Holiday Beach

A few more shots from Holiday Beach

                           Turkey Vulture grooming it's feathers

                          Immature Sharp Shinned Hawk

                Virginian Tiger Moth caterpillar  ( Spilosoma virginica)

                            The Bull Frog   ( Rana catesbeiana )

                           Southern Leopard Frog (Rana sphenocephala)

When we arrived at Holiday Beach one day we seen this boy fishing, so I just had to get this photograph.

Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 AF APO DG OS HSM Telephoto Zoom Lens

Well, since I have had some time getting used to the Sigma 150-500mm lens, I have found it to be fairly good. For the money, if you were to buy a 500mm lens from, well lets say a brand name like Canon, Nikon, Sony. First, what camera you use, you would have to buy that make of lens for the mount to fit your camera, these, in especially the 500 range, are very expensive. Say around $5.000 and up. Then there is another choice, Third party lens companies such as Sigma or Tamron. I have never owned any tamron lenses, so I cannot give an opinion, although I have read good things, Now Sigma I have in the past owned a 24mm sigma back in early 1990 and I still have it although it is in a drawer with so much of my older equipment and it was a manual lens, I loved that lens.

Now I have this new Sigma lens and have been using it and I really love the zoom from 150mm. I use it so often and find I am not limited to one focal length. The quality, well I would not rate it a 10 but, 10 would be a prime $6.000 dollar lens and would not be fair at all to compare. A 500mm lens with hyper-sonic motor (HSM), and mine is so quiet, I cannot hear it. Optical Stabilizer OS-1 and OS-2, OS-1 is for normal handholding and steadies up and down movement. OS-2 is for panning, for birds in flight, aviation or even sports. APO, Apochromatic, refers to corrections for the fact that light colors have

different wave lengths and therefore focus in different planes.
the lens designer utilizes apochronatic correction to correct for this, and it is a DG lens, DG is a coating Sigma puts on there new lenses so they are ready for digital.

Now all this for around a $1.000 dollars, and I know I said I would not rate the image quality a 10 but if you practice good photographic skills such as a Tripod and or proper hand holding technique in the proper lighting, you will get awesome results, so I give it a solid 8.The only thing that makes this lens more difficult to use is the fact that it has an aperture of only f5-6.3, so you need lots of light.I do recommend this lens for anyone on a budget, and as far as sigma goes, I will be buying the 10-20mm lens soon. I found some good prices on the 150-500mm lens if anyone is interested in buying one. I got mine on amazon and paid a little more than this about five months ago. But I do recomend shopping around a little more, there still could be sales at other places on Amazon.

               330mm,1/160sec, f 6.3, ISO-800, hand held.

                                            Great Horned Owl

                            500mm, 1/160sec, f 11, ISO-400, on 

                            a Manfrotto tripod, fill flash was also 

                            used.

                                                      

       

The Hawk Festival

I really enjoyed going to the hawk festival at Holiday Beach. They tagged and released a variety of bird species. I took photos of some of the birds.

                                      American Redstart

                                      Red Eyed Vireo

 

                                          Warbler

Holiday Beach Conservation Area

It only took a half hour around the pond and we saw three different Water Snakes, frogs, Butterflies a Mink and so much more. I love that place. One day I stalked a Blue Heron around the other pond which is south east from the Hawk Tower, for about two hours, they really don`t like people. I would creep up, and it would take flight to the other side of the pond, so I got up and went to the other side. I think he got tired of it and just kept walking by me near the end. I`ll never forget as I pressed the shutter button it looked at me while tilting his head from side to side.

This Northern Water Snake was just swimming about one foot from shore, it looked to be about 2 and a half feet in length.

                                                               

                           Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedion )

The Milksnake is listed as a "specially protected species" in schedules of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997. This Act prohibits hunting or trapping of this species, and it cannot be kept in captivity unless special permission is obtained from the Ministy of Natural Resources for the purposes of research or conservation management. I have not found one yet to photograph.

