Coast Guard training in the Line Up

I noticed a few Coast Guard helicopters pull up out back in the afternoon. The helicopter that was close looked was a bit more photogenic.

The helicopter further away had a paddle foiler in the perfect spot when I was taking pictures.

So glad the Coast Guard is around to keep us all safe!

Sunset hang 5, surf chat, and sun spots!

It's always fun to catch some fun shots at sunset.

This guy had a nice long ride on the nose and the shot probably doesn't do it justice.

Looked like some very relaxing chats going on out in the line up.

I also managed to get a shot of sunspots using the hazy atmosphere as a make shift sun filter. Even with the thick atmosphere I had to set my camera to 1/8000th of a second at f32 and iso100 to get the shot exposed close to correct. Lots of atmospheric ripples just like the ocean -:]
 

Big sun spot turning to face us!

This is the biggest group of sunspots in a while and I was excited to get a picture.

It could send some solar flairs in our direction causing some more big aruras and interfering with electronics and wireless communications in the next few days.

Sunset Foiling

 

Owl finds out what we do to Turkeys today!

Then gives me a look that chills me to this very day!

Fun Spreckels Boats

Some fun RC boats at Spreckels Lake this weekend.

Bonus African Queen with mini Katharine Hepburn!

I guess there is also a mini Bogart but Katharine is the best! They were pretty great together in the African Queen.

I love the smoke on the Intrepid and hope to see the African Queen in action one weekend. Fingers crossed it has smoke too.

 

Okay Great Egret Shot

I enjoyed the pose and lighting of this great egret standing in a mostly shady spot.
 

Quick and dirty Jupiter shot through the kitchen window

 I looked out the kitchen window and saw Jupiter shining super bright. Put my camera and 500mm lens on a tripod and ran exactly 2 short captures. A 1min capture exposed for Jupiter and a 30sec capture exposed for the moons.

I think I spent 5 minutes total setting up and capturing the images. Then maybe another 60min to process and stack the movies into the still.

Pretty amazing how easy it can be to capture an okay image of Jupiter and it's moons.

At some point soon I need put a little more effort into it and go outside with my good telescope and get a higher res image.

Staying Cozy in a Foot Print

There are a lot of Snowy plover's at Ocean Beach now.

They always look so cute and cuddly when they are curled up in the foot print holes along the beach.

Who's There?

I spotted a bunch of old owl pellets and bones on the ground right under a hole in a tree about a month ago. They all looked old and I never saw anything in the whole.

Last week I walked by and noticed a lot of new looking pellets and step back a bit and saw the top of a barn owls head!

It is on my normal walk so I look into the whole from a nearby hill and have managed to catch the barn owl looking back a few times. When it notices me it usually ducks down to where I can only see the top of it's head from the hill.

I think it may be one of the owls I have seen in other areas and other people have seen flying around in that same area.

Fingers crossed for some little ones during the mating season.

 

Who needs two good eyes?!

She looks tough and I wouldn't mess with her.

Poor mouse but glad she doesn't seem to have any trouble getting a meal.

Peaking out of the grass on top of the kill.

Angry Halloween Stares!

No one wanted their pictures taken today.

The owl gave me a full on exorcist head spin stare on my Halloween owl walk!

Our Halloween themed cat was not excited to have his picture taken either.

Happy Halloween!

 

Owl rich day!

I went on two walks today and saw at least 5 individual owls.

No pictures from the dawn walk but I saw two flying, one screeching then flying right over my head! I heard at least 4 great horned owls and found a location new to me that I went back to later.

On the sunset walk I saw two Barn Owls and two Great Horned Owls.

I also heard another Great Horned Owl hooting in the new area I scoped out in the morning but couldn't see it. Just for fun I took a few pictures of where I heard the hoots. It turns out one of the pictures I took had the owl in it!

Can you spot the owl ? I made it easier by cropping the image some.

I know which tree that is so I'm going to take a look next time I'm out.

So many owls today!

 

Enjoying a relaxing weekend drink

Another image from the long weekend walk.

I do love macro shots of insects!

Lucky Scrub Jay shot

I heard a few scrub jays during my walk the other day but couldn't spot them and figured it wasn't the day I would spot one.

Later as I was about to head home I heard this jay just a few feet from me, looked up and managed to get a few shots before it grabbed a nut and dove into the bushes.

It always seems like the birds you want to see show up as soon as you stop looking for them -:]

 

New barn owl spotted me

I took a fairly long walk yesterday seeing a lot of fun waves, birds, and bugs but spotting this barn owl, that is new to me, was my favorite moment.

I was checking a tree that I have seen a different barn owl in and didn't see anyone in the normal spot. Thinking the tree was empty I stepped under to look for any fresh signs like owl pellets and whitewash (bird poo -:)

Not seeing anything fresh I looked up and was surprised to see this super cute small (female?) looking down at me. Since I had my camera out I quietly took a couple of shots and moved away slowly to avoid disturbing it any more than I already had.

It looked smaller and darker than any of the barn owls I have seen in that area so I think it must be new to me. Though I bet it has seen me wandering around the area before.

At first I thought the images weren't very good because of the branches right across the face but realized they capture the moment we shared better than a clear shot ever could.

Walk left me feeling melancholy

It started off very nice seeing a bunch of birds. All regulars I was hoping to see.

Norther Flicker

Barn Owl

Female Belted

Then I walked up to a lake I haven't been to in a few weeks and to my surprise there was a very handsome male Kingfisher.

He was catching fish sitting in spots that were easy to see him. Then he flew off. I headed toward home also in the direction he flew off in hoping I might see him at one of the other two lakes I would pass.

At the 2nd lake there was a Great Egret looking very photogenic.

While taking photos of the egret there were a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks making a ruckus and flying into low bushes.

I just managed to get a blurry picture.

It was making a lot of noises so I moved to where I could get a better view and saw the hawk covering something up.

To my surprise it had taken a Belted Kingfisher which I suspect was the one I had seen earlier.

While I know the hawk needs to eat just like the kingfisher catching fish it still made me feel a bit sad at the moment then faded into a lingering melancholy.

On the way out I saw another regular (10) Great Horned Owl hidden in one of it's regular spots keeping a close eye on everything.

Still so amazed and happy to have Golden Gate Park for these amazing walks and experiences.

OB steps it up another notch

Swell and paddle leveled up a bit today and there were just a few people out. I only managed to get shots of a few rides.

Coast Guard was out training which is a good sign the waves are big.

Look at that boat take on the waves.

Then look at that guy paddling out from shore through those same waves. Fun!