Photo Blogging

🐾BillinGlendaleCA

I’ve always wanted to see Mono Lake, so on my first fall color expedition I drove further north. Mono Lake is a terminal lake in an endorheic basin since it has no outlet. It is fed by surface water that flows from the Sierra and springs under the surface. Mono Lake is best known for it’s tufa tower formations at the lake’s edges. These are formed by the calcium rich water from the underwater springs. I arrived before sunset, but after the Sun had set behind the Sierra that rises at the west edge of the lake. The lake is also in a volcanically active area with both of the central islands being the result of eruptions in the last 1000 years with the most recent being 350 years ago.

Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, Mono Lake, CAOctober 2, 2021

Wide shot looking northeast, both islands(Paoha to the right and Negit at the center) are the result of volcanic eruptions as is Black Point to the far left.

On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Mono LakePost + Comments (20)

This week we have Albatrossity; the title of this post says it all, doesn’t it?  We also have BillinGlendale taking us on a trip to the lake.  And we have a 3-part Iceland series that I’m really excited about – The Lights of Darkness – from Christopher Mathews!

Oh, and one more thing.  Last year I loved seeing the photos of jackals as kids at Christmastime, so if you guys are up for that again, I would like that to be our theme for Christmas week and the week before.  Is anybody up for that?  Send in your Christmas photos!  Um, make that your HOLIDAY photos.  The war on Christmas has begun.  Not really, just trying to be more inclusive.

Albatrossity

For some time now I have been posting, in the evenings, photographs of birds from an angle that I see a lot of as the birds flee. I call this my Bird Butt Before Bedtime series, and, as they say, I have a million of ‘em! So I thought I’d share some of these with the BJ community, and Watergirl suggested that I title it Bird Butts Before Breakfast.

Here’s the first batch, more next week! In fact, this year I have created a 12-month calendar featuring Bird Butts, which can be ordered (printed on demand) from Lulu.com. It would make an excellent Christmas gift for your favorite jackal, or some other nature lover!

I also have my Birds of Flyover Country 2022 calendar on sale at that same site. This year’s edition has Harley on the cover!

Big Bend National ParkDecember 26, 2017

It is ridiculously easy to get a photo of the butt of any wren; they cock their tails up and even seem to like to moon the photographer. Here’s a Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus), seated on its eponymous perch, from a winter day in Big Bend National Park, TX.

On The Road – Albatrossity – Bird Butts Before Breakfast #1Post + Comments (19)

Steve from Mendocino

My interest in good wine began in 1968, when I bought a bottle of Inglenook special reserve cabernet sauvignon to celebrate my later to be wife’s birthday. It got our attention, and I began exploring with books and tasting. In 1970 I formed a tasting group that I called “Lest Compagnons de Bordeaux.” Wine prices were moderate enough that we could taste the best wines in the world for very little. I budgeted a bottle per person and charged people my cost. Our first tasting was both a horizontal tasting of 1966 Pauillacs and a vertical tasting of Chateau Pichon Logueville Baron from 1953, 1955, 1959, 1962, 1966, and 1967. The 1966 wines were Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Pichon Longueville Comptesse de Lalande, and Château Lynch Bages. It cost each taster $12 including bread and cheese.

Vineyards just outside the walls of Perouges.

On The Road – Steve from Mendocino – French Vineyards and Wineries 1 of 2Post + Comments (14)

🐾BillinGlendaleCA

My quests to shoot fall color in the eastern Sierra has not diminished my mission to shoot the stars. My second and third trip up to the eastern Sierra included an early morning stop at the Alabama Hills to capture astro-landscapes. The first thing I wanted to capture was the Zodiacal Light(this has nothing to do with Ted Cruz).

The Zodiacal Light is a band of light that shoots up from the horizon just before sunrise(it’s also called ‘false dawn’) in the Fall and just after Sunset in the Spring around the time of the equinox. It’s caused by interplanetary dust that gets lit by the Sun and can be seen when the Earth is at the right angle based on the season.

The other celestial objects I wanted to capture on my journey’s to the Alabama Hills(not named after the state, but the CSS Alabama), was an astro-landscape shot of Orion and Andromeda(M31). I first attempted shooting Orion on my third and final Fall Color Extravaganza, but the battery on my star tracker died and I had to defer both the Orion shot and possible Andromeda shot.

I did get one, one minute exposure of Orion out of this trip. I headed back up to the Alabama Hills for another attempt in mid-November with half the night moonlit to get some foreground shots by the light of the Moon and shots of the sky once the Moon had set.

Alabama Hills, CAOctober 10, 2021

The Zodiacal light to the east, the golden glow just above the horizon is from the Sun starting to rise. I posted this shot on Instagram and one commenter said the light was not the Zodiacal Light, but light pollution from Las Vegas which is 165 miles away.

On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Lights in the SkyPost + Comments (29)

currawong

We were rescued by my dog Juno about 6 years ago and, even at the age of 13, she is always up for a walk, especially at about 6am.

A couple of weeks ago, on a beautiful clear Spring morning, we went down to Point Lonsdale, just a short drive from home. Point Lonsdale sits at the entrance to Port Philip Bay with Melbourne at its head and a narrow entrance with Point Nepean on the east at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula and Point Lonsdale on the west. The entrance is known as The Rip and ships heading for the Port of Melbourne need a pilot to enter and exit.

Point Lonsdale, VictoriaOctober 22, 2021

Just before dawn at Point Lonsdale

On The Road – currawong – Point Lonsdale Victoria at dawnPost + Comments (15)