Longing for Speyside

The heat has reached even Scotland, and the city is stifling. I am longing for the North and an escape to Speyside, although it looks as if the heat will follow us there.

Meantime I am refreshing myself by looking at photos I took when we were last up in June. Perhaps the sunny yellow of the broom was foreshadowing our proper summer.

Reflections

We don't need thousands of photographs of reflections. We need thousands of moments to reflect in between each photograph.
~ Jim Austin ~

Magpie season

WARNING: This creature may look benign, but a vicious killer lurks within!
Alright, that's probably an exaggeration, but this bird does take on slightly aggressive behaviour during this time of year (i.e. spring) in Australia, during the mating season, and anyone who gets too close to a nest is a target. The general idea is to swoop from the air and use their beak as a weapon to inflict damage on the head of their prey. Cyclists seem to be a particular target, but at least we have the option of wearing a helmet to ward off attacks (although some suggest that this actually attracts magpies).
Of course, if I just continue riding and not allow myself to be distracted by the feeling of being hit in the head by a tennis ball, most magpies bounce off harmlessly. I do, however, take note of where the really aggressive ones happen to be, just in case they start going for the ears, or launch a head-on attack (I've only actually seen one do this). Hence, for this weekend, I note that there may be one near Uki in the Tweed Valley, and possibly at Tumbulgum (although I can avoid that via Urliup).
The problem is, due to bushfires, I may have no choice but to ride around the Tweed Valley -- very probably passing through Uki.

Waxwing and Mountain Ash Berries

With the cold weather hanging on for another night, I figured I would get up early and drive to Grand Marais to photograph the steam behind the lighthouse. What I wasn't figuring on were the thousands of Waxwings that were hanging out in the various trees in the Grand Marais campground. I found one area where all the Mountain Ash berries had blown off the trees and down onto the ground. I watched as hundreds of Waxwings hopped around amongst the berries, choking them down just as fast as they could pick them up. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to isolate this one bird against the backdrop of berries. It is my favorite shot of the morning.

Surreal Sky

I am always on the lookout for interesting clouds to photograph, and this morning I definitely saw some interesting ones. The clouds shown in this photo were very high altitude and held their shape for a very long time. I shot this photo with my Canon 100-400mm lens at 400mm.

Foothills

Foothills, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

A view from Diablo Foothills Regional Park. The hills remind me of Ireland around this time of the year.

Nebraska or Bust!

Nebraska or Bust! Sandhill Cranes here I come... I get so excited this time of year not only to photograph the cranes but also simply just to SEE and HEAR them. They are one of my favorite birds, magnificent animals and also one of the oldest, with one of the longest fossil histories of any bird still found today.

We arrived in Kearney, Nebraska at 4:30 this afternoon. The temperature was 83 degrees when we arrived. It is supposed to reach 89 tomorrow and everything (grass, trees, etc.) is very green already! I have been down here 5 times already this same time of year and I've never seen it so green. Kind of surreal. We got lucky and were able to get into a group photography blind this evening at Rowe Sanctuary. Even though we are a week later than we were last year, there are still plenty of Sandhill Cranes in the area. Sunset over the Platte River was nothing short of AMAZING!



Sandhill Cranes are birds that seem to be full of so much personality. One can't help but think of them as goofy birds when you see them coming in for a landing. While flying they are quite sleek with their legs sticking straight back and their necks stretched straight forward. When landing, however, they flare their wings and their feet dangle beneath them while their heads stick up into the air. I just love these birds!



We had a great time this year photographing the cranes in Nebraska. The conditions were much more favorable for photography than they were last year. Last year the river's water level was too high which meant the birds were roosting farther away from the blinds than usual, and we had very little good light. This year was different. We had awesome sunset and sunrise light and the water level was lower which meant more sand bars and more places for the birds to roost. The photo below could very well be my favorite shot from this year's trip. I almost couldn't believe it when I saw that one crane start walking to the left. I thought "No way! He's gonna walk right through the sun's reflection on the water!" Sure enough, he did... and provided me with an awesome photo to share!



We had some beautiful light in Nebraska this year, which made up for the gray skies that dominated our trip last year. The photo below is one of my favorite post-sunset shots from this year. After the sun goes down the sky glows for several minutes and the river reflects that glow. It was during this time that this photo was made.