Spring sunshine and temperatures are slow to return this year. Green shoots are slowly pushing their way through the soil and I’ve seen a few blackbirds and robins at the reserve but no nest building yet. Instead of trudging through the snow melt on the trails, I took a walk in a neighbourhood not far from where I live. I liked the display in the shop window and took this photo. Another shot that lends itself to black and white.
I don’t mind flies, as long as I don’t find one in the house or landing on my dinner plate! In the woods, however, all’s fair. I was hoping for a dragonfly to photograph but this fly landed on the reed instead, and didn’t move. There was no wind either which made taking this tiny insect much easier. He was attractive (for a fly), I liked the background so I took his portrait.
American Wigeons visit our region in the late summer and remain until the first frost. These photos were taken in November. I thought the reflections in the water were as central to the first photograph as the wigeon, so I chose to do a modest crop. In the second photo the swirls in the water framed the male duck nicely though he was definitely the star in this shot.
I thought the Pearl Crescent butterfly perched on the flower looked like a fascinator you might see at a cocktail party. The tilt of the butterfly, the position of its wings and the richness of its colouring created this illusion. Only its face and the flower are in focus, I would have needed a larger F stop to have got all of its wings in focus. But in this case I don’t think it mattered.
A neighbourhood bike shop got creative. The bikes suspended from the colourful wall look like a wonderful piece of art. A simple idea yet full of imagination. The owner even took precautions against theft as the bikes are locked into place. I liked the vibrant colours but with all the detail and texture in the wall I thought the photo would work in black and white as well.
Occasionally we come across eastern cottontails on our walks. The first photo was taken in a wildlife garden. I startled the rabbit as he was eating, it looks like he was trying to hide behind the flower, not too successfully though. I managed to take a shot before he ran off. The rabbit in the second photo looks like a young one. He’s up early, the morning dew is still on the grass. When the sunlight hits their ears they light up like beacons. I just love that!
As I walked along the path I glanced to my side and saw this bald-faced hornet looking my way. I was struck by its bold colouring which made it stand out against the brown of the bark. This hornet is a member of the wasp family. They are known to attack if their nest is disturbed but generally aren’t a problem when away from their nests. They can be quite beneficial too as they eat flies and other insects. I was surprised that the fly in the picture did not try to fly way. The bald faced hornet has an impressive but rather sinister look. I took this photo at a distance of about five feet, a respectful distance given my subject.
The first green heron arrived at the reserve last June and was joined by several others during the course of the summer, so we had many opportunities to photograph these beautiful birds. They seem to be solitary birds and we never saw them paired up at the lake. We’ve yet to see a nest. I enjoy watching the movements of the green and all the other herons as they transform their appearance when they strut, stalk and fish.
These are two of only a few photographs I took all winter. It was just (still is) too cold for my taste. Chickadees are extremely hardy though and were very obliging that day last December. I adjusted the white balance in Lightroom to remove the blue cast to the snow. It also brought out the brilliant white in the birds.
I was pleased to get as near as I did to this Japanese Beetle. I’m beginning to photograph insects at a closer distance so that I don’t have to crop as much and to get more detail. I took this with my 105mm lens with a flash to slow movement and a diffuser to soften the light. The beetles can be tricky to take in the bright sun as they reflect light. The diffuser helps tone down the highlights.
Japanese Beetles are very destructive insects, eating through many crops, plants and trees. But as subjects to photograph, their iridescent colouring is very attractive.
Late last fall we saw a northern shoveler for the first time. It is such a spectacular looking duck, from its bill to its colouring. I couldn’t have asked for more until…on our third sighting of the shoveler, this wigeon joined him for a swim around the lake. The day was cloudy but there were nice reflections in the water and then there were these ducks, they would dress up any occasion.
It’s a bit soon for tulips here. I took these photos last May at the annual tulip festival, a very popular event in Ottawa. The colour and variety and sheer number of flowers is extraordinary. It was difficult to move for all the people and I was limited to closeups of the tulips. Not a bad thing but I had also wanted to try some wide angle shots of the flowerbeds that seemed to stretch on forever. Maybe this year if I get up really early before the crowds…
These photographs were taken at this time last year when the temperature was milder and the days sunnier than they are right now. I wonder if the pileated woodpeckers are preparing their nests regardless of the cold weather or have postponed this activity until it warms up a bit. This male woodpecker was excavating the same tree that we’ve seen them nest in in past years. We’re supposed to get some milder weather later in the week in which case I’ll stop by the tree to check on any activity.
Summer is truly underway when water lilies begin to appear on the lake. These beautiful aquatic plants decorate the surface of slow moving waterways between June and September. Their broad leaves often provide landing pads for dragonflies and weigh stations for frogs but stand out equally on their own. I try to expose for the lily’s white petals so that I retain some of their detail. This can be easier on a cloudy day when the light is more muted.
