Repairs are underway

My main photo machine is in a box on it's way to Texas for repairs, so updates may be a bit scarce here for the next week or so. I have all my photos backed up on 2 different hard drives and am planning on using the family machine to get a few blog posts posted, but the camera memory card will be getting full since I don't want to disturb my workflow too much. That and I have some editing to do on a clients photo that will require some time to do it right (and that is the only way to do it).

In the meantime, feel free to browse some of my older posts. Comments on the older posts will not be posted till I moderate them, but that is just to make sure a spam-bot doesn't go crazy on me. Plus that ensures that I don't overlook a comment on an older post.

See you soon.

A Big Bird

These birds are pretty big and we frequently find them standing like sentries around water features and man-made lakes in the area. I get a kick out of seeing the way they space themselves out right on the shore like this:

Here is a closer look at one of the gray ones. I like the black and white coloring on the head and the intensity in his gaze.

After spending some time with my favorite paper resource, The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds, as well as a bit of time on whatbird.com I am pretty sure this is a Great Blue Heron. Click on the whatbird link above to see what I mean.

Is there any controversy this time or is my identification a good one? According to the Encyclopedia, there is also a white variety, so is that what the other big white birds are or are they gender differences? I will be looking to identify the little white bird right next to the heron soon, so if you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment, either here or on Twitter.

Hooves or wings

I knew I wanted to get some pictures processed and uploaded, but was not sure which ones to start with. Several weeks ago we stopped at a man-made lake and waterfall by a new shopping center and took some pictures. A week later, I was shooting in a little park with my wife and youngest son and saw a crane (I think, not identified for sure?) and after getting some shots of him, saw a pair of ducks hanging out nearby. Then, last week, I finally got some pictures of the wild horses on my way home (they were fairly close to the highway) so I was leaning towards them since they are one of my rare treats. However, I decided to go with wings in the hopes that the horses will be closer one of these days (last year, one lone horse was about 50 ft from me).



Now for the tricky part. I am pretty certain this is a hawk, but what kind. After going through the WhatBird wizzard, the 2 I think most likely are listed below. I've deleted the parts of the description that do not contribute to this identification since I did not see him flying or hunting.

Harris's Hawk: Large hawk, dark brown head, neck, back, belly and rust-brown shoulders, underwing coverts and flanks. Tail is dark brown to almost black with white base and terminal band. Undertail coverts are white. Legs and feet are yellow.

Red-tailed Hawk: Large, highly variable hawk with brown upperparts, head and throat. The underparts are pale with brown streaks. Wings are pale below with dark bar at leading edge and dark tips. The tail is red-brown with dark terminal band. Legs and feet are yellow.

While it could possibly be a prarie falcon, I think the prarie falcon seems to have more white in the the head and back (based on the pictures in whatbird and in my book, The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds). In some of the shots, his tail looks red-brown which is my current reason for calling it a Red-tailed Hawk, but I would be happy to accept the advice on more experienced birders (and you are all more experienced birders than I am). Please leave comments here (very easy and no login needed) or on Twitter. Comments here are considered "DoFollow" so they will link back to your site which helps your site in the Google rankings (many sited are noFollow and that seems to be the blogger default).

I have more pictures of this guy, but am not happy with the colors and will be working on them more before posting them, so stay tuned in my photo galleries for more of this guy in the hopefully near future.

Thanks for stopping by.

Baby Alert

Warning - Do not read if your biological clock is ticking!

My brother just had his first son so I showed up and starting taking pictures. It was a bit tricky since he is so little, the flash made him squint so I reduced the flash to the lowest output setting and bumped the ISO a bit. I shot some with only the window light and an even higher ISO, but other than that a little levels adjustment, these are pretty much straight out of the camera. (Click any picture for a bigger size)

He was pretty sleepy the whole time we were there, but he started to wake up before we left and looked at me. I swear it looked like he wanted to say "hi, nice to meet you, now will you turn that flash OFF!"

He is happy and healthy and to prove it, here is 5 toe proof.



Welcome to the world little one. (a few more of Giovanni with some other family members can be seen here)

Last visit to the ballpark (this time)

I figure 3 blog posts should be enough to adequately cover a single baseball game, so this one will be short and cover a few batters.

I like the first picture because it leaves a little blur from the bat and the ball. At a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, the bat and ball had to be moving pretty fast to still be blurred.

The next one, #76, Jesus Guzman highlights one of the non-roster invitees getting a shot at the team this spring training. You can read more about him and the other invitees in this article. I am always impressed by how major league hitters pick up their front foot and take a step as they are swinging. Since I have never played baseball, I am not sure if this is for a little extra power, but it seems like it would make it harder to hit the ball.

The last shot shows how different some batters stances are. It looks uncomfortable, but it seems to work for him, even with a loose shoelace.

Whether you are a baseball fan or not, I hope you appreciated some of these baseball posts. If you are a baseball fan, leave a comment with your favorite team. I think there is a White Sox fan out there.

