Here are photographs I’ve taken, over the past few years, of birds and other animals, scenic vistas, and an occasional oddball or two. Just scroll on down, they’re in no particular order. This page won’t be changing much. For my most recent, just look through the posts on the front page.
October 17, 2022: Just so’s they’re all in one place, here are the best of the photos I’ve taken over the summer of 2022, the older at the top and proceeding to the latest at the end of this page update.
July 8, 2022: This bird deserves special place so I’m adding it to my photos page. This is the Cedar Waxwing, a big surprise for me to see at Dellinger’s Pond, or anywhere around Quincy, because this is the first time I’ve ever seen it around here. It’s not uncommon or rare especially, it’s just that I’ve been looking and never seeing. It’s not that I didn’t see because I wasn’t looking, I can tell you. A great treat for me.
June 15, 2022: This addition is a “lifer” for me. I’ve been after a photo of this bird since returning to live in Quincy in 2018. Today, I got it.
This was also a one-of-a-kind, just the day before the Western Tanager. Although by no means the first Wood Duck I’ve photographed, this is the first “eclipse” male Wood Duck for my camera.
And the wonders kept coming. At Dellinger’s Pond, same as the Wood Duck:
From the archives:
I first started “serious” hobby photography after my retirement at age 62 in 2016. I bought my first hobbyist camera, a Nikon Coolpix L830, to take with me and record my ventures and experiences during two stays in Mazatlan, Mexico, first for a month in 2016 and then for a six-month “winter” in 2017-2018. Since then I’ve upgraded my camera twice and I now use a Nikon Coolpix P950, which I’ve affectionately named “The Beast”.
Mazatlan was a blast! Herewith a few photos from there.
That’s enough (for now) about Mazatlan. All I’ll say further at this time is if you’ve never been there you should go if you ever get the chance. But I’d recommend you only go during the winter. Summers there are often very rainy and very hot. Winter in Mazatlan, though, is as close to paradise as I’ve ever come.
I’ll pause here for a moment to say a few words about my photography. I’ve chosen to concentrate on birds for very simple reasons: of all wildlife they’re probably the easiest to photograph. No matter where you go, you’ll almost certainly find birds, often in good numbers and diversity. Some birds are more challenging to photograph than others; some like to perch out in the open and stay still, others are much more elusive and flighty, or are only seen at a distance. Some are simply rare or uncommon for a particular area. Of all birds I’ve ever photographed right here around Quincy, CA, this one is considered very uncommon. I just got lucky, and it was a couple hundred yards away as it was. Since this photograph, taken October 15, 2020, out in the Leonhardt Ranch Learning Landscape, I have not seen this bird around here again.
Moving on, I’m going to pick a few of my “best” or “favorite” shots, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. There will be a few other-than-birds, but like I say it’s just not that often that I encounter them.
Change of pace, a couple of mammals and reptiles, and one unusual arachnid:
Back to a mix of birds and mammals. Most, but not all, were photographed near or around Quincy:
A few more, and you’re done with this page. Most of the birds and other animals on this page were photographed in 2021, and I’ve left several species out. Since these photographs I’ve improved my technique somewhat and also my processing. The Spotted Towhee, below, is indicative of this on-going evolution in my wildlife photography. It’s just a fact of hobbyist photography, however, that not every single photo is going to be a stunner. Luck plays the major role, having the lighting happen to be just right, the bird (or other animal) striking just the right pose, and most of all just being in the right place at the right time.
