Wednesday 23 September 2009

My new Camera!!!

Did I mention Troy bought me a new camera for my birthday (and he's just told me it counts for Christmas and the next ten birthdays too haha - news for him!) Admittedly there are a lot more settings on the new D40 so its taken a bit of getting used to but here are some of my latest pics.
This is a photo of a Spur-winged Plovers nest. The mother bird laid her eggs in the middle of the cow paddock next door. The pair successfully raised all three eggs to chicks although another pairs nest was not so lucky and was abandoned after the cows invaded the paddock and trampled the eggs. Such beautiful speckles don't you think? This photo is dedicated to Lisa at http://www.lisasarsfield.blogspot.com/ I know she is a fan of nests.Troy sent me a text one morning to say there was a seal in the river by the bridge. I shot down there without much hope that it would still be there. Standing on the bank I saw nothing but a couple of ducks and a piece of driftwood floating downstream but on closer inspection the driftwood turned out to be the seal! It was floating on its side holding its tail with a flipper. I spent about an hour photographing it as it cruised with the current and I was surprised to watch it swim to the rocky bank and pee like a dog onto the rocks before it floated back out into the current again! Whats with that!!! Marking its territory?? But what a cutie, such big eyes. It was a young seal, probably last years pup that was needing a rest after the recent heavy seas we've had. He was in good nick, Ive seen many in a lot worse condition so I'm sure he would have recovered well and buggered off back to sea after a day or two.
The last pic for tonights blog is of an Australasian Coot. I photographed this guy in Taupo on Fathers day. What a beautiful sunny sunday it was, we took a day trip with my Mum and Dad to Taupo and spent some time with Dads friends at a model Plane meet then had lunch at a cafe and wandered down to the lakefront where I shot this guy at the marina. I love the way he looks like he is floating in mid air. The water was crystal clear and simply stunning. Happy Fathers day Dad! Finally, today I finished my 11th and final painting for the exhibition opening this Friday. Am having tomorrow off to recover and get myself psyched for Friday night. Bring it on!

4 comments:

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

Oh, wow! you are so nice! I usually scan a blog post first and check out all the pics and then go back and see what the text says about them...so of course I saw that lovely nest! And then I saw that you'd posted this for me!! THANKYOU so much. What a lovely way to start my day!
Can I please borrow am image or 2 so I can do a blog post about this?

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

Oh, damn too excited about the nest! haha, loved the seal pics too. When I was a kid we saw a seal at Bowentown and I tried to pat it...so it bit me! serve me right! lol

Mandy said...

Oh sorry for taking so long to respond. Of course you can use some of my photos. Wow, bitten by a seal! I hope it wasn't too bad. They definitely look like you can pat them but cute doesn't always mean friendly.

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

It just occured to me you were replying to comments in the comments section. I can be slow sometimes and I can't even blame paint fumes! lol.
Thanks HEAPS for letting me borrow the image for the post...I can't wait to share your fantastic blog with everyone. I'm going to add you to my side bar too so I don't miss your new posts!