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New Camera

27 February 2010, 12:15 am

I have loved my “old” camera — a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20.  It came out in 2005; I bought mine in 2006.

Taking bird pictures, it seems you’re always wishing for more zoom.  I talked to a couple of serious bird photographers who were toting cameras with gigantic lenses and big, sturdy tripods; they even said they wished for more zoom.  *sigh*

About once a year, I research my dream dslr camera body and dream big lens.  Then I cringe at the cost, and pack that dream back up and stuff it in the back of my head.  This year, I thought to myself (because DH sure doesn’t want to hear this kind of talk), maybe I should just bite the bullet and get what I want.  Picked out my camera body and lens, started reading through the specs, and the lens weighs 8 pounds!!!  I would need to lug a tripod around!!!  I slept on that notion, and decided that wasn’t for me.  I will give up the big long lens in favor of a camera I can actually hang around my neck.  So what did I get? 

I have liked my Panasonic so well, I decided to go with their Lumix FZ35.  18x optical zoom, 4 times digital zoom.  12.1 megapixels.  Lens in the nonzoomed position is more of a wide angle.  Came out in 2009.  It is smaller and lighter than my old camera, which should be a plus for me.  After having three days to play with it, I like it.  I am still figuring things out.  It has more features, and everything isn’t in the same place.  It will take a little time to adjust to it.

So of course I went to the birding center today.  Here is a wide view from the top of the viewing tower:

You would be amazed at how many birds are in the picture — they just aren’t out in the open.  Notice the red circle.  I saw a Roseate Spoonbill drop in there for a landing so I zoomed in:

The spoonbills were cavorting on the other side of the cattails!  Do you think a single one would come on over to MY side of the cattails?  Nooooo… 

But they were joined by a flock of American Avocets (I think that’s what they are, anyway):

These pictures were all taken with my lens pretty much zoomed out.  I am going to try having some 4×6 prints made to see how they look and how much different the increase in megapixels makes.  It was fun to see the spoonbills today!  They have been pretty elusive this year.

And what am I going to do with my FZ20?  DH spoke for it, so it will be fun to go birding together with our his and hers cameras.  Actually, I want to sneak over there by myself with both cameras and do some comparisons with the two cameras.  Maybe this week.  Before the cold returns. 

–Sue

Filed under Photo Posts, Texas.
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Duck, duck, grey duck?

21 February 2010, 8:32 am

Or did you play duck, duck, goose as a child?  We see a lot of ducks down here in coastal Texas, and the day these pix were taken, they were hunkered down against the sharp breeze, enjoying a nap.

What really caught my attention, though, was this picture:

Yes, it’s true, ducks close their eyelids.  If you look closely, you can see the bottom eyelid comes up to the top.  Another interesting fact is that ducks have a third eyelid (like many other animals and birds) that closes over the eye from the side.  It’s called a nictitating membrane.  They can see through that third eyelid, which is a good thing when they are flying or diving into the water.

Here you can see it’s a female Northern Shoveler.  Isn’t it interesting how the spots on her beak kind of match the spots on her feathers?  She looks very coordinated and “put together”, so I guess animal prints are still “in”.

Here is the male Northern Shoveler she was hanging out with.  These ducks look a little manic to me — I think it’s the golden eye.

–Sue

Filed under Photo Posts, Texas, Vacation Pics.
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A Trip to the Birding Center

20 February 2010, 12:52 pm

I know I’ve said it before, but you never know what you’ll see at the Leonabell Turnbull Birding Center in town.  Some days the birds are few and far between; some days they are almost performing for you.  Some days you see things to make you realize it isn’t always a walk on the beach to be a bird.

The first things I saw were four Black Vultures circling high overhead.  Makes a person stand up a little straighter, trying to look healthy and fit.

After I took this photo, I looked down at my camera, looked back up — and they were GONE!  It was a little Alfred Hitchcock-ish.

I spent some time photographing some ducks that were in close (tomorrow’s pix) before I got to the observation tower and saw the alligator!  We saw him once about four years ago and hadn’t seen him since.

He was making himself quite at home, probably having a little nap, out on a point that is frequented by all kinds of birds.  There are a few ducks hanging back along the water’s edge.  What I noticed after I got this picture up on the computer is the cluster of roseate spoonbills in the tall grass towards the left of the alligator.  I was just hoping the ‘gator didn’t have any pink feathers stuck between his teeth.  I zoomed in on the alligator, but his head was hidden:

Someone there said they heard the ‘gator is 15 feet long, but they were estimating he’s more like 20 feet.  I don’t think it really matters.  He was BIG.

