One Happy Duck

 

I was really planning to leave birds for a while and go back to flower images today but after spending the better part of the day down along the North Shore (NJ) ponds photographing ducks, I’ve returned with several images that I would like to share over the next week or so. So I will delay flowers by one more day and post one of my duck images from this morning.

This is an American Widgeon. After watching this fella swim back and forth in front of us today on one of the North Shore ponds, my wife and I decided to name him “Yakkie” since he was just yakkin’ away the whole time. Just look at him. Doesn’t he look like one happy duck?!?!

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

My Choice

I said yesterday that I was trying to decide which of three birds images I would post. My wife came in and said I should post the Nuthatch, so I did. This was one of the other images and the one I was leaning toward – the Pine Siskin. This image was made a couple of weeks back also at Peace Valley Park.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

My Wife’s Choice

I was sitting at the computer pondering which of three bird images to post tonight. The three contenders were the Pine Siskin, the White-breasted Nuthatch and the Northern Shoveler. In walked my wife, Barb, and she asked if she could choose. I said sure. (That’s how you stay married for nearly forty years!)

Her choice was the White-breasted Nuthatch. This image was made back in November at Peace Valley Park in Buck County (PA). Peace Valley is a wonderful county park with hiking trails, a large lake, the Pooh Tree (I must have shots of the Pooh Tree around somewhere but you can just Google it – Pooh Tree Peace Valley), lots of birds and the sun seemingly always in the wrong place. But that doesn’t stop us from going back again and again. As a matter of fact, the Siskin, which would have been my choice, was also from Peace Valley.  

I know I’ve said it before. And I know it is obvious. But birds are a lot tougher to photograph that flowers. Especially the little guys who are just a bundle of energy and never sit still for very long. You have to think fast and act fast or you’ve missed the shot.

Hope you enjoy this little bundle of energy.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

I’ve Got To Get Out…

I am chafing at the bit to get out and find something to photograph that is not brown or gray. At this point in time, I’m not sure what or where but I have to come up with a plan for the weekend before Saturday rolls around. Yes, I am going crazy! There’s not much happened on the flora end unless, of course, I go to someplace like Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA) or fight my way through the throngs at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Maybe I’ll just buy some cut flowers and photograph them in my studio… er, dining room. That what I did with my rose series (click on the Category – Rose and you can see them). 

Most likely, I’ll supplement the cut flowers with a day trip down to the North Shore. Adding insult to injury is the fact that yesterday there was a report of a Snowy Owl sitting on the jetty at the very place where I photographed the Snow Buntings earlier this month. What are the odds that he’ll still be around come the weekend?

What does all this ranting have to do with the above photo of a wildflower called Bull Thistle? Absolutely nothing! Except that I am really longing for wildflower season to be upon us. Sunday is March 1. Wildflowers CAN’T be that far behind. In the meantime, I spend my evenings wandering through my files and selecting images like this one from last September to present here on my blog.

Hope you enjoy it.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

Lucky Stiff

The flower is the stiff… Stiff Aster, that is. And I was “lucky” that everything came together for the photograph.

This is one of our local fall Asters of which there are many. And they are all lovely. The Stiff Aster is a relatively small flower which is one of the reasons why I chose to focus on a cluster here even though I was using a macro lens (Sigma 150mm f/2.8). I pretty much used everything in my macro bag to make this image. The camera was a Canon Rebel XT. The lens, I already mentioned. I used a Canon 430 EX Flash with a LumiQuest Softbox mounted on a flexible bracket for fill. And the whole thing was mounted on a Manfrotto tripod with a Novoflex focusing rail. And with that, my bag of tricks was pretty much empty. I’d say this cluster of flowers had my undivided attention!

In the end, I really liked the way these flowers showed against the dark (black) background which, by the way, was a creek. The waning light helped make the background dark and I just pushed it over the edge toward black in post-processing.

Hope you enjoy the photograph.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

Snow Bunting on the Beach

Tonight I’m feeling the need to reprise a verse from one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs. 

