Saturday, May 4, 2013

Nature in the backyard

Sharing a meal?  Not so quick!
Quite rare of a sight of two birds taking care of their nest.  I thought the male bird was going to share his grub, but no, it ended up having it all for himself.  Such is nature.

I realized this weekend that the Tokina 80-400mm is darn sharp at f/14 with manual focus!

Maybe I will get to use my 500mm lens when the eggs start to hatch.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Let nature come to you

Turquoise eggs
Ok, it's not often that one gets to enjoy nature right in your backyard, but every now and then, luck strikes.  I have always wanted to see a hummingbird in my backyard, but short of that, a nest is equally as fun to observe as a hummingbird.  So, I've got a nest on the trellis in our backyard.  I had to remove the window screen on my second floor window to have a clear view of the eggs.  I tore the window screen in the process but it is worth it, I guess.
Mommy bird:  a blackbird?

For these shots, I used my Tokina 80-400mm lens.  It was a bit hard to shoot hand-held in the late afternoon light as the Tokina does not have VR, but it turned out not too bad.

I cannot wait for the eggs to hatch!

Invasion of What?

What are these bugs? I've never seen them before. I saw them at my parents' place the other day. Lots of them in soil or grassy areas.