A beautiful Indian Summer day

Thursday, October 25, 2012

This Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui, was one of many enjoying the beautiful Ohio weather today. Skies were sunny and temperatures climbed to the high 70's - possibly our last such day of the year. I did something that, believe it or not, I rarely do - take the day off! Camera gear in tow, I headed up to Killdeer Plains and vicinity to see what I might find.

I wasn't disappointed. Lots of interesting things surfaced, and I made photos of nearly all of it. Got whacked - twice! - by Bald-faced Hornets as I photo-documented a low-hanging nest; shot images of a Great Blue Heron hunting grasshoppers in a field; and watched a Red-headed Woodpecker building his granary.

Too tired to put up anything more right now, but more will follow.

1 comment:

Jared said...: !!! I soooo wanted to call off work yesterday to hit, you guessed it, Killdeer Plains. Also like you, I rarely call off work (last day off--June 8). I'm hoping for some photos in your upcoming blog of herpetological interest...; October 26, 2012 at 3:05 PM

About the photos, and permission to use

Unless specifically noted, all photos used on this blog are by Jim McCormac, and are my property. If you are interested in the use of any of these photos, please contact me at jimmccormac35 AT gmail DOT com. I am generally fine with loaning photos for educational or non-commercial uses, but please ask! It is a bit disconcerting - and annoying - to see one's photos appear without credit elsewhere on the Internet.

Most of the recent photos on this blog were made with a Canon 5D Mark III. At present, I use three lenses with the Canon: a 100 mm macro L-series; a 17-40mm wide-angle L-series; and a Sigma 150-500. Many older photos used on this blog were shot with a Panasonic FZ50, which is a high-end point and shoot and an awesome camera. That model has been discontinued. I still love my Panasonic and will use it until it gives up the ghost. Other photos were taken with a Nikon D7000,or a Canon T3i. I also have a Nikon Coolpix P510 point & shoot, which is a remarkably versatile camera with awesome zoom power (42x) that holds up very well. Finally, I've got a GoPro Hero, which is fully waterproof and can be used for underwater work. Sometimes I even use the camera or video feature on my Droid X smartphone - it's amazing how good phone cameras have become.

Ohio Birds and Biodiversity

Thursday, October 25, 2012