View allAll Photos Tagged backview
Yesterday, 18 January 2018, I almost came home with an empty memory card in my camera. Luckily, we were treated to a distant view of a Pileated Woodpecker at the furthest point of our walk, and then to a couple of these gorgeous Pine Grosbeak males feeding on berries. Usually, when I see Pine Grosbeaks, they are either flying high overhead or else perched at the top of a very tall tree in the distance. To see them this close up shows them in all their glory. In some ways, I think a back view is the most beautiful, showing the black and white wing pattern.
Much as I would love to jump in my car and go for a drive, I just haven't been able to do so the last 10 or so days, dealing with various services shutting down after my credit card was compromised by someone in eastern Canada, and consequently cancelled. So, a morning's walk in Fish Creek Park with a group of friends sounded appealing, especially as others had seen a Black-backed Woodpecker, a Three-toed Woodpecker and even the tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. As almost always happens, none of these birds were seen yesterday, ha.
We are still having milder weather, often sunny and even a few degrees above 0°C on some days. Yesterday was 2C-7C, which felt wonderful. Perfect weather for getting out ... sigh. We know there is still plenty of snow that will come before spring arrives.
From my archives! I still have many old photos of Great Gray Owls that have not been posted and, as I'm just not getting the chance to "get out there" to look, thought I'd grab a shot from my archives. This shot was taken on a day that I actually got up and left the house really early - maybe the only day I've ever done that, when going somewhere on my own?
Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it.
I headed NW of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light was different. This one must have plunged into the mix of dried grass and snow fairly recently, as it still had that long piece of grass hanging from near its mouth. Wasn't sure whether to remove it or not - it's in quite a few photos - but decided to leave it just as it was. Right decision, lol?
I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too.
That was a good winter for Great Gray Owls. Since then, very few people seem to have been seeing them, unfortunately. Hope to get out looking soon. I have to check my car today to see if I can open the hood and then get it closed again. This was difficult to do on Saturday, after a woman suddenly cut right across my lane of moving traffic and there was no time for me to stop. When the other driver and I checked the hood of my car, we found that it was very difficult to get it closed again. I'm really hoping I don't have to take my vehicle in for some kind of repair.
Anna & Shaun trying to struggle against the cold while waiting for sunrise on top of roys peak.
Great people, great light, great weather - just perfect!
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It's a miracle that I'm posting anything today, lol! What a nightmare getting my photos on to my "new" computer. I did eventually find them - I was puzzled by the fact that so much space was taken up on my new computer, yet there was no sign at all of my photos, other than about a dozen that were in My Pictures folder. After hours of trying one thing or another, I eventually discovered everything in a folder that was inside another folder. A "black screen of death" was not what I wanted to see, either, ha! One thing after another decided that it needed to update on this new machine - and I eventually fell into bed, exhausted, just before 4:00 a.m. this morning, lol. The only reason that I am posting my "daily three" is that I had edited them on my old computer the other day. The thing that puzzles me now, is why is my new computer much slower than the old one, despite having tons of memory??
After nine days at home, giving my 16 stitches from minor surgery a chance to start healing properly, an invitation by friends Cathy and Terry to go birding, on 7 March 2014, was welcomed with open arms - as it always is! What a great day we had, searching SE of the city, and finding some really neat birds. Most were impossible to photograph because of distance, but also because we had "heat wave" distortion all day long, making it difficult to get photos that were sharp. It was one of those days, out of the house from 7:15 a.m. to about 8:15 in the evening. By the end of the day, we had seen a total count of 19 owls, from three species - 8 Short-eared Owls, 9 Snowy Owls, and 2 Great Horned Owls.
The beautiful Great Horned Owl, seen in my photo, was the highlight of the day for Cathy and myself! Cathy had spotted it from the road but from the opposite side of the distant barn. All she had seen was a tiny head silhouette with what looked like ear tufts : ) We turned a corner and drove just a little way to see if we could get a better view from the other side. How we longed to be able to get a closer look, but the barn was on someone's private property, of course. While we were there, a truck suddenly appeared around the corner and turned into the driveway of the farm. Needless to say, we (thanks, Terry!) couldn't resist the chance to go and ask the owner about his owl and, wonderfully, he allowed us to walk through his farm yard to get a less distant view. So, Justin, you arrived home "just-in" time for us (Terry's humour)! Thanks so much for happily letting us on to your property. It was so much appreciated. We definitely didn't want to risk disturbing the owl or make it fly - so this is a 48x zoomed image and cropped somewhat. We loved both the owl's pose and the beautiful, red, peeling paint! "Just" a Great Horned Owl, but what a delightful sight!
