Fowl February

My brother got me a camera strap for christmas, but I haven't had a chance to go out and use it until today. It was a bit overcast and I had my iso set pretty high, but I am still happy with how some of these came out. 

Downy woodpecker eating lunch.

I have had people make comments to me in the past before that they would rather be in the moment than experiencing the world through a camera lens, but I feel like the lens unlocks the world for me. Even with glasses my astigmatism is really strong and I experience a pretty blurry world. It always amazes me to take photos of things I can only partially see and to have the beauty of individual feathers appear. 

Female mallard. Check out that purple stripe. 

Canadian goose. These are all over the park but I find them pretty interesting. 

Mallard. 90% of my photo editing time is hitting the auto button and then trying to decide which exposure I like best. I think the duck eye is clearer in this picture. 

But I like how cool the water looks in the background of this picture.

Another female. 

Birds landing in water might be a new photography goal. I think the movement of the water is visually very interesting. I need more practice. I wasn't fast enough. 

This woodpecker was having a bad feather day. 

Look at the tiny stick! (maybe a bug?)

A more traditional exposure of the woodpecker. 

This would have been an awesome shot if my speeds were just a little faster!

See how cool the water looks? The cloudy skies and my shutter speeds were against me!

Days Dam Trailhead is Buggy

Our staff picnic was at Days Dam today.

I was hoping to catch a few dragonflies by the waterfall but no luck. 

This spiky guy looks pretty cool!

I'm not sure what this is, it looks like juvenile though.

A little blue butterfly.

I think bee wings are really cool. 

I didn't have luck at the waterfall but I happened across this meadowhawk on my way out.

I saw tons of baby snails!

I have no clue what this was, but I saw it so now you have to too.

Sandy Ridge is for the Birds

I returned to Sandy Ridge hoping to photograph the swan family. They do look like something out of a fairy tale.

Baby swans are called cygnets and I think they are adorable.

Out of water the swan looks a lot more like a goose.

 I love semi-transparent bird wings in flight and think this picture came out a little dreamy.

The great egret looks quite different on the ground.

Great blue herons are just so weird and predatory looking. I can't help but try and photograph them even though they tend to stay far away.

I spied an indigo bunting! It was super far away, but look at how brilliant blue it is!

I'm bummed these ducks were quite far out. They also didn't want to pose nicely and I was starting to get toasty so I headed back home after getting what I hoped was a photo I could at least ID with. 

And this guy seemed appropriate with July 4th just around the corner.

Sandy Ridge Bugs

I visited Sandy Ridge again trying to get some more dragonflies for the survey Ohio is doing. I was surprised at the number of bug pictures I got.

Making some new dragonflies.

Ebony jewel Wing

Honey bee

This is apparently a unicorn clubtail.

Perhaps a bit blurry but most comical express goes to this dragonfly.

Another jewelwing

And finally an orchard orbweaver.

Hello Moon (and Jupiter)

Today is one of the best days of the year to see Jupiter, and I lucked out with relatively clear skies.

First I had to do a test photo with the moon. 

Here is Jupiter and the two smaller bright dots are some of its moons. 

This if probably the clearest shot. You can see some of the bands.