Author: circadianreflections

My name is Deborah Zajac. I'm a photographer living in Nevada at the base of the Eastern Sierras. I am a passionate nature, landscape, night/astro photographer. I shoot predominately in color and use Nikon Digital Cameras, and lenses. I hope you enjoy seeing some of the photos I've taken while on my travels. Please feel free to leave a comment I'd love to hear from you.

Townsend’s Warbler

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Thompson’s Warbler, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

A sure sign of Spring is when the Allen’s Hummingbirds return to the Santa Cruz area. A couple of friends and I went over to the Arboretum to check to see if they’d returned and a few had. While photographing them we spotted this Townsend’s Warbler. It’s the first time I’ve photographed one.

NIkon D700| Nikkor 80-200mm + Tamron 1.4x TC Hand-held

Hybrid-Crested Pekin Mallard?

Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

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Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

On my recent jaunt up to Lake Merritt to find the Tufted Duck I was walking past a little enclosed pond when I spotted this duck. I had to call Phil over to see it since it was unique.
Neither of us knew what the name of this duck was and we planned to do some research to see if we could figure it out. Phil got on it straight-away. He found very little information out there, but he did find a photo with a duck that looks like this one and it was called a Hybrid-Crested Pekin Mallard.
Bred for the little Pom-Pom on their heads I’m sure!
Anyone know anything about this breed?

This pond was pretty dirty  so, I did a little work in PS to clean it up, but as you see it’s still a mess. The disadvantage of a small pond I guess.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 80200@ 112m + Tamron 1.4x TC| f8| 1/250s| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Hand-held

 

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Horsetail Fall 2013

Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Nature, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , 4 Comments
Horsetail Fall 2013, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

This is the 4th yr I’ve gone up to Yosemite trying to capture the natural light show that happens when conditions are just right. For a week or so in February and October during sunset the sun lines up with the fall, and if there is water running down the fall the sunlight will turn the water red like lava or fire.

This year we had more snow on El Capitan than last year, and the day was sunny, but it was cold up there, and it’s been rather dry with no rain for awhile so there wasn’t as much water as we hoped for.
We did get some lovely color and the wind kicked up a little so we were treated to the mist lighting up at the top of the fall.

Every year it has looked different, and I’m hoping one year the fall will be spewing tons of water, and the sun is shining brightly.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200mm| Tripod

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Woody’s First Trip to Yosemite NP

Posted in "Woody's Adventures", Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., PhotographyTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

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Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

This was also the first time Woody had seen snow. He tried to build a snowman, but found the snow too slushy. It kept falling apart. He’ll try it again one day.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 2470 @ 70mm| f4.5| 1/800s| ISO400| Manual Priority| Hand-held

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A View of Mission Peak from My Tree

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Copyright © Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

I hiked up to Mt. Allison yesterday to visit my tree. It was a tough hike. I started out great. I was enjoying the mews of the cows as they woke up, then the wild turkeys joined in and a round of Moo’s and Gobbles made me laugh. I paused to record that on my iPhone and course all both the cows and turkeys went silent. There were a few people going up ahead of me, and a couple of runners passed me. Then I had a sudden thought that I’d popped my trunk and forgot to close it! I was nearly at the mile mark, and 33 minutes up the trail. That nagging feeling would let go so I turned around to go check my trunk.
Of course it was closed! ARG! On the bright side I decided to grab a trekking pole then double checking the trunk and door locks I started back up again.

The hike got tougher from here. My legs started to get stiff so I increased my electrolyte intake, and when I got to the fork in the trail to summit Mission Peak I decided to rest, eat a cheese stick, stretch, and see how my legs felt. My head and heart were into it, my legs …not so much. I looked up the trail to Mission Peak then I looked straight out to the trail to Mt Allison and My Tree which was my intended goal. I could by-pass Mission Peak altogether and save my legs for the uphill trek to Mt Allison so, that’s what I did. 100ft away from my tree…I could see it! My right quad crammed up, and my calves were getting tighter by the minute. I limped up to my tree, ate a protein bar, swallowed more electrolyte caps and some Tylenol, drank some water, stretched, and took a few photos of Mission Peak from here. Then packed up and slowly made my way down the mountain.

I didn’t set any records for this hike. With lost time going back to my car, and the slow ascent followed by a slow descent I completed the hike in 5.5 hours. My right quad and hip flexors are really sore today. You know I’m doing extra Yoga stretches today, and will rest for 2-3 days before hiking again.
Man, I got out of shape quick. It’s time to step up my hiking regime to get in shape for summer!

Mt. Allison stats: My Garmin’s battery was dead so I don’t have my route map or stats unfortunately.
Elevation 2,664ft (a mile south of Mission Peak)
I started the hike from the parking lot at roughly elevation 500ft
Miles- rough guess 8.75 miles
Elevation gain 2300ft+ I wish I had thought to charge my Garmin!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 28-105AF-D @ 28mm f9| 1/500s| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod