From the category archives:

Birds

Redondo Pelicans

August 20, 2010 Pelicans

On a last-minute work detour through Los Angeles (en route to the Northwest), I caught my favorite group of Redondo Beach pelicans waiting for fish scraps to drain into the harbor.

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So Long, Lake Merritt

August 7, 2010 Birds

A series of farewell posts to my Bay Area home and haunts. We’re heading to Seattle for a year-plus . . . on to new photographic adventures. Lake Merritt was the first place I touched soil — or rather, marine sediment –after returning to the Bay Area from Los Angeles. We were perched above Oakland [...]

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The Cormorant Tree

August 3, 2010 Birds

The Photo: Shot at Lake Merritt against a white sky. I adjusted levels in Aperture and tweaked tone, contrast and gradation in sky using Nik plug-ins.

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Miss Them Already: California Pelicans

August 2, 2010 Pelicans

We’re packing up for a move to the Northwest. It will be a year-plus endeavor — a relocation based on pragmatic considerations. I’ve been a Californian for the better part of 20 years, so the best way to embrace a transition across state lines is to see my future there as a photographic adventure. That [...]

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Floating Fast Like a Hummingbird

July 31, 2010 Hummingbirds

Anna’s Hummingbird –> Calypte anna Hummingbird Factoids: Hummingbirds occur only in the New World. There are occasional reports of hummingbirds in Europe but they’re thought to be escaped from captivity. Fossilized skeletons of ancient hummingbirds were, however, found in Germany. Hummingbird wings flap at about 80 flaps/second during normal flight. Their heart beats at 1200 [...]

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Through the Lens of Glenn Nevill

July 28, 2010 Raptors

A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it.  ~ Irving Penn A photograph’s true essence is visceral: How does it make you feel? What does the image inspire? It’s an impression that defies pixel peeping — where the mood and meaning of [...]

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Pelicanorama

July 24, 2010 Pelicans

White Pelicans congregating, fishing and preening at the Baylands. American White Pelican – Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Click for larger versions.

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Lancelot-Guinevere: The Case of the Castle Pigeon

July 20, 2010 Doves & Pigeons

Lancelot (no, Guinevere) — lost himself (no, herself) — along the coast of Scotland, where Picts and Druids and Earls and Scots laid claim to the medieval stones of her landing. Just north of these stones lie the crags and cliffs that offer sanctuary for pelagic birds, the calls of whom may have drawn her [...]

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Scrub Jay Way

July 14, 2010 Corvids

This Scrub Jay came to us as a tame and inquisitive interloper. He landed on the bannister, then sat and looked in our kitchen window all morning. He’d obviously done this before. But … he’d landed at a kitchen fresh out of peanuts. He gave up. True to jay form (persistence and sweat), he showed [...]

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Creative Commons and the Ripple Effect

July 7, 2010 Pelicans

The Creative Commons license is sometimes a contentious designation in the world of art and creation. The type of Creative Commons license applied to a work further complicates the issue of copyright, fair use and commercial exploitation. For various reasons, I’ve retained the Attribution license on most of my Flickr photos . . . despite [...]

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A Room With a View

July 5, 2010 Baby Animals

Ever since I saw my first Screech Owl hunkered down in the saddle of an oak, I’ve given extra scrutiny to tree hollows in the woodlands, looking for a bird face peeking out. Our friend in darn-near-the-middle-of-nowhere California found such a face — in a cavity nest in her backyard — a yard that literally [...]

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Plenty to Squawk About

June 24, 2010 Birds

Pictured: Captive Macaw – ©ingridtaylar I was just turned on to this article through our local dove-and-pigeon rescue group, Mickacoo. Mickacoo’s dedicated and superhuman founder, Elizabeth, helped mentor me in the ways of rescuing and caring for domestic birds — a learning curve still in progress. Although I’ve worked with animals most of my life, [...]

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Parenting, Avocet Style

June 23, 2010 Baby Animals

American Avocet = Recurvirostra americana These images of American Avocets were shot over the past two nesting seasons. I’m particularly careful when photographing nesting birds or young, and will not intrude if my presence causes any disturbance or danger. Most of these photos were captured at Palo Alto Baylands, from a public pathway. The burnt [...]

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Up On the Roof

June 6, 2010 Pelicans

Hugh and I traded lenses for this casual shoot several months ago. He took the E-520 and the 70-300, and I went wide with the 14-54mm on the E-3. I thought I’d capture scenery against a mackerel sky. I wasn’t expecting to get this perspective on pelicans. In fact, I admit handing over the 70-300 [...]

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Sex and the Single Cowbird

June 2, 2010 Animal Behavior & Characteristics

It’s an unlikely title, I realize, for a girl born and raised during the Second Wave of feminism . . . in the hashish-a-plenty streets of Amsterdam . . . with an insomniac artist for a mom who developed algae foods for astronauts and read her babies chemistry homework as bedtime stories. Helen Gurley Brown [...]

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Fast Food [Gull] Nation

June 1, 2010 Animal Behavior & Characteristics

Part of what makes gulls both amusing and exasperating to humans is their cleverness and opportunism when it comes to food. Across the gull universe, the diet is omnivorous. They’ll eat crustaceans, fish, insects and other marine organisms. They will also prey on the nests of other bird species for food. A number of researchers [...]

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The Ravens of Ocean Beach

May 22, 2010 Corvids

With onshore winds, Ocean Beach is my favorite place to photograph ravens. Along the Great Highway, these feathered balls of onyx launch into the wind like superheroes, hovering over the beach below with tails trailing like capes. I had some time to kill after an appointment in the Sunset. I grabbed my camera and headed [...]

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Ari the Falcon Fledges

May 21, 2010 Baby Animals

The San Francisco falcons growing up on a ledge at the PG&E building in San Francisco are fledging. Palladin took off a few days ago and at last report, was perched atop a nearby structure. This is recently uploaded video of another baby, Ari, taking that first leap off the ledge. You can fast forward [...]

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She Comes in Colors

May 14, 2010 Non-Native Species

Have you seen her all in gold Like a queen in days of old? She shoots colors all around, Like a sunset going down, Have you seen the lady fairer? I know

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Thumbnail image for The Swallows [400 Miles North] of Capistrano

The Swallows [400 Miles North] of Capistrano

May 10, 2010 Animal Behavior & Characteristics

Quick note: With all of these photos, I kept my distance with an effective 600mm zoom. I’m careful not to disturb birds during nesting season. And, it’s also against the law to disturb wild bird nests or eggs. These are the famous Swallows of San Juan Capistrano. Well, not these birds in particular. This species, [...]

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