Northern Crescent (Phyciodes selenis)

Well, I've been doing nothing but working and taking photos. The last month or so I have been spending most of my weekends at Holiday Beach. I did go to Point Pelee once for an entire day from sun up to sun down, photographing American Redstarts. But the rest of my bird photography has been at Holiday Beach.

So I thought I would start posting some of the pics I've taken lately, it is still Migration time and will be for a couple more months yet, so I will still be doing it full force.

So here I'll post this pic of an Eastern Screech Owl I took at Holiday Beach. I have to get up for work tomorrow so that's all I have time for right now, Tomorrow is another day so check in then and I'll start posting more photos after work later in the evening.

These are a few photos I took in my back yard the other night Sat, July17. The Monarch butterfly was hanging on the fence and the Jumping spider I found living in my aluminum Ladder I have hanging behind my garage, I got better shots when I coaxed him out on to a wooden platform.

Here are a couple of photos I took of the tornado damage in Leamington,ON.

Leamington Ontario Marina and also the Red Bull Race, Windsor Ontario

Well, I know it's been awhile since I have posted anything, I do apologize. It's been a crazy couple of months. To start off we bought a house and had a few months before we took possession. During that time, my Dad had a heart attack, which brought him to the decision to sell his house of 42 years and move to a condo. So we had to move everything into our house and move everything out of my Dads, which still is not done yet, we've been a little busy. Also, Michele just had a hysterectomy, it went well and she is now home recovering. But I have done some photography here and there when I have been able to find the time or just made time when seeing a good photo op. I also bought the Sigma APO 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Lens in the middle of May which I have only been able to use a few times. I find the lens so far to be of very good quality. I will be posting some shots of the Red Bull Air Show over the Detroit River, also Michele and I went to Leamington, ON for a stroll at the marina to test the lens, then a week later, shots of the damage the tornado caused in the same city. So it would be nice if things slowed down now so I can get to the posts of these pics and others, hopefully, more sooner than later.



Fishing Spider,Devonwood Conversation Area.
Minolta 100-400mm 4.5-6.7 APO Lens.


When I first bought the Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Lens, I decided to try it out at the Marina in Leamington, On. I used a Manfotto Tripod with a tilt and pan head and just sat on a park bench and photographed the Ducks and birds that were all around me.
I found this lens to do very well in low light on a tripod, the sun was low in the sky and it was the only light source in the photos below.








Common Grackle


Robin taking a bath


As we were leaving, I could not resist this sunset with a Jet Trail.


Sony 18-55mm Lens at 20mm


We thought we would stop in Kingsville,On. on our way home to Windsor, to get a bite to eat, I read about this place being haunted by a ghost they call George.
We never noticed anything unusual or paranormal during our meal at
Kings Landing.







The Red Bull Race was pretty exciting. we decided not to go downtown, to avoid the crowds, so we stayed further east near Devonshire Rd. I mainly took photos of the planes as they passed by, I wanted to see how well I could pan with this new lens. It did awesome.
















                                                                                                          

I acually took this photo around the year 1999. It was when I was married and I remember I had this idea in my head for a while. I was sitting around bored that day and it hit me that I should try that photo idea since I had the whole day and it was cold and miserable outside. I was trying to figure out how to set up this shot since there were no door ways with a wall in front of it, so I went into the bed room and took off the door and I was carrying it into the garage, I remember the look on my wife's face as I walked by her and she was on the phone. I always get these crazy ideas and start destroying a whole room just to get a photo the way I want it. So I set it up in the garage, the door, lights, and I had to use a background because I still did not have a wall that looked right. When I finished the set up I went in and asked my wife (ex wife now!!!) if she could strip her clothes off and come out in the garage, now she was really confused , of course I explained and so she did, and I did not want any clothes so to actually see the shape and not have any loose clothing that could show up in the shadow.This image was taken with Ilford film and the original, I had made an 11x14 print and hand colored it with photo dye. This image here I did in Photoshop and I was able to fix a few other things that I could not get exactly the way I wanted, so now I really like this image.

Wind Turbines, Essex County, Harrow/Colchester area, April 2010.

Windsor Ontario, Ouellette Ave. overpass, April 2010.

