American Dipper

These water birds are really neat in that they dive in the water for small fish and bugs for food. This one came so close that I could hardly focus the lens.

Western Grebes

Here is a couple of Western Grebes in the airport pond on their way south pretty soon.

Fallen leaves

This is an untouched photo in that it was not created to look this way but was as is in the backyard bird pond.

Fall is here.

After the first or second frost this year, the garden is sustaining some damage but it does bring the camera out to capture some neat stuff.

On the way to Begbie Falls

The forest near Begbie Falls is really park like and I wanted to show that here.

In the back yard

The whitetails are back again after being very scarse this summer. Nice to see them again!

Merlin

Funny thing happened this evening. We heard a thump on the front window and when checking outside what it was, this merlin was laying on the ground and unconsious, quivering a bit and trying to gasp for air. Feeling that it will be the last of his breaths, I picked him up and put him on my bird feeder thinking that the cats would not get him laying there and I would take care of him later. After a few minutes there was a rukus outside by the other birds and when checking, the merlin was standing up. I tried to get a better angle for more shots and he flew away!

Black Bear

Just shot this a couple hours ago in the back yard. I don't think he like me!

Revelstoke Station

Via passenger train at the Revelstoke Railway station.

My Old High School

I just had to shoot this for a try in perspective control. How'd I do?

Fall colors

The fall colors are just in their prime between Golden and Field right now.

Kicking Horse Bridge

This is the bridge just east of Golden and you can tell by the 18 wheeler on it by the size of it. I should have walked down the road a bunch and used a wide angle to make it look a lot better. Next time!

The Court House

This used to be out local court house. It still is called that and you can still go there for your drivers licence stuff.

The ski hill condos

Aerial shot of the progress of the complex at the bottom of the ski hill today.

In Golden Yard

This old restored passenger train was at the Golden station on the weekend. Never did find out anthing about it though.

Nuthatch display

Actually this is not a display but the results of a shot that was just a little late and cought him flying off the branch. Just thought it looked neat.

The Moon tonight

Just as the last light is dissapearing, the bright half moon is prominent in the sky. Couldn't help but take a shot of it.

Color in the garden

Here is another example of macro photography with a long lens.

Some more macro

Using a long lens always makes for nice images when it comes to macro stuff. In this case I'm using a 300mm with a 1.4 TC.

California Gull

Usually the gulls that arrive are Ring-billed Gulls but this one is not. Not that it matters to anybody anyway because most people know them as "sea gulls". The Kokanee salmon are spawning now and they are a favorite food for these gulls.

Black Capped Chickadee

It was getting late and the light was really low so I increased the ISO to 1250 and captured this just before the light dissapeared into darkness.

Rain and Flowers

I think this is the last of the colors in the garden for this year and can only look forward to the fall colors from now on. It was raining at the time I took this shot but those conditions do provide nice colors without shadows.

Mica Dam

The rain stopped but the sky didn't co-operate in bringing me the sun completely on the dam. I stayed around hoping but realized that the sun will never shine on the dam today. Anyway for those who can't get to this viewing area, here it is, all of 900 feet high.

On the road from Mica Creek

Today was a Mica Creek trip as a driver and a porter. Just delivering a certain special person to a quilting retreat at the CMH Lodge. On the way back when I had more time to stop, I grabbed this image. I would have stopped on the way up but it was pretty much steady rain.

Macro Bee

This is probably the last of the summer warmer weather bees in the flower garden so I took advantage with a macro picture.

Canada Geese

Okay, these are common here but I can bet that you will have a hard a time as I did to get a shot like this. My "machine gunning" of this flyby only yeilded one shot with the wings just right. Try it sometime.

Gull of some kind

I'm not sure if this is a ring-billed immature gull or an immature California Gull but if anyone can tell me, I would really appreciate it. Its nice to see these cruising up and down the river as it marks the arrival of the spawning Kokanee salmon in these parts.

Osprey in Flight

I thanked this Osprey for coming around above me to see what I was all about. Not very often I get a chance to photograph them in flight so close.

The new Osprey family showing only 2 of them. One of the other was flying around too so I beleive this shows one parent and the young one.

The Albert Peaks and the Illecillewaet River. Looks like a touch of fall in a few spots.

New snow

This is the top of the Albert Peaks. At 10000 ft, it's one of the highest close to town.

Kingfisher

This is about as close a a human can get without a blind! The longest lens I had was a 300 with 1.4TC, and then I cropped the image about 50%. One day it would be nice to spend the time in a blind and get closer. I hear it takes a minimum of 3 days in the blind before they think it's safe!

Click on the picture to see it better.

Family Photo

It took a while but finally they rearranged themselves to more of a uniform situation for a family portrait. I added a little artictic touch to it too.

Finally 2 in flight

Finally got two Lesser Yellowlegs in flight together although one wing is cut off. I did get another shot with all wings intact but it's not as sharp as this one. Man can these guys fly!

Columbia River Panoramic

This is a four shot panoramic I took today. There are benches in the foreground and you can sit there all day and watch this scene.

Also in Flight

These guys fly pretty fast and if you are lucky enough to get them in focus and their wings in the right position, then it may make your day. This one almost flew out of my frame and that is why it's cropped kind of weird.

In Flight

Went down to the wetlands to see whats new and the Lesser Yellowlegs are still there but only about 5 of them. I decided to hang around and they started to fly around. Although they wouldn't come too close, I did manage to get a couple shots.

Tonight's Storm

It started to flash out there and I thought I would give it a try to capture a strike or two. When it started to rain, that's when I called it quits because my wide angel lens was pointing up in the sky.

Baby Robin

At first I thought it was something else but on closer look, I realized it was a young Robin. Nice colours and details.

Young Coopers Hawk

Fairly rare in this area, these birds, and it took a lot of lens to get this shot. Let's see..... 400mm with a 2x and then the built in 2x in the D700 which now is equivalent to 1600mm now, then cropped about 75% off which now equals about 4000mm!!!!

Still turned out not too bad.