Tag: Wilson’s Phalarope

Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: Comfort.

David M2 Comments

ThIs is my contribution to the Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: Comfort.

My initial idea was a selection of comfortable looking bird and wildlife subjects. Then I got thinking about some of the close encounters I have had. When birds and wildlife have been comfortable enough to ignore me and carry on doing what they were doing before a photographer pointed a lens at them.

Lying in the yard in Ontario, Canada I was trying to get shots of an uncooperative male Cardinal when this Eastern Chipmunk started posing for the camera.

An Eastern Chipmunk posing for a photo.

I was in the yard photographing Sparrow species one spring when this American Red Squirrel started feeding on seed under the bird feeders. Ontario, Canada.

American Red Squirrel feeding.

I had gone down to the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton for the sunrise when I found a couple of juvenile Red Knot on the shoreline. I spent some time with them, they fed, bathed, preened and even slept in front of me. Ontario, Canada.

having a nap

I was sitting on a bench at Dominion Lookout on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton when this Red Fox came trotting along the shoreline and continued on past me. Ontario, Canada.

Trotting Red Fox.

I was lying in a mix of sand and wildfowl poop photographing American White Pelicans when a small flock of Wilson’s Phalarope landed on the shoreline and proceeded to feed around me. This female posed for a portrait before walking so close to me that the lens couldn’t focus on her. Saskatchewan, Canada.

Female Wilson's Phalarope.

I was in the yard photographing birds when this Racoon appeared and started eyeing up the bird feeders. Ontario, Canada.

Raccoon with spiky wet fur.

I was photographing a plant in a ditch when this male Common Blackbird came over to investigate the strange behaviour of the human. Cheshire, England.

Male European Blackbird.

For the Love Of…..

David M10 Comments

Bird Photography.

This week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge is For The Love Of..….

After rejecting the first couple of ideas for the challenge I thought about some of the various situations I have been in photographing birds.

A young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the rain in Ontario, Canada. The camera and lens was covered to keep the rain off but the photographer wasn’t.

In the rain.

A male Common Kingfisher photographed from a small, cramped and hot canvas hide (blind) in Cheshire, England.

Male Common Kingfisher.

A Bohemian Waxwing photographed at -30°C in Saskatchewan, Canada.

A Bohemian Waxwing at -30°C.

An American White Pelican with a large fish in its pouch. Photographed while sitting in the water to keep cool on a hot and very humid day in Saskatchewan, Canada.

American White Pelican with fish.

A female Common Merganser with a youngster on her back. Taken in Ontario, Canada while being swarmed and bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes.

Hitching a ride.

A male White-breasted Nuthatch photographed in Saskatchewan, Canada. Another -30°C day with some light snow falling this time.

White-breasted Nuthatch

A portrait of a female Wilson’s Phalarope taken while lying in sand mixed with wildfowl poop on the shoreline of a section of Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Female Wilson's Phalarope.

An unlikely morning.

David M7 Comments

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.

Feeding Phalarope.

One of the female Wilson’s Phalaropes poses for a portrait.

Female Wilson's Phalarope.