Photos of Spring 2016 taken by the WeatherCat community.

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat observers of the passing seasons,

Well the Vernal Equinox was yesterday so whatever it looks like outside, according to the astronomy at least it is spring.  In northern California though it is looking more like winter as we are continuing to get some rain.  Yesterday, I spotted these two mourning doves perched rather unusually on one of our shepherd?s crook hangers in the rain:



While the rain is good for the plants, of course the wildlife has to put up with the wet!

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat watchers of the seasons,

We have already had some brief showers today and might pick up some measurable rain before the end of the day - even thunderstorms are possible.  However, looking at the hills you would hardly believe it:



The cloudy day doesn't improve the contrast, but you can see how brown and withered the grasses are.  The grass looks essentially as bad a it did about this time last year:



If you had to judge by the photos, you wouldn't be unreasonable to assume there was about the same amount of rainfall for both years when we are above normal this year while we only got about 70% of normal last year.  This year the rains continued later into the spring than last year as well.

As best as I can tell, the heat waves we had in April were enough to cause the grass to go to seed and once they did that, the plants died as they are supposed to, leaving only the seeds for next years grasses.  The late season rains may have an unexpected effect as well.  many of those seeds may be damaged by mold and other moisture-related diseases which normally wouldn't have any chance to attack the seeds in arid California.  As a result, it appears that the seed-eating birds are already short of food and the grasses next year may not be as numerous.

Drought or not, the brown hills of California are back and will likely remain until at least November.

Oh well, . . . . Edouard

[Blicj11]

I took these two photographs from the upstairs window looking down on my ISS. The ISS is actually mounted about 15 feet above the ground on top of a swing set. The great-horned owls who are raising their younglings in a tree about 50 yard off the deck have a habit of leaving part of their dinner on the deck. This time they left a leg that formerly belonged to a rabbit on top of the cross bar of the swing set. Enjoy, whilst I go eat my lunch.

[elagache]

Dear Blick and WeatherCat shutterbugs, . . . .

I took these two photographs from the upstairs window looking down on my ISS.

Thanks for sharing.  This is a different perspective on your iSS.

The great-horned owls who are raising their younglings in a tree about 50 yard off the deck have a habit of leaving part of their dinner on the deck. This time they left a leg that formerly belonged to a rabbit on top of the cross bar of the swing set.

Springtime is also the time when little creatures get born and start out in life.  We had our usual "blessed event" of the deer variety and yesterday I caught one of the little creatures scampering across a path of wood chips:



The birds are also busily raising their young and the feeders are taking a pounding as a result!

Tis' the season!

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat supporters of nature,

In order to maintain our 5 star rating in the avian version of the Guide Michelin, I change the water in the bird baths as much as twice a day.  This morning look at what I found in one of the bird baths:



This is a much smaller version of the critter I found in the same bird bath a while back.  Here is the overall view:



The salamander is at the top of the dish.  Given how small this critter was, I really doubt it crawled in.  Therefore I suspect it was "some bird's breakfast" that got away.  Given that situation, most likely it ended up becoming the snack for another one of those feathered creatures!

Always something "exciting" happening at out house . . . . . 

Cheers, Edouard 

 

[Steve]

[Bull Winkus]

I love a weather station that can hover! It's so George Jetson.

 

[Steve]

I love a weather station that can hover! It's so George Jetson.

 

I didn't notice you can't see the pole. I was playing with my new 15-30mm f/2.8 lens. No interesting skies, so I thought I'd look down instead of up.

[elagache]

Dear Steve, Herb, and WeatherCat shutterbugs,

No interesting skies, so I thought I'd look down instead of up.

Thanks for the photo!  It does look lovely in your garden compared to the brown hills here in California.

I was playing with my new 15-30mm f/2.8 lens.

So, don't just stand there . . . . . so how do you like your new lens?

Curious minds want to know!

Cheers, Edouard 

[Steve]

so how do you like your new lens?

I just got it yesterday, and I've only taken about a dozen photos with it. Nothing worth showing, as I was testing coverage, light flare, depth of field, etc. It is heavy, expensive, and takes absolutely beautiful quality images! I had bought a Sigma 12-24mm f/4-5.6 the day before, because I didn't want to spend the extra for the 15-30mm f/2.8. But the two to three stops faster lens, image stabilization, and the fantastic image quality reputation gave me second thoughts, so yesterday I went in and exchanged it.

