One of the most spectacular birding sights in Japan in winter is to witness the thousands of Hooded and White-naped Cranes flying over the fields at Arasaki, Izumi city, Kagoshima prefecture. Here a small flock, probably family unit, of White-naped Crane created a memorable full-frame composition with the rising sun, low mountains and whisp of […]
Favorite Wildlife Photos of 2012
Thought I’d share a few of my favorite wildlife encounters of 2012.
The new “blue lagoons”
In the late 1990s Tom Tarrant was birding the Riyadh area and he kept good records which I often compare against today’s findings. He has written about “the blue lagoons”. This was part of the Riyadh river where the habitat is more open than the area around the pivot fields where I normally bird. He […]
Canon EOS 7D: ISO Performance
Canon EOS 7D with EF 400mm f/5.6L (ISO 250 | f5/6 | 1/500sec) Lightroom Adjustments: Vibrance+62 Sharpening:+25 |LuminanceNoise Reduction:+10 I acquired a Canon EOS 7D in September, and now that I’ve been using it extensively for a few months I thought it would be good to write reviews of its various features. This camera has […]
Ponce Inlet, 12/20/2012
I went to Lighthouse Point Park at Ponce Inlet. I was hoping to find one of the Razorbills that had been seen there recently, but no luck for me today. It was still a pretty good morning, though. Lots of gulls and terns were there: Sandwich, Royal and Forster’s Terns, plus Ring-billed, Laughing, Herring, Great […]
Black Redstart female
Phoenicurus ochruros – Passeriformes – Muscicapidae She swallowed this larva as is, no frying like it’s done in Africa with the Mopani worms, served in some restaurants… I haven’t tried them, although my son has assured me the “delicacy” is a real treat! LOL! Hey, if you consider that “froggies” eat snails… Rouge-Queue femelle Avalée […]
Bolivia Trip Report Part III
Bolivia is an extremely diverse country when it comes to birds. In fact, some say that if it wasn’t land-locked it would have more species than any other country. Endemism is not especially high but there are some stunners to search for such as the Red-fronted Macaw and Black-hooded Sunbeam. The country lacks a field […]
Warm enough to fly in mid-December
The fly can be seen in the center of this photograph of the planter still decorated for autumn harvest in mid-December. The temperature peaked at 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 C) on December 18th in Brighton, Michigan, but that didn’t deter a Common Green Bottle Fly from venturing out. Perhaps he had burrowed into the soilof […]