It Just Ain't Happenin'

May. 

The month of the year that birders in the Midwest dream about.  After winter's chill gives to spring, northbound birds flood to or through the region to breed. 

Sure, I made a trip or two to the now intergalactically famous Magee Marsh in northwest Ohio.  Sure, I have walked the trails of Lake Erie Metropark before work, for work, and even on scheduled days of no work. I have even found some places I have never birded before right in my own neck of the woods - woodlots in Elizabeth Park and on Grosse Ile have been interesting. 

All that said, my mood is tempered.  I'm just not feeling it.  I walk. I listen. I pause.  But the birds just don't seem to be there.  Well, I mean, I'm seeing birds, but it seems to be such a struggle.  One of these. One of those. Eh.

Now, in the grand tradition of the seasons as of late, to hell with spring. Lets just skip it and have summer. There was frost here Monday morning. Seriously.  Frost. Today?  85 degrees.

So, I thought I could make up it for by posting some pictures.  I had to go through 3 weeks worth of pics! It seems like a winter/summer mix.  

Here's a Black-capped Chickadee. I photographed it a few weeks ago in Ohio while hunkered down in a photo blind with my buddy Josh and his dad, Dave.  Early May?  Felt like March! Whatever.  Should have been warmer in any case.....

On the flip side, check out this Bay-breasted Warbler.  (Sure the picture is a bore.  Never put your subject in the middle of the frame.  But, it's a slick-lookin' bird, isn't it?)

This bird, while a spring migrant, could be likened to a "bird of summer".  It is heading off to Ontario (and beyond) after spending the winter in the tropics.  It has a plan. Find a babe.  Be a dad. Bust a move back to the Belize.  

Maybe Nat and I will be seeing him in a few weeks.....

Three For One Deal

Common Terns. You know the drill. Local nesters.  Not common.  I've shot the birds before (cameras, people, shootin' with cameras!).  You seen it. Here. Here. 

So, the other day, I was near the colony. This time I tried a new spot.  (That is the Grosse Ile free bridge running across the  image, by the way.)

So, I found, by standing on the dock marked in the image, the birds came by quite close.  With the colony only 100 yards away, they came by pretty often, too.  (My other photo site was across the river and easily three times as far.)

While I certainly got some Common Tern photos, the one that caught my eye was the Caspian Tern.  Nothing new here - I've shot them before.  

But for whatever reason, this particular bird decided to fly straight at me...and over me. 

 

Banging away at eight frames per second and using a little Photoshop magic can be quite fun!

Rollin' With It

This past Saturday night, Captain Killshot took the star from a pivot and, after a whip from a blocker, evaded the wall. She scored.

Pretty cool, huh?

I really have no idea what I just said.

After all, Saturday night was my first attempt at, yes, ladies and gentlemen, roller derby.   No, I wasn't in it.  I was just there.

Making a long story short, my girlfriend's dad has a co-worker who is a roller derby-ist? ....plays roller derby?....does roller derby? I don't even know the grammar here.

She's on a roller derby team. In fact, she's a Southern Belle.  

I'm not going to lie.  I have no idea how this game is really played.  I had to read a bit online for this blog to make sense.  Bullet points go something like this....

- Two 30-minute periods.

- Two teams of five skate on a oval track counter-clockwise.

- One person, called the jammer, is the only one that can score. The jammer has a star on their helmet.

- Pivots, marked with stripes on their helmets, can also become a jammer.  (I'm not clear on how that actually happens. It just does.)

-- The "other four skaters" block the opposition's jammer and block the opposition's blockers so "their" jammer can score points. They play defense and offense at the same time. Blocks can not involve hands, elbows, heads or feet and cannot come from behind.  (Sounds kinda like hockey to me.) The seven referees watch for cheap shots. 

-Jammers score by getting ahead of the pack and literally lapping everybody on the track.  