Now I've got a huge range in three lenses: 15-30mm, 24-120mm, and 150-600mm. I should be set for another ten years! (I think I'd already mentioned that my ten year old Nikon D200 bit the dust, and I got the D750 in January.) I should probably sell most of my prime lenses, as I doubt I'll use them much any more.

[elagache]

Dear Steve and WeatherCat shutterbugs,

(I think I'd already mentioned that my ten year old Nikon D200 bit the dust, and I got the D750 in January.)

Well, perhaps you had but I missed it.  WOW!  Quite a fancy camera!

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d750

So how is that different from your D200?

Now I've got a huge range in three lenses: 15-30mm, 24-120mm, and 150-600mm. I should be set for another ten years!

Interesting selection of lenses you have there.  I'm not nearly as well equipped.  I have the 18-135mm lens that came with my Canon 70D and I have a 70-300mm that I thought I would be using to take photos of things like the wildlife in the neighborhood.  In the end the 18-135mm is a very handy range rarely do I ever change lenses.

So what sort of photos were you hoping to catch with your 150-600mm and the new 15-30mm lenses?

Let's see if you can tempt me!

Cheers, Edouard 

[Steve]

So how is that different from your D200?

So what sort of photos were you hoping to catch with your 150-600mm and the new 15-30mm lenses?

The D200 compared to the D750 is like comparing a Mac Quadra to your current Mac. *Everything* is better! More resolution, a full frame sensor instead of an crop sensor, 1/8000 top shutter speed vs 1/2000, hugely better focusing and exposure algorithms with many more sensors, and on and on. One huge one that I've experience is with the D200 you only used ISO 800 and higher in dire situations, because they were going to be really noisy. Walking the beach in Florida in February, I took a photo of my brother and our wives at ISO 51,000 hand held. It was so dark I could barely focus on them, but the photo came out reasonably well. With some post processing, I could most likely take out most of the noise. All that, and it is lighter than the D200, and cost only a little more. Ten years is a loooonnnnggg time in cameras these days.

On my D200, I used the Nikkor 18-200mm f/4-5.6 the vast majority of the time. It was one of the better midrange lenses offered at the time. With the crop frame sensor, the image coverage was the equivalent to 27-300 (1.5X crop correction.) With the D750's improved quality, it would show the shortcomings in the full-frame 24-300mm lens, so I opted for the much better quality 24-120mm fixed aperture f/4 lens. Again, this will fill a vast majority of my needs. Except when it doesn't. On the D200, I'd switch to my 300mm f/4 (450mm crop equivalent) if I needed longer reach for critters or something I couldn't get physically closer to. That's what the 150-600mm will be used for, too, in spades. In Florida, I took a photo of an alligator's mouth, not just the alligator. On our western trip, I could have zoomed way in on the grizzly we saw, or the bison and elk. Just a lot more options.

On the long end, there were always scenic views I couldn't get in one frame, and couldn't back away further, especially out west. We were at Crater lake, and I don't have a single photo of the entire lake. Just several with 1/2 or 2/3 of the lake. Having a 9mm wider lens will make those possible. Interior shots, too, such as churches, museums, and such. Anyplace where I can't get everything in frame that I want. Some of this could be done with multiple photos and stitching, but I'd rather do it in one shot.

[Blicj11]

Steve:

Is that a dental chair on the left of your photo? A relaxing teeth cleaning option in the garden?

Thanks for sharing the photo and info in the new camera.

Herb:

Thanks for the laugh.

[Steve]

Is that a dental chair on the left of your photo? A relaxing teeth cleaning option in the garden?

It does sorta look like one, doesn't it. Nope, it is the low version of this raised bed pest control cover (which apparently they no longer offer.)

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/tall-pest-control-pop-ups/8587859RS.html#start=3


It is covering the strawberries, which, after an extremely mild winter, are producing more than they have since we planted them! Mmmmm, sweet, sweet strawberries. Pies, shortcake, on cereal, on ice cream. They won't last long, but they sure are good!

Next the cover will be moved to the green beans after they start forming. These are mostly for rabbits and birds over the strawberries. Groundhogs and deer will try to get into the beans.

[Blicj11]

Thanks for the explanation and the additional photo. Love your weed-free ground cover too. I assume it for holding in moisture. Does it work well?