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I have written on this subject before, but it is pressing on my mind and I have to express it to anyone who will hear me. Friends are important. I am not talking about acquaintances, people you meet socially, or even those you might have over to the house for an evening together. I am talking about the kind of deep friendship that comes with a commitment for life. Every relationship will face trials. They could be in the form of a disagreement, competition over something, or a wrong that was carried out, one against the other. Think hard about the people in your life where such matters are trivial compared to the value of their friendship. This is where forgiveness comes in. In your heart, you can say, "In spite of the fact that this event has happened, there is nothing that will make me turn away from you." There is another expression for this concept, one that does a far better job at explaining the nature and depth of the relationship. Unconditional...

What could be better? Warm rocks to climb, a late summer's eve with the waning sun rendering its last vestiges of light before slipping beneath the horizon, and a beautiful landscape to be in awe of. The perfect way to end a perfect day. I find that my memories of growing up are few and faint, especially the ones before the age of eight. One of the things that help fix an event firmly in your mind is an emotional experience; the stronger the emotional response the greater the chance that memory will carry through the rest of your years. I can imagine the children in the scene will always carry something of that remarkable evening with them. These events are formative in nature; they are part of the hand that molds us into who we are. Children who are given the opportunity to experience nature's great beauty are more likely to respect and care for the Earth they live on. The reason is two-fold. First, these memories are likely to form an unconscious need to ex...

British Columbia has a population of 20,000 to 30,000 bald eagles. Most of them can be found along our coastline. Counts in the Fraser Valley have gone as high as 7,362 bald eagles . Being top carnivores, that is an impressive number of these large, majestic birds. Topping that, Alaska boasts a population of some 70,000. The species seems to be doing well. That has not always been the case though. Back in 1782, when the US adopted the bald eagle as its national bird, there was an estimated continental US population of 100,000 breeding adults. Despite that honour, war was unofficially declared on the species in the mid to late 1800s. Every conceivable method of eradication was employed, some intentionally and others not. This resulted in a tumultuous decline to the extent that, in 1963, there were only 487 nesting pairs known to be left ( click here for more information). The greatest contributor to their demise was the nation's desire to control mosquito population...

The truth is that if I hadn't gone to post-secondary in Biology it could have been in Geology - the study of rocks. I've been told on occasion that I had rocks in my head, but they couldn't have guessed that it was true. I have always been fascinated by rocks. The word "rock" hardly does justice to the concept. A rock isn't just some hard thing you stand on, skip across the water, or use as a building material. Rocks form the bulk of the Earth's crust, a layer that makes up the surface of the planet we call home. Ranging from 20 km to 120 km thick, it is comprised of over 2000 minerals that go into making it up. So, what's the difference between rocks and minerals? A mineral is a pure substance, composed of only one kind of element or type of molecule. Silicon dioxide (made of 1 atom of silicon and 2 atoms of oxygen) is the molecule that makes the mineral quartz. Add some feldspar, biotite, and mica to that and you have basalt. Let mol...

I have lived in Maple Ridge for almost thirty years but have never hiked the Thorn Hill area. Part of the reason is that I haven't been particularly aware of it, the other has to do with the word "hill". One of the things I like about this part of the world is the number of hikes, dikes, and parks that team around me, and most of them have little in the way of elevation gain. This trail though has moderate slopes throughout its length. The entire trail, as indicated on the Hiking Project website is 10.4 km; I did only about 3 km of it. I was inspired by a friend's post. It was the photograph he included of a Northern Pygmy Owl that stirred me into action. Yesterday, with the sun out and my camera begging to find some action, I began my quest. I wanted to find the mysterious "small duck pond" that he mentioned. I had to backtrack several times along the trek as it seemed I went the wrong way but eventually came upon the standing body of water...

If you are fond of birds then you know they generally keep their distance. One of the best ways to scare off a bird is to simultaneously look at it and approach it. The combination tells the bird that your interest in it may be much more than arbitrary. There could well be a nefarious purpose behind your actions. If you want further proof, just watch a few episodes of the Road Runner with his nemesis, Wile E. Coyote. The scene is something out of a classic western with gigantic columns of red sandstone intertwined with a winding road. A villainous coyote keenly views his prey and approaches it with some mysterious apparatus. As the antagonist gets closer, our hero sees a pair of red-rimmed eyes approaching. A natural and rising sense of dread fills the roadrunner; proximity necessitates reaction. It's move or become a meal. With a rumbling tummy and a drooping snout, the coyote watches as another lunch gets away. It is not too different when you approach a bird...