As a pretend photo guy, I really did not have a chance to follow the game. I found myself paying attention to photo ops.  I found the "pack" rather hard to photograph. Basically, just small crowds of people zippin' past with the occasional tumble, stumble, or spill.  Eh.  Notice, by the way, how the jammer (white helmet with the red star) is squeezing through the "goatherd" (another fancy term).  Pretty damned fancy skating.  Really.

I found it more exciting, from a photography standpoint, when the jammers cleared the herd and put it into gear.  No extra bodies in the way.  A somewhat pleasing blur in the background. 

I think this tighter crop works better.

 All that said, I think this is my best photo...

Isn't cool and art-sy how I completely mastered the blur in a low-light situation that photographers so often strive for?  (Actually, I just botched the camera settings. Shhhh....don't tell anybody.)

My photos aside, I know what you're saying - "People take that roller derby stuff seriously?"

Yes. Yes, they do.

I rest my case.

So my photography resume is expanding.  Landscapes, birds, fireworks, horse shows, parades, and, most recently, roller derby.   Granted, I suck at all of them, but I think I'm getting at least a wee-bit better.

Now if I can only remember to take the lens cap off......

Soap Operas

A few days ago, I took the chance to head to the Park and catch up on my favorite soap opera.  While this season is not complete, you might think of it as being in syndication - its play out over and over year after year...

 

While lots of characters can be found in this morning-time soap (as opposed to television day-time soaps - those all suck), you basically have the guys and the gals. Afterall, it is a soap opera.  What else should you have? 

 

Anyhow, here is one of those characters now.  Lets call him John Red-winged Blackbird.  (Maybe he hyphenated his middle name so he can be cool or something...)

My picture shows him doing his thing - singing and flashing that red.  While most people seem to think that he does that to impress the chicks, that is simply not true.  He does it to scare off the other dudes so he can get the best territories. Without the red, he can't get much done and his real estate basically sucks.   (One researcher colored over the red patches with a black marker. It was kind of like taking away the biceps from those clowns we all remember from college.) 

 

After a month of this "My red is better than your red!", the babes show up.  I don't have a good photo of female, but here is one.  Here, too. 

 

So I already said she is not interested in the John's red. What is her game?  G-o-l-d-i-g-g-e-r.  It is all about his property. Forget his colors. Forget his song.  She pays attention to his turf.  She also, believe it or not, pays attention to the turf of his neighbor. She gets around. Studies have show that the children are actually half-brothers and sisters. 

 

Now before you think all woman are horrible in this scenario, keep in mind that the dudes aren't exactly innocent.  I'll bet you can see where this going.......

 

Yup. Mistresses.

 

A review might be needed.  

 

John, Bill, and Mike all show off their wares (use your imagination as you see fit).  (Also, please note that I am from a different generation.  Using modern names, they would be Cody, Hunter, and Cameron.  Anyhow, I digress....)  John shows off better than Bill and Mike. They cave and John gets the $500,000 house.  Mike and Bill each get the $250,000 houses on the same street.

 

Joan shows up and hooks up wih John. She has kids but tests show that Bill, the neighbor, is the dad to half of the them. Meanwhile, unknown to Joan, John has Jill sleeping in the guest house.  Little does John know that half of Jill's kids aren't his - they're Mike's. 

 

There goes my mini-scnenario with four names.  Imagine now a marsh with dozens of Toms, Johns, Bills, Daves,Jills, Carols, Dianes, and the like.  Absolute craziness.

 

Why do you need "General Hospital" when you can have "Cattail Marshes"? 

 

I Found My Photo Where?

For giggles, I encourage everyone to do Google search using their own name.  I just did. What fun.  

Sure there is the British drug trafficker. Yeah, that's not me.  Duh.

But, check out this link.

The picture for #5 should look familiar.  It's mine. 

I could not disagree more, however.  Pumpkin Tacos are pretty damned good. I would argue this DJ has never had one before.  

In any case, ya gotta like his LP joke.  No, I have real plates - they just look like albums in the photo!

But, hey, at least he gave me credit for the image!