Song Sparrow

It is so nice to be serenaded by the Song Sparrows as Chester and I walk along the Red River.  Now that there are leaves on the trees, I can’t always find them, but this one decided that the top of the tree was the best place to be.  The river behind him makes a nice background to the pictures.

Since he was so co-operative by staying in his spot, I was able to try 3 different zoom levels to get these pictures.  He was a good distance away – but I don’t judge distances well, so I’m not even going to try to guess how far away he was.  I’ll show the pictures re-sized but not cropped and then cropped and re-sized.  I’m just looking at the quality issues when using the zoom to where it stops and then by pushing it a bit more until the full 2nd zoom is reached.

May 26 Song Sparrow 1R

The first picture is exactly how it came out other than being re-sized to fit here.  Just below it has been cropped and re-sized to fit here.  The R at the end of the picture name indicates re-sized and the CR indicates cropped and re-sized.

May 26 Song Sparrow 1CR

On the first picture only, I also decided to crop it to match the size of the fully zoomed in one to see if the picture would be clearer than the others.  I may have to re-do this entire study using a tripod for the fully zoomed in pictures.  Even using the post to hold the camera steady I found some movement.

May 26 Song Sparrow 1CC

May 26 Song Sparrow 2R

Zoomed in a little more.

May 26 Song Sparrow 2CR

May 26 Song Sparrow 3R

Zoomed as far as it would go.

May 26 Song Sparrow 3CR

May 26 Song Sparrow 4R

May 26 Song Sparrow 4CR

I was using my Nikon Coolpix with 36x zoom for all these pictures.  I think the first picture is using the 36x and the others are using digital zoom.  I do have a tripod, which should help with getting better pictures using the digital zoom, but I don’t normally take that with me when walking Chester.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Lion, Leopard, Giraffe, Elephant, Waterbuck, Nyala, African Harrier Hawk, Woolly-necked Stork, Zebra, Black Eagle, Impala, Spotted Hyaena and Side-striped Jackal.  It won’t be long now until we get to watch the Cheetah cubs again too.  I’m excited to be able to see them again soon.  Click here to see all the pictures from May 28th.

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.

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.

Western Grebe

I managed to get my best pictures yet of the large black and white grebes that I have seen a few times and now I can say for sure that they are Western Grebes and not Clark’s Grebes.  The birds are very similar, but the one way that I now know how to tell them apart is that the Western Grebe has black around the eye and the Clark’s Grebes have white in that area. The black is a little higher on the top of the head on the Clark’s Grebes.  The Clark’s Grebe also has a bright yellow beak, where the Western Grebe has a yellow beak with a green tinge.  Until recently they were considered one species with a colour variation.  According to the range maps, the Clark’s Grebe does not come to this area though.

Click here for information on the Clark’s Grebe and click here for more information on the Western Grebe if interested.

Western Grebe May 17

Western Grebe May 17

Western Grebe May 17

So far on Africam today, we have seen Elephant, Zebra, Osprey, Black Eagle, Impala, Waterbuck, Oxpecker, Cape Turtle Dove, Nyala, Swainson Spurfowl, and Wildebeest.  Our Cheetah Salome has moved her cubs to another location, so we have lost sight of them for now.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Chester

I want to thank everyone here who has been with me on Chester’s roller coaster ride with his seizures.  I know it may not be over yet, but today is 9 weeks since his last one.

It has been quite a ride and I was sometimes discouraged, but he remained happy and unconcerned himself – other than the actual seizure and the recovery time.

We still continue to have our walks along the Red River each morning so we can both look for critters along the way – Chester so he can stalk and chase them and me so I can take pictures of them.  His stalking and chasing does interfere with my picture taking, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

I took a couple of pictures of Chester yesterday, since there were no critters on our walk in the morning.

Chester May 15

Chester May 15

On Africam so far today, we have seen Impala, Baboon, Zebra, Oxpecker, Wildebeest, Giraffe, Elephant, Nyala, Kudu, Black Eagle (sitting on eggs), Blacksmith Lapwing, Lions and Salome the Cheetah with her cubs.  Apparently Salome took her cubs outside for some sunshine and fresh air today.  We couldn’t see them on the cam, but once they are outside more, the cam will be moved outside for us to watch them. 

Click here to see all the pictures from May 16th.

Back on May 15th, a Lilac Breasted Roller landed very close to the camera at Nkorho and I was able to snap a great picture of this beautiful bird, so I thought I would put that in here also.

Lilac Breasted Roller

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.

Gopher

I think I must have concentrated on all the non zoo critters while I was at the Assiniboine Park Zoo on the weekend. 

There are a lot of different critters that are collectively known as gophers and unfortunately, I have never learned the individual species, so I don’t know what this little guy is (other than cute). 

Gopher

Gopher

He was busy having a good conversation with one of his buddies or family members.

