Tribute Day May 14, 2016

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Today is National Train Day in the States, and it’s also Global Big Day 2016 in the Birding World.  I thought I’d honor both here with a short post.

Back in 2012 myself and two friends Dali, and Phil were looking for a particular waterfall called Phantom Fall in Butte county. We hiked through a woodland forest, along railroad tracks, crossed creeks, and climbed grassy hills looking for it. While on a grassy hill taking a break I heard the rumble of a train, and the low train’s whistle and turned to find the train.

I waited for it to get around the curve hoping it was a long enough train to go around the whole curve. It was a wee bit short. 🙂 Still neat to see, and hear though.

We hiked, and drove a lot of miles that day looking for that elusive waterfall, but didn’t find it. Dali and I found it a year or so later, but I’m saving that story. Not enough time has passed yet. I need to be older and the tale a bit more aged before it comes out in public.

Amtrak train

Here’s a fun macro image I made of a toy Bachman’s Engine some of you may remember from a post I made last year.  This is from a train set we used to set up around the Christmas tree when my kids were little.

Toy train

To honor Global Big Day and my love of birds here’s an image of a Western Wood Peewee.

I took this image while looking for the Gray Flycatcher posted here  The Western Wood Peewee is a “lifer” for me! That was an exciting day of Birding with 2 “life” birds added to my list.

Western Wood Peewee

I hope you all have a wonderful week-end!

Nikon D700, & Nikon Df| Nikkor 70-300mm VR, 200-500mm VR, and LensBaby

More to come…

Gray Flycatcher

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went birding on both Saturday and Sunday this past week-end hoping to find two birds I’d never seen or photographed before. I got lucky with really good looks on the first bird on my list: The Gray Flycatcher.  A “lifer” for me!

Gray Flycatcher

There were other birders there looking for the same bird which made the experience more fun and exciting. It also helped to have several pairs of eyes, and ears on the lookout.

Gray flycatcher

It’s migrating south, and this one is further west than it’s regular migration route.

Gray Flycatcher

He was pretty far away from me, and in the shadows of the trees so I boosted my ISO to keep up my shutter speed to prevent blurring, and these images are cropped.

Sunday I went back to look for the second bird on my list, but I was not successful.  I’ll have another go this week-end if I hear it’s still in the area.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Tripod|

Note to self- take the bug spray! I got eaten alive by mosquitoes!

More to come…

 

Thursday Doors 18/52 Historic Alviso Revisited

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went out to Alviso, CA this past week to look for a Little Stint which is a shorebird, and very rare to this area.  I didn’t see the Little Stint unfortunately, but  I did see a neat rusty, and sagging door at the old Bayside Canning Company. This Canning Company has been closed since 1936.  I blogged a little about the Canning Co. & town here.

Rusty Door- Photography

The city is letting the buildings decay, and they are currently being used by the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. 

The Little Stint has been hanging around the Western Sandpipers, and I did see some that were close to me. Sadly the Little Stint wasn’t hanging out with this group.

Western Sandpipers- Photography

There are deck walkways that take you right across the top of the marsh and you leave

the deck via a  facade like doorway to the levy’s that surround the ponds. You can walk around these or just gaze at the view.   Back in September 2009 I happened to be there early in the evening for Golden Hour; it was gorgeous.

Alviso Golden Hour Fall 2009

Top two images- Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

Bottom Image- Nikon D90| Nikkor 70-300mm VR| SanDisk Digital Film| PS CC 2015

This post is part of Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors.  If you love doors and would like to see the doors others are posting, or post doors you’ve photographed and join other door lovers from around the world click here.

At the end of Norm’s latest Thursday Door post is a little Blue Link-up/View button click it to be taken to a page with all the links, or add your own.

More to come…

 

 

 

What’s Blooming?

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

White Yarrow- from a quick hike Sunday morning. I went early while the wind was calm. I was the only person on the trail both going and coming. It was wonderful having the hills to myself for just a little while.

White Yarrow Image

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm + Canon 500D Close-Up lens| Delkin Digital Film

More to come…

 

 

Happy May Day!

