Wood Ducks

Chester and I saw a pair of Wood Ducks the other day while walking along the Red River.  They were a long way away and it was a cloudy day, so the pictures aren’t the best – but they are just such beautiful birds that I had to show them. 

Wood Ducks May 25

Wood Ducks May 25

Wood Ducks May 25

So far on Africam today, we have seen Lion, Elephant, Wildebeest, Nyala, Waterbuck, Giraffe, Woolly-necked Stork. Kudu, Bushbuck, Black Eagle, Spurfowl, Side-striped Jackal and Duiker.  Click here to see all of the pictures from May 27.

Another Ducky Day

Chester and I found both Mallard and Wood Ducks on our walk along the Red River yesterday.  The Wood Duck did not cooperate much, but I managed to get a 1/2 decent picture of him.  The female Mallard cooperated, but I tried to use that extra zoom and ended up with blurry pictures.    I do have to be careful, but I used the post to support the camera and thought I had done ok until after looking at the pictures on the computer.

Mallard May 24

Mallard May 24

Wood Duck May 24

I hope the Wood Duck is standing guard over the nest and we’ll soon be seeing lots of ducklings.  

Back to Africam, where so far today we have seen Elephant, Nyala, Duiker, Fiscal Flycatcher, Giraffe, Waterbuck, Zebra, Kudu, Black Eagle, Hamerkop, Impala, Hadeda Ibis and Helmeted Guinea Fowl.  Click here to see the rest of the pictures from May 25th.

We can now take videos on the cameras and one of the sightings on the 24th was a Porcupine.  This is something we do not see every day.  You can see the Porcupine video here.  Look around there a bit and you will see some of the recent lion and leopard sightings also.

Mallard Pairs

I guess finding a good and safe place to nest must be difficult for Mallards (or any ducks for that matter).  The pairs set up territories and defend this area from other ducks – especially same species ducks from what I can tell.  I did see a Wood Duck beating up a Mallard duckling that got too close to her babies one time though.

I was watching a Mallard pair swimming along when another male Mallard chased them away.  I didn’t get a picture of the chase though – just the pair out for a swim.  Then I found another Mallard pair who have chosen (for one reason or another) to nest away from the river – although not too far.  They were hanging out at a little puddle on the street.  I don’t know if they were hanging out there because they couldn’t find a suitable space on the river or if they just prefer a residential nest. 

Mallards May 21

As I watched this pair, they crossed the street and went into a yard.  I had trouble getting better pictures of these two because we were fairly close and as far as Chester was concerned, they were as good as bunnies to chase.  This is one of the reasons, I seldom get bunny pictures too.

Mallards May 21

Mallards May 21

Chester watches the ones in the river, but doesn’t try to chase unless we are past the area where there is the large drop down.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Leopard, Black Eagle, Elephant, Nyala, Vervet Monkey, Kudu, Wildebeest, Zebra, Helmeted Guinea Fowl, Cape Turtle Dove and Duiker.  Click here to see all of the pictures from May 22.

The Boat and the Zoom

The more I use my Nikon Coolpix camera with 36x zoom, the more I learn.  I noticed yesterday that when I zoomed, there was a little bar that slide across the viewer and it wasn’t going all the way across.  So – I zoomed more and it got me even closer.

I tried it out on the river bend where a boat happened to be up against the shore to show the difference.  It is really hard to hold the camera steady at full zoom though.

May 18 Boat

This is what I thought was my max zoom.  When looking at the properties of the picture, it says focal length 230 mm, but then just below that it says 35 mm focal length 1296.  I don’t know what those mean, but 230 mm is just slightly more than the Sony’s 210 mm zoom.  The next picture was zoomed in as far as it could go.

May 18 Boat

I did not crop these pictures at all – they are only re-sized.  This picture says focal length is 576 mm and the 35 mm focal length is 3240.

I will have to study a bit more on this Nikon.  I remember that with my old Canon, it had 2 steps to zoom also.  The first zoom would stop at the end of the optical zoom and if you continued, you were using digital zoom.  Typically it was not as clear once you got into the digital zoom, so I did not use it and appreciated having it stop like that.  This picture is still pretty good if that is what it is doing here.

I was surprised at how close I got the Western Grebe yesterday and I am thinking that I must have gone the extra bit without realizing it and those pictures turned out fairly good considering that the bird was moving.  Its just a matter of either having a tripod or something else to put the camera on to keep it steady.  There are fence posts along the Red River that I can use.  In Africa, I will be using the car to steady most of my shots, but am also bringing a tripod.

The only critters that Chester and I saw were a pair of ducks – I think they are Mallards, but the movement combined with the distance make it hard to say.  I didn’t have full zoom on these guys and this picture is cropped.  Just for comparison, the numbers on the full picture (not this cropped version) are – focal length 144 mm and 35 mm focal length is 810.

May 18 Ducks

So far on Africa today, we have seen Lion, Elephant, Giraffe, Baboon, Helmeted Guinea Fowl, Black Eagle, Waterbuck, Wildebeest, Impala, Duiker and Nyala.  Click here to see all the pictures from May 19th.

Stuff

Well – yesterday was the first day of registration for our summer programs at the Y.  I am writing this on the 7th – before I actually left for work, so hopefully I will have survived to be here when it shows up. 