One thing about the wild animals in the zoo that are not caged is that they are  used to people and it is pretty easy to get pictures of them.  These little guys often beg for food, which is unfortunate though.  There is plenty of natural food, which is much better for them – but many people will give them tidbits of their lunch or snack.

I am still not finding any critters when walking Chester along the Red River these days.  I assume the ducks and geese are all nesting and will soon be out with their babies so picture taking can resume.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Elephant, Nyala, Wildebeest, Black Eagle, Impala, Waterbuck, Vervet Monkey, Cape Turtle Dove, Zebra, Giraffe, Hadeda Ibis and our Cheetah mom Salome with her 3 cubs.  Click here to see all of the pictures from May 14th.

First Grass Cut of the Year

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

If you were here with me last year for the lawnmower series you will remember that I got one of the battery powered lawnmowers.  Last fall, I left it fully charged as the instructions said to do, but I couldn’t remember if it would need another charge before its first use of the year.  I decided that it probably would – so Friday morning, I plugged it in so it would be all ready for a Saturday morning cut.

Well silly me!!  I forgot that there are 2 ends to a cord, so I plugged it in all right, but didn’t plug it in to a power source!!!

When I was ready to get it started yesterday I noticed this oversight but decided to try it anyway.  It started beautifully.  I headed for the front yard first, since it needed cutting the most and that is what people see.  If it finished the front, I would work on the spots in the back that needed it.

A couple of times, it seemed to be slowing down while doing the front – but it finished it as well as the spots in the back where the grass had actually grown.  There was less than 1/2 the back yard that needed any cutting.  So, I finished it up and put it away – with both ends of the cord plugged in to charge it for the next cutting. 

I tried to get some pictures of some Blue Jays yesterday, but they did not cooperate at all.  There were about 8-10 of them having discussions about territory (I presume – since I don’t understand Jay talk).  They all flew into one of my trees – squawking loudly and then over to trees in other yards.  They also had some musical sounds that I don’t remember ever hearing before from these beautiful birds.

I really do hope that they do not choose one of the trees in my back yard for nesting.  They have nested there before and almost every time, the babies have come out of the nest way too soon.  It is always a dog (Chester now and Dakota before him) who finds them and they don’t last long, I’m afraid.  I’d be ok with them using one of the trees in the front yard though.

Chester May 12

I ended the day by selling my old Toro Lawnmower – so that is now out of my shed. 

So far on Africam today, we have seen Leopard, Elephant, Salomi and her adorable cubs, Warthogs, Wildebeest, Duiker, Cape Turtle Doves, Nyala, Waterbuck, Impala, Black Eagle, Kudu and Grey Go-away Bird.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Red-Winged Blackbird

Yesterday was the first time I’ve seen a Red-Winged Blackbird along the Red River here.  I wasn’t fast enough to catch him flying, since he took me by surprise, but he was nice enough to perch and pose for me.

It was a beautiful day here yesterday after the thunderstorm during the night.  I heard a little bit of thunder and was then fast asleep before the rain even started.  I only knew it rained because of the mud puddles that Chester was able to find. 

Speaking of Chester, I am happy to say that it has now been 8 weeks since his last seizure.     He sends big sloppy kisses to everyone who wished him well and sent cyber hugs.  I know he can still have one at any time, but now that he is stabilized, it should be fairly easy to get him back on track again.

Red-Winged Blackbird May11

Red-Winged Blackbird May11

Red-Winged Blackbird May11

Red-Winged Blackbird May11

You can’t see much of the red on his wing patches here, but they sure showed up when he flew.

Serious Lack of Critters

I hope you are enjoying the garden pictures, because there has been a serious lack of critters along the Red River when Chester and I have been going on our walks lately.

I found 6 more Red Lily bugs on my lilies yesterday morning and have disposed of them.  I will check again each day until I no longer find any for a few days in a row.

We don’t have a lot of pictures today – just my tulips and the elephant ear flowers.

Tulips May 7

Tulip May 7

The next few days are supposed to be warm and sunny – so these should be completely open very soon. 

Elephant Ear May 7

After much thought, I’ve decided I am going to sell some of my digital cameras, including the Sony NEX-5N.  The Olympus and Canon haven’t been used in awhile, so it was no problem to think of selling them, but although the NEX takes wonderful pictures – it just doesn’t have the zoom that I wanted.  I thought of taking both the Nikon and the Sony to Africa, and switching between them depending on how close the critter was, but finally decided that would be too much of a nuisance.  I am also going to sell the set of luggage that I won a few weeks ago.  If you live in the area, look for my ads on Kijiji.

So far on Africam on May 8th we have seen Lion, Cheetah, Impala, Giraffe, Zebra, Elephant, Side Striped Jackal, Wildebeest, Nyala, Egyptian Geese and Hadada Ibis.  Click here to see all the pictures.