Happy Birthday Angela

Today is my daughter’s 26th birthday.  Hard to believe how my life has changed since she arrived.

Happy Birthday Angela – hope you have a wonderful day and that each day gets even better.

We managed to find one Mallard Duck on our walk along the Red River yesterday.  He was just a bump on the log while he slept though.  I knew that log would be good for bumps. 

Bump On A Log May14

He must have been up late last night and never did look around while Chester and I were watching him.

We got back to our yard to find that the lilacs next door have now started blooming. 

Lilacs May 14

Lilacs May 14

Lilacs May 14

So far on Africam today, we have seen Nyala, Impala, Elephant, Warthog, Black Eagle, Kudu, Zebra, Giraffe, Waterbuck, Hadeda Ibis, Cape Turtle Dove, and our beautiful Cheetah Salome and her adorable cubs.  Before long we should be seeing a Black Eagle chick too.    Click here to see all the pictures from May 15th.

Merganser

A trio of ducks that Chester and I found on our walk yesterday had me stumped.  Of course, they were more than 1/2 way across the Red River and even zooming in the full 36x on my Nikon didn’t bring them in enough. With that distance, the pictures are not as clear as they would be otherwise.  There was one female and two males. Up until I was almost ready to post this – the title was Mystery Ducks.

After searching online to no avail, I finally turned to my Birds of North America book and looked through all the ducks until I found them.    Then, using the name, I was able to find them online.  They are Red-breasted Mergansers.  Here is a link to a page with info and better pictures of them.

Now here are my pictures. 

Red-breasted Merganser one of the males

Red-breasted Merganser - the female

Red-breasted Merganser - the 2 males

We didn’t see anything else on our walk, but after we got home, I took a few pictures of Chester in the yard.  I’ll show you those pictures tomorrow – when we’re 1 day closer to his 9th birthday on May 1st.  I’ll also tell you about our trip to the vet for his blood tests.  The staff made a couple of mistakes, but luckily I caught them and no harm was done.  I’m not used to having to catch mistakes there though.

Ducky Day

Since I had a later shift yesterday, Chester and I had a later walk along the Red River.  I saw the first Mallards of the season weeks ago and finally saw the first Wood Ducks on this walk.  I hope the pair of Mallards and the pair of Wood Ducks are scouting the location for their nests, so I can watch them raise their babies. 

Mallard April 18

Mallard April 18

Both the Mallard pictures are the same duck.  After we continued walking, I turned and looked back to see his mate come out of the tall grass on the bank.  By then I was looking into the sun, so could not take a picture.

Wood Ducks April 18

Wood Duck April 18

Wood Duck April 18

So far on Africam today, we have seen Elephant, Giraffe, Nyala, Warthog, Wildebeest, Zebra, Osprey, Waterbuck, Baboons, Egyptian Geese and White-tail Mongoose.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

New Duck Visitors

We had a nice day here yesterday (compared with the last few days) and the temperature got above zero.  Today, it is starting off at -2C and they say it get get up to 16C by afternoon.  Whew – good to have more reasonable temperatures again.

On yesterday’s walk along the Red River with Chester, I saw a pair of ducks.  Of course they were a long way away as usual, but my Nikon 36x zoom brought them in close enough so I could get a fairly decent picture of them.  By checking online it looks like this is a pair of Canvasback Ducks.  This is the first time I’ve seen them – or at least been able to identify them. 

I can’t be 100% sure, since the colours on the male look darker – but the white is in the right spots and the colour is in the right spots, so I’m pretty sure. They weren’t close enough together to get them both in the same shot – so I have 2 pics of the male and 1 of the female to show.

Canvasback Male April 11

Canvasback Female April 11

Canvasback Male April 11

Click here to see pictures of the Canvasback Duck from Ducks Unlimited.

So far on Africam today we have seen Elephant, Wildebeest, Waterbuck, Giraffe, Nyala, Terrapin, Baboons, Impala, Egyptian Geese and White-tailed Mongoose.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Its November

Well, it was November yesterday too – but its still November today.  Who has their Christmas shopping done – or at least started?  Not me! 

Right now the temperature here is -1C and it is supposed to get up to 8C this afternoon.  The sun is expected to shine all day – its just a little deceiving since it doesn’t have much warmth, but 8C isn’t bad for November weather.

Today we have more flying gulls and a swimming Mallard Duck from yesterday.

Gull Nov 1

Mallard Nov 1

Sunrise Gull Nov 1

Once the time changes this weekend, I will be able to get more detail in my pictures for awhile since it will be daylight when Chester and I go on our walks.  I just hope there will be something to take pictures of at the new time. 

So far on Africam today, we have seen Terrapin, Gecko, Egyptian Geese, Common Duiker, Sandpiper, Hadeda Ibis, African Spoonbill.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

More Pictures

It turned out to be sunny yesterday by the time Chester and I went for our walk and we got pretty much the same results with the camera shots from both the Sony NEX-5 and the Olympus.  I don’t even know what model my Olympus is, since it just says Olympus on it.  I guess now that I look at it, the Sony just says Sony on it too.  Maybe none of the camera put the model on it, but I do see that my Olympus is 15x zoom and not just 12x that I thought it was, and it also has the mm zoom on it, so now I know that I need at least 75 mm zoom to be able to match the Olympus and the Sony only has a 55 mm zoom.

I’m sure there is something simple required to take pictures in the sun so with another zoom lens, this camera is going to be wonderful.