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I don’t have a May lily to share today, but I do have a sunny Narrow-leaf Mule’s ear. I made this image up in the mountains above Santa Clara Valley last Sunday evening.

Lensbaby w/soft focus optic- Flower

I hope you’re all having a wonderful May Day, and week-end.

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/soft focus optic + 8mm macro converter| Delkin Digital Film| Hand-held

More to come…

What’s Blooming?

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Saturday a girl-friend and I went hiking up in the hills about an hour northeast from home. We were on the hunt for Spring wildflowers. We hiked just over 5 miles and saw so many beautiful flowers at peak bloom.

Spring and Winter Vetch, rose clover, and small head clover are abundant up there. It was lovely to see carpets of colors this year.  What to show you first? I’ll start here 🙂

This little cluster is not much bigger than my pinky fingernail. I haven’t identified it yet. It’s not in any of my reference books.  It’s a new flower for me.

Unidentified Spring Flower Western Region

Bee fly on Milk Thistle. I love Thistle.

Bee Fly on Milk Thistle

After hiking downstream a mile and quarter we hiked back and headed to Little Yosemite Gorge and Fall. There are several places to stop to take photos of the little rapids; we stopped at one after going up to the Fall which was packed with kids and adults climbing over the rocks and wading in the pools at the bottom of the cascades. We didn’t spend much time there. I need to head there first next time.

Alameda Creek

Bellardia- another new wildflower on my list. I think the rains awakened  seeds long dormant. It was so exciting seeing new flowers this year.

Bellardia Wildflower

and one last one for today…Elegant Clarkia. I haven’t seen this for several years. Isn’t it beautiful!

Elegant Clarkia-Macro Photography

I went on a little hike Sunday night too and found more wildflowers. It was really windy and cold so I didn’t take too many images of the flowers. I hope to get back up there when the wind dies down.  It was a good week-end for me exercise and photography wise.  I hope you all had a great week-end, and your week has started off good too!

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm macro lens + Canon 500D Close-Up lens| Delkin Digital Film| Hand-held and tripod| PS CC 2015

Lens choice reasoning- Since I would be hiking uphill, and a distance for 5+ miles I wanted to keep my gear to a minimum, because I had to carry extra water just in case. The place we were hiking didn’t have potable water, and I didn’t want to pack my water filter. I carried 32 ounces of water, my tripod, 5 filters, and my Canon 500D close up lens, my LensBaby, and a few other items I felt were necessary. Having a light weight macro lens option was my old Nikkor 28-105mm micro lens. It gives the ability to shoot both macro and landscapes which is a perfect solution for what I like to photograph when hiking.  It’s not a true 1:1 macro lens rather it’s 1:2, but with my 500D attached I can get closer to 1:1.  I realize I’m compromising image quality doing this, but with good technique, and post development I hope to make up for some of that.

Keeping my pack weight down on longer hikes is much more comfortable and enjoyable for me and worth the compromise.

More to come…

 

What’s Blooming?

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Spanish Lavender from my neighbor Maria’s yard. She has the best garden!

Spanish Lavender Macro Photography-LensBaby

This is a hedge that we put in on both sides of our house for a little more privacy.

It’s been so many years ago that we put it in I can’t recall the name of it. It attracts the bees, and looks great when in bloom. It has red and green broad leaves and is ho-hum when not in bloom. 🙂

Privacy hedge- macro photography Lensbaby

We just had our 26 yr old railroad tie retaining wall/planter box replaced with a cement stone looking wall which meant I bought new flowers to replace those that were let go or trampled on while the wall was being installed. These are some sort of cone Daisy. I need to ask Rick our contractor what he planted. I love these!

Macro Photography-Flowers-LensBaby

Calla Lily-  I love this blossom, but have a really hard time photographing it and getting on film what I see in my head, but I adore this curve.

Calla Lily-Macro Photography-LensBaby

Nikon Df| Nikon 105mm macro lens & LensBaby Composer Pro w/Soft Focus Optic & 8mm and 16mm Macro converters| Delking Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…