecast I decided to take advantage of the morning sunshine to take a walk along the Willamette River. While there are beaches on the Oregon side they are more easily access and don't require a parking permit in Washington so I headed over to Vancouver to adventure.

I started at Frenchman's Bar Trail in Vancouver Lake Park and walked a couple of miles along the beach the up river. The port in Vancouver gets a lot of traffic and there are barges putting along, laden with cargo and huge cranes silhouetted against the sky. It was nice, a little cool but refreshing although less so when I got caught in the rain. Oh well, we all know that rain is inevitable in the Pacific Northwest, so I headed back to my car and managed not to get totally soaked. Despite the need to cut my walk short it was well worth it.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II

70mm, f5.6, 1/250 sec @ 200 ISO

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II

200mm, f5.6, 1/800 sec @ 200 ISO

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II

105mm, f8, HDR of 1/6400, 1/3200, 1/1600, 1/800 and 1/400 sec @ 200 ISO

2010, Day 310 - When pigs fly

I have to admit that I feel a little lost because I sent two lenses in to Canon for cleaning prior to my upcoming trip to the Orient. They are my two favorite lenses, my wide-angle zoom and my macro, which makes sense because I intend to utilize them heavily but that means that they are off at the spa.

Unfortunately my lovely 70-200mm zoom doesn't get a lot of casual carrying time so I decided to throw a little love its way this morning and mounted it on my camera before I left the house and I am rather happy I did. While running errands I was returning to my car and when I looked up I noticed a flight of pigeons on the power lines so I wandered around to find the best angles to capture their souls...

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II

200mm, f4, 1/800 sec @ 400 ISO

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II

145mm, f4, 1/800 sec @ 400 ISO

2010, Day 184 - Duck hunt

I went out this morning with my friend Julie and her buddy Kent to try to photograph some bird of prey on Sauvie Island. We didn't have much luck but it was a beautiful morning and we did find an osprey watching over its chicks on a man-made roost.

Sauvie Island.

Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II and Canon EF Extender 1.4x II

280mm, f5.6, 1/800 sec @ 200 ISO

Osprey.

Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II

200mm, f8, 1/800 sec @ 200 ISO

Wildflowers.

Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II

35mm, f11, 1/400 sec @ 200 ISO