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Excited about my new system: Nikon Z6iii and 180-600 mm Z lens: Its for the birds.

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Eastern kingbird feeding a dragonfly to chicks, Creston, BC. If you know me at all or have followed my photography blogs, you know that a lot of the shooting I do involves birds.  My bird interest stems from my infatuation with all wildlife, but birds are by far the most common and varied group.  I have, for many years (30, at least), kept a camera system dedicated to shooting wildlife.  My equipment has ranged from film (F90x and 150-600 Tamron) through every digital camera system I have owned.  For the last number of years, it has been my reliable D500 and 500 mm PF prime.  However, I got a new system as of yesterday. It's the Nikon Z6iii (see image below), the Z180-600 mm zoom, and the Z1.4 TC (teleconverter).  I have yet to play with it seriously, but there are a few features that led me to making this purchase.  These include: faster frame rate (20 fps raw format) lower noise at high ISO (I shot at an ISO of 2000 and the noise was unnoticeable) fa...
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Black and white versus colour - sometimes, it makes all the difference.

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The doors of one of the Guisachan cabins at Guisachan Heritage Park, Kelowna.   I have always liked black and white.  I learned a lot about photography when helping with the Red Deer College Newspaper the Bricklayer (a nod to my friend Alan, who had a big impact on me); we did all our stuff in black and white.  Tri-X film, darkrooms, and developer all became very familiar to me as I plied my "developing" skills.   The great thing about black and white is its ability to capture a wide range of tones.  The jpegs of today (the above photo is a jpeg) have the ability to represent about 8 stops of light. A way to get around that is to shoot in RAW, but not all raw files are the same.  Black and white negatives have tremendous latitude and can handle massive overexposure while tolerating a bit of underexposure.  They also have a much better dynamic range and can capture up to 15 stops of difference between highlights and shadows. The problem c...
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Types of cicadas in Kelowna

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Main:  Rocky Mountain cicada.  Inset:  Canadian (Somber?) cicada.  Both found in Kelowna, BC. There are about 20 species of cicada found in Canada; of those, only 3 are commonly found in the Kelowna area.  These include the Rocky Mountain cicada, the Canadian cicada, and Say's cicada.  Of the three of them, I have caught and photographed two.  I have never seen the Say's species.  You can read about them in my blogs here and here . Cicadas typically cause no significant damage to mature trees.  Newly planted trees and shrubs may be at risk, though, as they do extract a lot of low-nutrient sap from the roots' xylem.  The cicadas' bodies remove what valuable nutrients there are and excrete the rest.   Another interesting fact about cicadas is that they are not stationary throughout their larval development.  They move constantly, going lower in the soil for winter and moving from place to place for feeding.  They moult ...
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Shaggy mane mushroom along the Okanagan Rail Trail near Winfield, BC

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Edible mushroom along the ORT near Winfield, BC. I am not a mushroom aficionado, although I admit to enjoying them in a good stir-fry or chilli.   And I have never picked mushrooms, other than to remove them from my lawn, let alone eat them.  Yet, I am strangely drawn to them; their characteristics play to the storytelling of magical worlds which we imagine in our minds and on paper.  I have often photographed mushrooms, mostly with the help of toys I keep around for just such a purpose.  See the photo below. A type of milkcap mushroom I photographed being worked on by a toy farm tractor. Shaggy mane mushrooms are very edible and delicious, although they have to be picked at the right time and used promptly.  They are also called shaggy ink cap mushrooms because, within hours of being picked, they will turn into a black oozing liquid that will likely cause a different reaction if ingested.  This is their natural fate anyway, although the process takes ...
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Cicada I found in Kelowna - I think it was stung by a wasp for food

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Cicada I found in Kelowna on May 22.  I found one like it last year too. I don't know the species of cicada for sure, but I think it may be the Somber Cicada ( Okanagana tristis ) based on its size and colour (or lack of it). I made an interesting observation.  I found this cicada on the sidewalk near our house yesterday.  What was peculiar was that there was a wasp next to it.  The wasp was either a yellow jacket or a paper wasp, but the thought is that the wasp stung the cicada and was waiting for the injected toxins to take effect.  The wasp uses captured insects to feed larvae back at its nesting site.  I wrote a blog on it here . The wasp left as I picked up the cicada; it had a hard time righting itself and seemed less active than what I remember.  I don't know if the presence of the wasp was coincidental or part of the cicada's story.  Between the facts that the cicada seemed off and that it was located in the middle of an asphalt sidewalk ...
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Privit leafhopper - a vector of disease for stone fruit trees.

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Privit leafhopper ( Fieberiella florii ) as found in my backyard in Kelowna, BC.   Cicadas and "hoppers" used to belong to the order Homoptera.  However, that taxonomic title has been dissolved and the group has been folded in with the true bugs, the Hemiptera.  They are distantly related to the original group, which included the more familiar true bugs like stink bugs, back swimmers, and box elder bugs.  The website,  bugguide.net  gives a breakdown of its taxonomy ( click here to see link). Taxonomy of the Privit leafhopper as shown at the website bugguide.net.  See link above. I have never seen a tree hopper as they are mostly tropican, although there are some species that live in Canada (mostly in Ontario and Quebec).  They are peculiar looking insects; click here if you want to see some examples.    Frog hoppers are common where I live; I have photographed their nymphs and have written a blog on them (click here ).  The ...
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Fruit tree leaf roller caterpillars and moths - The bane of Okanagan farmers

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Fruit tree leaf rollers    Top: pupa  Bottom: caterpillar  Right: enlarged head I noticed my fruit trees had numerous clusters of leaves that were stuck together.  I opened one up and discovered a small green caterpillar inside, maybe an inch long.  When picking up the designer of the protective housing, it wriggled spastically in the palm of my hand.  The inhabitant of another leaf cluster fell as I pried the home apart; it dropped from a single thread halfway to the ground and dangled there, probably hoping to return to its abode.  You can see an example of the caterpillar and leafy home below. Top: leaves wrapped encasing a caterpillar.  Bottom left: the inhabitant I had discovered a species of fruit tree leaf rollers; the caterpillars would use their silk to make a protective enclosure that they could live in when not foraging.  It also serves as a great place to pupate.  The caterpillars do a fair amount of damage to the tree, ...
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