There’s more than one kind of “bird lover” that likes to hang around the birding center!

–Sue

Filed under Photo Posts, Texas, Travel, Vacation Pics.
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Give-Away…Day 5

19 February 2010, 7:47 am

and Last Day to enter.  Yes, you can enter again today even if you entered a comment on a previous day.  Just be sure to enter on this posting.  The drawing by random number generator will be tomorrow (Saturday).

Even though it’s rainy today here at the beach, we’re going to put on a sun-shiney face and finish describing what’s in the give-away bag.

So far we have a spiral notebook, a sachet packet, a wristlet purse, an ornament, notecards, and an exfoliating peppermint foot soap.

The last of the items are the absorbent car coaster (my friend Pat gave me a couple of these one year, and they are pretty neat).  Great in the warm weather when your cold drinks *glisten*.  (We refined girls don’t say “sweat”!)  And then there’s a yard of turquoise fabric with some tiny little swirls highlighted with a touch of gold.  I liked this fabric, and it reminded me of water.

There you have it, that’s the entire Wish-You-Were-Here package!

And DH will be so thrilled when he sees this, but I love this picture.  This is a good memory of warmer times at the beach, but hopefully we will be walking barefoot in the water soon!  (And doesn’t he have great legs?)

Be sure to fill in your e-mail address on the comment form.  (Thank you, Cindy, for taking care of that!)  And you don’t need a blog to enter…

–Sue

Filed under *** GIVE-AWAY ***, Texas.
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Give-Away!!! Day 1…

15 February 2010, 2:36 pm

In celebration of the 100,000th visit to my blog, I thought a give-away would be in order.  In thinking about a theme, I thought since the whole country has had less than ideal weather this winter, it would be fun to take you all to the beach!  Well, that’s not quite in my budget, so one person will get a package containing some items from the beach town of Port Aransas, Texas.  There are lots of gift shops and fun places to explore in town, and here’s a selection that I’ve put together from my shopping forays:

Filed under *** GIVE-AWAY ***, Texas.
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Telephoto Tuesday

2 February 2010, 10:14 am

Last week on Mustang Island, we had some lovely days.  This week we are getting clouds and drizzly rain.  I’m sharing a picture from last week!  I love this time of day, and it really only lasts a few magical minutes.  It’s right before sunset when the sun is really low and just catches the tops of the waves and shades them pink.  Wishing y’all were here — next week when it’s nice again!

–Sue

Filed under Telephoto Tuesday, Texas.
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Bird Baths

30 January 2010, 7:00 am

When I was a child a very long time ago, we lived on a farm.  We had a small bathroom (thankfully I’ve always enjoyed indoor plumbing), but there was no bathtub or shower.  Baths were reserved for Saturday night when a round galvanized steel wash tub was brought out for the weekly ritual.  When I got older, I could go next door (a two-family farm) to my grandparents’ house and use their basement shower.  Did you have ”bath day” as a child? 

I figure it must be Thursday baths for the ducks and grebes, as they were all in a splish-splashy mood when we were at the birding center Thursday.  An American Coot:

A Green-Winged Teal had been bathing, and had apparently entered the spin-dry cycle:

A very enthusiastic Least Grebe:

Here is a Moor Hen who is determined to get all those tricky hard-to-reach areas:

And the Ruddy Duck was doing a little grooming.  What good, clean ducks!

On a quilting note, I’m making good progress on my beach scene skinny wall hanging, and hopefully I’ll have a picture so I can participate in Design Wall Mondays again!

–Sue

Filed under Texas.
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Birds, Turtles & a Quilting Project

29 January 2010, 6:31 am

Well, that title pretty much covers my life lately!  Well, to be accurate, I would have to include hot-tubbing, potlucks, crafting group, eating out and parties in general.  Have I mentioned that we are having a lot of fun in Texas?  Well, we are!    Decent weather, great people, lots of fun things to see and do. 

Today was a better day than forecast, so we went to the birding center and Paradise Pond.  (By the way, in the mile or so between them, there’s a quilt shop!)  We saw some new birds added into the “duck soup” at the birding center.  The first is a little guy (compared to the ducks).  He’s a Least Grebe, and of course I happen to have a photo:

He is recognizable by his golden eye and the narrow bill.  The grebes aren’t good at walking because their legs are so far back on their bodies, but they are excellent swimmers and divers.  Doesn’t he look like the back part is just missing?

