Virga Over the Valley

This morning when I awoke and looked to the east I was surprised to see in the morning's sunrise clouds with virga. I quickly grabbed my trusty camera and photographed a wide variety of compositions of the virga. Virga is basically clouds releasing raindrops that dry before even making it to the ground. In fancy pants meteorological terms virga is an observable column or shaft of precipitation dropping from a formation of a cloud that evaporates or sublimates before reaching the ground. This is due to dry air and a higher condensation point below the cloud formation. There is your meteorology lesson for the week. God's blessings upon your weekend. Go out and have some fun, chris All images were created with my Canon EOS 7D MKII camera and a Canon EF 28-200mm lens. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 400, F 11.0 at a variety of shutter speeds.#teamcanon

Band, Cast, Party and Scold

There was a scold of Steller's Jays at the bird feeder in the back yard this morning. Who makes up these odd names for groups of birds anyway? A cast of Steller's Jays. Sounds more like casting a spell. Shaking of fists and pointed finger. "I cast a Steller's Jay on you!" There were only Jays coming to the bird feeder so I made the best of it and made quite a few images of them. I even got a few over the shoulder looks. One of my favorite bird poses as it really shows off their plumage. They are quite the fun and vocal group of birds to watch. I hope your week is going well. God bless, chris #teamcanon All of these images were created with a Canon EOS 7DMKII camera and a Canon 100-400 L IS USM v.1 lens. The camera settings used were, AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at a variety of shutter speeds. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX speedlight set to minus 1-2/3rds stops. #teamcanon

Hoot Owl by My Window

We just got back yesterday from a trip up to Washington and Idaho. I was visiting relatives so I got to watch not one but two parades and I was lucky enough to watch two fireworks displays as well. The weather was great we only had one rain shower. We didn't see much wildlife. Most everything I spotted was from a distance. We spotted one Marmot, four Osprey, one Bald Eagle and some Whitetail Deer with fawns. They were pretty cute. The usual baby ducks at the marina were nice The best sighting of all were two newly fledged Great Horned Owls behind my brothers house. They were little whiners constantly calling out to Momma for food. I never spotted her but my brother said that she had fed them a Marmot the day before we had arrived. I must say they were a pretty cool sight to see. The last image was of Mount Shasta as we were flying home. It still has a lot of snow! God's blessings upon your upcoming weekend, chris All images were created with two Canon EOS cameras and lenses. #TeamCanon

Summer Vacation

Since late spring and early summer I've been really busy and I've been neglecting my photoblog. I went to my niece's wedding in Toronto which was unbelievable! Many thanks to the Sheerazi family for your incredible hospitality and a beautiful wedding. This morning I created a quick B.O.A.S. (Bird On A Stick) set up next to a new bird feeder made from a water bottle in the back yard. There were a lot of Black Headed Grosbeaks and a few Steller's Jays that immediately came to the feeder and started feeding. Here are a few of my favorite images. God's blessings to one and all, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MKII camera and a Canon 100-400 L IS USM v.1 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon Speedlite 550 EX. Shutter speeds varied but my camera was set to AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0. #teamcanon