Archive for the ‘Spring’ Category

Turkey Vulture or Buzzard

Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

I was on my way home from dropping my daughter off at day care the other day and spotted four Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) perched on a fence down the road from my house.  Once again I didn’t have my camera with me, but this time I went home and got the camera and went back.

When I get back they weren’t on the fence any more, they were on the silo behind the pasture.  I was a little dissapointed that they weren’t on the fence, but they were still near by.

May Flowers…dandelions

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Taraxacum officinale

Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale)

I went fishing a few weeks ago.  I went to one of my regular fishing spots.  This was the view from over my shoulder as I was fishing.

Dandelions are generally little more than a lawn nuiscaence.   This day they were simply beautifull.

April Osprey…

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Osprey in Hilton (Pandion haliaetus)

Osprey in Hilton (Pandion haliaetus)

I know it’s been a while since I posted anything.  I have a variety of photos to get posted.

Well, I was on my way to pickup my daughter from my parents and happened to see a sizable bird on top of a telephone pole.  So of course I stopped and grabbed the camera.  I have missed a variety of photo opportunities over the past couple weeks, as a result of not carrying my camera.

Not today however.

Osprey in Hamlin (Pandion haliaetus)

Osprey in Hamlin (Pandion haliaetus)

Aquarium of Niagara

Monday, June 9th, 2008

Lion Fish This is another picture from our weekend away.  The Aquarium of Niagara isn’t that big, but they do have a nice collection of animals.  This is a Lion fish.  From a photographers perspective, it poses some unique challenges. Anytime you try to take pictures through glass you can expect to get some good shots and some that don’t make the cut.  This one turned out OK.

Adam

Buffalo Zoo

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

Golden Tiger at the Buffalo Zoo.We started our weekend trip on Friday morning.  We went to the local zoo (Seneca Park Zoo) to get a membership.  In prepping for the trip I found that the local zoo has an agreement with several other zoos.  If you are a zoo member you can get either free or discounted admission to other zoos, nationwide.  We have a 2 year old that we are planning to take to the zoo this year, so the membership just made sense.  To top it off, our membership gets us into the Buffalo zoo and the Niagara Aquarium also.

We arrived at the zoo early afternoon, when we got through the gate we were a little surprised at all of the kids there.  They were on a field trip.  They were leaving as we got there.  There was a lot of construction at the zoo. As a result of the construction we had to do a bit of extra walking. The weather was actually pretty much perfect for our day at the zoo. It wasn’t too hot or cold.

We are talking about going back sometime after July. One of the things that was being built while we were there was a tropical exhibit. (Yeah, we were surprised that they didn’t already have one.) There were some tropical birds in the giraffe house, but only a couple.

The photo above is one of the Golden Tigers that was basically posing.  He had a couple of friends in with him, but he was the one that definitely stood out.

Next will be the Buffalo Erie botanical gardens.

Adam

Niagara Falls and More

Friday, May 9th, 2008

Part of the old Niagara Fall Powerplant

Last weekend we went away for my wife’s birthday. Originally we were planning on going to Herkimer Diamond mines, but she decided she wanted to go to Niagara Falls instead. So off we went. We planned on going to the Buffalo Zoo, the Buffalo-Erie botanical gardens, and the Niagara Aquarium.

We left on Friday morning and went to the zoo.

The above picture is part of the old Niagara Falls power plant.

More pictures from out trip, to follow.

Adam

Hot Air Balloon

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

Random Hot Air BalloonThis was a pleasant surprise, I got up rather early the other morning. I was sitting at my desk and looked out the window. And this is what I saw. There was a hot air balloon floating by. I was a bit surprised, I have lived in this general area for several years and I don’t remember ever seeing a hot air balloon this far North.

What you need to keep in mind is that we live less than 5 miles from Lake Ontario. I don’t know that much about ballooning, but I would think that flying this close to the lake could be disastrous. If the wind shifts, you might find yourself over the water.

Adam

Feeding the Ducks

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

American CootWe decided to take our two year old daughter to feed the ducks this past Saturday. We live about five minutes from Lake Ontario, so there is a variety of water and wetlands in the area.

We figured we would be feeding them for a while, but it was pretty much a bust. The only ducks we found were out in the bay far beyond our reach. I even tried to lure them in with bread. I couldn’t even throw the bread out far enough for them to even notice it. So we drove around for a while trying everywhere in the area that was accessible within reason. The only ducks we did see were either out of reach or inaccessible.

We stopped at a small bridge on our way home and we saw a muskrat and this duck like creature. It took me a little while to actually figure out what is was. I tried searching for “black duck with a white bill”. What I found out was that this isn’t a duck at all, it’s an American Coot, a duck like water bird. I have been an outdoors man my entire life and I don’t ever remember seeing this wonderful bird before. I hope it sticks around for a while, I want to go back and take some more pictures.

Adam