A bit more useful

Feeling bad about not illustrating scale very well a few posts back, I revisited the same subjects (well, two of the three) to do a better job. And got a bonus as well.

This still remains kind of a pain in the ass, however – closeup video at night has a lot of issues, and the 7D really isn’t optimized for this. But it’ll be a long time (e.g., significant income) before read more

Visibly different, part 27


My oldest image of a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) dates from… actually, I have only a vague idea of when this was taken, which is somewhere around 1990-93, and no recollection of where. I scanned the negative a few weeks back and now can’t recall if the frame edges were rounded (which would indicate that it was taken with the Wittnauer) or square read more

Got enough?

I was busy taking care of things in the backyard when I realized that the calls of a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) seemed a bit too clear. It’s quite common to hear them as they wheel overhead marking territory, but this was fixed and quite close. It took no effort at all to spot it sitting on a dead branch just off the back of the property.


This is fairly uncommon read more

Only kind of useful

Two discoveries last night led me to shoot some comparison images, which allows you to see the size variations between these species, but not the actual size of them. It’s not easy to get something to show size in the frame with most of my subjects, even when I carry little paper measuring scales with me (how many people can say they have one of those in their wallets regularly? read more

Just because, part 48

I have a few things to get done, and a few more clips to capture to flesh out a planned video, so we’re just gonna have a couple of placeholders in here, okay?

[Plowing ahead without waiting for an answer]


Cruising around the neighborhood pond the other evening, I spotted this yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea) as it left a treetop nearby and flew a bit read more

Visibly different, part 26


To the best of my knowledge (and searches through old negatives,) this is my first successful lightning capture, dating back from 1996 I believe. Moreover, it was captured in a non-standard way, because the storm rolled through at dusk and the sky wasn’t fully dark, so a long exposure was out of the question. Thus, as the wicked activity rolled around me, I held my Olympus read more

Mostly typical


I did a student outing to Jordan Lake three days back, now concentrating on more species than just the woodpeckers, but mostly seeing what I normally do, with a couple of exceptions. But first, an observation that I meant to post earlier and forgot. This sunset shot dates from the 14th – nothing exciting, just an illustration, because the next one is from the 18th.


In between, read more

None. None more cyan

I was thinking I’d used a variation of this title before, but not according to my title list. It was probably one of the images…

Regardless, a little break before we get back to more birds.


This is one of those sorting finds that I just thought you needed to see the details of, a tiny damselfly from the yard. It’s likely a skimming bluet (Enallagma geminatum,) read more

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