Photography is all about controlling light. Although you can't control the sun, you can control your position relative to it and the time you choose to photograph something illuminated by it. These are two key elements in photography; when and where. You don't always have the luxury of controlling the when and where of things, but you can certainly try. I find the best time to do my outdoor photography is in the morning when the sun's angle to the ground is relatively low. In the summer time, this means getting up early because the sun will be producing harsh lighting by mid-morning. In the winter, especially around the winter solstice, just about any time will do (true in Canada, not so much as you go further south). Whether shooting landscapes or wildlife, I like to know where the sun is relative to my subject. I find that I get the best wildlife photos when the sun is low and directly behind me. The angle of the sun has to do with the season, time of ...

Catching birds in flight is not as easy as it sounds. Although it may seem they spend quite a lot of time aloft, the fact is that capturing a good image of them is somewhat challenging. Conditions have to be running in your favour. The right time and place is always an issue with any kind of wildlife photography, but this is another level past that. There are equipment, camera and lens settings, and positioning concerns. The camera. The camera itself is of less concern than the features it possesses. Desirable traits include a large sensor (both in size and pixel count), fast drive mode, and access to a long focal length. Additional abilities would be access to vibration mitigation (which may be lens or body mounted), a fast processor to drive the focusing mechanism, and three-dimensional focus tracking. The more pixels you can capture means the more cropping you can do. Rarely will a bird conveniently fill the frame as it glides through the air. Large sensor...

A bright sunny day with the promise of adventure lured me to one of my favourite birding and outdoor areas - Pitt Polder. There are three destinations here that I frequent. These include the hike around the dikes at the south end of Pitt Lake, Widgeon Creek (canoeing), and Pitt Polder Ecological Reserve. Yesterday I decided to try the ecological reserve. It had been dry and warm (for January) the last few days so the potential for mud and puddle jumping was low. Besides, I had found some wonderful birds at this location on previous visits. The pictures above indicate the success I had with my excursion. The hike itself was about five and a half kilometers. I usually have at least one camera with me; yesterday I brought two, but even without them it would have been an awesome time. The panorama is a stitched image of six photos merged in Photoshop CC. I shot that and other landscape photos with my full-frame DSLR equipped with a 24-80 mm lens. My other camera boasted my...

Smallest dabbling duck. Winters furthest north of all teal species. Beautiful cinnamon head with iridescent green crescent through and behind the eye. However you describe it, the green-winged teal is a remarkable bird. I photographed this particular duck while visiting Burnaby Lake two days ago. I am not able to get all that close to them normally, but the fact they have acclimated to humans has allowed unusual access. I managed to get a close-up photograph of the head while it was preening. I just love the strong colours bursting from the male's head. There are two unusual things about this photograph. The first, and most obvious, is the teal's speculum is blue and not green. If you look carefully at the crescent-shaped green strip that runs before and after the eye you will detect the presence of blue pin-feathers as the stripe progresses. My research tells me that both the blue on the head and the wing are "a trick of the light" due to thei...

The basin of Burnaby Lake was gouged out by passing glaciers some 12,000 years ago. This natural water body is home to a myriad of birds and other wildlife, including turtles, salamanders, and numerous small mammals. The lake has fish in it; carp and the Northern pikeminnow which can get up to 25 pounds. It is fairly shallow; sediment has been filling it in over the years. As a result, it is crowded with aquatic plants making it an ideal environment for organisms both above and below the water. Yesterday I had an opportunity to visit the lake. There are many trails around and access points to the lake; we parked at Burnaby Lake Nature House on the park's north side. Docks allowed water access; the number of birds present in the area was startling. Even though it is mid-January there were hundreds of ducks and other wetland birds (below). There were over two dozen long-billed dowitchers (top photo) feeding in the shallows; it was wonderful to watch them forage. I...

The hard part of creating an HDR image comes from creating the original files that the completed image is based upon. Once that is done, either from bracketing or expanding a RAW image as discussed on my previous blog (click here to view it), you then have to choose the parameters that bring those different components together. Programs such as Photomatix and Nix Pro 2 offer quite a number of preset choices. I pulled up some old bracketed photos I took in Alberta and opened them using the HDR Nix Pro application. After running the program I was given 40 different variations on possible final products; six of them are visible in the above compilation. I picked the one I liked most and then altered it slightly using the editing tools included with the program. All of the HDR applications I have used allow manipulation of the final image, but I find the interface with Photomatix and Nix Pro to be particularly powerful and easy to use. Once I completed the tweaking process I...

