Thursday, April 22, 2010

what?! no comments?

nobody seems very interested in my last two posts.

not that i blame them. i'm not very interested either. i find them quite…lacking. missing something. something that would liven them up… ah, yes… photos!

so much going on this time of year, and i've been capturing a lot of it. i'm dying to post the action, but i like to include those colorful things called photos in my posts. not only does it provide a visual reference to what i'm talking about, but it helps break up the long, boring lines of text.

along the greenway at gibson park, there is an observation deck (which is right smack dab in the middle of that map i just provided a link to). there are some tall trees off to the right (which would be down and to the left on the map), and a great blue heron has decided to make a home and raise a family in the top of one of them.

took lots of pictures of that, and will continue to visit so i can document the progress on the construction of said home.

i've seen some canada geese sitting on eggs, and documented one of them after incubation, hatching, and apparently fledging, although i thought they fledged for about a month. maybe i'm wrong. there are three or four cracked open egg shells around the nest area. i hope that a fox or something didn't get them. i was kind of wondering why the eggs were so far from the nest…

i went out on randleman lake last sunday morning at 9am, and saw an osprey. it flew right over my head. did i get a picture?
of course not. i was too busy sitting in the canoe with my mouth open, not really believing that an osprey was flying directly over my head giving me a perfect photo opportunity. and he was flying slowly, too. as if giving me a chance to put the paddle down, dry my hands, reach for my bag, unzip it, remove my camera, turn it on, get the settings in order, dial the lens to 500mm, and press the shutter release. it sounds like a lot to do while a bird (a life bird, at that) is flying over your head, but as i mentioned earlier, but probably not with enough emphasis, that he was flying s-l-o-w-l-y. and i blew it.

i drove the paddle back into the water with a small measure of annoyance, spun the canoe around, and paddled my butt after that bird. he made another pass — not as close this time, but another pass, nonetheless — and…
i missed that shot, too.
boy, i'm glad i don't shoot nature photos for a living. i'd be homeless, naked, and starving.

i did get a few keepers of some double-crested cormorants perched on the branch of a submerged tree that morning. (that is to say, the cormorants were on the part of the branch that was above the surface, not perched underwater. just thought i should clear that up.)

and later, on the greenway again, i shot some striking mallard specimens. contrary to how it usually works with birds, the female mallard is as beautiful as the male, if not more so. sure, she lacks the iridescent green head and the cool, curled feathers above the tail. but what she lacks in color and style, she makes up for in pattern and contrast. who knew that brown could look so good? the tight consistency of the brown-white feather arrangement had me staring at her intently, hypnotized, as though looking for a hidden 3-d picture in one of those magic eye books.

moths, too. the moths are out and about, and while i don't know moths like i do birds, it doesn't stop me from marveling at their unique and intricate beauty, as well.

well, this concludes today's long, boring, no-photos post. i know how much you were looking forward to it.
at least there was a link to a satellite image to break up the monotony…

3 comments:

Richard said...

Now if you would just do what you were taking about...pictures. Where's the GB Heron nest, the Canada Goose on nest,the Cormorants, mallards, and moths? I'll give you the Osprey one.

dugfresh said...

as soon as i get my computer back up and running, i will. (my last three no-picture posts were made from the computer at work.) i'll update this post with the pictures i mentioned. i'll make a new post with new pictures...i'll be a posting madman.

Mary said...

Reminds of "the fish that got away." And of the Bald Eagle that floated low over my head last fall. Damn.

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