All My Blogs

Morning cloak butterflies are fairly large and may have a four inch open wingspan.  When their wings are closed, the butterfly appears to be a bit of bark or perhaps a leaf.  When open, a unique and easily identifiable pattern emerges.  Morning cloaks may overwinter by hiding under leaf litter or in well-hidden crevices.  These are among the earliest butterflies to be seen; it was the first butterfly I have seen this year. The butterfly was flying around in my neighbour's back yard.  Although there are few flowers about (besides snowdrops, primroses, and such), they can obtain nutrients from sap and decaying matter.  They will also take nectar from flowers, although this is not their primary food source.  The butterflies will mate early and lay their eggs on quite a variety of plants including willow, elm, and poplar. The morning cloak is not considered a helpful insect in that it isn't much of a pollinator.  It can be harmful to small trees where...

Mirrorless cameras give you the option of including a live histogram in the viewfinder. Having grown up with SLR film cameras, I have gotten used to the optical viewfinders associated with them.  I have always liked the clear TTL view that one gets when putting your eye to the camera, regardless of whether the media is film or a digital sensor.  With the advent of live view, you could now see the world to be photographed with all the benefits of information displayed right on the screen.  Of course, this meant that you had to hold the camera away from your face, which limited stability and made it difficult to see in bright environments.  Then, along came mirrorless cameras. The EVF (electronic view finder) was nothing new to photography as compacts, bridge cameras, and video cameras all came with one.  This was a game changer for those wanting the information available on electronic viewing screens while still using the camera's eyepiece.  There was a seco...

Photographed on March 26, 2025, Mission Creek Park, Kelowna, about 9:00 AM I find that diurnal animals tend to be most active in the mornings.  I have seen this time and time again, but the thought was recently revisited last week.  I had gone for a walk with a friend early Wednesday morning along the Mission Creek walkway in Kelowna.  I saw and photographed half a dozen different species, the muskrat was the one that was least expected.  I had never seen one in that area before. On Friday, I did the same walk with another friend and saw very little.  I had my camera with me and only managed to photograph a now-defunct wasps' nest.  The time was around 1:00 PM.  The reason for the vastly different experiences is simple. Diurnal animals are not active at night and in the morning they are eager to find food.  Even though temperatures are a lot cooler, they will still go out to find sustenance.  The cooler temperatures also means that cold-blood...

Pygmy nuthatch main, White-breasted nuthatch inset. There are four species of nuthatch present in North America; the brown-headed nuthatch is the only one whose range does not include Canada.  The pygmy nuthatch, shown above, is a permanent resident wherever it lives - in Canada, that is only in southern British Columbia.  I have seen them a couple of times.  I photographed this one on Wednesday, March 29, in Kelowna BC. Not all pygmy nuthatches have a black stripe through the eye like the one above - the image below shows one without that mask.  Both birds were photographed in BC. Pygmy nuthatch photographed in Swan Lake, BC, in 2020.  Notice there is no eye stripe. These social little birds are strongly associated with pine trees, especially ponderosa pine.  They feed on insects gleaned from the trees they forage on and consume a variety of seeds.  They store seeds in small caches under pieces of loose bark which they will access later.  If you ...

Walking along the Mission Creek trail, near downtown Kelowna, I witnessed a red-tailed hawk sitting atop his man-made perch.  He flew to a nearby tree branch and, after a few moments there, returned to the previous lookout.  The fact that traffic was just beneath him or that people were busily walking by concerned him little.   This was not the first time I had witnessed these large buteos being quite at home in an urban setting.  This led me to the question, "Why do they seem so comfortable amongst people?"   In general, red-tailed hawks are found in open plains areas throughout the continent, although they may not overwinter in many northern climates.  The exception to this seems to be southern BC, where they may be found year-round.  They are often present in cities, apparently due to their adaptable nature.   Another benefit of city life is the abundance of food.  Although these birds of prey feed primarily on small mammals...

Breeding plumage European starling Yesterday, I was out with my camera and long lens, photographing wildlife on my walk.  As is my habit, I had my camera set on manual exposure mode, my long lens at its minimum aperture, and an ISO value to allow me to achieve a decent shutter speed.  In this case, as there was a heavy overcast sky, the ISO was 1600 and I ended up with a shutter speed of 1/320.   I use manual exposure mode because I am much more likely to obtain a proper exposure when shooting backlit scenes.  I look for a well-lit area, nothing with significant backlighting, and select my settings.  Then, as I go about shooting, anything with the same incident lighting will obtain a proper exposure.  A starling, sitting on a rooftop, had only the bright sky as a backdrop.  An automatic mode would have resulted in a significant underexposure for the bird.  I took one shot on automatic to prove the point.  You can see it below. European s...