About 1:30 this morning after patiently watching the skies off Sidney for already 3 hours and the second night, I saw a faint cloud of green shimmer overhead. The Eastern sky right down to the water began to glow intermittently and for over an hour I shot images of the Aurora. Green so vivid at times it reflected on the ocean! very cool!!! * Note to my new friends from C Saanich... I am sorry I didn't have your contact info because about 10 min after you left for home this happened (lasted till about 2:40 then faded out, but the east sky was vividly lit up and overhead also! Maybe again tonight??? Friday Night was the time to be out auora watching ... I missed it! Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday posed challenges to get photos of this greenish smudge on the North horizon. My first couple attempts (height of land, then a local beach proved to be fruitless , though I did meet a few very nice folks there... Thanks for the conversations) Finally about 12:30 I was able to navigate my way into Sidney and found a bit of an observation spot. The image above and slide show below give you an idea of what Sat nites aurora showed us. It wasn't a lot but it was interesting to say the least. Log exposures from 5- 15 seconds bring out the depth of colours and streaks of light . And thanks also for the nice conversations in Sidney while waiting for some magic to happen! All about the drakes... Not a single female spotted. I believe the nesting activities have the females hidden away and/ or gone to other areas to raise their fuzzy ducklings. Wood Duck Aix sponsa
It was pretty much dark, tho at 20,000 ISO the camera gleans what light there is. I was so happy to see Gracie as its been several months.
* for anyone new to my blog, this Barred Owl has spent a lot of time in my yard over the past few years and I have taken 1000's of photos of her. If you hear Robin's scolding and being chaotic, there is likely an owl close by. Female Anna's above takes time to "smell the roses" which in this case is a new variety of Salvia I just got..... She seems to like it! A male Anna's hovers for a few seconds... Long enough for me to click a few flight shots. Above & below Mr Rufous who rarely pauses in flight gave me a few late evening (high ISO) shots
The dynamics around the hummingbird feeders change quite a bit after the Rufous arrive from their migration around mid March. (Its a long way from Central America and S Mexico ... Though smaller than the Anna's, the Rufous are faster and very aggressive. Its all about the territory and the Rufous do a great job of muscling in on the feeders and taking over. The 2 species only seem to get along during the last hour of light before darkness sets in, when all hummingbirds need to fill up the nectar tank in order to survive the night. At that time you will often see both species mixed in and feeding seriously before bed! |
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May 2024
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Summer 2023.. I just received notice that my blog has been awarded a distinction of being one of the top 10 photography blogs in Canada.
* All images and content copyright Terry Venables and NaturalImagesCanada *
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