I've been away again for a bit, and returned to no snow..., but I know that Spring is just around the corner, when my woodlands crew shows up for a visit....
Thanks, Michael; I think they ate two or three cubic feet each that day, but prancing around like a cat with tape on its feet was the funniest part ...good to see your snow pix here, too...I remember your red barns from last year...
Well, there will be better views of the comet up soon, I'm sure, but here's a quick one from an hour ago; tomorrow I'll set up on the concrete pad instead of the wooden deck. Even breathing produced vibrations that ruined almost all of mine tonight ...still, it was cool to see, and my teenagers were actually somewhat impressed!
Jefferson, I hear ya about "no winter". Nice pan job on that Porsche!
Jerry, thanks for the beautiful comet and moon shot. Gotta find a clear, non-working evening to get out there and try some!
Cool Alaska sunrise, lots of other nice stuff!
Here's what winter looked like around these parts today. I think I'll be able to buy this house if I sell my pancake 40!
Good one, John_T; the long ears remind me of the Kaibab squirrels on the north rim of Arizona's Grand Canyon; and, the 70-200 f/2.8 II and 1.4x extender have almost made my 70-300L superfluous...on a 7D, the "crop factor" would probably put in the last nail on it for me . Even on my 5DIII it's that good, and a stop faster to boot...
This thread hasn't been about Tennessee's winter very much for a while now; between the naturally warm climate, an unusually mild season, and the abundance of various evergreens, it hasn't looked like winter very often...certainly nowhere near that of Switzerland, Alaska, the northeastern US, Snopchenko's St. Petersburg, or any of the countless others...
But the calendar shows one more week of winter left to run, so I'll bump the thread back to the top with a couple of shots of a sleepy barred owl I found yesterday in a state park just south of Nashville. The owl has gotten well accustomed to humans; he/she occasionally peered at me, but still perched six feet off the ground fifteen feet off the trail - I actually had to either back up or take off the 1.4x extender to fit it in the frame. These two were taken over an hour apart.
That's a kind of bird photography I would like to do more often...
Both with 500 f/4L IS MkI and 1.4x extender III, on a tripod...
Happy Spring (almost)!
Jerry
You nailed it Jerry, the TC IIIs turned the page for me.
Speaking of TN, it was great for me as a kid growing up in Oak Ridge and environs. Miles of unspoiled forests teaming with innocent wildlife I could often just walk up to, deer, birds, skunks, snakes 'n all. One time I was walking in the woods when I saw a dogwood with a half dozen owls just like yours, perched there sleeping through the day. I stretched my arm out and touched one of the owls on the breast with the back of my forefinger. He climbed right up on my finger and stayed there while I walked home, showed him to my mother and sisters, then slept on a porch railing until he disappeared in the evening. Love your owl, could reach out and touch him.
I do remember walking to school in some damned bitter winters in deep snow though, and running the whole way home through the woods in some glorious summers.
Hand held 7D + 70-200L IS II + 2x TC III, crop 640mm pixels per squirrel.
What a fantastic owl story, John; a childhood memory to cherish indeed...Oak ridge, as you remember of course, is deeper into the southern Appalachian Mountains than the rolling hills fifty miles below Nashville where I am; still, we used to get several snowfalls a year of 8 to 12 inches and hardly any has fallen in the last three or four years...I hope it's a short cyclical change...
Well, back to Canon equipment and it wonderful capabilities
From the same day I stumbled across the barred owl, here's a ring-necked duck and a woodpecker, both with the 500 f/4L IS Mk. I with a 1.4x Extender III...
It was a pretty good day for me; bluebirds, brown thrashers, and coots to follow...
I love the snow on those wood ducks - the flakes on the drake's back are so huge it looks like fake movie snow ...I'm still looking for good woodie portraits; around here, they're one of the most unapproachable species, always flapping away with that distinctive whistling call before I can get anywhere near them...
Anyway, excellent work there, Psychic...
I have to think this ring-neck was addressing me personally; after all, I'd been poking a 500mm f/4L with a 1.4 extender III at him for quite a while...
, but I know that Spring is just around the corner, when my woodlands crew shows up for a visit...
.
