Kingfisher (male) Morning Grooming
Hoshinaike, Obu, Aichi, Japan (There is a large pond and a very small pond. This was at the large pond.)
May 21st marked my 5th year anniversary on Flickr!
I'd like to thank all of you on Flickr for all your support, tips, your photostreams and most especially your friendship. I am forever grateful. Some of you were my contacts even before I discovered birds. A special thanks for your early encouragement.
Although I've recently posted mostly images of other birds I will always love the egrets and herons which have dominated my photostream. In the last year or so I've learned that I can also get close enough to smaller birds to get a few decent shots. I like the added variety and colors of various species.
A special thanks to all the Japanese photographers and birders who have introduced me to the small birds, new places to go, shooting in manual mode and at times sharing their secret places. We keep crossing paths in various places. Even when I meet new (to me) photographers and birders they sometimes say, "I've heard about you." It must be the cowboy hat.
Health: Please take care of your health. Over the years I've had a lot of trouble with not having enough water (or any water) to drinking too much water and getting water poisoning while out shooting. It seems I never learn. In recent weeks I've had two more experiences that were quite scary. It always happens when I'm alone and decide to go somewhere on the spur of the moment and take a 'short' hike 10-30 minutes. But, there's always just one more hill (and then another ...) or just another 10 minutes (and then another ...). All those hills and minutes start adding up and then you've got to go back. Oops. Another point to keep in mind: it gets darker in a forest sooner than it does outside of a forest. Carry a flashlight. On one hike the trails ended rather soon and I decided to hike up some very steep hills. I had to pull myself up a series of these hills using trees and rocks . It was a bit crazy as there was also a lot of brush and I knew there were a lot of two kinds of poisonous snakes in the area. I ended up really black and blue after falling and sliding my way back down most of the hills. I was very dehydrated, but very relieved when I got back to flatter ground. And then I nearly stepped on one of those poisonous snakes. I jumped back and tried to get a shot. But the low light, slow shutter speed and movement just ended with a very blurry capture.
Recently I lost nearly all of my sense of taste. I think that my sense of smell is intact, though it may be diminished somewhat. (I can smell peanut butter and tea tree oil for sure.) I'm not sure if the cause is allergy related or meds related, but it's driving me a bit crazy. Hopefully it's temporary ... . Hopefully I'll never lose the sense of sight. That would be a real bummer. Now I realize how precious our senses and our health really are!
Kingfisher (male) Morning Grooming
Hoshinaike, Obu, Aichi, Japan (There is a large pond and a very small pond. This was at the large pond.)
May 21st marked my 5th year anniversary on Flickr!
I'd like to thank all of you on Flickr for all your support, tips, your photostreams and most especially your friendship. I am forever grateful. Some of you were my contacts even before I discovered birds. A special thanks for your early encouragement.
Although I've recently posted mostly images of other birds I will always love the egrets and herons which have dominated my photostream. In the last year or so I've learned that I can also get close enough to smaller birds to get a few decent shots. I like the added variety and colors of various species.
A special thanks to all the Japanese photographers and birders who have introduced me to the small birds, new places to go, shooting in manual mode and at times sharing their secret places. We keep crossing paths in various places. Even when I meet new (to me) photographers and birders they sometimes say, "I've heard about you." It must be the cowboy hat.
Health: Please take care of your health. Over the years I've had a lot of trouble with not having enough water (or any water) to drinking too much water and getting water poisoning while out shooting. It seems I never learn. In recent weeks I've had two more experiences that were quite scary. It always happens when I'm alone and decide to go somewhere on the spur of the moment and take a 'short' hike 10-30 minutes. But, there's always just one more hill (and then another ...) or just another 10 minutes (and then another ...). All those hills and minutes start adding up and then you've got to go back. Oops. Another point to keep in mind: it gets darker in a forest sooner than it does outside of a forest. Carry a flashlight. On one hike the trails ended rather soon and I decided to hike up some very steep hills. I had to pull myself up a series of these hills using trees and rocks . It was a bit crazy as there was also a lot of brush and I knew there were a lot of two kinds of poisonous snakes in the area. I ended up really black and blue after falling and sliding my way back down most of the hills. I was very dehydrated, but very relieved when I got back to flatter ground. And then I nearly stepped on one of those poisonous snakes. I jumped back and tried to get a shot. But the low light, slow shutter speed and movement just ended with a very blurry capture.
Recently I lost nearly all of my sense of taste. I think that my sense of smell is intact, though it may be diminished somewhat. (I can smell peanut butter and tea tree oil for sure.) I'm not sure if the cause is allergy related or meds related, but it's driving me a bit crazy. Hopefully it's temporary ... . Hopefully I'll never lose the sense of sight. That would be a real bummer. Now I realize how precious our senses and our health really are!