Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Rare birds

The saga of my failed birds in flight shots continues.  Maybe the pair below could qualify as a new and rare breed. 
I had a very enjoyable visit with my new friend, Dianne and her dog, Haley, today.  We had a latte (me) and tea (Dianne) at Thomas Haas, only slightly disturbed by a flash hail storm.  I found a small piece of turkey from our school kitchen for Haley, and she stares at me hopefully, but there was no more to be had.  I must remember to bring treats to school with me today.
Beautiful ride home last night.  This picture from the Lions Gate. The stormy weather can be seen over the mountains as it clears to the South.

This one is taken from English Bay, at dusk.
Is anyone able to identify this pair of strange birds?  I thought they looked quite beautiful against the setting sun colors.
Bill's suggestion was "Shoebird" but I'm hoping to other thoughts:)  Shortly after taking that photo, I hit a bump in the road (no accident, just a minor one) but my shifter cable snapped.  Luckily, Clint, of Ride On Again bike shop, was just leaving (well after hours), as he had been working on his own bike.  He put on a new cable, which worked great, and off I went, a very happy camper.  Thank you Clint!!!

7 comments:

  1. Ah, yes, I do believe the rare birds in the first shot are the Headless Carol-teaser, followed by the Tailless Carol-teaser. How wonderful to get both rare birds in one shot!
    As for the other rare birds, I agree with Bill on this one - the famous shoe-birds, also known as drug-marker birds. They are most commonly found hanging from powerlines, so you have definitely captured them acting out of character. Well done!

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  2. Beautiful pictures from out over the water. It was an awful day weather-wise in Deroche, so I was surprised to hear that it had been pleasant in the city.

    On another note it sounds like poor Natasha Richardson is suffering from a head injury similar to yours, but that her prognosis is probably not so good. Made me appreciate the fact that you were so close to a hospital when the headache hit.

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  3. Oh Carol, no technical knowledge, lol, but you definitely have the artistic eye. I will tell you a little secret too, I didn't either when I started and most of the time I just shoot with auto [otherwise the object of interest usually runs or flies away, lol]. Excellent photos, and I actually like the first one. Anna :)

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  4. Thanks, Jean. I feel quite proud of myself, after your flattering spin on my photos:)

    dp, it seems like the weather can be different from one city block to the next, these last few days. I hit it lucky on Tuesday, except for that little hail storm as we sat outside Thomas Haas. And speaking of lucky, a lot of things fell into place for me the night of my accident, and hearing the heartbreaking story about Natasha Richardson really brought that home to me. I lived in the town of Ste. Agathe for ten years, and know the little hospital where they first took her, as well as the route they would have driven. It's a heck of a long way from the hill to Ste. Agathe and from there to Montreal. I can't help but wonder if the outcome wold have been different if they had flown her directly to Montreal.

    Thanks, Anna:) Did you gain your technical knowledge by reading, or by taking courses, or are you just one of those people with a technical bent?

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  5. Hi Carol, you asked: 'Did you gain your technical knowledge by reading, or by taking courses, or are you just one of those people with a technical bent?' - no no nothing like that, you will find that to operate camera is very easy, I learn by clicking different buttons and experiment, did some reading way after. I rather concentrate on the subject than the equipment, lol, because if you are not fast enough it will zoom by you, lol. BTW you will learn one thing - light is everything, and when not enough light stillness is everything. At some point I thought I had broken camera, and no it was low light :).

    Thanks Carol for nice conversation, I will visit you later, I just fell behind with my emails...

    Anna :)

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  6. Your comments are really interesting to me, Anna. I thought my camera was broken too:) I hadn't really figured out just how important it is to have good light. I think just observing birds and beasts is a wonderful gift, so although I am often disappointed in the photos, I agree that the subject is the first line of enjoyment. Maybe, like you, I'll start to read more, and try clicking some different buttons instead of the ever-faithful "auto-intelligent" one. I do think that button is superbly well named, though:)

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  7. Carol you said: 'I think just observing birds and beasts is a wonderful gift' - so true true. Anna :)

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