Also saw a Prairie Falcon and lots of Horned Larks - the latter constantly in flight or down on the road ahead of us. The "heat wave" distortion made it impossible to get anything but rather blurry shots of these.
DADDY: “Hullo Big Growly Bear.”
BIG GROWLY BEAR: “Hullo Daddy.”
DADDY: “What are you doing?”
BIG GROWLY BEAR: “Well, it’s cold outside today, so I thought I would pull out some of your beautifully illustrated books and sit here by the drawing room fire, reading. I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your antiquarian books.”
DADDY: “Oh, not at all, Big Growly Bear. I know I can trust you with them, as you are soft and gentle with them, and so well behaved. It’s good that you are reading them. What one have you chosen for now?”
BIG GROWLY BEAR: “I am reading Beauty and the Beast.”
DADDY: “Oh yes. That’s Paddy’s favourite faerie tale.”
BIG GROWLY BEAR: “This is your 1916 edition of ‘The Old Fairy Tales’ volume number two, illustrated by H. M. Brock.”
DADDY: “Yes, I recognise the illustrations.”
BIG GROWLY BEAR: “Would you care to join me, Daddy, oh and Paddy too, of course if he’d like. There is plenty of room on the stool for all of us. We can read whilst we toast our toes.”
DADDY: “That’s an excellent idea, Big Growly Bear. I’ll just make us a nice pot of warming tea, and then I will join you. I’ll find Paddy and ask him if he would like to join us too.”
BIG GROWLY BEAR: “That’s a capital idea, Daddy.”
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 21st of August is “backside”, where the challenge is to photograph the back view of a person, animal, model of a person (like a doll) or a model of an animal (like a cuddly bear). When I saw the theme, I felt that I should like to introduce Big Growly Bear, my big yellow mohair bear with a somewhat stern face (which you can see here www.flickr.com/photos/40262251@N03/49915374176 as faces, even in profile are not permitted for this challenge). He was my Grandmother’s bear, passed down to my Mother and then to me, and he is 99 years old and in remarkably good shape for one who is almost a centenarian! He asked if he might dress up for his photo, so he is wearing one of his favourite ribbons of mauve satin, which he feels compliments his mohair plush. I hope that he makes you smile!
Growly Bear, the big yellow mohair bear with a somewhat stern face, was bought for my Grandmother from Hamley's Toy Shop in London in 1922. He is covered in mohair and has amber glass eyes, has articulated arms, legs and a head, and was named Growly Bear because he used to growl when you turned him upside down. He was still growling when my Mother was a child. My Uncle, born three years after my Mother, christened him The Big One, because he was the biggest teddy bear in the nursery. When he came to me as a child, I amalgamated the two names and called him, Big Growly Bear.
Growly Bear is reading my 1916 first edition of “The Old Fairy Tales” volume two, published by F. W. Warne and Company in London. There are three volumes in the set, and this volume features the faerie tales of Hop-O’-My-Thumb and Beauty and the Beast. It is illustrated by Henry Matthew Brock, who was a British illustrator and landscape painter of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century. He was one of four artist brothers, all of them illustrators, who worked together in their family studio in Cambridge. The three volumes of “The Old Fairy Tales” are quite rare.
"夕暮れ散歩"
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EOS 7D + EF-S 15-85mm F3.5-5.6 IS USM
I strolled in the banks of a river in the vicinity with the my daughter.
長女と一緒に近所の土手を散歩しました。
I was pleased with this although it’s only a back view. I used the macro lens so was able to get all the little escaping hairs in focus.
Ossabaw Island, GA (Chatham County). Copyright 2007 D. Nelson
After their Savannah winter residence burned, Henry Torrey and Nell Ford Torrey bought Ossabaw Island and built this 15-room, 16-bathroom "cottage" to escape the rough Michigan winters. A greenhouse located behind the house ensured that the grounds were in bloom all year round. The family occupied only half of the house, the other half being reserved for the many servants.
The island remained in the Ford-Torrey family's possession until it was sold to the state of Georgia in 1978 by descendant Eleanor Torrey-West and her nephews. It was sold with the express stipulation that the island would not be developed and be used only for cultural, scientific and educational purposes. At age 93, Eleanor "Sandy" Torrey-West still lives on the island today, by herself. Each October, the Annual Pig Roast and Art Auction is held here to raise money for the upkeep of the island's structures and to pay for Mrs. Torrey-West's heating bill.