Sunflower with Sony

Sunflower with Olympus

Duck with Sony

Duck with Olympus

The Sony pictures cam out almost white again and I had to use the photo fix on PSP to be able to see much of anything, but I sometimes use it on my Olympus shots too.  The colours just are not natural though on the Sony.  Once I find the secret though, and get a better zoom lens – I’m going to have fun with this camera.  I’m too stubborn to give up on this camera because I know its a great camera!

We have a new chick and maybe 2 on the Potted Plant Owl cam in the Spotted Eagle Owl nest on Africam.  There are pictures in today’s picture file.

I may have solved my sunny day shots, just by reading a review of the Sony NEX-5 here.  It showed a  piece that was in the box, but I hadn’t really thought about where to put it.  Seems it is a lens hood – so I put it on and will try pics with it there tomorrow.  Sometimes, its good to read!

Long Weekend

I am getting an early start on the long weekend by taking a 5 day weekend, starting today 

It was 17C when Chester and I went for our walk along the Red River this morning, the sun was shining and the humidity had dropped to 83%.  It is supposed to get up to 27C this afternoon, and its looking like a great day.

The only picture I have this morning is one Wood Duck.  I thought I was getting a picture of the momma duck, since this one was bigger than the other ones in the area and she seemed to be watching the young ones foraging, but once I got home and looked at the picture, I see some fuzzy feathers on the back of the neck.  I guess this is one of the older babies.  Mom was probably not too far away, but I didn’t see her.

Wood Duck July 28

On Africam today, we have seen Giraffe, Warthog, Wildebeest, Cape Buffalo, Zebra, Nyala, Baboons, Rhinos and so much more.  Gerda got a series of pictures on 2 Zebras fighting and a couple of people posted pictures of 4 different critters in one photo.  The waterholes have been very busy today.    Click here to see today’s pictures.

Birds and Trees

Its only 5 months till Christmas – are you ready yet?

It was 14C under a sunny sky with just a light breeze when Chester and I walked along the Red River this morning.  I did enjoy the heat of the last few weeks, but am glad things are back to normal.  It will get to the high 20′s all week, but when it cools down at night like this, it is good.  We really need a good long  soaking rain though.

Chester is still doing fine after his seizure last week and I’m hoping there will never be another one – but am prepared in case there are.

Big Tree across the river July 25

According to the City of Winnipeg, the Red River is now just 14 feet over winter ice level and this tree was not the only one that has been under water for so many months.  There are some just a few feet away, that still have their trunks in water.

trees in water July 25

young Mallard

I didn’t see many ducks this morning, but this young Mallard stood and posed for me.    No sign of the beavers this morning either, but this beautiful little Goldfinch posed for several pictures.  I took the first picture when I first saw him, moved a few feet closer and took another and moved closer again.  When he flew off, he posed for one more.    He has been eluding me all summer, and I’m really happy to get this pictures of him.

Goldfinch July 25

Goldfinch July 25

Goldfinch July 25

Goldfinch July 25

On Africam today we have seen rhinos, waterbucks, nyala, baboons, mongoose, zebras, and more plus a lot of different birds.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Variety

What you see today, is what I saw When Chester and I walked today and that was variety!   It was 10C when we walked!  Wow – what a relief and it didn’t feel any cooler than yesterday’s 16C.  I know my friends in Africa would have coats on along with hot water bottles and blankets for their game drives – but I had on my regular t-shirt and bluejeans for the walk.

It is only supposed to go up to 22C today, so I’ll get my grass cut this morning for the first time in 3 weeks.  Most of it really doesn’t need cutting, since it hasn’t had water in ages now and hasn’t grown, but some blades are high and some trees are growing.  Tomorrow there is a possibility of rain and we really need it.

Chester was back to normal on our walk today 

We will start with the beaver lodge.

Beaver Lodge July 22

Then I zoomed in for a closeup of the beaver bite marks where they pealed the bark.

Beaver Bite Marks July 22

Then a Mallard Duck swam by.

Mallard Duck July 22

And a FedEx Plane flew overhead.

Plane

A crow sat on a light pole above us.

Crow July 22

And a hot air balloon drifted over our heads.

Hot Air Balloon July 22

On Africam today, we have seen Rhino African Harrier Hawk, African Fish Eagle, Zebras, Kudu, Side Striped Jackal and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Thunderstorm?

With luck, we will have a thunderstorm this morning or afternoon and the temperature will drop some.  The temperature only dropped to 24C last night and with the high humidity it feels like 34C (93F) at 7am.  Right now, they are only predicting 30C (feels like around 40C, which is 104F),because of the expected rain.

Not much to see out on the river this morning – still lots of ducks, but I only took one picture of a young Mallard and a trio of rowers on the other side of the river.  I did get a better look (but no picture) of the Kestrel from the other day.  There are a few of them several blocks away from home, so I’m assuming that a pair nested and have some young ones out on their own.  I saw one dive towards a squirrel that Chester was actually stalking.  Since the squirrel is about the same size as the bird, that would have been an interesting encounter.

A Kestral is the smallest of the Falcons.  This bird still looks to be bigger than what I remember of them from many years ago.  I used to see them at Grand Marais when my parents had a cottage there, but I was smaller way back then.

young Mallard Duck July 20

Rowers July 20

On Africam today, we have seen Elephants, Warthogs, Zebras, Baboons and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.