I was using a long lens with a teleconverter the day I took these shots. During last year’s fall migration I had wanted to take some hooded mergansers that my regular telephoto lens just couldn’t capture. Walking on a path that borders the lake I caught sight of this Great Blue Heron close to shore. I don’t think I’ve ever been this near to one before and given where he stood and where I found myself, I couldn’t back up to get more of him in the shot. Pretty pleased with the way things turned out though.
The breeding period is quite short for dragonflies and by mid-summer you are practically bumping into mating pairs. They don’t seem to mind and go about their business undisturbed. These meadowhawks caught my eye as they stood out so strikingly against the green of the leaves. As we near the end of winter, with the cold and snow still very much with us, the colour and life in these photographs make me restless for the spring to come.
We didn’t see many of these herons last summer. This striking bird made up for that though by giving us a lot of opportunities for photographs. He preened and napped and didn’t fly off while we were photographing him. The changing light due to the clouds passing overhead made the shoot challenging. The reflections from the lake also effected the lighting on the bird. In Photoshop I corrected the yellowish/green colour cast on the heron using a Hue/Saturation layer. This adjustment effected the surrounding greenery, making it less vibrant. I created a mask on the Hue/Saturation layer to correct this. Wonderful bird, wonderful day!
The red squirrels had a good year at the reserve and we saw more of them than in the past. They are smaller than the eastern greys but what they lack in size they make up for in temperament. They often chase the larger squirrels around; are known to be feisty and very territorial. These squirrels make for fine subjects particularly in the fall when the woods wear a similar colour to their own.
A nice thing about photographing chickadees is that if you don’t capture the one you’re aiming for there will be others around in no time at all. They dart by so quickly that you often end up with a well focused branch! They do slow down a bit in winter though when they’re more dependant on handouts. The chickadee in the first photograph was taken in August; it was molting and looked a little bedraggled. The second, taken in early December was sporting a sleeker look.
The reflections in the water are beautiful in their own right. I didn’t have to wait for long until this handsome pair swam by, improving an almost perfect scene. The wigeons show up every fall just as the leaves start to turn, and remain until the first frost. A regular feature of the season that I look forward to every year.
I find that photographing flowers once they’ve begun to fade often more interesting than taking a flower at it’s peak. These photographs are good examples. In the fall new colours emerge and old ones fade. I worked with the backgrounds to enhance the images. Backgrounds can play a central role and frame the subject, hopefully never distracting the viewer’s eye.
I don’t often see nuthatches on the ground searching for food, as in the first photo. More frequently I see them moving along branches and trunks of trees at challenging angles. The first two nuthatches are white-breasted, the third is red-breasted, not nearly as common in this part of the country and especially nice to see.
I think this groundhog noticed me before I saw him. He was half in his burrow and kept a wary eye on me as I walked along. I see them quite often within the city limits, in open fields and in public gardens. Groundhogs dig deep burrows and one misplaced step can land you on their doorstep. I can well understand that farmers and gardeners consider them pests as they graze on vegetables and crops and can leave the ground weak where they tunnel. However, not being either, I rather like them. It all depends on your perspective I guess. They are also one of Canada’s true hibernators, fattening up in the fall and hibernating when the temperatures dip.
Dragonflies were the first insects I shot when I started photography and remain among my favourites. I took this Meadowhawk last July with my faithful 105mm lens. A nice thing to know about dragonflies is that most of the time they will return to their last perch. Even if they are startled they’ll usually come back to the same leaf/twig. I just set my lens on that spot and wait for them to return😉
These photographs are the second in my duck-on-ice series. I am amazed at the resilience of mallards and the fact that this female can move along the ice, keep her balance and tolerate the cold. In this post I wanted to talk a bit about bringing out the detail in the frozen lake. The duck was a pretty impressive subject but I wanted to enhance the background to give the photos more interest. I did this by adjusting the Highlights and Shadows in Lightroom. I then used the detail extractor in Macphun Intensify CK. For the B&W I used Tonality Pro; by adjusting the Highlights, Shadows and Mid Tones and using colour filters which effect the tonality, even more detail was brought out.
This male Bay-breasted warbler, in fine breeding plumage, was migrating through our area last spring. Given the amount of red in his cap, I believe he is a mature bird. Their population is very dependant on the caterpillars of the spruce budworm and other insect infestations and their numbers rise and fall accordingly. They are a little easier to photograph than other warblers as they move about the branches and show themselves a bit more readily.
I had driven by this old gated lot many times before but hadn’t paid it much attention. We were returning from a neighbourhood street festival one day and walked by on our way home. I was struck by these wildflowers pushing through the gate and stopped to take a photograph. I wanted the attention of the viewer to focus on the centre of the photograph. To do this I used an adjustment layer in Photoshop to lower the brightness of the stone, and then again for the entire photo. Finally I painted back some brightness in the flower and lock to make them stand out from the background.
