Bats Belong Outside the House
[Kodak Z712 at 70mm f/4.8 ISO-64 1/125sec]
This picture dates back to 17 August, 2007 when my brother found a bat in his room. While I certainly prefer shooting wildlife over any other subject, I generally prefer doing it over much greater distances and hopefully with some obstructions between us. However, after several normal shots, I decided to chance getting underneath him and shooting upwards for a more unique angle. Afterwords, I managed to trap him in a shoebox and release him outside, where he belongs. We still haven’t figured out how he got in in the first place, but thankfully there hasn’t been a repeat.
A Long Way Down
Mill Creek Trestle
Smooth Sumac
The Spider’s Web
Flashback Friday
Common Whitetail
[Sony A57 with Sigma 18-250 Macro at 250mm f/6.3 ISO-200 1/400sec]
My new lens arrived while I slept yesterday, so I couldn’t wait to get home and take it out for testing. And for the most part, it did not disappoint. For those times when I can only carry one lens, this will be it. A wide range (18-250mm) and a short minimum focusing distance compared to my other lenses.
Today’s subject is a male Plathemis Lydia, otherwise known as the Common Whitetail. I wasn’t quite sure what he was when he landed near me, but I know I wasn’t thinking dragonfly, but now that I’ve done my research, I can definitely see the family resemblance.
Boots
Ducks on the Miller Drain
[Sony A57 with Minolta 28-135mm at 120mm f/4.5 ISO-200 1/200sec]
Finally a morning that wasn’t raining and I wasn’t dead tired. I was going to walk the nearby Canal Park, but I’m waiting for what will hopefully be my new macro lens to arrive in the mail and as I tried to walk out the door my bike glared at me for having not ridden it since the group ride last month. I ended up in a local subdivision, nothing really catching my eye until I was nearly back to a main road and there was a bridge over a swollen creek or maybe a drainage ditch, likely flowing into the nearby Clinton River. Nothing too exciting, though I walked down the hill to the water, I spied these ducks further down. They didn’t take too kindly to my intrusion and retreated rather quickly.
Google says that was the Miller Drain which starts about 4 miles north and does indeed drain into the Clinton. I had no idea there were so many of these Drains. I’ve seen them here and there, but I was not aware they were named. Miller Drain even forms forms the northwest boundary of my apartment complex. I once tried to walk across one night on my way to Subway, stopping only a few feet from the water when I realized the greenery looked more like lily pads then weeds.