Singing Joyously

On Friday I made a quick one day trip up to Arcata to pick up Jay from college. Upon arrival I found out that Jay had one paper left to finish up for his last final. By then it was mid morning so the lighting for photography was pretty bright and flat. With some time on my hands I headed first to the Arcata Marsh. The sparrows there were in the topmost branches of the tallest plants singing their hearts out. After a short tour of the marsh I pointed the nose of the car northward up highway 101 to Trinidad. The normally sleepy little town of Trinidad was full of people! I've never seen so many people there before. I talked to a ranger and found out they were dedicating the lighthouse in a big ceremony. Not one for crowds I didn't stay long and instead headed a short distance up the coast to College Cove. Once there I hit the trails and found a profusion of wildflowers, flying gulls and seals basking on the rocks. It was a great hike before heading back down to Arcata to help Jay clear out his apartment and the drive home through the redwoods. God bless, chris All photography was done with a Canon 7D at a variety of settings and exposures.

Gift

I have discovered over the years that the more time you spend out in nature the better your chances of seeing many of the special events that God provides. There are the many beautiful sunrises and sunsets along with rainbows and wildflowers blooming. There are also the ones that aren't necessarily pretty but they are magnificent in their own way, usually resulting in the death of one creature by another in order to eat or feed their young. This last weekend we made the journey up to the Humboldt Bay area of Northern California for a short weekend. While sitting next to the bay a gull swooped down to the rocky beach with a Red Rock Crab in its beak. For the next half hour I was treated to how a gull dismembers and eats a crab. The key thing I noticed right away was that the gull held the crab by it's rear end in the beginning, staying well clear of those front claws. After landing the gull flipped the crab onto its back and worked it's way up the abdomen. Tearing off the legs and abdomen plates as it went upward. In the end all that was left was carapace. It probed its beak thoroughly into that as well for each and every last morsel of that poor crab. God bless, chris

Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon 100-400 L IS, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Setting- ISO 400, AV Mode, F5.6

At the Lake

I spent some time this morning editing images from my brief trip yesterday to Lake Mendocino in Northern California close to where I live. In addition to yesterdays Western Bluebird I also captured some images of some common birds. A mother brought four cute toddlers down to the lakeshore while I was there. She had a basket full of goodies for the birds. All it took was a few handfuls of bread to be thrown out and the birds came from all over to try and partake of the feast. So I got a lot of images of gulls (the experts on gulls can figure out what kind), Brewers Blackbirds, American Coots and Mallards. All in all a very productive morning.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

A Visit to the Doctor

It's funny how hard it can be to get into a specialist when you have a medical problem. They are also usually in a bigger city than where I live in Mendocino County. My knees have been giving me a problem so they decided to send me to a specialist. I could either see one in San Francisco or Eureka. Hmmnn... San Franscisco, two and a half hours just to get to the Golden Gate, heavy traffic, long waits or Eureka, two hour and fifteen minute drive along the Eel River and Redwood Forests, little traffic, short waits.

I left early this morning for Eureka to do some photography. I went up to Arcata and also did little bit of photography along Humboldt Bay. Not the greatest lighting as I wasn't there really early but I did have fun. I photographed grebes,egrets, fungi, ravens, gulls and a Brown Pelican. My doctor visit went really well and I had a great time.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris