Second cardinal of 2013

NORTHERN CARDINAL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 24, 2013

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 400mm
1/125 sec. f8
ISO 800

Even on a gray overcast day Stan the cardinal, as I'm calling him in tribute to the late Mr. Musial, stands out in his majestic attire. He and his consort are daily visitors to our heated birdbath in the backyard.

Squirrel in the rain

GRAY SQUIRREL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 30, 2013

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 340mm
1/45 sec. f8
ISO 800

Getting good wildlife shots on a gray and rainy January day is generally a fool's errand, but once in a while one can get lucky at such a slow shutter speed.

Arctic robin

AMERICAN ROBIN, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 22, 2013

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 300mm
1/125 sec. f8
ISO 400

It was 2 degrees F when I took this early-morning shot of a robin that seems not to have been told that his species is expected to winter in Miami or Cancun.

The Three Graces

JUVENILE RING-BILLED GULLS, HALIFAX HARBOR, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Pentax K-5
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/4000 sec. f10
ISO 1600

They seem to respect personal space with mathematical precision, don't they? (Best viewed by clicking the photo to large size.)

Garden detail

ARRANGEMENT, PUBLIC GARDENS, HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Nikon Coolpix S8200
Nikkor 4.5-63 at 5.6mm
1/500 f3.6
ISO 100

Deborah Abbott captured this detail of a huge arrangement of plants and flowers in honor of Queen Eliabeth II at the public gardens in Halifax. If you can identify the plants, please let me know.

Young mallard

JUVENILE MALE MALLARD, PUBLIC GARDENS, HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Pentax K-5
Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/100 sec. f8
ISO 1600

This young duck is just coming into his feathered glory in the pond at Halifax' storied Public Gardens. The photo turned up in still another sweep of the archives from last summer.

Eagle

BALD EAGLE OFF BADDECK, CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Pentax K-5
Pentax DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/800 sec. f13
ISO 800

Another in a series of eagle photographs taken from a sailboat in Bras d'Or Lake, this one was deliberately shot at a smaller than usual aperture (f13 instead of f8) in order to maximize depth of field while risking lens diffraction that would degrade the image. It seemed to have turned out OK. Best viewed by clicking to larger size.

Squirrel No. 2 of 2013

GRAY SQUIRREL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JUNE 17, 2013

Pentax K-01

Sigma 135-400 at 320mm

1/350 sec. f8

ISO 400

Another experiment with manual focus peaking on the K-01. This time I concentrated on the long black whiskers. In some ways this camera technique yields better image quality with a long lens than with the K-5 and K20D on autofocus.

Waving in the wind

GRAY SQUIRREL TAIL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 16, 2013

Pentax K-01
Sigma 135-400 at 400mm
1/1000 sec. f9.5
ISO 1600

I was testing the focus peaking of my new K-01 mirrorless camera with a long lens just to see how it would turn out, and this shot of a squirrel tail caught in the breeze was the result. Notice how spindly and skinny the actual tail is—no wonder squirrel haters call the species "tree rats".

First squirrel of 2013

GRAY SQUIRREL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 12, 2013

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 340mm
1/250 sec. f8
ISO 400

The first of many such portraits from our backyard deck.

First redbird of 2013

NORTHERN CARDINAL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 31, 2012

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 300mm
1/20 sec. f8
ISO 400

Actually this is the last one of 2012. It was taken during oncoming dusk late in the afternoon of Dec. 31, with the help of a couple of backyard floodlights mounted on the house about 15 feet away from the birdbath. I was especially happy to catch the cardinal's eye, which so often disappears into the bird's dark facial feathers.

Backyard intruder

GARDEN GNOME IN FRESH SNOW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 28, 2012

Pentax K-5
Pentax-DA 18-135 at 78mm
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 400

Another capture from Deborah Abbott's foray onto the breast of the new-fallen snow a few days ago. This little fellow lives in our immediate neighbor's back yard.