Spring is in the air

I can feel it.  It's just around the corner and will be here soon.  Hopefully the snow on the weekend was the end of the "white stuff" that we've been seeing for the past little while.

Ralph and I have been enjoying our morning coffee watching the birds as they have been busy getting their nests ready.  Twigs and fluffs are going into the bird houses while "old stuff" is being pushed out.  These birds are really quite meticulous in their cleaning habits.

Another sure sign that spring is almost here is the number of squirrels rummaging around in the back yard.  Many of them have lots of fur missing around their necks reminding me that they too are preparing their nests for the babies to come.

Migration north

It's hard to imagine wanting to fly north into the colder environment, but this is exactly what these birds are doing.  This is the Tundra Swan migration.  Ralph and I thought we would check this out as its has started and will last for a couple of weeks this month. They say that as many as 10,000 to 60,000 swans will fly past on their way to the Arctic to nest in the Tundra.  They stay in the Arctic for approximately 102 days where they lay their eggs and raised their young only to take flight again and head south to Chesapeake Bay, Virginia down in the south.  It really is an amazing (and somewhat stinky) thing to see.  These birds are very similar to the Trumpeter Swans and are often confused with them.  We were told however that the Trumpeters were almost extinct back in the 90's but a program has been working on reviving that colony in the north (I believe they said near Midland) and some Trumpeters have also been seen flying with the Tundra swans.  It really is quite interesting to listen to all the bird watchers as they know so much and are always willing to share.

Yesterday was bitter cold but we still decided to head out.  The temperature was -6c when we left and it didn't warm up much at all during the day.  There was a wind blowing constantly making our hands very cold.  We often went back into the truck to warm up for periods of time as between the shivering and hair flapping in my eyes, it was nice to get a break from the wind.

While we were there I had mentioned to Ralph that I thought I had seen some cranes.  I guess someone had overheard me as I heard them talking later about someone (me I think) saying that they had seen a crane.  I was a little embarrassed as I certainly am not a "birder" but the colouring sure looked like a crane.  Sure enough while we were there a pair of cranes flew in and joined the swans.  I thought that was pretty cool!

Valentine sunset

While the girls (Arja, Claudia, Teresa and I) have been away in Florida we missed Valentines Day with the special men in our lives.  We love them with all our heart. God reminded us of his love by painting the sky a brilliant red over the golf course at Copperleaf last night. It was amazing.

Wavy days at the beach

We enjoyed playing in another golf tournament yesterday.  This time we played at Shaftesbury Glen.  It was a nice course and we enjoyed our round.  We played with a couple (Jack and Nancy) who were down from Ohio for the winter.  We played a good round finishing with a 69.  We were happy.

Today it was very foggy and windy when we woke up.  The ocean was so rough which made the waves amazing to watch.

As I was developing my pictures today I saw these pelicans way off in the distance up the beach. I thought it was a great opportunity to try some abstract photography.  I like the result, it's different from anything I have ever done before.

As the fog subsided the waves gradually calmed down as well.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.  We spent a couple of hours at the beach. It sure was nice to be out in the sunshine.  We had some fun joking around this afternoon.  We laughed so much.  Time is going by fast, so we want to be sure to enjoy the beautiful weather as much as we can.

We had fun photographing the birds.

The day was finished with a nice glass of wine on the balcony.  

Chilly weather upon us

Well the last couple of days have been a bit colder.  I'm not complaining though as we can still sit on our balcony and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and not really feel the bite of the wind.  We've been blessed with a few amazing sunrises again.  Since we don't set our alarm clock, I depend on my internal clock to wake me.  A few mornings have been a mad scramble to get out on the balcony to shoot the picture but I'm still happy with the results.  I just don't listen to myself when I say - tonight I'll make sure the camera is set up ready to go.  These past couple of days have seen me running around frantically setting up my camera (changing lenses) and tripod and getting out on the balcony.  Sometimes I'm half dressed but hey - no one is looking up so thats ok (I hope).

I really enjoy all the birds on the beach.  There are many different kinds.  Terns/Sea Gull's, Pigeons, Pelicans and sometimes Sand Pipers.  There are hundreds of them.  They aren't really interested in flying although I do try to encourage them once in a while lol.

The moon has been spectacular this week. My photo's don't do it justice.  This too has been a bit of a scramble as sometimes we are sitting eating dinner and I'll say to Ralph - let me just check outside and wouldn't you know it, it's halfway up in the sky grrrrr....

This morning the sunrise was absolutely beautiful.  I will admit that I overslept a bit, but I was still able to capture some of it.  Don't ask how I was dressed though as I set up my tripod.  Thankfully I have a good feature on my camera that allows me to set it up and it will take pictures continuously at a predetermined time so I can get dressed and make myself a coffee and feel confident that I'll still get the shot.  

Later today we thought we might try some timed exposure on the beach.  It didn't work out too well but at least we learned while doing it.  I had not quite set up my camera right so I'll try it again on a warmer day!!

While we were on the beach we saw this large group of birds flying. It looked somewhat like our Canadian Geese, but surprisingly it was pelicans.  How cool is that!!

Lazy days in the sunshine

We have spent the last couple of days enjoying the warm weather.  On Friday the temperature reached 18c and it was quite lovely. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and went golfing at "World Tour".  It's been a few years since we have played here and we really enjoyed our round.  Sadly, everyone else wanted to take advantage of the nice day and the course was busy.  We waited for every hole on the back 9, but we weren't complaining as the sun was out and it's certainly better than snow.

We thought we would get up early and go back to Murrell's Inet to photograph the sunrise.  It was supposed to be a nice morning however the sky was filled with cloud and there wasn't much of a sunrise.  We decided to enjoy breakfast at the Marshwalk instead and walk around and try to capture some of the birds that are in this area.

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After breakfast we went to Huntington Beach and spent the bulk of the day enjoying the birds at the Marsh.  It was really quite interesting as we saw Osprey, Eagles, Egrets, Herons, Sand Pipers and many other birds while we were there.

This was so cool to capture on our camera's.  The fish was quite large.

While we were at the marsh in Huntington Beach, this eagle decided it was going to hunt a snowy egret.  We were amazed at how aggressive the eagle was but it wasn't successful.  Other people on the causeway told us that yesterday it had grabbed a duck right out of the water.  Amazing.