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Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2585
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 25 6:49 pm Post subject:

They are pawing through the snow, Mistress Rose, eating certain groundcover plants in my garden. Also some evergreen shrubs.

I scatter what's labeled as squirrel & critter food - it is black oil sunflower seed, some peanuts in shell, and mostly corn kernels. The squirrels prefer to hang head down on the bird feeders filled with black oil sunflower seed.

That one yearling deer comes close to kitchen steps - I'm sure it is for the corn.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16078

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 25 9:23 am Post subject:
It probably is Jam Lady. Nice to see them. We only usually see them at a distance, but I have managed to stalk a young one just to see how close I could get. They will sometimes not worry about our van, but at certain times they don't like that either.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46309
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 25 1:58 pm Post subject:
nice deer thinking of hanging on a bird feeder, both jackdaws and one do hummingbird impersonations, it looks like most food falls but they get enough to make it worthwhile

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16078

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 25 8:15 am Post subject:
Hanging on the feeder seems to be something that most birds have to learn. I have seen robins hovering until they learnt from their mates how to hang on. A jackdaw doing a humming bird impression must be quite interesting.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46309
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Feb 06, 25 11:33 am Post subject:

the "some sort of paper wasp" in my hair was different

not uk or european as far as i can tell from id charts etc

saved and released with no harm to me or it (hope it finds a cranny to hide in as it is a bit cool for wasps outside)

international trade is loads of fun

im not sure which parcel the "exotic" used as transport, i spose post ice sheets everything is an exotic so the "invasive species bad" thing falls to bits very recently

not as disturbing as a fiddleback ambling across the floor

different may or may not be dangeroos

tis best to use caution if it is an "unknown" spp
paper wasps are fairly harmless, even if they are "strangers"

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2585
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Thu Feb 06, 25 5:03 pm Post subject:
Seen outside my kitchen at about 10:30 p.m. last night Kudos to my camera!

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16078

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 25 8:42 am Post subject:
Rather cute, but they can be a bit destructive can't they? Dpack, I am rather wary of 'exotics' as they can be rather damaging to UK wildlife. We particularly look out for Asian hornets as they can be really bad news. Brown wasps aren't a good idea either as they patrol a territory and will attach anyone or anything.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46309
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 25 12:35 pm Post subject:

UK wildlife were all exotics in the last 12000 yrs or so

other factors(they are called humans) are much more challenging to the resident spp than new comers

the raccoon snap is ace, they have bad habits but they do it with style

yesterday we had a murmuration of several thousand starlings, it has been a few years since we saw more than a few or a lost looking loner

ps decent cameras do help with the image quality, it still needs a snapper to take good uns

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16078

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 25 9:48 am Post subject:

If you mean they recolonised after the last ice age; yes, that is true. Those that did naturally are regarded as native though. Others have been naturalised for so long they are regarded as semi-native, and it could be argued that man is mainly responsible for most of the exotics. Some don't cause any trouble, like the yucca someone planted in our wood, which succumbed to the cold some winters ago, but thing like rhodi, and some of your nasty spiders really can be a menace.

Agree about the pictures. I have seen any number of awful pictures brought out to admire, but the odd one is really good. One thing with the old film cameras with only 8 or 12 frames to a film was that it made you think about composition very carefully and taught you to see one. Downside was that they weren't really very good for the quick picture as it happened, like the raccoon.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46309
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 25 12:50 pm Post subject:

old film camera, umm contax, leica, roliflex ,hasselblad or practika?

i had a german ww2 era 120 top viewer of undiscernable make, ace camera, compared to £5k of canon R and lenses etc it was different but had a few advantages

making the R work in a very cold or hot place might be challenging,
9 frames a second is a non starter with the 120, etc

i had a practika for 50 snaps, a pinhole in a biscuit tin is a better tool

my cheapo phone(£60) has a camera system that is adequate for show and tell instant snaps or what is that snaps that need doing now with reasonable lighting and speed expectations
not the tool for a "arty" or "technical" hi res snap

re arty, plastic ,10 snap, keyring camera, different practika snap

combine that thing with super primitive image software and a rubbish printer it is possible to make pretty pictures on decent paper

ps pretty will have no resemblance to the details when the button was pressed

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2585
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 25 4:45 pm Post subject:

My father had a Sept camera, boxy looking thing that could take both full frame, half frame, and (brief) motion pictures on 35 mm film.

https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Debrie_Sept

and

https://www.johnwade.org/debrie-sept

When he died I inherited the camera. Never used it. Passed it on to my son. I think his wife had it mounted in a shadow box along with a picture of the Eiffel tower my father had taken, and a similar image son had taken (with digital camera, maybe phone) when they visited Paris.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2585
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 25 4:53 pm Post subject:

And while my Nikon 35mm film camera was in some ways a friendlier camera, here's an image from yesterday afternoon taken with my Canon. Digital is very good for tweaking images at home with programs that allow one to crop, adjust brightness, etc. This image below was not manipulated very much at all.

These six deer were between the house and the street. Along with three more for a total of nine.

I had a college course on photography. Develop and print black and white 35mm. I have also developed 35mm color slide film. Which is much more persnickety about temperature / timing than b&w.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16078

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 25 9:36 am Post subject:

I learnt to process monochrome when I was a child. My father used to take over the kitchen and process his pictures there. Our son did a photography course at school, and I remembered enough to be able to help him with the processing, and my father showed him a few extra bits. Now of course with good digital photography it is a lot easier, and son produces some really good pictures. The main thing is to get the framing more or less right and have an eye for what is a good picture. With wildlife photography there is a lot more to it, but my favourite subjects are flowers, which have the decency to stay still unless the wind is blowing.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46309
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 25 12:34 pm Post subject:

wildlife is a different set of parameters depending on the subject, most are quite different to "normal" snapping parameters

the lens needs a big hole to harvest plenty of light

macro, general 35 to 105 and long lenses have different uses

lock off micro adjustment and video head tripod and freehold handle etc for a long lens are among the useful kit

remote wire button or better a wireless button

if you have a decent camera adding decent lenses etc helps a lot with getting a decent picture whatever the subject and conditions

patience, reaction snapping and cheating by "steering" the subject where you need it all have a role
sometimes all at once

a slightly odd observation, many snappers seem to work on the hide from the critter principle, quite often i have found not hiding and being obvious better(otters, birds mice etc)
sneaking and hiding is disturbing to humans and beasts, they will know you are there
settling in full sight, making yourself comfortable, cooking breakfast on a small fire and giving them a cheery greeting indicates a lack of malice towards them even with a pair of mutts and a less than sneaky human companion:wink:

humans are much easier to sneak than most beasts

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16078

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 25 8:46 am Post subject:
I am sure you are right Dpack. I don't have much experience of photographing animals. I certainly know that staying still, or moving slowly in plain sight disturbs them minimally. It is sudden movement that upsets them. We have had wood mice wander round our feet and husband almost had a pair of hares run into him when their mind was on other things.

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