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Normal JPEGs can only capture a range of about 8 stops from the darkest to the lightest values. This is adequate under most situations but fails when the light falling on objects in your photo goes beyond those values. On a sunny day it is not unusual for bright areas to be 10 or 12 stops higher in their light values (LV) than shadowed areas. This can go well beyond that when the sun is in the image, if sand or snow is present, and especially if the light is reflecting off the water. Using RAW settings in your camera can adjust for this to some extent as RAW images typically have about 12 stops of latitude. This essentially means that much more information can be extracted out of areas of shadow. If you want more range than that you can consider bracketing over a wide range and using HDR software to combine the images. It is best if you are using a tripod and if variable objects like moving people that cause ghosting are not present. ...

The question as to which format to use has been an ongoing battle for many photographers for some time. It has just about been twenty years since I switched over from film to digital and the pros and cons continue to change. Some differences continue to be true while others have faded into oblivion. As you can see in the above pictures, the left image was taken from a RAW file and the right from a JPEG file. In case if you are wondering if there was any difference in the actual capture, I used a dual capture mode on a Nikon D750 that produced two files; one RAW and one JPEG. Both images were adjusted in post, the RAW image using Adobe's digital raw software included in Photoshop CC and the JPEG using the Photoshop application itself. I applied the various filters as I normally would for each file. 1. Raw does not use compression (some raw files may be compressed to produce smaller files). The image below is a closeup of the fisherman on the dock; the left from t...

Don't let the name fool you; the praying mantis is not a venerable insect. Nor does it aspire to quiet contemplation in consideration of its maker. The pious way it holds its forearms and its stoic lack of motion has a different purpose; its hunting. Its main source of food is other insects. The funny thing about these six-legged invertebrates is that they can't pick out details. They are limited to three main visual factors that include motion, colour, and light. If something doesn't move, if it blends in, and if it is neither lighter nor darker than the surroundings, an insect simply doesn't see it. Or more precisely put, it doesn't notice it. This falls perfectly into the hunting method of mantids. They are essentially invisible to any would-be meals. Their stealth is deceiving. Those forearms are lightning fast when the need arises. The opposing spurs on the tibia and tarsus will hold any captive fast; the strong hooks at the end of thos...

A small boy pointed with glee! He thought this trip to the mountains was going to be lame. But there, in the distance, were two figures he was familiar with. A large raptor with mouth agape and a dimetrodon; two organisms from Earth's path that had no business being together, little lone being here in the present. He hopped up and down with excitement and called his parents and sisters over. Stunned to see some enthusiasm in this unusual display of emotion, they approached and directed their eyes along his finger's path. It was surreal; an unusual diorama in the midst of all this beauty. Someone had gone to a lot of work, but it obviously was having the desired effects. The boy, now glued to his dad, begged to go down and see the strange creatures. He had imagined the collision of these prehistoric beasts hundreds of times at home. Alone with his plastic collection of Mesozoic fauna, he enacted the clash of such beasts time and time again. This was just like th...

The arid landscape around Sacramento is perfect for reptiles. It was there, in the summer of 2008 that I came across a western fence lizard. We don't have them as a rule of thumb in Canada, although there have been two documented sightings here in British Columbia. No one knows if they are native to the area or how they managed to get here if they are not. I have found them in central Washington and northern California. I admit to being overly zealous when it comes to finding lizards. Few things give me such pleasure as lifting a rock and discovering a lizard underneath. I grew up in Ontario and Alberta where lizards are rare if not absent altogether. I did not find my first wild lizard until I was around 40 years old, even though I have been turning rocks and boards over in search of such treasures for at least a quarter of a century by then. The very first lizard I ever caught was a western fence lizard. Males have a strong dual blue band running parallel with...

The beauty of our planet is the life that is on, above, and in it. We value life, especially our own, and it seems that the human race has chosen to wage war on anything that risks it. Or makes it uncomfortable. Or unprofitable. We are short-sighted beings that seek immediate gratification without consideration for long-term consequences. It's all about the moment, not the future. It is this kind of thinking that risks the very thing we care the most about. I read an article yesterday on the gradual demise of insects; we are losing them at a rate of 1-2% per year. That may not sound like much, but it means that somewhere between 36-72 years from now the insect population on this planet will be down to half of what it is today. If the trend continues then repeat that same estimate and we're down to a quarter and then an eighth and so on. My guess is this won't progress on a linear scale, but rather a logrithmic one. Those of you that think the world wo...

