Tree Swallows

Pelicans and more — October 25, 2021 — the photo files

For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.  

For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).

If you want the full experience, keep reading.

Regular readers will recognize the above from the videos shared in THIS<<link post. I now aim to share the photos I snapped when I wasn’t shooting video.

I debated how to best present the photos and decided on chronological order. That means that photos from the D7500 and P900 are mixed in together, and I won’t bother identifying which is which, although one could probably guess based on the composition. That said, if you are curious, click the “i” button for the photos in the SmugMug Gallery and it will bring up information about the given photo.

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Pelicans and more — October 25, 2021 — the video files

There will be a separate post for the photos, but for now, a quick post of the videos

I thought all the pelicans had left the area, but during a drive to Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge on October 25th, I happily saw that was not the case.

This first video is a compilation of a few clips (not in slow motion – 1080p) of Pelicans at the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge on October 25th. It shows incoming pelicans joining a group of gathered pelicans, some shoveler ducks (I think), seagulls, and the little birds flying around are Tree Swallows.

The last bit of that video shows another group of pelicans roughly 0.7 miles from where I was filming.

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The SDS Challenge — Second Wrath Voting Reminder

Due to a slow response, this is another quick reminder that the voting for the SDS Challenge Wrath Stories is underway.

If you are new to the SDS Challenge, a little background.

Three writers will each write one story a month going down the list of deadly sins. The stories can be anywhere from 666 words to 6,666 words in length, although those numbers are not set in stone. If ambitious, the writers will provide accompanying graphics. These stories will not be anonymous because some writers may want to use the same characters for each story and write a series — or book — encompassing all seven sins. Finally, interpretation of the titular sin is up to the writer. Meaning, each ‘sin’ can take multiple forms.

Disclaimer: The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories will likely span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the PG-rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Some readers might find a few of the stories disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, and if so, stop reading and move on.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins submissions for the Sin of Wrath, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

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Note 20 and D7500 Photos

I’m still busy, but I took the time to output a few photos; a sample of Note 20 photos and D7500 captures.

Let’s begin with some flowers from the memorial we had for Pops . . .

Nothing fantastic, but I was happy with these photos pretty much as they came right out of the Note 20 Ultra (I added the dark framing and a minor auto-tweak in Lightroom that barely touched the photos).

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Fantastic Females

For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.  

I have a feeling traffic will be heavy for this post . . . and that — having come here with different expectations — most will quickly leave.

That’s right . . . this post is about female birds. Wait, let me be clearer; non-human birds.

Click for larger view
Click for larger view

So, Project FeederWatch<<link — by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology — has been running weekly contests (and I’ve missed a number of weeks). This week, it’s “Fantastic Females; Celebrating the muted tones of female birds”. Anyone wanting to see the current submissions can click this LINK.

Now, I’m always reluctant to enter contests (although I’ve entered a few<<link — warning: there are nine pages of posts), and I’ll tell you why.

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Last One; Old Favorites and Another Reminder to Vote

If you haven’t yet done so — and if so inclined — please take a few minutes (about 15-20 minutes) and read the three stories in THIS POST and then, if feeling charitable, please cast your vote for one of them (the survey is after the stories).

Also, if you’re associated with the publishing industry (editor, published author, agent, etc.) and would like to volunteer as a judge to help us confer our Professional Recognition Award, please drop me a line or leave a comment. Thank you.

This is the last appeal, I promise, and here we go with more of my old photos reprocessed with Topaz Sharpen AI, Adjust AI, and Skylum Aurora HDR 2019.

This next photo was an interesting sight to behold . . . these Texas Longhorns were being unloaded from a carrier and released onto a grazing field. I missed capturing the part where they ran through the gate and dispersed onto the field; they seem happy to fatten up for the sake of future hamburgers. 

This guy kept circling above them, probably hoping for one of them to suffer a heart attack or accidentally — and fatally — stab a companion with them long and deadly looking horns . . .

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Again?! Yes; Old Favorites and Another Reminder to Vote

If you haven’t yet done so — and if so inclined — please take a few minutes (about 15-20 minutes) and read the three stories in THIS post and then, if feeling charitable, please cast your vote for one of them (the survey is after the stories).

Also, if you are associated with the publishing industry (editor, published author, agent, etc.) and would like to volunteer as a judge to help us confer our Professional Recognition Award, please drop me a line or leave a comment. Thank you.

I’m sounding like a one-trick pony . . .

But with less hair and no tail.

The thing is, I got to looking at my old photos and got hooked on reprocessing them with Topaz Sharpen AI, Adjust AI, and Skylum Aurora HDR 2019. So, here are a few more . . .

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Ahead of the game 2018 calendars – Part 13

Note: I copied the original post instead of writing everything anew. If you read Part 1 or Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4 or Part 5 or Part 6 Part 7 or Part 8 or Part 9 or Part 10 or Part 11 or Part 12, you can skip most of the writing and just go to the calendars section. Can’t stop now or they win. 

I used to do monthly calendars, but they were a lot of work and few people bothered downloading them. At the beginning of 2016, I switched to doing a yearly calendar . . . which I did not do for 2017.

The calendars I did were neat prism yearly calendar generated using one of the free actions PanosFX offers to subscribers and people who register at his site. It lets someone, let’s say me, create a prism yearly calendar. Like, for instance, these.

20151231_195556-01 20151231_194924-01

Each three-sided calendars can be customized with any set of three photos. You can change the colors (I left them as they are), the language (I left them in English), and choose whether you want the week to start on Sunday or Monday (I left it on Sunday).

Now, the above photos are the ones I had done for 2016. I show them so I can give people an idea of what they look like (I don’t currently have a color printer hence why the old photos), but I’m doing new calendars for 2018. Panos made a few improvements and I decided to dump a bunch of calendars here. If you want to download the action and make your own calendar (you need Photoshop or Elements), click HERE. All you have to do is register and you get any of the free actions (high quality and fun to use).

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Ahead of the game 2018 calendars – Part 11

Note: I copied the original post instead of writing everything anew. If you read Part 1 or Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4 or Part 5 or Part 6 Part 7 or Part 8 or Part 9 or Part 10, you can skip most of the writing and just go to the calendars section. Can’t stop now or they win. 

I used to do monthly calendars, but they were a lot of work and few people bothered downloading them. At the beginning of 2016, I switched to doing a yearly calendar . . . which I did not do for 2017.

The calendars I did were neat prism yearly calendar generated using one of the free actions PanosFX offers to subscribers and people who register at his site. It lets someone, let’s say me, create a prism yearly calendar. Like, for instance, these.

20151231_195556-01 20151231_194924-01

Each three-sided calendars can be customized with any set of three photos. You can change the colors (I left them as they are), the language (I left them in English), and choose whether you want the week to start on Sunday or Monday (I left it on Sunday).

Now, the above photos are the ones I had done for 2016. I show them so I can give people an idea of what they look like (I don’t currently have a color printer hence why the old photos), but I’m doing new calendars for 2018. Panos made a few improvements and I decided to dump a bunch of calendars here. If you want to download the action and make your own calendar (you need Photoshop or Elements), click HERE. All you have to do is register and you get any of the free actions (high quality and fun to use).

Continue reading →