“They’re closin’ down the hangout
The air is turnin’ cool
They’re shuttin’ off the superslide
The kids are back in school

The tourist traps are empty
Vacancy abounds
Almost like it used to be
Before the circus came to town”

Lyrics from Jimmy Buffett’s “When the Coast is Clear“

I used this verse in an earlier post but it always comes to mind when I look at images made along the (Jersey) shore during my favorite time of the year – that period from mid-October through April when the coast is, indeed, clear. My wife and I love to take day trips from our Pennsylvania home to areas along the New Jersey coast during this off-season period. There are some great places for birding and bird photography (wintering ducks, grebes, loons, shorebirds and some wintering passerines) all along the coast but we prefer the area from Sandy Hook down through the North Shore.

There is an area of dune grass along Shark River Inlet in Belmar, NJ that has been home to a small flock of wintering Snow Buntings for the past couple of years. They spend most of their time foraging for food along the sandy dunes and blending in so well that often you spook them before you see them. But they just seem take flight, make a big circle and come right back to the dunes. This particular visit earlier this month was a few days after a snowfall and some snow remained along the dunes to add to the winter theme. 

Hope you enjoy the photograph.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

We Are The Campions…

I don’t know if we will rock you (OK sorry, I won’t do it again; apologies to Queen) with this flower. It is called the Bladder Campion. The flower itself is actually pretty mundane. But I was really fascinated by the bladder from which it emerges. That is why I chose this particular perspective from which to shoot. There is more emphasis on the bladders than the flowers from this particular angle. Catching the early morning dew covering the flowers, bladders and stems was a real bonus. Hope you enjoy the image.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

Cute Lil Wabbit…

Birds and Flowers. Flowers and Birds. That’s pretty much all I’ve been posting here on the blog. Don’t get me wrong. I love flowers and I love birds. But “It’s My Nature” is about more than just birds and flowers. So tonight I thought it was time for something different for a change. Here’s a cute little bunny rabbit that I came across while looking for birds back in September. He was very timid but I was able to very slowly get down on the ground and into a prone position in order to get this low (grass top) angle on him. I thought the image turned out pretty well. I really like the detail in the fur but the reflected sunrise in his eye makes it special to me.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

I’ve Changed My Look

Same images, different template. I just wasn’t happy with a couple features (or lack there of) with the template I had been using (Monotone – the photoblog template).

First, I did not like the one image per page feature where the viewer had to click through for each successive image. With this template, you can scroll down the page and see multiple posts (10 per page). I feel this makes it easier to get a feel for a body of work.

Second, I did not like the background color changing to match each individual image. Sometimes it looked OK. Other times, I felt the background really distracted from the image. My preference would be a black background but if I can’t have that, white will do.

Third, I did not like the fact that the old template did not offer widgets and the viewer had to go hunt for past images, etc. This template puts it all right there on the page with you. That will make it much easier to find the images that I refer back to. For example, the image immediately preceding this note (“Razorbill on Machias Seal Island”) refers back to an earlier post (“Puffins on Machias Seal Island”). It will be much easier to find that earlier post with this template. 

If you have visited my blog previously, let me know what you think of the change.

Thanks.

Razorbill on Machias Seal Island…

and he appears to be leading the Puffin and Razorbill Symphony Orchestra. What sweet music they make!

Earlier in this blog (check back in the archives), I posted a close-up portrait of an Atlantic Puffin from our visit last June to Machias Seal Island (off the coast of Maine but owned by Canada). Puffins, Razorbills, and Murres come to this island (inhabited by just two or three people manning the lighthouse and studying the birds) by the 100s if not 1000s to breed. It was a wonderful experience to be able to get up close and personal with these birds and watch and photograph them from the bird blinds built on the island. The Puffins come the closest with the Razorbills hanging just a little farther off on the rocks.

This post was prompted by the fact that I called today to inquire about returning to the island this June. And that call was the stimulus for me to go back and look through the images made last year. This remains one of my favorite Razorbill images.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)