Toad

AMERICAN TOAD (BUFO AMERICANUS), GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 15, 2009

Pentax K10D
Sigma 17-70 at 63mm
1/180 sec. f8, with on-board flash
ISO 400

The American Toad being as common as dirt, one would think there would be far more photos of them online. Trouble is they are not only the opposite of photogenic but also have a propensity to hop just before the camera locks focus. This one held still just long enough for the shutter to trip. Too bad I didn't think to use f11 instead of f8; more of its body would have been in sharp focus.

Gull No. 4

RING-BILLED GULL, ONTONAGON, MICHIGAN, JULY 13, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/1000 f9.5
ISO 400

This gull is the same one captured below, that photo taken a split second later. Today's seems to be technically better than the first, partly because the focus seems to be absolutely perfect while the other is ever so much a smidgen off -- and partly because the gull's position in relation to the sun enabled the light to capture more feather detail. The low-winged pose is slightly less dramatic than the high-winged one, however, so maybe it's a wash which the better picture is. What do you think? (Click on either photo for a larger version.)

Gull No. 3

RING-BILLED GULL, ONTONAGON, MICHIGAN, JULY 13, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/1000 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

It occured to me this morning that the reason I'm having such a hard time getting sharp, detailed close-up shots of birds and other wildlife is that I'm not taking them in zoos and aviaries, as most skilled amateurs do. Pro wildlife photographers who go out in the boonies and get good stuff have incredible reserves of patience and canny stalking skills as well as big and costly 1000mm telephotos. None of which I have, but once in a while I get a keeper of a shot, and maybe this is one.

Sandhill cranes No. 2

SANDHILL CRANES, ONTONAGON, MICHIGAN, JULY 9, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/500 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

The other day I captured those cranes just after high noon, when the sun was high and the light harsh. Yesterday morning about 8 I went back and recaptured them when the sun was low and the light much gentler. I do think the second effort is slightly better than the first; the colors on the birds' bodies seems subtler and the shadows not so strong.

Sandhill cranes

SANDHILL CRANES (GRUS CANADENSIS), ONTONAGON, MICHIGAN, JULY 8, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/250 sec. f13
ISO 400

I had driven to the Ontonagon airfield to hunt interesting airplanes. There weren't any, but in the cut-down field off the threshold of Runway 34 stood a sedge of eighteen sandhill cranes, a fairly common species in the western portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. "Among the tallest birds in the world and capable of flying at great heights," says the Birds of Michigan Field Guide.

Taraxacum officinale

DANDELION (TARAXACUM OFFICINALE), GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 7, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
SMC Pentax-DA 50-200 at 50mm with Raynox 250 macro auxiliary
1/750 sec. f16
ISO 800

"What's this?" I asked the Lady Friend. "Canada hawkweed perhaps?" "Looks like a dandelion to me," she replied. Couldn't be, I thought. The stalk was a good three feet high. So I went back to the driveway and had another look. Yep, the leaves at ground level bespoke the ubiquitous dandelion of our front lawns, but it was competing -- successfully -- with tall grass for the sun. Pest though it may be, it's still a pretty flower close up.

Cedar waxwing

CEDAR WAXWING (BOMBYCILLA CEDRORUM), GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 4, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300 mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/350 sec. f8
ISO 400
The other day I turned the lawn chair on the beach toward the tall white pines above the Writer's Lair and enjoyed the frantic antics of half a dozen waxwings, a species so full of avian ADD that they make sparrows seem slow and lumbering. They look like masked little Robin Hoods about to skewer the Sheriff of Nottingham in mid-flight.

Monarch

MONARCH BUTTERFLY (DANAUS PLEXIPUS), GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 4, 2009

Pentax K10D
Sigma 17-70 at 70mm
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 400

I was looking for birds on the beach near our cabin yesterday and finding only gulls when I spotted this handsome monarch flitting from wildflower to wildflower. I followed close behind and when it alighted on a sprig of yarrow, it settled down long enough for me to lean in close and get this macro shot. The bug book says the pheromone spots on its hind wings identify it as a male.