The Changing Seasons: February 2019
This has been a very strange winter. Instead of what we usually get — mountains of snow accompanied by very cold weather — we got a tiny bit of snow, a fair amount of sleet, and a lot of rain and wind.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – House and some snow
Aldrich Street – Photo: Garry Armstrong
In a lot of ways, this is a good summary of this winter. A little snow, a lot of sleet, and when this picture was taken, 60 mph winds were blowing.
And of course, there were the birds. Two bird feeders, about 100 pounds of birdseed … and one Panasonic 4/3 telephoto 100-300 mm lens later …
And of course, our Christmas cactus that has been in more or less continuous bloom since Thanksgiving ..
And more pictures from Garry.
Photo: Garry Armstrong
If you look beyond the fence, you’ll see Gibbs and the Duke by the front steps
Photo: Garry Armstrong
The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic):
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- Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
- Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
- Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them
- Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
Bonnie and living room
The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):
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- Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
- Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
- Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them.
Three bright birds
If you do a ping-back to this post, Su-Leslie will update it with links to all the other photographers.
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Categories: #Birds, #gallery, #Photography, Blackstone Valley, climate, climate change, Winter
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
All great shots.
I just love your woodpeckers and squirrels. 🙂
Bonnie seems to be the only one with any sense – nice and warm indoors. But i suppose the boys couldn’t let ‘Dad’ go out on his own, huh?
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We’ve had a weird winter as well. Little rain not very cold through to February. Then all hell broke loose and we got 4 ft of snow and it’s been below 0 on several occasions. Then we got sleet hail high winds and the snow is still sitting in piles but melting. February? This is odd for us because at this time of year, it’s usually raining. Huh!
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If you’re wondering about climate change, just look around!
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I don’t think there’s much chance it isn’t, do you?
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No, I don’t.
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Talk about a strange winter. You wouldn’t believe what’s happening here. It’s another snow storm. Change of season – my foot.
Leslie
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It isn’t a change of season here. Our worst winter months are typically February and at least the first two weeks in March. I was born in a blizzard, so I suppose I deserve it.
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Nobody deserves this Marilyn…
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We have so far been pretty lucky. We hope it continues. All the trees have fallen AWAY from the house, not on it!
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We are having a “white-out” at the moment….not going to be good for rush-hour.
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Aren’t you glad you aren’t commuting anymore?
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I don’t even want to look out the window let alone get in a car and go anywhere. We’re having snowm-armageddon.
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Despite all the icy blasts your bird photos have a complete delight.
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Thanks. Gotta get it together and refill them today because it’s supposed to snow all day tomorrow. The birds REALLY eat.
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Looks very slushy, Marilyn. Dogs don’t seem to mind though. 🙂 Hope you get some drier weather so you can get outdoors. I think we may have similar cameras. 🙂 I love mine for taking photos of the birds.
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Snow tomorrow, so slush by Friday!
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Our dogs DO mind, but it’s not slush. It’s ice. And with snow tomorrow, we can reconvene the slush thing during our next warm spell.
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March will hopefully be better for you, the dogs and the birds.
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March is a hard winter month around here. We don’t really get anything like spring until the end of April. That has always been true. Our worst months are February and March. April tends to be chilly and wet, but in May, the world blooms — for a week. Then it’s summer.
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Ah. A good time of year to be catching up on reading and watching movies. But I sympathise.
The cabin fever must be bad.
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What camera do you have? I have two Olympus OMDs — Version 1 & 2. Garry used to use one of them and I used the other. Super long lens and good optics, especially for a all-in-one camera. But I have the OMDs and what I didn’t have was a lens that would be good for birds. I could have gotten the Olympus 75-300 for around $400, but just this once, I bought the Panasonic 100-300 mm instead. I got better reviews pretty much globally. Also, the Olympus wide open was f4.8 — slow. At 4.0 the Panasonic isn’t hugely faster, but it’s pretty good unless it’s really dark. And it’s very smooth. I admit it’s the first really GOOD lens I’ve bought. Good glass is expensive, but the quality of the pictures went way up using a better lens. I thought they’d be better, but not THAT much better. Garry swapped cameras and fell in love with my Panasonic FZ 300. He’s not a lens swapper and I think it’s actually a better camera — for him. I don’t LIKE changing lenses and I think I’ll use my Panasonic FZ 1000 for just hauling around even though the Olympuses are better cameras. ButI’m really awkward doing that one-handed lens change. Plus, I’m old enough to know I can’t carry that much weight for any length of time. Garry hauls stuff for me, but he’s no spring chicken either and it’s not fair to make him carry that extra weight, so when I’m going to be out in the “wilds,” I’ll take my own “do-it-all” camera.
It’s harder to find the right camera these days. The OMD is a great camera, but it’s pretty solid and not light. Add a 100-300 telephoto, and it’s weighty.
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Marilyn, I relate to your comments about carrying all that weight. It is hard work and only for the young, dedicated or OCD types.
I’m only new at photography. I really have only one thing on my bucket list and that is to photograph a wedgetail eagle in flight. Two flew very close above my head once, and since that time, it has been my dream to photograph them. I have a Panasonic G9. Expensive camera but it does everything for me, and even makes my beginner photos look good. The continuous autofocus is great. And I have the Panasonic 100-300 lens. It is not quite long enough for proper bird photography, but it is the biggest one I can manage. Even so, I’m very wobbly. So it is a compromise. I know if I’m patient, and lucky, I can still take lovely bird photos. Photography has certainly opened up a whole new world to me, and I’ve now found that I can use my own photos in my artwork. 🙂
But changing lenses is tricky. So I mostly don’t bother. I use my phone for other things. My husband bought me a nifty little bag to strap around my waist so I can hike and carry gear a small amount of gear.
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The G9 is a fine camera.
The ONLY problem I’ve had with the 100-300 lens is trying to shoot things that are too close. I can just barely shoot the birds on my own feeders. Otherwise, I need more distance than I’ve got. Try pulling the lens back and use it mostly around 100-150. When you get that worked out, then push it out a little.
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Thank you for the tip, Marilyn.
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It took me a while to figure it out. My deck is just 12 feet wide and I shoot from the doors in the dining room. So I have 12 feet … and our cameras give you a 35mm “view” that’s approximately double that, so 100 mm is really (effectively) 200 mm. I keep my lens all the way in probably 75% of the time. I can always crop if I want it tighter than that. I’m beginning to experiment with shooting closer on individual birds … but still, it’s just 12 feet, so if I’m just a little bit “over the line,” the picture will be fuzzy. you just have to practice. Take a LOT of pictures and see what you did right and what you didn’t get right. Then try again using what you learned. Fortunately, we don’t have to send our film out for processing anymore!
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🙂
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I do love your bird photos 🙂 And thanks again to Garry for going outdoors for those shots.
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I didn’t even have to nag him. He did it voluntarily! Gee!
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THANKS for the pingback. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to find it. Now posted.
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I really DID enter it, but for some reason, it didn’t show up. Glad I was able to get it right! WordPress. Gotta love’em.
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;o)
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I don’t see a pingback to her post, Marilyn.
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You know the pingback was in the edit, but it didn’t show up in the final. Go figure. I think I fixed it. That’s a new one. I’ve never had it not show up in the final version before.
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