I love coming across these daisy like wildflowers. They aren’t that common and grow individually so having the chance to see and photograph them is always a pleasure. In the first shot I liked the way the salsify formed a natural arrangement with the grasses and plants around it. In the second image, the flower itself is the centre of attraction although the muted background added some interest.
I took these photos last summer when everything was lush and green and the turtles were basking in the sun. Right now they are hibernating at the bottom of the lake and won’t resurface until late spring. Smart turtles! Painted turtles are common here in Ontario and share the lake with snapping turtles and the occasional blanding’s turtle. Painted turtles can be rather shy and slip into the water as you pass them but not these two on that day.
The lake had just frozen over and this female mallard was taking her first tentative steps on its surface. She was pretty surefooted and didn’t slip once as I watched her. There are at least thirty mallard pairs that remain at the reserve all winter and we normally see them on the river side of the reserve where some of the water remains ice free. This is the the first of two sets of photographs I took of this mallard which I’ll be featuring in the next week or so.
February 2 was Groundhog Day in Canada and the U.S. and it was reported that the “official” Canadian groundhogs did not see their shadows (yes we have two). The story goes that when this happens we’re in for an early spring. If this holds true, I’ll be featuring ducks in open water before too long!
Two of my favourite subjects are insects and flowers and getting both in one shot was a bonus. I don’t usually like to take photographs at this angle, I prefer straight on shots. However, given the detail and colour in the fly I found the composition interesting. This was taken with my macro lens and flash, a wonderful combination for this kind of photography.
I borrowed the title from the song of the same name by The Foundations, a 60s British soul group (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iol0B-clFFM). Another cold grey day here and a sunny looking flower was just the thing to lift the spirits. Buttercups are common flowering plants and I love to see them carpeting the fields every spring. I applied a radial dial in Lightroom to lower the highlights on the flower caused by the strong sunlight. I thought it would lend itself to a black and white treatment as well.
Nuthatches are tiny aerial wizards and acrobats hanging onto trees at impossible angles. They obligingly remain all year, these first two shots were taken in early January. I like their distinctive nasal call, which is often heard before they make an appearance. Normally quite shy, nuthatches are more assertive during the winter hoping for some seed as I pass them along the trail.
Like a lot of people this time of year, I’ve had enough of winter. It’s cold and snowy and I miss the sun. Looking through my files I came upon this fritillary I took in June. It was a reminder of a time last summer when the whole day stretched before me and I could enjoy the outdoors with camera in hand.
There weren’t many birds around as we walked through the park and most of the fall leaves had faded and fallen. As I looked about I came across the first scene. I couldn’t have made a better arrangement myself than this naturally formed still life. The autumn light enhanced it all. The leaf in the second photo wasn’t easily given up by the tree. I liked the way the leaves in the background mirrored its colour.
I featured this eastern screech owl earlier in the month. In that series he was inside a tree cavity, on this day he was perched on a broken tree branch nearby. As this owl blends in so well with his surroundings, if I hadn’t been looking for him where I’d seen him before I would have missed him. All three photos had a tremendous colour cast caused by the leaves. In the first two, I used the Color Balance and Hue/Saturation in Photoshop to correct it. The colour cast was too pronounced in the third photo to fix, so I turned it into a black and white using Tonality Pro in Photoshop. As someone said, any day you spot an owl is a good day, this was an excellent day!
When I set up my gear that morning I was hoping to take some photographs of hooded mergansers I had seen the day before. They usually remain just out of range of my favoured lens, so I had my 300mm lens with me instead. There were no mergansers that day but I did come across these wood ducks along the lakefront. I couldn’t move back far enough to capture the entire bird so I took portrait shots instead. No two days in photography are the same. There are disappointments sometimes, but I know before too long something else will strike me and I’m off…
In the spring with their goslings and in the fall when the leaves change colour, these are my favourite times to photograph Canada Geese. The goose here appears to be doing the two-step, the vegetation serving as the backdrop. The reflections in the water and the soft fall light enhancing the scene.
Palm Warblers are known to stay low or on the ground but this bird went his own way and remained high up in the pines, darting in and out of the branches catching insects in mid flight. You have to be patient with warblers but the rewards are worth it. In the eastern part of the country we are treated to yellow palm warblers, the western variety are a duller colour. These warblers migrate through our region in the spring and fall. After spending the winter months due south (the birds not me), I look forward to their return again in May.
The reserve we go to is left to evolve with little interference from the agency that oversees the area’s green spaces. If a tree is brought down in a windstorm or by decay, unless it blocks the path, it’s left where it falls to break down and eventually feed the forest floor. Insects, vegetation, birds and mammals benefit from all stages of the trees’ existence.
Mushrooms were scarce this year given the dry summer we had but this old tree seemed to provide the perfect conditions for them as well as other vegetation. I liked the “hedge” the mushrooms formed to the hollow in the tree, perhaps it was the entrance to someone’s den.
