Eye contact

After the rousing success of a week previously, I went down to Jordan Lake to see if I could accomplish more of the same, and test out another slight change to my shooting habits. But for reasons unknown, activity among any of the bird species was supremely lacking two osprey (Pandion read more

A little bit

On an outing this past Wednesday, we found just a wee bit to photograph, mostly since the day had warmed considerably and this sparked a little activity. Not a lot – it’s still winter, so don’t go getting your expectations up, but at least there’s a smidgen to post that isn’t about being young and stupid, or old and cranky. Lucky you.


We were paying read more

Well, it’s a start


We suddenly got a few days of perfect weather, and I managed an outing with the Itinerant Mr Bugg, in search of whatever we could find. I admit I wasn’t expecting much it’s still winter, even if it’s possible to be out in shorts, and only a few days back we were routinely read more

It’s coming


I’m not putting a lot of faith into this, considering the fluctuations of weather we’re already prone to here, plus the wildly unorthodox winter last year, but the first signs of spring are visible, and I’m lucky enough to have students who want to take advantage of it. Yesterday, the weather was fantastic but I didn’t get the chance to do anything about read more

It’s been… a week


Not a long week, not a hard week, not even a weird week – just a week. All over the place, and hard to categorize.

The snow from last week was still present when Monday rolled around, bright, sunny, and topping 15°c (60°f,) and a student wanted to take advantage of this, so we hit a new walking trail not far away, the River Walk in Hillsborough. Enough people had been walking it earlier read more

Amateur naturalism, part five

While I’ve covered some details about specific types of animals in the previous posts, I’ve been slow in getting back to some overall tips that apply to all of them, so with that in mind, let’s talk about behavior.

Years ago I worked at a humane society that, among many other things, offered obedience classes and sport training for dogs, as well as some counseling on behavior problems. read more

Trapped!

Sometimes you actually have some cooperation from your subjects, despite their best efforts. Mom paused for a nice profile, even allowing a view of her progenys’ meal, while one of the sprogs smiled (or something) for the camera in the opening of the nest box. It’s all because of clean living and pure thoughts.

And, something that cannot quite be called a ‘camera trap.’ Typically, read more

Amateur naturalism, part two


This follows on from the series I began here – the topic of this installment is birds. There are some basic observational guidelines contained in that first post, so I’d recommend skimming that one too, even if bugs aren’t your thing (sounds strange, I know, but the possibility exists.)

Now, bird-watching is a common activity, and it’s easy to find plenty of sources that tell read more