By Vladimir Brezina
Look up, and there they are!
Of course, they also come at you at sea level…
… and sometimes seem to think that the water is all theirs
A contribution to a recent Photo Challenge, Look Up.
By Vladimir Brezina
Look up, and there they are!
Of course, they also come at you at sea level…
… and sometimes seem to think that the water is all theirs
A contribution to a recent Photo Challenge, Look Up.
Posted in Kayaking, Nature, Photography
Tagged Birds, Canada Geese, Kayaking, Look Up, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2016
By Vladimir Brezina
From our 2011 kayak trip from Albany to NYC
A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Youngsters.
Posted in Nature, Photography
Tagged Birds, Canada Geese, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2015, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, Youngsters
Posted in Nature, Photography
Tagged Belonging, Birds, Canada Geese, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2014, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s photo challenge is Escape. We’ve already posted photos of the sort of passive escapees that we see on our kayak travels, but here’s a more active one…
This happens often. The bird—around here, it’s usually a Canada goose or a mallard duck—will just sit there until the last possible moment, not quite believing that this is happening…
Then it will take off. But more often than not, especially on a narrow river, it will land just a short distance in front, still in the path of the kayak. And a minute or two later the entire performance will repeat… One time I had a duck repeat its escape, with greater and greater exasperation, seven or eight times in a row until it finally got the message that it should circle round and land behind the kayak.
(We usually try to paddle around the birds if we can, especially in winter when they need all their energy. But when there are birds sitting everywhere on the water, it’s hard to avoid them all.)
Ducks do seem to be relatively slow learners. Gulls, on the other hand… By now we have a pretty good idea of the distinct ways in which different bird species interact with passing paddlers. But that’s material for another post… ;-)
Posted in Kayaking, Nature, Photography
Tagged Canada Geese, Escape, Kayaking, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
Last weekend at NYC’s Central Park Reservoir. An icy cold day. The Reservoir is mostly frozen over, leaving just a patch of open water where all of the Reservoir’s birds have congregated.
Johna surveys the panorama. (Click to enlarge any photo.)
Midtown Manhattan rises up beyond.
The birds are mostly Canada Geese and ducks, including some varieties that we’ve never noticed here before—they are probably from Canada, down for the winter. They paddle through the patch of open water, squabble, or just stand silently on the ice, beaks tucked into their back feathers, facing into the cold wind.
The blue shadows lengthen as the sun goes down, lighting up the East Side on the other side of the Reservoir with its last rays.
More photos are here.
Posted in Nature, New York City
Tagged Birds, Canada Geese, Central Park, Central Park Reservoir, Ducks, Manhattan, New York City, Photography, Sunset, Winter
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Soft.
Here is a second interpretations of “Soft”.
Posted in Nature, Photography
Tagged Animals, Birds, Canada Geese, Photography, postaday, postaweek, postaweek2012, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is Solitary.
And here‘s a second response to this week’s challenge.
Posted in Nature, Photography
Tagged Birds, Canada Geese, Photography, postaday, postaweek, postaweek2012, Solitary, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is Down. “We spend a lot of time looking ahead, looking from left to right before we cross the street, looking into the sky for Superman, but not a lot of time looking down. What do you see?”
As it happens, Johna recently posted some thoughts on that theme, and I added a few photos that could serve again here…
But what first popped into my head just now was quite a different sense of “Down”.
So here is “Down” in both senses!
Posted in Nature, Photography
Tagged Birds, Canada Geese, Down, Photography, postaday, postaweek, postaweek2012, Weekly Photo Challenge