RECAP PROJECT: Remainder of Gulf Shores time: rare birds, baby birds and weather

August - December 2012
After returning from Mississippi I spent most of the rest of the year working as usual in Gulf Shores.

Lesser black back gull, an uncommon visitor from Europe

Brown pelican diving for a meal

Another rare sight in Alabama; this glaucous gull is usually seen much further north in New England and Canada

Least tern coming in to check on two chicks

Least tern sheltering her chick from the sun

Two waterspouts forming behind a weather monitoring tower

RECAP PROJECT: Mississippi

August-September 2012
My job took me to the National Seashore near Biloxi, MS and the offshore islands. I only had one day off, but I managed to take a trip to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR. Not many photo ops, but it was still a nice place to spend the day.

Washington DC

While there may be a fence in the background, this is a wild deer

Giant panda enjoying an apple-slice popsicle

A meerkat on alert

A juvenile gorilla took a climbing break to see what I was up to

The adult male lion of the zoo

A bit of a change from the usual, these pictures mostly come from the National Zoo in Washington DC. The buck in the first picture is a wild deer living in the suburbs of DC with at least three does.

Birds on the beach

This brown pelican followed me around, waiting for a free handout

Pelicans catch fish with spectacular, if clumsy-looking, twisting plunge dives

A member of one of the many flocks of brown pelicans flying overhead, possible staying ahead of an oncoming storm front

Snowy egret keeping its leg warm

Ring-billed gull reminding us of its dinosaur ancestors

Snowy plover picking through wrack and shells

Snowy plover seem to far prefer to run rather than fly

Snowy plover feeding along the wrack line

Birds are some of my favorite subjects. They often hang out in one area for quite a while, giving me many chances to get the shot I want. However, they sometimes move suddenly and quickly, leading to some impressive action shots.

Some close-up critters

Butterfly feeding on a flower

Female dragonfly laying eggs on a swamp log

Hummingbird moth feeding on flowers (it really is the size of a humming bird)

Canadian Goose

Mediterranean house gecko (exotic species here in AL)

Some close-up shots of various critters, using both my macro lens and my telephoto lens.

A new camera and some photos with the old one

I just picked up a new camera; a Fujifilm Finepix. I got it mostly because it claims to be waterproof down to 5 meters; perfect for snorkeling. The first two photos were taken with my normal camera before we headed to the water. We have some species of wasp digging a burrow, likely in preparation for stashing a paralyzed insect with an egg laid on it. Next up is a jumping spider that I saw crawling across my windshield. The last two are underwater photos taken with my new camera. Both are of a blenny that is pretty common along the rocks here.

Macros and Mammals

I definitely need to start using a tripod for macro photos. When the depth of field is less than a centimeter even holding your breath doesn't really keep the camera still enough.
Later, someone poured some cat food out in the parking lot and raccoons and opossums descended upon it. Note: feeding wild animals is bad, m'kay.