As I continue to work at losing weight one of the activities I've relied on to help in the process is just to simply walk as much as I can when I can.
Most days my walking involves putting on my workout clothes, running shoes, iPod for music and as quick a pace as my large legs and body will allow me. I can usually work up quite a sweat.
Some days I'll just walk three or four kilometres while other times I'll find more energy and walk upwards of 10 or 11 kilometres. My theory is if I walk a long distance away from my starting point, I'm forced to walk all the way back.
There are other times when I don't want to be nearly as active but still want to go for a leisurely stroll. On these occasions I'll typically take my camera with me and stop along the way to take the odd photo if something catches my eye. It's certainly not an intense walk by any means but it's still some light activity.
This past Friday afternoon I decided to go for a short lazy walk with my camera. I had walked along a trail in Presqu'ile Provincial Park and was nearing the point where I would circle around and head back to my car.
I had spotted an interesting flower growing just off the trail and was bending over to take a picture when I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and saw a Red Fox come out of the woods on to the trail only six feet away.
The fox didn't seem to be bothered by me in the least and began wandering up the trail I had just completed. I'm not one to let a potential photo opportunity pass me by so I decided to alter my planned route and followed the fox back in the direction I had just come.
As the fox trotted along I did my best to keep it in view and at times found myself jogging to keep up. I lost sight of it a couple of times but eventually saw movement ahead and spotted it again. It remained on the trail for quite awhile which made it easier for me to follow.
However, the fox did finally veer off the path and began making it's way into the deeper underbrush and forest.
I didn't see any immediate danger in following him so I left the path as well while carefully scanning for Poison Ivy, downed trees, holes in the ground or anything else that could cause me problems.
After about 10 minutes of going through ferns and cobwebs the fox finally stopped and made a meal out of an unfortunate chipmunk. The fox made short work of the little furry animal and swallowed him bones and all.
After his meal the fox found a spot to lay down and rest. At times it had its head down burried in its body trying to nap. I took well over 100 photos of this cute animal that still didn't seem to care that I was near by clicking away.
Eventually I ran out of time as I had to be back to go out for supper so I left the fox snoozing in the same spot as I walked away.
It was a neat experience and I was thrilled with the images I was able to capture of this local wildlife.
Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Friday, August 02, 2013
Sunset Landing
I was visiting my parents at their trailer last night at Presqu'ile Provincial Park on the north shores of Lake Ontario and had just finished supper when I decided to grab my camera and go for a drive.
I honestly didn't expect to get much of anything and planned to only be gone for about 30 minutes. I wanted to get back for the always enjoyable campfire with family and friends.
Actually, I probably wasn't much longer than 30 minutes but I did stop once to watch a Mute Swan and two of her young feeding in the calm waters of what's known as the Calf Pasture. This used to be a boat launch area to get out into Brighton Bay from inside the park. Now for some reason they frown upon this. Who knows the thinking behind it. We used to drive a hovercraft over there when I was a lot younger because it was a lot more calm than the lake.
Anyway...the three swans that were feeding honestly weren't providing much in the way of quality photo opportunities. Certainly nothing I hadn't already photographed a dozen or more times before.
All of a sudden I heard a noise of wings hitting the water and I swung around to spot the mate of the swan getting airborne and racing right at me. I'm guessing he probably didn't like the fact that I was intruding on his kids supper activities.
I only had a few moments to bang off a couple of quick frames. I didn't have time to change my focus type, shutter speed or anything for that matter. I would have loved to have my Nikon D7000 in high burst mode to rattle off more shots but instead I quickly focused and shot about 4 frames.
He landed in the water and I started moving back to let him know I got the message. As I walked back to the car I did a quick review of the photos on the camera and was encouraged by what I saw but there was no way of knowing how good the quality of image would be until I got it on my computer.
As you can see above, I had at least one shot that was fairly sharp and contained some nice action as the swan was touching down. The sunlight was rather harsh as it was setting and very bright but overall I think I was able to work around that issue okay and captured an image I could live with and be a little proud of. These birds are so powerful I could photograph them landing and taking off all day.
I honestly didn't expect to get much of anything and planned to only be gone for about 30 minutes. I wanted to get back for the always enjoyable campfire with family and friends.
Actually, I probably wasn't much longer than 30 minutes but I did stop once to watch a Mute Swan and two of her young feeding in the calm waters of what's known as the Calf Pasture. This used to be a boat launch area to get out into Brighton Bay from inside the park. Now for some reason they frown upon this. Who knows the thinking behind it. We used to drive a hovercraft over there when I was a lot younger because it was a lot more calm than the lake.
Anyway...the three swans that were feeding honestly weren't providing much in the way of quality photo opportunities. Certainly nothing I hadn't already photographed a dozen or more times before.
All of a sudden I heard a noise of wings hitting the water and I swung around to spot the mate of the swan getting airborne and racing right at me. I'm guessing he probably didn't like the fact that I was intruding on his kids supper activities.
I only had a few moments to bang off a couple of quick frames. I didn't have time to change my focus type, shutter speed or anything for that matter. I would have loved to have my Nikon D7000 in high burst mode to rattle off more shots but instead I quickly focused and shot about 4 frames.
He landed in the water and I started moving back to let him know I got the message. As I walked back to the car I did a quick review of the photos on the camera and was encouraged by what I saw but there was no way of knowing how good the quality of image would be until I got it on my computer.
As you can see above, I had at least one shot that was fairly sharp and contained some nice action as the swan was touching down. The sunlight was rather harsh as it was setting and very bright but overall I think I was able to work around that issue okay and captured an image I could live with and be a little proud of. These birds are so powerful I could photograph them landing and taking off all day.
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