The guy behind the lens

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Jackass - the Penguin

Looking back through my archives I thought I'd share one of my favorite and most overlooked animals with you. On my trip to South Africa in 2006 I had the pleasure to visit the area around Capetown for two days. On one of those days I was able to tour the peninsula that ends in the famous Cape of Good Hope, the most southwesterly tip of Africa.


Along the was I stopped in the community of Simon's town (map). This old naval town is now known for the colony of Jackass penguins (Spheniscus demersus) that inhabit the protected Boulders Beach area. Given that Simon's Town is located at 34 degrees south latitude, I was initially surprised to find a permanent colony of penguins. Other than the penguins that inhabit the Galapagos Islands of the equator, these are one of the most northerly colonies of penguin.




The government of South Africa protects these unique birds as they are endemic (native only) to South Africa and Namibia and their population is in historical decline. Back in 1930 the population was estimated at over 1.2 million birds. By 2006, their numbers were less than 120,000. The cause of their decline is multifaceted, but the main factors seem to have been guano harvesting for fertilizer and egg harvesting. Since the early 1990's two oil spills along the South African coast (1994 & 2000) also impacted penguin populations.






In addition to their unique geography, their name instantly draws quizzical looks whenever you mention their name. The more "normal" name for these penguins is the  African Penguin, but the name "jackass" penguin came about because when you encounter these characters they brey like donkeys. Even knowing this in advance, I found myself standing amongst them looking for donkeys! The sound is THAT realistic!


Here is a real donkey braying.............





Now listen to the Penguins from Boulders Beach......





If you were blindfolded, could you tell the difference?


Thanks for visiting and I hope you leave these birds with a smile on your face!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Poppypalooza

One of my favorite types of flower is the poppy. They are such a great sign of springtime rebirth after the harshness of winter. In the midst of another day of 100+ degree temperatures here in Texas, I felt the need to let the poppies give the feeling of a more moderate season.

Clicking in any image will show it in the original Blue Lion Photos Gallery





Bee Poppy


Monday, July 18, 2011

Time to "Chill Out"!

As the temperature here in North Texas has remained above 100 degrees F for the past two weeks, I find myself fantasizing about "chilly" temperatures in the 90's .... To help combat this focus on the relentless heat, I thought I'd share one of the (literally) coolest photos I've taken.

Click in the image to see it in the original gallery

This image transports you to an ice cave - you are peeking out through a keyhole opening that lets you see one of the peaks of New Zealand's Southern Alps. This particular ice cave was part of Fox Glacier. I had a wonderfully chilly time there hiking and exploring the glacier for several hours after being dropped off by helicopter.

Should you ever find yourself in the town of Fox Glacier, I STRONGLY recommend a visit to this sadly, shrinking wonder on New Zealand's South Island.

This image is a view of a partially melted ice tunnel that made up it to the surface of the glacier. Looks to me like a great frozen "Slip & Slide"!


Here you can see me "cooling off" in one of the smaller cracks (crevasses) in the glacier.

I hope your visit here has cooled you off at least a bit! For my southern hemisphere friends, Please bookmark this post & revisit it next January! ;-) 




Saturday, July 9, 2011

Where have all the chicks gone?

This past week I wandered by a Wax Myrtle tree that housed a family of Downy Woodpeckers back in the spring of 2010. As I showed the abandoned nest to some of the Nature Photography campers, I wondered where the little chicks are now. Of course there is no way to know for certain with those chicks, but I do hold out hope we may get others to revisit this coming spring. In the meantime, here are some shots of the cute little chicks before they fledged.

As always, clicking in an image will take you to the original gallery


Young Downy WoodpeckerDallas, Texas

Downy Woodpecker Chick

Sunday, July 3, 2011

A Bevy of Beautiful Butterflies!

Yesterday I had the pleasure to spend several hours visiting the Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park in Dallas. I am ashamed to say after all my years in Dallas, I had never visited the TDG. They have the Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House which is a 2 story glass enclosed structure that allows you to see butterflies both on ground level and up at canopy level. They receive new shipments of butterflies daily, so there is a constantly changing diversity of butterflies and moths there. Below are a few of my favorite images from yesterday. I can tell I'll be visiting there often in the future!

Remember you can click on any of the images to see them in their original galleries!
Feel free to visit the good folks who share at Camera Critters and Macro Monday!

Orange Banded Butterfly Portrait
Orange Banded Butterfly Portrait

Orange Banded Butterfly

Doris Longwing Butterfly

Doris Longwing Butterfly Peeking over a leaf. (Look closely at the eyes!)


Julia Longwing Butterfly

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Happy 4th of July!

As a nature photographer who also has enjoys photographing flags, I thought I'd  post some of my American Flag themed composites to celebrate the 4th of July. I often like to take flag photos and convert them into textures which can then serve as backgrounds which can help "rescue" other images that have faults - I can then extract a critical part of the "flawed" image and salvage it with a flag background.


The US Flag flying at the entrance to Fort Sumpter National Monument - This year marks the 150th anniversary (sesquicentennial) of the shelling of the fort that began the US Civil War.
The Statue of Liberty against a textured flag that I took which flies in the plaza around her pedestal. The sky was a mottled grey cloudy mess that day, so the flag served as a much better background.



President George Washington's statue which stands in front of Federal Hall in New York City. Federal Hall is where Washington took his first Oath of Office as President in 1789. The background of the original image was littered with tourists so I extracted the statue and placed him before a flag I textured as if it were a mural on a brick wall.

Standing Guard
This composite came about because the background behind the two captive eagles was very distracting and blown out. I used two layers, a forest silhouette and a textured flag and placed the eagles on their perch in the foreground to create a theme of American Wilderness.

Thanks for sharing your time here today, I hope you have an enjoyable Fourth!