I know I was singing the praises of God's lovely trees - but some of my shots seemed to lend themselves to the 'infrared' treatment as well as being colourful ....
Bella vista da dietro....ma anche pericolosa!!!
Belle vue arrière....mais aussi dangereuse !!!
Preciosa vista posterior....però també perillosa!!!
Bonica vista des del darrere........però també perillosa!!!
Prachtig achteraanzicht....maar ook gevaarlijk!!!
Bela visão traseira ... mas também perigosa!!!
Vacker utsikt bakifrån....men också farligt!!!
Hermosa vista trasera... ¡¡¡pero también peligrosa!!!
Another night, another mountain peak! This time Roy's Peak near Wanaka. After a beautiful sunset and some freezing hours in my tent, we woke up to shoot the stars - and it was brilliant! Never seen that clarity in the stars!
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Look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better // Einstein
Climbing in Mt. Cook National Park
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Wouldn't it be great when you could plugin directly into the internet?
The next step after Google glass...
HSS!
ODC - Theme (25-01-2014): Communication
Sliders Sunday (26-01-2014)
I have no idea why this shot has disappeared twice from my photo stream-- and so very sadly thirty generous, kind comments with it!😳
I 'm posting it again because I really want it in the stream!!
On top of the world… well, on top of Srd Hill at least, high above Dubrovnik.
The views (and presumably the mobile phone signals) are spectacular: Dubrovnik Old Town and the Dalmatian coast in one direction; the Dinaric Alps in the other. But hey, let’s not enjoy the tranquillity of the view 400 meters above sea level – let’s yatter on our phones instead…
Little people, big world
7 Days of shooting
Week#35
Lonely
Minimal Sunday
ODC : Back view
We're here visiting White Space Wednesday
I'm still returning to my recent archives to find "new" photos to post of this tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. I think I've posted most of my better shots of him/her, but still have various others that I want to add to my album. I haven't been down to the park for maybe three weeks, and I haven't heard any reports of the owls being seen in that time, or seen any very recent photos, so I suspect the owls have left the park and flown to higher elevations to nest.
This photo was taken on 11 January 2015 (8 days after my oldest daughter passed away), when I called in at Fish Creek Park for some fresh air and, hopefully, find a friend or two for much-needed company. I was lucky with both. It was a Sunday and a lot of photographers had gathered to watch and photograph this tiny, popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl. There had been a segment on the TV NEWS about this owl, which brought out a lot of people.
I was impressed that all the photographers were very respectful of this tiny owl. Mind you, that day, apart from a couple of very brief, low landings in bushes (seen in this photo), the tiny owl stayed perched extremely high in very tall trees. Thankfully, it was still within my camera reach and we were all lucky enough to see it perched in a variety of places. Bright blue sky completed the picture that day.
"The Northern Pygmy-Owl may be tiny, but it’s a ferocious hunter with a taste for songbirds. These owls are mostly dark brown and white, with long tails, smoothly rounded heads, and piercing yellow eyes. They hunt during the day by sitting quietly and surprising their prey. As a defensive measure, songbirds often gather to mob sitting owls until they fly away. Mobbing songbirds can help you find these unobtrusive owls, as can listening for their call, a high-pitched series of toots." From AllAboutBirds.
Built 1886-1892 Architect - Richard A Waite .... in Richardsonian Romanesque style .... Rear backview of the Ontario Legislative Building, also known as Queen's Park.
SERIES:
Continuing from last week's post. There's a lot more on the property than just the train. There is the old plantation house, the museum as well as the distillery. On this occasion, we are only dealing with the newest attraction, which is the train.
Our only stop on the short trip takes us up the hill of the property. Before I tell you exactly where we are, we'll need to get off the train and do make a complete turnaround. How do you think that happens? Keep watching...
To know a bit more about the history of St. Nicholas Abbey and the attractions on the property, you can go here: https://www.stnicholasabbey.com/
To all of you, hope you enjoyed the weekend and have an awesome week ahead, wherever you are! Let me know what you think!
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Website: NickyHighlanderPhoto (dot) Com
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Camera: NIKON D7200
Lens:Nikon 50mm F1.8 G Auto Focus-S Lens (Prime)
Shutter speed: 0.003125 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO setting: 160
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