Actually summer registration is a breeze compared to fall registration and this year people will be able to register online.

On yesterday’s walk along the Red River, Chester and I found several bunnies and one pair of Mallard Ducks.  The bunnies are mostly in people’s yards and I seldom take pictures in yards, other than my own.

We have the falcons or kestrels back in the neighbourhood and I’m hoping I’ll be able to get a good picture of one this year so I’ll know for sure what they are.  I found a pile of feathers in my yard a few days ago, so something caught a bird.  I don’t think Chester could catch a healthy bird and I don’t think he would pull the feathers off – so it may have been one of these birds – or even a crow that caught something.  I did see a crow with a bird that he had pulled the feathers off a week or so ago while walking.  He was too quick to get a picture of though.

It is raining out as we are heading out for our walk this morning.  Hopefully we will see some critters of some kind.

Here is yesterday’s Mallard Duck pair.

Mallards May 5

This is one of the nicer pictures I have of the female Mallard, but it was a cloudy and dull day for pictures.

Ducks and Grebes and Cheetah Cam

On yesterday’s walking along the Red River, we found a pair of Mallard Ducks and a pair of Western Grebes.  I am assuming that the Grebes are just behind the ones who were here a few days ago and will also be gone before today’s walk.  It would be nice if they decided to hang around though.

We have a week of chilly weather with rain coming up, but by this time next week, we should have warmer temperatures again.  That is, if you can believe anything about the weather forecast.  If I have any say in it, I would like the warmer weather to start now. 

Western Grebes May 3

Western Grebes May 3

Mallards May 3

Mallard May 3

Of course I am still very excited about the Cheetah cubs on the Cheetah Cam at Africam    The cubs seems to be doing great and Salome, the mom is being an excellent mom.  We can watch them day and night with IR light during the night and natural light and colours during the day.  I quickly snapped a couple of pictures just as I started writing this.

Salome and 3 Cheetah Cubs May 4

Salome and 3 Cheetah Cubs May 4

Besides Salome and her cubs on Africam today, we have also seen Waterbuck, Nyala, Zebra, Wildebeest, Leopard and Lion so far.  Click here to see all of the pictures from May 4th.

I talked to Chester’s vet and his levels are ok – still a little low on one, but since he has not had a seizure in 7 weeks now, we are not making any changes at this time.

Migration Time

On yesterday’s walk along the Red River with Chester, we must have caught a break in the migration of a lot of different ducks and grebes.  I can’t identify all of them, but did manage to figure out a couple.  Of course there were Canada Geese there too and we met a little bunny along the way who had a staring contest with Chester.

Bunny April 23

Canada Geese April 23

Selection of Ducks and Grebes (I think)

Selection of Ducks and Grebes (I think)

Selection of Ducks and Grebes (I think)

I believe the Canvasback from last week is in there plus I have ID’d (I think) the next two.

Red-necked Grebe Apr 23

Red-necked Grebe Apr 23

The Red-necked Grebes were swimming towards us – but still a long way away and then they turned back to the rest of the birds on the other side of the river.

Western Grebe April 23

This guy was fairly close to us, especially compared to the rest of the birds across the river.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Elephant, Giraffe, Waterbuck, Zebra, Impala, Black-backed Jackal, Blacksmith Lapwing, Three-banded Plover, Guinea Fowls and Wildebeest,  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Mallards and Sparrow

Its so nice to find lots of action along the Red River when on our walks again.  Spring is the best time of year for birds.  Once they begin nesting, they are not as visible, except when I’m lucky enough to see the ducklings and goslings.  I haven’t seen many Canada  Geese hanging around my usual route, but I hope they will be nesting nearby also.

Today we have Mallard Ducks and a Song Sparrow.

Mallard Duck April 19

Mallard Ducks April 19

Song Sparrow April 19

Song Sparrow April 19

Now that Chester is interested in bird watching, I think I’m getting some better pictures lately.  Of course, the camera helps, but it also helps when he isn’t looking for bunnies in the opposite direction.

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.

Ducks, Gulls and Bunnies

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty nice day – getting up to 16C by afternoon under a sunny sky.  This morning is starting out cloudy but at 9C and a forecast of rain.  The pictures I took on our walk along the Red River yesterday were taken in bright sunlight around 8-8:30 am.  It was on our walk that I got the pictures of the gulls and Mallard Ducks and although I saw, and Chester stalked a bunny, the pictures of these bunnies were taken in my living room.

Mallards April 12

Gulls April 12 - my first bumps on the log for this year and this log

My daughter’s bunnies have produced 3 adorable little ones.  I will have to have a better photo shoot with them one day soon, since they are growing so quickly, but I got some pictures of them in a box last night to show you.  We always send Chester outside when bunnies come upstairs here, since he has killed and possibly eaten baby bunnies outside that he has caught in the yard, we are not taking any chances.

Bunnies April12

The white one is in the middle of the box and managed to get in every picture.  You can see their ears are all starting to drop into the lop position.  I believe she will be looking for homes for these guys soon.

Bunnies April 12

Bunnies April 12

I took individual shots of the other 2 also, but they didn’t turn out.  I need better light when taking to get better pictures of them.  This little guy (although he/she is the biggest of the 3) turned out ok just because of the white colour.