Sunday Drive

Sunday ended up being a beautiful day (April 11,2010.). I had a few things I had to do, but then after I said To my girlfriend Michele, "Lets go for a drive!" So we went home and both Nick and Michele gathered a few things and I grabbed all my photo gear. We headed south as far as we could go and then east. We found this place I had never been before called The John R. Homestead Conservation Area. Thought this place was pretty cool, although it was closed, it's still open to the public, I just could not ask questions as I like to do when I take photos. It was probably better as there where only two couples there then they left, and I only waited for a few minutes for them walk out of my view finder. I took quite a few photos, I love the old look of the 1800's. After that we went east as the sun was getting low I thought if I was to find anything else to photograph it would have to be soon so we went to Holiday beach, of course also closed but we just parked and I walked in. Michele wanted to stay in the car and read her book, Nick took Brandy our dog and went the other way as I walked towards the nearest water. I had to find my way through a wooded area with no trail but found water within a quarter mile. I did not see to much as the sun went down quickly. After about a half hour I decided to turn back. I thought i should look myself over for ticks and found one on my pant leg, then when I got back to the car I looked again, didn't find anymore but as we were driving one ended up on my arm some how. So I jumped in the shower as soon as I got home, I still haven't got any bug spray but it's the next thing on my list. I thought I'd ad some photos here, all are from the John R. Homestead Conservation Area.



Sony a230, Sony 18-70mm lens Nick and Brandy on the John R. Homestead Lakeshore Boardwalk.
I love that "painted" look. I know I use it to often.















I also got a photo of a Female Redwinged Black Bird, so I thought I would ad a photo of her mate also, not the best male photo but It's all I could get, unless I chased him all over the property. As you can see he wasn't happy with my being there, the nest was only eight feet off the ground. I do not like to stress any wildlife, so I took this shot and stopped!


Female
Sony a230 Minolta 100-400mm Lens Both Photos


Male

Those Annoying Ticks

Top 3 Photos: Sony a230, Minolta 100-400mm
4.5-6.7 APO Lens


Deer Tick or Black Legged Tick and Dog Tick WARNING!
I took these photos a couple of weeks ago on Easter weekend. I went out to Brighton beach area, Broadway st. West of highway 18, and North of Black Oak Heritage Park. And West of what I call Old Sandwich St. I was there for about 2 hours looking for the deer that I always see down there.
I went to the same area again today Saturday April 10, both times around 6:00pm. I didn't find much today though, but I did come home with a couple of little pests both times, theses pests are called  Ticks. I was lucky as I did not get bit.
The first time I was going to bed and found that one on my chest. The second time earlier today, I was aware now and as soon as I got home I sat down and felt the little bugger crawling up my leg, I was sitting on the couch and my knees were bent and it was crawling on my knee, were my pants were tight at the knees.They can crawl through the tightest areas. When I felt it I pulled up my pant leg and grabbed the tick and put him in a jar. I went into the washroom and stripped down and checked every were.
I used to live there in that exact area off of Broadway on Reed st. for a couple of years and never found a tick on me, now I go out there twice and both times find a tick on me.
So I thought I would warn any one who was thinking of going out there or people that go there. There is a dog park there on Broadway many people go to. So if you do, I would be careful with your dogs as they also can get Lime disease from ticks.
I myself will start using 100% Deet bug spray and is the best thing that can be done, I like to spray my clothes well and rub some on my skin and hair using my hands and spraying my hands only. As soon as I get home and know I won't return to any fields or wooded areas I take a shower and wash it off.
Be careful with using Deet bug sprays on children, read the directions, I've read that prolonged use can be harmful especially in young children and pregnant and lactating women.
I took a photo of the Tick. It was about the size of a match head, see below.
It wasn't easy taking this guys picture as he would not stay still. This one is a male dog tick.

Click for larger Photo




Top 2 Photos: Sony a230, 18-70mm Lens
I took this photo on Sat, April 10. Where dirt bike trails bend through this whole area. Ticks live among the taller grass.
I love the way the late afternoon light falls on these trees and the road as it bends around to the left and behind the trees. Early Spring vegetation brings a mystical look to it's colors.