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Salsify flower "bending" to the will of an American Goldfinch near Didsbury, Alberta. Salsify is an edible plant related to sunflowers.  The one in the photo above is yellow salsify, a common weed I see everywhere.  Like dandelions, the plant is edible and has a long taproot, similar to a carrot.  The plant is originally from Eurasia, but that hasn't kept American goldfinches from enjoying it. I photographed a goldfinch a few years ago on a salsify flower that was about to go to seed.  Goldfinches relish the small seeds found in these flowers, along with thistle seeds and niger seeds at bird feeders.  The photo is below, and the link is here to my blog on the image.   American Goldfinch on salsify, 2024. The difference between the two photos is time, not only in the year but in the season.  The top image was taken a few days ago in Alberta's early summer when the bird's plumage is a little less worn, and the flower hasn't started seed production ...

Male hairy woodpecker (left), chick (center), and feeding chick (right). It has been a unique year for finding woodpecker nests.  While camping in Wabamun Provincial Park earlier this year, I found and photographed a hairy woodpecker nest ( click here  for blog).  Today, while visiting Calgary, I found and photographed another hairy woodpecker nest and chick.  I also photographed bush tit nests early this spring, although they were from the previous year ( click here for blog).   Downy woodpeckers are much smaller than their similar-looking cousins, the hairy woodpeckers.  I had the good opportunity to photograph both species a couple of years ago while hiking Telford Lake in Leduc ( click here for blog).  It can be hard to tell them apart; at first I thought it was a downy woodpecker, but the bill length tells me otherwise. The chicks of woodpeckers make a repeating high-pitched noise, almost sounding like "we-we-we-we."  Every woodpecker n...

I found this yesterday on a walk near where we are camping in Didsbury, Alberta. Wild animals can be pests.  Most of us have been annoyed or had property damaged by creatures such as raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, and prairie dogs (in the above photo).  And, as much as we would like to be unburdened by such annoyances, most of us wouldn't want to see the poor things suffer.  I have set out a few traps in my day to get rid of rats and mice.  I even caught a squirrel in a live trap that I released elsewhere. Leg-hold traps are at a different level, though.  They trap through injury and damage, but do not kill.  The creatures are left to die from dehydration, pain, or predation.  They are considered mean and inhumane.  However, leg-hold traps are themselves not illegal.  They are, however, strictly regulated and have to adhere to specific parameters.  These include no teeth, having rubberized jaws, and having jaws that are smaller than 9 inc...

Goslings photographed with different ISO and shutter speed settings.  See below for another one. Although the risk of too much noise or too slow a shutter speed will likely always haunt you, the truth is that there is usually a safe option.  In general, a high ISO may reduce an image's quality, but blur will likely ruin it altogether.  Not sure whether to shoot with an ISO of 400 or 800?  Start with 800 and see where it leads.  You can dial values down if the light improves or if you find your shutter speeds are faster than necessary.   There is noise reduction software, both in your camera and in apps like Photoshop, that can reduce noise associated with high ISOs.  Turn on your camera's noise reduction system.  It usually kicks in around ISO 800.  You may want to rethink that though, as the process is non-reversible.  To give you an idea, play with noise reduction software in Photoshop if you can and look at the difference.  ...

Left: Antilles hummingbird & juvenile black tern.  Right:  Juvenile Bonaparte's gull Today's cameras are a far cry from the cameras of old, even going back only 10 years.  There are a multitude of differences, including sensor resolution, processing speed, electronic noise level, and vibration-mitigation technology. The two images on the left were taken with a Nikon D500, which came out in 2016.  Both lenses used had VR (~4 stops compensation).  The right image was taken with a Z6iii, which has built-in VR (~8 stops compensation).  Also, the D500 is a crop-sensor camera (1.5x crop factor) while the Z6iii, which came out in 2024, is a full-frame camera. OK - so, why tell me that?   It comes down to electronic noise.  Electronic noise in a digital image causes reduced definition; details get eroded.  Noise is affected by numerous variables; photographers want to keep noise levels down to maximize details.  The counter to capturing...

A vesper sparrow on a fence post near our campsite in Leduc, Alberta. Although the breeding range of the vesper sparrow is a wide swath across the North American continent, I have only ever seen the species a few times, and only in Alberta.  Its range extends through grasslands and fields where it feeds on grass seeds (among other seeds) and insects.   Vesper sparrows' main field mark for identification is the brown shoulder patch you can see in the photograph I took the other day.  The word "vespers" denotes singing in the evening, often being related to church services with an emphasis on prayer and worship.  Vesper sparrows tend to sing at twilight, which is where the name originated.   Identifying a vesper sparrow in the field may be difficult.  Every vesper sparrow I have ever seen had to be identified after I took the photo, and only when I had time to look at it closely on a monitor.  The photo below shows a vesper sparrow with the tel...