To The Ballgame (part 2)

The ballpark is a great place with the fans, the vendors and the players all come together to make it an experience. It is interesting that when I have my camera with me (nearly always these days) I notice many things that used to slip by me before. Things like other photographers with incredibly big lenses causing me to further irritate my already bad case of lens envy.

In High School, I was on a swim team and was fairly competitive by my junior year. In a citywide meet, I finished in 4th place just 2 hundredths of a second out of 3rd and not much more than that behind 1st and 2nd. I am not bragging, but just setting the stage for my next comment. I know the effort it takes to be competitive and so I appreciate seeing that effort played out at this level. The effort it takes for a pitcher to throw a baseball at this level is clearly visible in shots like these.

This day at the ballpark was (as I mentioned before) a fun time. I would be happy to go back again to this park, or any other sports facility. Does anyone have any suggestions for particulary photogenic ballparks? Anything in Arizona is more likely for me to visit, but please leave a comment here or a shout out on Twitter and let me know what you think the best looking sports facility is. Is it the University of Phoenix stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play with its rollout field? Or is it the Twin Cities Metrodome in Minnesota with its rich history of baseball and football?

Take Me Out To The Ball Game...

For the first time in several years, I went to a baseball Spring Training game this week. It was a game between the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants.

One of my best friends is a big Giants fan, so I was rooting for them. They kept it within a few runs, but were not able to capitalize on some well hit balls and the A's caught a few breaks (hard hit balls that went right to their players for example).

During the game, a foul ball rolled to a stop near the 3rd base where the umpire picked it up. A new ball had already been thrown to the pitcher, so the ball was not needed for the game to go on. The fans in the stands were reaching out, hoping the umpire would toss them a souvenir, but he just grinned and stuck the ball in his pocket. At the end of the inning, he took the ball out and walked over to the stands to where a girl was sitting with her outstretched hand. He joked around with the girl and her parents (I'm guessing as I was not close enough to hear) and pointed at his cheek as if to say "give me a kiss and I'll give you the ball". The girl would have nothing to do with that offer but negotiated a hug instead and then handed her the ball. Then, he proceeded to use their camera to take their picture from the field. It was great to see the kids having a fun time at the ballpark and for the umpire to go out of his way to make the event memorable for them.

I took about 200 pictures at the ballpark and spent a lot of time playing with different settings (changing focal point, quick ISO changes, tracking the ball, shooting in burst mode to capture action) so you can expect to see some more baseball pictures from this outing showing up here in the future.

Do you like team sports or are you more of an individual accomplishment kind of person? Would you rather play a round of golf or watch it live or watch it on tv? Let me know what your favorite sport is here in the comments or shout it out on Twitter. Thanks for dropping by.

Name That Bird

Yes folks, it is indeed time for another round of name that bird.

If you are tired of bird pictures, please feel free to leave me a note to that effect in the comments of this post. Suggestions of what you would like to see more of would be appreciated as well.

If on the other hand, you like our winged and feathered friends, continue on for the rest of this episode.

Once again, I was able to capture this image thanks in large part to my youngest son who is a great spotter and who also is developing a good eye for composing a picture.

This contestant was spotted in February 2009, in the desert in the southwestern part of the USA. He (or she, I'm no expert on bird genders) was near Phoenix Arizona as a matter of fact, just to the East of town, in the lower parts of the Superstition mountains.

I am using the first picture (with a tighter crop) as my avatar on Twitter this week. I asked the folks there for guesses as to his heritage and lineage and received several very good suggestions within a few minutes.

@WolfSnap said: I think it's a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

@CoopersDesign said: Looks like a Rock Wren

So tonight I finally made enough time for this entry and pulled out my faithful guide, The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds. I looked at both the Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher (p. 190) and the Rock Wren (p. 189).

The Rock Wren habitat sounded right "pebbly areas ... to [areas] with large boulders".

But the Gnatcatcher also sounded like the right habitat "...primarily Mojave and Sonoran desserts". I am leaning this way, based on two things, the guide says the size for a Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher is about 4.5 inches tall (My best guess) instead of the stately 6 inches typical for a Rock Wren. Also, the pictures in my book make the Rock Wren look a bit more brown which does not fit this guy. I realize that I have a definite advantage in that I was there and have some idea of how big he was, so I don't want to take anything away from any of the suggestions that were twittered to me as they were based only on the picture in my avatar which gives no sense of scale.

As always, I'll add my disclaimer that I am a total and complete newbie to this birding game and am willing to reconsider my choice in the face of any additional ideas or reasons, so please, comment (here or on one of the photos) or even on Twitter by sending me an @ message.

So what animals (birds or others) have you seen in your part of the world? I would love to know what critters to look for if I were to visit your area. Please leave me a comment here and let me know what part of the country or world you are in and what some of the typical sights I would see.

Thanks again for dropping by.

--------------Updated 3/5/2009 8:30 pm
Ann sent me this pic that she has id'd as a Rock Wren

(displayed here with her permission). Thanks!