A merganser crèche
This momma common merganser and her babies swam across the lake just before sunset the other night. I thought she would angle away when they got close to me. Instead, the crèche came right along the water’s edge in front of me. The babies jostled for a place on mom’s back while she briskly paddled past.
Near this same spot, a loon had favoured me with a evening show a couple of days before. The lake is always beautiful and I’m appreciating the wildlife enjoying it so far this summer.
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Common loon – uncommon photographs
I have photographed a solitary loon at this small lake in early summer for years. It is unlikely that it is the same one each year, more likely just a convenient spot to fish and rest for a couple of weeks before continuing on its migration. I went out near sunset, close to 10pm presently, and enjoyed watching the loon preen, shake and then settle down for the night.
When I arrived at the water, it was overcast. The weak light was great for longer exposures. As the bird raised out of the water to shake itself dry, I liked the motion blur of the wings and the water.
After a little while, the sun fell below the cloud line and lit the water up in golds and pinks. Before it dove behind the hill, I went to the far side of the lake to photograph the loon in silhouette. It was a special evening for me with one of my favourite birds.
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Elbow River: Witnessing the Beauty of the Northern Lights
Our sun was exceptionally busy last week. Sunspots hurled increased volumes of solar plasma earthward resulting in an aurora storm that lasted close to a week. We had a few cloudy nights but I was lucky on two outings. This image is from the second trip down to the Elbow River at a bend near my home. It was half past 3 in the morning on the 3rd. The Northern Lights were painting the eastern half of the sky. The lights from Calgary brightened the clouds low on the horizon adding another element to the scene. The most beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis here this year – so far!
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Aurora Borealis Abstracts
Throughout an amazing Northern Lights display on October 7th and 8th, the sky directly overhead was a nexus point for the ripples and bands of color. I typically compose with foreground landscape elements. This time I photographed straight up repeatedly and they were some of my favorite shots of the night.
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Adorable Canada Goose Goslings Braving a Snowstorm
It seemed a bit unkind for these little goslings to have a snowstorm hit after only hatching a few days earlier. Mom and Dad kept them moving from one side of the pond to the other.
Staying warm probably wasn’t a concern but keeping them occupied and out of trouble was. It was cute to see the first babies of spring. It will only be a few weeks until they look like their parents so it was nice to photograph them while they are so little (and yellow!)
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The exuberance of chickadees
Chickadees are constant companions in our backyard throughout the winter. These hardy little balls of feather and fluff chitter away as they fly from tree to feeder and back.
Even on the coldest days, they energetically continue their conversations and activities. With winter hinting, somewhat reluctantly, at giving way to spring here in the Foothills, I have taken a few opportunities to photograph these little birds from our second story deck.
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Smoky summer sunsets
The rain the past few days has cleared the air west of Calgary. When the wildfire smoke was heavy before that, the colors from the sunlight filtering through the haze were surprising and very unusual. It made sunset an interesting little photographic adventure.
I thought these images looking at the eastern flank of the Rockies near Bragg Creek from the first day of August were stunning.
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Blurring the forest
A dragged shutter and a flick of the wrist stretched out the trunks of the trees edging a meadow in Bragg Creek. When the mood strikes, I enjoy playing like this when I’m out shooting – luck and creativity rolling around together. Sometimes I like the result over the natural scene.
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Vintage Owl
I’m a fan of vintage vehicles. When this owl landed in front of this old truck, I had a smile watching him flare on to the fence.
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An evening hunt
It was just after 9pm when I spied this owl on a fence across the field. He seemed to be trying to get one more vole before dusk and I didn’t have to wait very long for him to fly low over the tall grass. He didn’t dive into the grass on this flight. Wheeling back towards the forest edge, I lost him in the darkness of the trees.
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Red in the green
A simple composition from a walk with my pup in the forest west of Bragg Creek.
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Cloud spirits
The sky stole the show when I was out looking for photos a month ago. With the clouds low over a rise and the evening sun brightly coloring them, my exposure made the trees fall into dark silhouettes. Silhouettes are one of my favorite landscape elements so I enjoyed composing images of the clouds above them as the shapes appeared and quickly evaporated.
