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The fourth of April
was a Tuesday, and after work I headed out to the quay with my
camera to see what I could get. I was happy that the days were
finally getting long enough that I could reasonably get some photography
in after work. To give myself a little change and a little challenge,
I put my general-purpose (24-120mm) lens on my camera. I figured
that would keep me away from the birds and encourage me to shoot
more flowers and other stuff.
So, of course, the
first subject I found was a pair of birds. Mallards, to be precise.
They were making quite a racket, and one seemed to be flying around
in pursuit of another. Knowing that the birds would be small in
the resulting photos, I started shooting the chase anyway. Here's
a shot just when the pursuer (the male) has overshot the pursuee
(the female).
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| The ducks
ended up on the ground near me, and I went over to them. The female
was squawking and seemed quite alarmed. At one point she went running
past me, and I snapped this shot as she did. |
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I liked the way that
shot captured the energy and pace of the fleeing duck.
Well, a little while
later, her pursuer caught up to her, she calmed down, and I found
out what the whole thing was about. It's the time of year to make
ducklings.
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| It also
seems to be the time of year when pretty ladies have rival suitors.
The drake in the back bit the one on top, and they proceeded to
have a bit of a tussle. |
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After watching them
chasing and nipping at one another for a little while, I decided
to go on with my walk. After all, I was looking to shoot things
other than birds.
As I walked down the
quay, therefore, I stopped to take photos of some of the flowers.
Here are some Grape Hyacinth.
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| I took a
few more flower photos, none of which turned out very good, and
then noticed some nice reflections of the sinking sun coming off
of the benches. I spent some time composing and photographing the
sight. Here are two that I ended up liking. |
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| While I
was at this little spot on the quay, I noticed two yellow tulips
that were flowering together, set off from the other tulips in their
bed. My shorter-than-usual lens meant that I had more freedom in
my shot than I normally would, and so again I spent a few minutes
working on composition. When I've got the long lens on the camera,
most flower shots become close-ups, and most of my shooting is too
immediate to give much thought to composition, so I was having to
think a lot more about my photography and thereby enjoying this
excursion immensely. |
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| And here's
another angle on my pair of tulips. I think they like one another. |
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| As I walked
towards the market, I took photos of several more flowers. Here
I'm in close on a Rhododendron. |
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| And this
was some very wonderful-smelling Hyacinth. |
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| And near
the end of the quay, I found this triangle-shaped planting of some
sort of small tulip. |
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| Here's a
close-up on one of them. |
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| I went out
the walkway under the Inn at the Quay and found my second avian
subject of the day, a Rock Dove who was up on one of the inn's supports. |
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I also got some photos
of the dove taking off and flying, but those shots would've been
better with the long lens.
When I reached the
other side of the market, I found a neat little control for some
sort of hoist or crane that was for servicing the casino Riverboat.
I liked its textures and repeated elements. Besides which, I just
like machinery.
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| Here's a
shot closer in on some of the hydraulics. |
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| I walked
a little further along, but there really wasn't much interesting
past the riverboat. As I walked back, I noticed a big pile of logs
across the river. |
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I thought about it
and figured that if I had a big bunch of logs like that, I'd probably
keep them in a pile, too.
I made it almost all
the way back home without incident. But when I reached the building
beside mine, I saw an interesting sight: a Belted Kingfisher on
a dolphin.
Now, I've explained
before that "dolphin"
is the word used for a group of piles in the water used as a mooring.
At that point, I had a photo of a heron on a dolphin and said:
"So I'm not
saying that there's a heron out there riding an aquatic mammal.
Although that would make a great photo."
But that was before,
and this was now.
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This time I really
had a bird on an aquatic mammal—or at least on a close facsimile
of one.
Being at the building
next to mine, this is undoubtedly Irving, my local kingfisher.
Kingfishers are fairly territorial. I watched him for a while,
and he eventually flew around a bit. The closest he got was when
he perched on the railing of someone's balcony.
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Irving was my last
subject, as the sun was getting fairly far down and I was already
nearly back home. I had only been out a little over an hour, but
it had been a very enjoyable hour.
Anticipating spring
ducklings,
Tom
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