Tuesday ~ April 18, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 18, 2017
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Happy Tuesday!

I have three images for you today.

Over the last few days I have noticed increasing amounts of dead grass and twigs strewn about the patio.  On Saturday I observed a Robin bringing some more “stuff” to the patio and realized that she was in the process of building a nest near my grill in the lattice-work of the trellis.

Knowing I didn’t want bird poop all over the patio and grill I brushed away the few strands of straw and grass to discourage her from continuing the process.  I hadn’t seen anymore debris over the weekend.  Then yesterday around 11:00 a.m. I happen to look out the patio door and saw an almost completely built nest.  Well actually it was just a large clump of grass and twigs and wasn’t really organized into a proper nest yet.  There was grass everywhere as a lot of the stuff she brought to the trellis blew onto the patio furniture.

So I opened the door just enough that I could get a lens through the opening and waited for her to come back.  After waiting for 15 or more minutes she appeared with the large clump of material in her beak.  I ripped off a dozen or more shots and that was enough to scare her away.  20 minutes later she came back and the same thing happened.  Apparently twice was enough as she didn’t return the rest of the day.  I cleaned up her mess in the evening and hopefully she will find a more suitable place to build her nest. 🙂

Remember you can click on the image to reveal a larger more detailed image.

While I was waiting for Ms. Robin I captured this image of a common house finch at the watering bath.

That’s it for today.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ April 17, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 17, 2017
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Happy Monday!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter celebration.  Today I have three images for you and they are all about family.  We started off with early church and then went to Angie and Ben’s home for Easter Brunch.  Lot’s of visiting and playing and then just before the brunch Angie invited us all to the back deck for an announcement.

She gave each of the children two balloons.  Josh got two blue, Gabby two pink, and Austin two yellow (the yellow plays not part in the story.)  🙂

Josh and Gabby were told to release the balloon that did not bare the gender of the unborn baby that Angie is carrying.

Now I had a feeling for the longest time what the baby’s gender was going to be and so I really focused on Josh and sure enough he let go of his balloons right away.  Gabby dutifully held on to her pink balloons, (YEA) and Austin wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do so he just smiled.

So now they will have two boys and two girls.  I feel so blessed and I am so happy for them.

Mark and Julia were able to join us for the brunch and celebration.  Then it was nap time for Grandpa.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ April 16, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 16, 2017
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Happy Sunday and Happy Easter!

I have three images for you today of common critters we see on a regular basis.  Then why show them?  Cause I got nothing else.  🙂

I spent the better part of the day yesterday in the yard.  Looks better but there was so much more I could have and should have done, but I was tired of it.

Enjoy this day of celebration, as for Christians, it is the promise of salvation and life everlasting.

Saturday ~ April 15, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 15, 2017
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Happy Saturday!

I have three images for you today that are leftovers from earlier shoots.  The one above was taken April 3rd and I think it is a Gold Finch although it looks a little different than the finches that stop by our feeders.  I’m not very good at identifying birds, I like to photograph them but not big on doing the research of what they are.  🙂

This Red-tailed Hawk was sitting on a pole when I drove past him.  I stopped up the road and got the camera set up, did a U-turn and came back slowly.  I was surprised and delighted that he posed for me (tolerated me) for several shots before becoming annoyed and flying off.

This is not a very good image.  But it is the first image I have ever made of a young owlet.  My friend Andreas has followed this mother owl for several years and has gotten many great shots of her and her offspring.  It was a very windy day when Jeanne and I stopped by the park and I only had my 300 mm lens so this image is heavily cropped and pretty grainy.   However you can tell it is a young owlet.  🙂

Yard work for me the rest of the day.

That’s it for today.  Enjoy your day and I hope you have a happy Easter.

Friday ~ April 14, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 14, 2017
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Happy Friday!

I have three images for you today that I captured last evening on the way home.  On the way to work yesterday, as I came by the “Duck Pond” I saw a large clump of white birds sitting on one of the islands.  At first I thought they were swans but as I got closer I could see that it was a large gathering of Pelicans.  They covered most of the small island.  For once I wasn’t late but if I had stopped and set up for the shot I would have been so I just kept going.

The thing that bothered me was that there had been three separate pairs of geese nesting on the island.  I knew that their nests were probably destroyed and that their young were never hatch.  The six geese were swimming around the island “honking” but there was little they could do against superior numbers and larger birds.

I had been in Des Moines for training on Tuesday and Wednesday so by the time I got caught up on my work it was much later and I couldn’t really tell what damage had been done to the nests.  This lone pelican was all that was left of the group.  There were no geese on the island.

