My contribution to the A Photo a Week Challenge: What’s For Dinner.
Fish.
Apple.
Poppy seeds.
Bugs.
Fish, again.
Caterpillar.
Tag: American White Pelican
American White Pelicans.
Throwback Thursday travels back to Saskatchewan in the summer of 1999.
I spent most of the day in the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area. I found a flock of American White Pelicans feeding in a channel where a marsh drains into a section of the lake.
It was a hot day and I wanted to get as close to eye level with the birds as possible. That meant either lying on the bank in the sun or setting up a tripod in the water and sitting behind it in the water.
I had a Uni-Loc tripod with me so it set it up in the water. The Uni-Loc tripods are different from most tripods with the legs in effect reversed. Which means that they can be submerged in water up to the bottom of leg lock. There’s no need to strip the legs down to drain the water and dry the locking mechanisms out unless you go above the leg lock.
The birds were feeding by drifting down the channel letting the water carry them along. These three Pelicans are swimming back up the channel to start again.
Friendly Friday: Day Trip
This is my contribution to the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge: Day Trip.
There was a couple of bird photography locations in Saskatchewan, Canada that I used to spend the day at, Little Quill Lake and the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area. Here’s a selection of photos from the two areas.
A frozen marsh at dusk, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
Striped Skunk in the spring, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
A frozen section of Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan in winter.
Snow Geese on autumn migration, Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan.
A Marbled Godwit preening in the spring, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
American White Pelicans in the summer, Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan.
Sandhill Cranes flying to roost at sunset in the autumn, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
CFFC: 5+ Items
This is my contribution to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: 5+ Items.
As the challenge is 5+ I decided to go with a selection of six photos.
5+ young Eurasian Blue Tits.
5+ tree trunks.
5+ Common Merganser ducklings.
5+ Borage seeds.
5+ red berries.
5+ American White Pelicans.
Tuesday Photo Challenge – Outdoors
This is my contribution to the Tuesday Photo Challenge: Outdoors.
As someone who is primarily an outdoor photographer I had plenty of photos to pick from but I needed a theme to follow. So I decided to go with as wide a variety of subject matter as possible and to start in the 1970s and end this summer.
One of my earliest photos. The negative for the first version got lost or damaged so I reshot the scene next time there was snow. Trees in snow, Hatherton, Cheshire, England in the mid 1970s.
Entering the start/finish straight at around midnight at the Le Mans 24 hour motorcycle endurance race. Le Mans, France in April 1982.
Light beam on a hillside at Loch Arkaig, Scotland in the autumn of 1985.
A Red Fox in a hay field taken in Faddiley, Cheshire, England in the late 1980s.
A Borage flower bud photographed in Nantwich, Cheshire, England in the mid 1990s.
An American White Pelican at Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada in the late 1990s.
Waves and rocks at sunrise on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada in the early 2000s.
Canada Day fireworks from the dock at Colpoy’s Bay. The fireworks are in the town of Wiarton a couple of miles away across the bay. Taken on Canada Day last year.
Colpoy’s Bay and the Niagara Escarpment at sunrise this summer.
Friendly Friday: Ebb and Flow
The latest Friendly Friday Photo Challenge is Ebb and Flow. It got me thinking about some of the locations I have photographed birds over the years.
A couple of locations in Saskatchewan stood out, in particular Last Mountain Lake, especially the National Wildlife Area that surrounds the northern end of the lake. Bird numbers would vary massively over the year.
In the spring the area is a stopover location for species such as this Killdeer. Some will stay in the area to breed while others will carry on north after feeding and resting.
In the summer the area is a breeding location for species such as American White Pelicans. These birds are feeding in a channel where a marsh drains into a section of the lake.
In the autumn the area is a major stopover location for Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes on autumn migration. This is a section of a Snow Geese flock, the birds can number in the thousands.
In the winter the lake is frozen and partially snow covered. There are no water birds left in the area although you may see the occasional flock of Snow Buntings. It is however still a good location for sunsets.
Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: White
My contribution to the Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: White.
Now I will admit that my first thought was snow but after a winter that dragged on for what seemed like 6 months I didn’t want to think about snow.
So I decided to go with a selection of photos of bird species that are mostly white, the first two have white in their common English name.
White-breasted Nuthatch, Saskatchewan, Canada.
American White Pelican, Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Caspian Tern with fish on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada.
Black-headed Gulls in winter, Cheshire, England.
Snow Geese on autumn migration, Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Whooper Swan portrait, Lancashire, England.