In the species that show sexual dimorphism, you have to appreciate the effect of selective breeding. Not every male wins a lady's affection just because he's a guy. Usually, he has to do something; preferably something spectacular. For the hooded merganser, that would be the male extending his "hood" in its full glory. In his mating display, the male puts on quite a show. His hood stands erect and he extends his neck and bends it backward. It is amazing how this somewhat compact duck can extend its neck to such a great length. The resulting shape reminds me of a seahorse. The other thing that the male does is to utter vocalizations to attract his potential mate. You can hear the sound here (click bottom button). Not all hoods and displays look the same. To the discerning female, each presentation proves the quality of the bearer's stock. I can appreciate how handsome the male looks, after all, he is a very pretty bird. What she sees in his...

Long focal lengths are notorious for narrow depths of field. Add to this the need to often shoot wide open and you have a recipe for out-of-focus subjects. If a branch, leaf, another bird, or even the wrong part of the right bird becomes the point of focus you've got a messed up shot. With focus being so critical, it is important to ensure that you've nailed it. Even when there is nothing between you and your subject there is plenty of opportunity to get it wrong. If the focus point is not quite on the bird the lens may focus on infinity or go into a focusing spasm trying to find something to lock onto. If you do get your subject in focus, is it the right part of it? This is well illustrated when photographing reptiles as their long bodies make it easy to get a sharp middle and a blurry head. Here are some practical suggestions when focusing to improve the chance of getting the shot you want. Chose center point focusing. This makes allows the camera ...

I was fortunate enough to come across a pied-billed grebe that had just caught quite a prize. A fish, perhaps a third of the length of its captor, was being cleverly manipulated into an injestable position. It amazes me how such a small bird can capture, handle, and consume such a relatively large fish. I suppose it has something to do with the remarkable digestive system all birds possess. Birds, such as herons, grebes, and fish-eating ducks consume their prey headfirst. Since this is usually not the original position of the soon-to-be-eaten morsel, a deft manipulation and tossing process soon puts it in the right position. The mouth is far larger than what the size of the beak would suggest and opens broadly to accept the slithering meal. Down the wildly expandable oseogophus to what is sometimes called the first stomach, the proventriculus accepts the fish and starts the process of digestion. Strong acids and enzymes work their magic here. If the creature wasn't ...

ISO and shutter speed. These cardinal parameters are intimantely linked in photography. Higher ISOs mean faster shutter speeds. When trying to freeze action shots or prevent blur from camera motion, fast shutter speeds are critical. The tradeoff has always been an increase in sensor noise that reduces the quality of the image; high ISO values means images with less definition and detail in areas of shadow. The challenge has been to find the right balance. Use a shutter speed fast enough to guarantee a sharp image with an ISO setting low enough to guarantee it. One of the greatest developments for wildlife photographers has been the introduction of vibration stabilization technology. Nikon's VR, Canon's IS, and a host of other initialisms have meant following the minimum one over focal length shutter speed principle can be tossed out the proverbial window. Shutter speeds three, four, or even five stops under the once clear precept are now possible. Its advent has...

As a photographer, I always have two thoughts that oppose each other. The first is a sense of pleasure and achievement for getting any photo in particular. The second follows on the heels of the first in short order; "I know I can do better." Given time, equipment, opportunity, and motivation, the second is an achievable goal. Over the years (42 and counting) that I have photographed wildlife, I have found technology and expertise constantly improving. The need and opportunity to acquire better equipment has produced noticeable changes in the results I am getting. Comparing those results objectively is not easy but I found a subject that is satisfactory for the task. The belted kingfisher. I adore kingfishers and always am titillated when I hear their cackling call. My attempts to photograph them have always been met with a familiar and predictable set of events. I hear one, find it, approach it, and it flits off to another perch which it can survey its r...

It has been raining here lately. A lot of rain. That's to be expected when you live in a temperate rain forest. So, yesterday, when the sun peeked out behind some thinning clouds, the chance to go for a walk suddenly held great appeal. I grabbed my camera and long lens and headed out. I live in Maple Ridge, a town that is part of the Lower Mainland in southwest British Columbia. It is situated between the Fraser River, the Pitt River, and the Coastal Mountains. There are several other rivers, creeks, and streams that carve through the district; all of them are confined by dikes that prevent floods from creating havoc. There are many I have been on and an equal number I have yet to explore. I decided to go to one I was familiar with and hoped to find some birds. I was not disappointed. On my walk I came across a great blue heron, a pair of pied-billed grebes, a large number of juncos and chickadees, and several ducks. One of the ducks confounded my ability to ...