I saw this wonderful sunset on the way home last night.  It would have been nice to have a large body of water in the foreground or something spectacular.  Unfortunately that was not to be so I just photographed the big red ball. 🙂

I couldn’t get the same angle on this goose to line up with the reflection of the setting sun like on the pelican.  I just enjoy photographing geese no matter.

That’s it for today.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Monday ~ April 10, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 10, 2017
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Happy Monday!

Wow, I have never gone this long without posting a blog since I started the blog in 2010.  Thank you to my friends that sent messages of concern.  The only thing I’ve suffered from is a creative block.

I have three images for you today.  Jeanne and I drove up to Mud Lake Park yesterday as there is an owl’s nest and mother owl has given birth to a young one.  My friend Andreas had been posting some images of Mother and baby on his blog so we went to Mud Lake in hopes of seeing them.  I’ll post the results of our encounter tomorrow.  🙂

On the way out of Mud Lake Park I saw this huge pile of railroad spikes and couplers.  I told Jeanne those are the kinds of objects that Bill Fortney likes to photograph.  He taught class on looking for and photographing groups of similar objects.  I’ll bet he didn’t think I was paying attention.

We started our journey at the river and was pleased to see a large barge in the lock through process.  We watched for awhile but it was obviously going to take a lot longer than I wanted to stay for.  🙂

That’s it for today.  I will have more tomorrow including some wildlife images.

Sorry for the long dry spell.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Monday ~ March 27, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 27, 2017
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Happy Monday!

I have four images for you today.  Mark came home yesterday just long enough to spend an hour with Gabby on her birthday and then he had to get back.  This is his new ride.  He could have his pick of a lot of different cars but this is his dream car.

I am so blessed to have these two in my life.

So yesterday we stopped over with some gifts for Gabby.  Her real party with her friends is next week but we couldn’t let the day go without seeing her and wishing her happy birthday.

This is her new ride.  She got the hang of it pretty quickly and was driving like a pro in no time.  This was the only thing she wanted for her birthday and Angie said the look on her face was priceless when she saw it.

Austin, not to be out done climbed on Josh’s old tricycle and used his foot power to follow Gabby.  There were several close calls with the two of them being in the same place at the same time but they never collided.  🙂

Gabby gave Josh a ride in her new vehicle.  Typical man, he started right away doing back (front seat) driving and it wasn’t long till he was asked to get out.  🙂

The time we spent with them was short but jam-packed with fun and energy.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ March 26, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 26, 2017
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Happy Sunday!

Okay for the record, today is Gabby’s birthday.  I was a day early.

I photographed this tug boat pushing another tug boat last Friday on my visit to the River Walk.

It was not a bountiful day for photography that day but I had forgotten about this guy.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ March 25, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 25, 2017
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

Happy Saturday and Happy Birthday to one of my favorite grand-daughter, Gabby!!

I did a few thing around the house yesterday and then was lucky enough to meet Angie at a restaurant for a long lunch.  It’s always so much fun and satisfaction to spend time with my children who have both grown to be wonderful, responsible individuals.

After lunch, I drove down to the Great River Walk and spent a couple of hours just walking, sitting, and observing.  I made 140 images and have one worth showing.  A ubiquitous Ring-Billed Gull.  I’ve only got 10,000 images of them.  🙂

I watched him for about 25 minutes and each pass he made he came a little closer to me.  I shot this image with the Nikon 80 – 400 mm lens and the focal length was 105 mm so he was getting very close.

One more pass and I was afraid he was going to dump on me.  🙂

That’s it for today.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ March 20, 2017

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 20, 2017
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

Happy Monday!

I have four images for today.  Jeanne and I drove down to Green Island Nature Preserve yesterday.  My Friend Andreas Exner had published in his blog that there were a lot of migrating birds at Green Island including some Sandhill Cranes.  I haven’t had much luck at Green Island this year but I thought it was worth the time investment to check it out.  We saw several of these Northern Shovelers and they allowed us to get fairly close to them.

So with high expectations we set out Sunday morning and arrived at Green Island around 10:00 a.m.  Not the best time of the day for photography but it is what we had to work with because of other commitments.  It wasn’t long before we came across the Sandhill Cranes.  They were pretty far away and there was a lot of tall grass between us and them so it didn’t make for a good shooting situation.  Fortunately two cranes were forging on their own and they were much closer to the road.  So after what seemed like hours of slowly creeping up we got close enough to get a good view of them.

I know just another Canadian Goose but he let me get so close I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to photograph him. 🙂

Another image of a Northern Shoveler and what I think is a Blue Winged Teal.  I normally don’t identify the birds correctly but have enough folks who are more knowledgeable about wildlife that will give me the correct identification.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.