A 52 week photo project interspersed with photos from the past 40 years.
A Marbled Godwit on a section of Little Quill Lake shoreline. Taken one spring in the late 1990s in Saskatchewan.
I remember spending some time with the bird but had forgotten how many photos I had taken until going through my slide archives and digitizing some a few years ago.
The bird feeding.
After feeding the bird decided that it was bath time.
After bathing the Godwit had a long preen.
The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is Unlikely.
One spring morning I’m out with the camera at a section of Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan. The location was several miles from the nearest road and I’ve no idea where the nearest occupied farm was and I had managed to lock my keys in the truck after getting the camera and tripod out. So I decided to photograph a Common Tern fishing and then preening before breaking into the truck.
Eventually I decided it’s time to learn how to break into your own vehicle. How hard could it be, you see actors do it all the time on TV. There was the remains of a long abandoned barbed wire fence nearby so I walk over and break a piece of wire off. I used the multi-tool I keep in my camera bag to strip the barbs of and get a straight piece of wire. I’m just about to slide the wire down the window to try to pop the lock when a bus loaded with birders drives up followed by a convoy of other vehicles. It was the weekend of the Wadena Shorebirds Festival and they were on an outing to Little Quill Lake. So I’m now being watched by dozens of people as I try to break into my truck. I slide the piece of wire down the window, wriggle it around and the lock pops open. I couldn’t believe how easy it was, I must have looked like a professional car thief to the spectators. A couple of the birders wander over to make sure that I was breaking into my own vehicle.
After a while the bird tour departs and a few minutes later half a dozen Wilson’s Phalaropes fly in and start feeding along the shoreline. I crawl across some sand, well I’ll call it sand although there was rather a lot of duck and goose poop mixed in it, and get into position to photograph the Phalaropes. They completely ignored me, I had females walking almost up to the lens, to close to focus on.
One of the female Wilson’s Phalaropes poses for a portrait.
The Weekly Photo Challenge is Prolific.
Snow Geese on autumn migration flying in to roost at sunset, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan. Parts of Saskatchewan are a staging ground for the birds on their way south for the winter. I estimated some of the flocks I saw at 17,000 birds.
The Daily Post one-word prompt is Frigid.
A frozen marsh at Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. It was around -40°C at sunset.
Ice makes some strange sounds at times.
Silence weekly photo challenge.
At -40°C the only sound was an occasional Snow Bunting flying past me to roost in a reed bed and some creaks and groans from the ice.