In the same area was a Ruddy Duck:

He really stayed close to the reeds.  He is one of the stiff-tailed ducks.  They use their tail as a rudder when they swim under the water.  They are also identified by their white cheeks.  Their bills are blue when it’s mating season.  In some pictures his bill looked more blue than others, but mostly at the base.  Cute, isn’t he?

Then, moving on to not-so-cute…

was this Turkey Vulture.  There were three of them, mostly sitting atop this big pole.  (Gotta win the lottery and get that really good camera with the monstrous lens that’s on my dream list!)

And for the quilty part — I’m making a skinny runner out of Eleanor Levie’s book, Skinny Quilts & Table Runners.  Actually, mine is a wall hanging, not a runner, and it’s a beach scene.  Here’s a picture of the pieces laid out together (it’s been changed a zillion times since though) with a picture of the pattern…

I’ve since picked up the fabric for the “sand”, but the quilt shop didn’t have any “sky” fabric.  I should be able to get that Saturday when we go to the quilt show in Rockport.   (A quilt show!!!  The fun just continues.)

–Sue

PS:  In a month or so, I will hit 100,000 visits.  I think I feel a give-away coming on!

Filed under Quilting, Texas.
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The Birding Center

19 January 2010, 10:06 am

Telephoto Tuesday — Yesterday I showed you some of Paradise Pond.  Only a mile or so away is the Leona Turnbull Birding Center.  You can click here for an aerial photo/map of Port Aransas, showing the birding center, and a small box to the upper right is Paradise Pond.  (If you hover with your cursor on the boxes, it will show the names.)

Usually we see a larger variety of birds at the birding center, but Sunday it was pretty much all ducks.  I did see a Roseate Spoonbill flying in the distance and landing in a marshy area, so they were hanging out down out of sight.  I think the ibises and herons were all at Paradise Pond.

The birding center is a very large area dedicated to hosting the migratory birds that travel along the Gulf coast.  It’s a fun place to visit, because you never know what you’ll see.  There is a long boardwalk on one side of the water with an observation tower in the middle.  Here is a picture from the top of the tower.  DH is at the far end of the boardwalk:

To the left (I think it’s south, but I’m usually wrong!) is a pretty wide open body of water with some marshy areas beyond:

And to the right (north?) is a mostly marshy area, home to nutria, many kinds of birds, and an alligator (I think to keep the nutria numbers under control).  Sunday I saw a hawk circling around for a meal, but I couldn’t get a decent picture.

And in the water we saw a number of green-winged teal (here is Mr. and Mrs. — aren’t they cute?):

blue-winged teal:

and this crazy northern shoveler who thought he was an otter.  He would swim totally under the water, kind of snake-like.  He is totally saturated, and it gives him kind of a crazed look.  I like this picture a lot!  Doesn’t he look a little psycho?

I’ve got my walking shoes on, and I’m off for an afternoon of shopping in the “big town”, Corpus Christi.  The excitement continues…

–Sue

Filed under Telephoto Tuesday, Texas.
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Port Aransas, TX

18 January 2010, 12:35 pm

That’s where we are, and loving it! A week has slipped by so quickly, but I do have an almost-completed top to show for my time here. It will be kept under wraps for now, but I can tell you it’s in autumn colors, easy-peasy, and I’m pretty pleased with the results.

And speaking of PLEASED, we were beyond thrilled to go to Paradise Pond on the other side of the island Saturday. If you’re a regular reader, you may remember that this part of Texas has been suffering through drought conditions, and our favorite bird-watching spot, Paradise Pond, was totally dried up last winter. It was still dry in October. Last week we had 4.2″ in a 24-hour period, and –TA-DA — just like magic, our pond is back! Some before and after pictures…

So exciting to see Paradise Pond looking like a pond again!  And even though it had only been a couple of days, there were many creatures we love to see that were celebrating (in their own quiet way) having Paradise Pond back as their hang-out!  The turtles, sunning themselves:

Great Blue Herons enjoying the sunshine in the trees.  Many were preening themselves.  Doesn’t this fellow’s feathered cape look magnificant?

A trio of  American White Ibises:

And most exciting of all were the two Black-Crowned Night Herons we saw venturing out into the daylight.  You can tell he’s nocturnal from those red eyes! 

Tomorrow I’ll share the ducky photos from the Birding Center.

–Sue

Filed under Texas.
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