Besides always checking to make sure you have a card in your camera (I carry a just in case spare in a pocket on my camera strap) and that your battery is in and sufficiently charged, always take a look and make sure the mode dial on the camera is set where you want it. Gremlins will change the mode on your camera during the night just to mess with you and if you're up early and modestly caffeine deprived you may not notice. I didn't. I shot most of this morning's pictures in Tv mode. In Tv mode the user specifies a shutter speed, while the camera adjusts the aperture size to correctly expose the image. Tv (and don't ask me why it's a lower case "v" on the dial) stands for Time Value. Anyway, because I usually don't have time to think (that's my excuse) I almost always shoot in "P" (program) mode. In program mode the camera selects and sets both the shutter speed and the aperture. I typically keep my right index finger on the quick control dial to adjust both shutter speed and aperture on the fly.
What all of this means is I screwed up some pictures this morning but mostly what I did was I walked. I meandered around at a pretty decent clip and made myself get a descent walk out of this morning's adventure. My head needed a walk. I need to laugh, and when the sun is out, I've got something I can laugh about. Here's what I got on the photo front...
This red-tailed hawk came flying in low and directly at me. I noticed immediately the reason for its low altitude, it was carrying what appeared to be a rather large rat. I watched where it seemed to land and went to see if I could find it.
The hawk took off again by the time I got a few shots off. I don't believe it was bothered by me but rather had two American crows in pursuit. I've seen crows try to steal prey from red-tailed hawks before.
It was still early...
...but the sun was going to be in my face once again and real soon.
At least it was cool, by 6:40 it was only 63º F. I find that quite pleasant. The predicted high for today is 100º. That means it will actually be at least 103º for yours truly. Right now it's 90º at 10:40 AM.
I was a little surprised to see Cereus stenogonus cactus blooming again, The last time I saw flowers was back in early June.
I kept trying to get a decent macro shot of this bee but the bee was burying itself into the flower (and my shutter speed was wonky). Then I had a carpenter bee coming in for a photo bomb.
Dusty, our intrepid male Calypte anna hummingbird was hanging out on his new favorite perch. This twig is about as central as he can get in his usual territory.
I went off in a direction I don't typically go and discovered one of the frequent vintage car shows was about to happen in the largest parking lot on campus. This is an event which I generally avoid. As it was I only got as close as my lens would permit.
I think this might be a Chevrolet Nomad but I wouldn't bet money on it. Please feel free to correct me if you stumble upon this post.
This is a Cadillac Kaiser Manhattan, my best guess is 1953.
On my way back to the car I caught this turkey vulture flexing its wings. This was also when I finally noticed my camera was in Tv mode.
That's all folks! Thanks for stopping by!
Pics look great as always. How long do you expect Dusty to hang around ?
ReplyDelete