male – David M's photoblog

CFFC: Spring Scenes

15/01/2020 David M5 Comments

When I read the prompt for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Spring Scenes my first thought was of the various birds and mammals that return or are preparing to breed in the spring. I decided to go with a small selection across the years and various places that I have lived.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes performing the weed waving part of their courtship display in Cheshire, England.

displaying Great Crested Grebes

A Richardson’s Ground Squirrel looking for something to eat after emerging from its burrow in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Richardson's Ground Squirrel in the spring.

A male Common Merganser on Lake Huron as the winter ice breaks up in the spring thaw, Ontario, Canada.

A male Common Merganser amongst ice on Lake Huron

A Photo a Week Challenge: At Play

14/01/2020 David MLeave a comment

This is my rather late contribution to the A Photo a Week Challenge: At Play. I only discovered the prompt days after it was posted.

A male Common Blackbird playing hide and seek with the photographer in Cheshire, England.

A Photo a Week Challenge: At Play

A male American Goldfinch playing hide and seek with the photographer in Saskatchewan, Canada.

A Photo a Week Challenge: At Play

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: A Window With A View

14/01/202014/01/2020 David M27 Comments

This is my contribution to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: A Window With A View.

It was the photo of a Woodpecker looking out of its nest hole in Amy’s prompt for the challenge that gave me the idea for this post. It made me think of the various species of birds I have photographed looking out of their nest holes. Then I started considering the reverse, me looking out of openings when I was photographing various species.

A house window. Actually a bedroom window of my parents house in Cheshire, England. An upstairs window got me closer to eye with this Redwing eating a Holly berry.

A Redwing in a Holly tree.

A vehicle window. Friend’s had this Red Fox hunting in the hay field behind their house. I parked by the side of their garage and photographed it out of the drivers door window.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: A Window With A View

An opening in a permanent wooden hide (blind). In this case, two Great Crested Grebes on a reservoir in south Cheshire, England.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes.

An opening in a fabric portable hide (blind). A male Common Redpoll feeding on seeds blown onto a snow drift near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Throwback Thursday: 9th January 2020

Male Common Redpoll

09/01/2020 David M3 Comments

Throwback Thursday travels back to Saskatchewan, Canada in the late 1990s.

I found a small flock of Common Redpoll feeding on seeds blown onto a snow drift. The drift had formed at the end of a row of granaries so I put up a portable hide (blind) to photograph the birds.

Throwback Thursday: 9th January 2020

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Special Spot Shots

07/01/2020 David M14 Comments

This is my contribution to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Special Spot Shots.

I ran through a list of locations in my head and one location quickly made it to the top of the list. Last Mountain Lake, also known as Long Lake is a prairie lake in south central Saskatchewan, Canada. The northern end of the lake is a National Wildlife Area which includes the Last Mountain Lake Bird Sanctuary.

I thought I would put a post together covering a 12 month period.

A section of the National Wildlife Area at sunset in the winter.