I had a thought for a picture, wasn’t sure how well it would work…
Not bad! Close to what I was hoping it would look like – tough to get both me and something dozens and hundreds and thousands of light years away in focus together, especially in low light with the lens wide open and a minimal depth of field. Perhaps I can lock the focus on the stars next time and I’ll just show up fuzzy.
Which, truth be told, is not an inaccurate representation of reality in multiple dimensions!
Filed under Astronomy, Paul, Photography
I knew that they were around – the wonderful Merlin app had identified their song fairly regularly. But I had never caught one of them on camera, and I was iffy on whether or not I had seen them. They’re small, quick, flitting all over, and they’re usually way, way up in the top of that huge tree in the back yard.
Until today.
Meet the Lesser Goldfinch. I think the “lesser” part refers to their size – they’re less than 1/2 the size of the house finches in the yard, so I suspect there’s a bigger cousin (the American Goldfinch) out there someplace.
I was over in the corner of the yard, trying to track down a completely different and unusual bird song that I didn’t recognize, when this guy went off with his bird song, not five feet over my head. It was nice enough to sit still for about 30 seconds so I could snap off a few pictures, then flew up to the top of the tree.
Once I knew what to look for, I realized there were 4-6 of them up there. They move around a lot and they’re not very big, barely bigger than the hummingbirds that were also up there, but since the tree is pretty barren of leaves at the moment, I was able to watch them for a while.
Cool! And if there are 4-6 of them, with luck we’ll soon have more! It’s that time of year!
Filed under Birds, Photography
It’s that time of year.
Normally Little Bastard, the dominant hummingbird, sits here on my really excellent stick, but over the past week or so, more and more these two have muscled him out of the way to perch and display.
The male on the left is fully into his bright red, spring mating plumage, and the female on the right spends a lot of time evaluating potential nesting sites. We have a couple dozen pairs of house finches in the yard, with at least three nests already being built and occupied up under the eaves of the front and back porches. Plus god knows how many juncos, hummingbirds, crows, ravens, hawks, and the everpresent flocks of mourning doves.
But these two in particular are currently the most brazen and LOUD. It’s not that I dislike house finch songs, but they tend to star up about an hour before sunrise and then never shut up. I don’t care how beautiful, care free, and joyful a sound it is, at 05:00 AM it’s not that welcome.
Filed under Birds, Photography
Aren’t they supposed to land to rest on some surface that sort of matches their coloration?
These two by our front door this morning seem to have gotten it backwards.
Nonetheless, their coloration and detail is beautiful.
Their survival instincts? Perhaps not so much.
Filed under Critters, Photography
I don’t know if it’s just a side effect of getting old, some “Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness” from my workouts with my trainer, something related to the antibiotics I was taking for that infection and fever a couple weeks ago, or some combination of it all. But today has been sent in some considerable discomfort, particularly in my lower back.
I don’t do well with ongoing pain, so let’s hope it never becomes chronic or longer term. Assuming that the gym workouts are at least part of the problem, this will be gone in 48 to 72 hours. If it was like this 24/7/365/forever, I might not be the “brave little soldier” that I might hope to be.
But who knows?
In the meantime, I’m cranky and not as functional as I would like.
So which view/look is the “real” me right now?
Yes.
Filed under Health, Paul, Photography
Okay, well, maybe not 100% random…
Prague, the castle and cathedral at night above the Vltava River.
A friend’s been posting pictures on Facebook of sculptures from Prague and it’s brought back so many memories. I would love to go back and visit. Nineteen years is too long.
Filed under Photography, Travel
A half hour or so prior to sunset we were getting a high layer of clouds and I had hopes that it might lead to one of those really colorful & spectacular sunsets.
It did not.
It wasn’t grey and terrible, not exactly Suckasaurus Rex, but neither was it mind blowing and spectacular.
A little pink, some deep oranges right at the horizon, and Venus trying to shine through.
Beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather
We’re down at the Music Center for our next Ahmanson production (Sondheim’s “Old Friends” with Bernadette Peters – looking forward to this one!) and at the Great Park down the hill there’s a big music festival going on.
Most folks don’t even know that LA has a Great Park, including most folks who have lived in LA for decades. It’s not as big as New York’s Central Park, but it’s not small.
The Music Center (Ahmanson, Taper, Chandler) and Disney Concert Hall are here on these north end, City Hall is off to the south, the Hall of Justice and Cathedral are on the east (left), and there’s a ton of parking underneath it all, so it’s convenient.
Welcome to Los Angeles, City of Hidden Wonders!
Filed under Los Angeles, Music, Photography, Video
A Valentine’s Day years ago…
Mysterious are the ways of the random search algorithm through tens of thousands of photos over more than twenty-five years…
I’m not sure what clan this tartan is from, but I suspect it’s Burlington Coat Factory Clearance Bin.
Filed under Photography
The previous 24 hours of mist and drizzle and light rain was just fine – we’ve been falling into a drought this year, way behind on the normal Year-To-Date rainfall totals in SoCal.
This afternoon’s hour-long downpour inspired hours of blaring warnings on every TV channel, with a mudslide and flash flood warning that extended until well after the rain had actually abated.
No problems here, but we’re at the top of a hill. If we start getting flooded, there’s a guy named Noah who gets to tell the rest of the story. Our biggest concern would be intersections and streets flooded out down below the hills, and we can avoid most of that by simply staying home.
On the other hand, up in the mountains, it was snow. I’ve been watching the bald eagle webcam and they were buried, sitting on their three eggs:
Filed under Photography, Video, Weather
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We Love The Stars Too Fondly 