Sunday, March 16, 2008

Circle Of Life


Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens with 1.4 II TC and EOS 40D - ISO 400 - Spot metering - minus 1/2 stop: 1/1000 sec @ f8 set for histogram check


Crawling out of bed before dawn proved to be a bust with snow still coming down, although it had lightened up from when I arrived home at 12:30 AM with the streets very slick at that time. I decided that I may as well go down to the coffee shop and have a coffee while I read the paper and possibly things would improve. The forecast had been for 2 to 5 centimeters of snow overnight so I shouldn't have been surprised. Actually the disappointing part of it is the fact that this late in the season I was hoping for spring like weather.

After reading two papers and drinking too much coffee, I decided to go for a drive as the sky had lightened up some and breaks in the cloud cover suggested that clearing skies would occur before long. I checked out several locations where I suspected coyotes that I had observed earlier in the week were getting ready to den. It is that time of the year for coyotes to establish a den and have their pups and I wanted to get photos when the pups emerged from the den later in the month.



There was no sight of the coyotes although there was signs of them with fresh tracks in the snow. Nearby a gopher was feeding on grass shoots without any concern to the fact he could be lunch himself for the coyotes before long. I had read the sky right as I noted that the sun was peaking through the cloud cover and with all the fresh snow on the ground had me reaching for my sun glasses.

Within minutes the dreary morning that I awoke to was a distant memory and I thought it would be fun to go for a walk along the Bow to see if any Migrating birds had arrived in our city from their winter homes. I was not alone in my quest searching for newly arrived birds from the south, as I met others who also were checking out the river to see if it held any interesting arrivals. I was asked and also asked the question- " See anything interesting?" The answer was always the same "Just the usual". We all noted that the gulls had returned with a large flock sitting on a island of ice just in front of me in the river.





With the sun out the temperature that had been hovering near -13 Celsius was quickly rising and the day that had started out poorly, was now a pleasure to be out and about in with the warming rays of the sun promising better days ahead. I enjoyed shooting photos of the wildlife that I came across along and on the Bow and will be returning daily to check on the spring migration.




I enjoyed watching the geese as they returned from foraging in the outlying fields and upon landing on the river, promptly bathed and then went about preening themselves to keep their feathers clean and watertight before settling down for some quality time chatting amongst themselves

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