We hadn't seen this guy all winter, but the pond has thawed (though we got some more snow over the weekend) and our resident beaver was out and about. He didn't look any leaner, but he certainly seemed hungry as he had no problems with me moving around on the opposite bank of the pond to get into a better shooting position. I sat with him for about 20 minutes watching him eat.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/250 sec at f/6.3. OS Mode 1. ISO 2500. RAW conversion and cropped/rotated in Adobe Camera Raw.

Hopefully I can keep posting regularly (though right now, it seems processing photos is an additional hurdle that might delay posts).

Stay tuned.

- Bill

Ok - it has been a while, but I just couldn't bring myself to do much in the way of photography this winter...

But things are starting to turn, and I've been getting out with the camera a bit more often. Add to that, we've been getting the opportunity to see all kinds of amazing stuff that we never would see down in Pittsburgh. The first of which is a pretty good rarity in this area as we are only on their migration route, this is not a long term stop-over for these guys...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/6400 sec at f/6.3. OS Mode 1. ISO 5000. RAW conversion in Adobe Camera Raw, additional modifications in Photoshop CS5.

When I first took this photo, I thought it was going to be great. After looking at it on the computer, I noticed how noisy it was and the general lack of sharpness that resulted in trying to clean up the noise.

But still, I'm not sure how many times I'll get the opportunity to photograph a Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis), so I am fairly pleased with this one.

I have more stuff to share once I finish processing it all, and there is so much more I want to get photos of, but I don't want to spoil anything, so you'll have to wait to find out what.

Stay tuned!

- Bill

I spent some time freezing my fingers and toes (I need some new boots!) off the other day to hang out by one of the feeders and see what bird photos I could come up with. Here are some of the results...

Chickadee	Carolina Wren	Brown Creeper	Carolina Wren

Technical Data Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/640 (except Brown Creeper at 1/400) sec at f/8. OS Mode 1. ISO 1250. RAW conversion and cropped (middle two) in Adobe Camera Raw.

Thanks for stopping by.

- Bill

Well, it has been a while (a long while). For those of you who didn't know, Anya and I bought a new house and moved up north a month or so ago. We've bought a property with over ten acres and a nice 2.5 acre pond.

Normally, when you move into a new property, you're not thrilled when there are very large rodents living there, but in this case, we're cool with it...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/640 sec at f/6.3. OS Mode 1. ISO 1250. RAW conversion and cropped (mouseover for original) in Adobe Camera Raw.

We have some work to do on the house (no - this will not be turning into a house restoration blog), so it might be longer between posts - and I'm usually slower in the winter anyway - but I definitely am looking forward to all the wildlife opportunities I'll be having here. Of the notable stuff we've seen already... tons of cool spiders and bugs, herons (green and blue), king fisher, wood ducks, deer, huge flocks (I'm talking in the thousands!) of red-winged blackbirds, the list goes on and on.

We took the kayaks out on the pond yesterday and I was getting somewhat close to the kingfisher, so I'm hoping I can get an opportunity to get some photos of him soon, and if I can get decent lighting to capture the blackbirds I am hoping to do that too. Stay tuned!

- Bill

Spring is trying to get here, and I'm trying to improve my bird photography...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/320 sec at f/8. OS On. ISO 200. RAW conversion in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

I guess I promised some birds, huh?

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/1250 sec at f/8. OS Off. ISO 320. RAW conversion in Adobe Camera Raw.

This was taken a nice nature area we found in North Park called Latodami Nature Center. The trails there were very nice, and it really isn't all that far from home, so we will definitely be visiting there again soon.

I've been struggling getting good sharp results with this lens of late, so I will be trying some additional techniques to see where I can improve this style of photography. Stay tuned.

- Bill

Well, our little screech owl has been coming and going with somewhat regularity (some days he stays with us, and other days he does not). This evening, I decided to try and get some more photos and perhaps some video...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at approx 300mm, 1/30 sec at f/5.6. OS Mode Off. ISO 12800.

Because it was getting dark, I had to bump up the ISO which makes the video a bit noisy, but it is still a fun little video.

- Bill

Ok - well, apparently after hitting my blogaversary, I kind of just ran out of inspiration for a while. Luckily, some moved in recently... quite literally.

Back in 2011, I bought Anya an owl box for Christmas. Shortly thereafter, we hung it in one of the trees in our backyard. Except for some starlings using it for a few weeks during their breeding season, it sat empty the whole time.

Until yesterday morning, when Anya went to let the dogs out, she was startled to see the owl sitting on the pole system for her bird feeders. After a little bit, it flew directly up and into the owl box. She was so excited that she called me right away to tell me the news.

Last evening, with the unseasonably warm weather, we decided to grill some burgers, and sure enough while I was doing that, the owl came out of the box and flew off. I checked in the morning and didn't see him, so was worried he had just been staying the one night, but when Anya checked when she again was going to let the dogs out, he was back again!

So now I have a new photographic subject to work with...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM with Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 "DG" AF 2x Teleconverter.

All of these shots were taken with the big Sigma lens plus the 2x teleconverter to get as close as possible. Unfortunately it also meant that there was less available light in already dim conditions, so this was quite the challenge. I don't want to disturb him too much, but eventually I think I will have to try using some flash to make this process a little easier.

So after some research, it looks like this is the time of year when these owls (Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio)) start nesting. The male will locate a suitable nest site and if he can find a mate, they will lay eggs around March, and the owlets will fledge in May. So hopefully I'll have plenty of opportunities to get good (ie: better) shots of this cool little bird... and maybe even some babies too!!!

Definitely stay tuned!

- Bill

PS: Oh, I almost forgot to mention... As you can see, this little fella has a rusty color to him. That is the rufous or red morph which is supposed to be much more uncommon around here than the grey morph. So it looks like we're doubly lucky with this beautiful bird.

In a week from now, I will be hitting the two year anniversary since I started this blog. If I get the posts done in time, I will also be hitting my 400th post to celebrate the occasion. As such (and partially because I've been a tad lazy with getting the camera out as much as I should), I'm going to dig through the archives and see what gems I might have missed, or how I can give a new look to some photos I've already shared.

With that in mind, I present a couple photos that I shared here in the past (here and here). After seeing someone else share a photo of a snake that they converted to black and white, I decided to give it a shot with some of mine... here are the results...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro1:2 at 238mm, 1/32 at f/11.3. ISO. No post production. Beechwood Farms, Fox Chapel, PA.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro1:2 at 238mm, 1/130 at f/5. ISO. No post production. Beechwood Farms, Fox Chapel, PA.

Mouseover the images for the original color version.

- Bill

Well, we're about to head into 2013. I plan to try and get some work done on the blog this year to get it upgraded to the latest version of the software, so hopefully this will introduce some change to the look/feel. But in the meantime, here are a couple shots I took while freezing my butt off trying to get the birds to come to the feeders for some nice shots of them in the snow...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/160 sec at f/8. OS Mode Off. ISO 100. RAW conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/320 sec at f/6.3. OS Mode Off. ISO 320. RAW conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/250 sec at f/6.3. OS Mode Off. ISO 320. RAW conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Have a great New Years! And we'll see you in 2013!!!

- Bill