Today was a day of damns, darns, almosts and if onlys...

You'll see what I mean. Read on.

Yesterday was a gorgeous, sunny, early spring day during which we ran errands under the impression that today was supposed to be even nicer. so, we went to bed early last night and got up early this morning with the intent of going to shoot sunrise photos at McLaughlin Bay.

We (reluctantly) rolled out of bed at 6am to be greeted by heavy cloud cover and not a speck of clear sky anywhere.

Despite the very tempting lure of still cozy bedsheets, we both stayed up, downed breakfast and donned our warm long undies as instead of the forecasted +4 morning temps, it was 0 degrees with a cold north breeze.

Undaunted, we changed our projected morning course and went west instead in hopes of spotting a red tailed hawk we've seen several times recently.

We weren't disappointed...at least, not yet. Predicable as always in recent forays, our subject presented himself in a scrub bush on the side of Bloor Street. Eagle-eye Darryl was the first to spot him screeching "Stop!" "Right there, RIGHT THERE!" "Did you not hear me say stop?!"

Um...yeah, but I think screeching to a halt with gravel flying might have scared him off?

Needless to say, with the early hour and overcast skies, conditions were less than perfect for shooting, however, who are we to pass up such an opportunity?

So, without further adue, here is the first "aw crap" shot of the day.

And no, they're not watermarked. If you really want them, be my guest.

We stalked this bird for the better part of 45 minutes from tree to tree to tree. Each time we'd get just about at the right distance for a decent shot, he'd decide we were a weeee bit too close for comfort and move about 50' away...until eventually he flew into an industrial complex we couldn't get into.

We arrived at the conservation area around 7:30am and were greeted by an empty parking lot. Great - the day was looking up! We could hear nature all around us. Quacking duck, honking geese, trilling red-winged blackbirds...there were almost endless photographic opportunities and not a wayward child in sight to ruin it!

Lets start with something simple...a bufflehead with the landing gear down...from the back...how exciting *yawn*.

How about Canada Geese? They're always a reliable subject and there was no shortage of them around this morning.

This has the makings of a pretty decent shot - good colour, nice and crisp...except for the cat tails in the foreground in front of the geese. *sigh*

Okee...here's a new one. Never seen one of these before. We think it's a common golden eye...or maybe a female buffle head? Not sure. It's a so/so photo. Compared to the rest of the day's haul though, it's gallery-ready. :/

Yes, I am joking.

Look! A Deer!

No, wait! THREE DEER!

Fleeing in the other direction, naturally. Would you believe there were more than a dozen deer in a field??

This is the best we got of them.

Of course, as always, we saw the usual suspects, sparrows, chickadees, red wing black birds...

And then, at the end of a somewhat disappointing morning, we had a golden opportunity. This time, it was my turn to spot the next target. Had Darryl been sitting on a chair he could have fallen off of, rather than strapped into the passenger seat of the van, I've no doubt he would have.

As we're circling through a maze of streets in an industrial complex, I gasp "Kestrel!". Of course, Darryl didn't believe me...but sure enough, it landed in a tree not far off the road we were on and we both held our breath hoping against hope that it would stay put...and it did, if only for a few moments. Long enough to get off a dozen or so shots. Sadly, even with the 500mm lens, there was enough of a breeze and enough distance between us and it, that not one of the shots is crisp.

Oh, and did I mention this mornings festivities also included being questioned by 2 cops??

On the plus side, I got A LOT of exercise this morning, saw 3 different species of birds I haven't seen in the area before, found a new place to shoot from in an old favourite spot and bought myself a camo jacket so hopefully, next time I need to sneak up on a hawk or a kestrel, I can get close enough to get a decent shot!

- Paula

NDPA Barn Exhibition Reception

It was a terrific evening for the reception of the Barn Exhibition at The Piano Cafe in Port Perry. Many of the NDPA club members attended, along with many people from the community and surrounding area including the Mayor of the Township of Scugog.

Here are a few candid shots from the evening.

"Myself in front of my winning club entry at the top"

" Discussions about the entries "
" A wall full of entries "

" The Mayor making her descision on what to buy "

-Darryl

NDPA - Barn Exhibition

The North Durham Photographers Association is having an exhibition of prints from March 1st to 31st . The exhibition is based on one of our recent monthly themes, which was barns, and is being held at " The Piano Cafe " in Port Perry, Ontario. I have entered my winning image from the monthly theme named " Enjoying Retirement - Wagon Wheels from Days Gone By "

- Darryl

Metro Toronto Zoo - NDPA Outing

Even though the animals were not very active and there were a great deal of exhibits closed due to construction, there were some terrific opportunities at all of the indoor pavillions for some great photography.

Here are just a few of the animals I "captured". ( I left the real ones at the zoo )

Mandarin Duck

Sumatran Tiger

Sacred Ibis

Australian Kookabura

Jellyfish

Long Finned Bannerfish

Bald Eagle

- Darryl

NDPA Outing - Metro Toronto Zoo Feb 21/09

Yesterday, Darryl and I joined our friend, Jane, and met up with several members of our North Durham Photographers' Association for a day of shooting at the Metro Toronto Zoo. I've never been to the zoo in winter, but several people had told me it was an excellent time of the year to go - fewer crowds & the animals were more active.

Well, I guess the animals would have been more active if we could have seen them!

Although we paid full price to enter, in more than 3 hours, we saw only 3 different animals outside. We saw Sumatran Tigers (sleeping), Siberian Tigers and a Canadian River Otter. In the distance, down paths that were closed off, we saw deer and bison. That's it. There were more than 20 animals listed on a board at the entrance as off exhibit. What a disappointment. The weather was perfect for the morning and there were very few people there, so overall it was a good outing, but again, how very disappointing that so many animals were not on display.

Here's a sampling of what we did see (mostly indoors, where it was hot and muggy).

At the top of the page, is an Emerald Tree Boa.

This is a cattle egret, who shared an indoor exhibit with a tapir and the white rhino below as well as some Chinese ducks.



Sleeping beauty here is a Sumatran Tiger.

And this striking fellow was a Siberian Tiger, who was short a canine.

A Laughing (and dive-bombing) Kookaburra.


Jelly fish from the Great Barrier Reef exhibit.

Also from the Australian exhibit, an Australian Shoveler.

Last, but certainly not least, was this Canadian River Otter, the most engaging of all the creatures we saw yesterday.

- Paula

Winter Splendor

The weather forecast was perfect to get up early for some sunrise pictues. It was anything but disappointing.


- Darryl

Winter sunrise

Today was a perfect day to get up at the crack of stupid and head over to one of our favourite places to shoot sunrises - McLaughlin Bay.

I thought, rather than just the usual run-of-the-mill sunrise shots, I'd play around a little with a new technique we are learning called HDR (high dynamic range) photography.

The results were less than spectacular, but it's another step in the learning process!

- Paula