Well you didn't think that you could go a day without a post from me,

[Maestro]

did you? :rofl: Really, I tried but I got some cool shots again. The day started off with a bit of good fortune. As I went to let the dog in from outside I glanced up and saw a coyote at the end of my lot. I quickly grabbed my camera, but as coyotes are, she took off a'runnin'. I was only able to get this half-way decent shot of her very far away in the next pasture.


I had planned on going out looking for my elusive male Northern Cardinal. I had stopped by my local grocery store first to pick up few things, then I was heading to a place by which I pass when I bike. There are usually a large number of birds in that area. But anyhow, as I pull out of the grocery store, I pass the ole abandoned house behind it and you'll never believe my luck!

My raptor was sitting on top of an old metal post once used a clothes line! I slowly pulled over, but I wasn't too concerned since other cars were passing. The raptor had to be used to that. My main problem was approaching. I walked about ten yards and stopped. The raptor was having a bit of a snack.



I inched closer but it started to get nervous looking up and around quite often so I just stood still and would rely on my zoom and Photoshop to get closer.







Wait, now we are getting a bit perturbed.


Then she took off. It was quite exhilirating to find it right smack dab in the middle of surburbia. I eventually calmed down and went on my way.
This place helps me think and clear my thoughts. It is quite isolated.



And yes, here I did find my male Northern Cardinal. Still, though, they do not like my camera. The females behave much better. ;)



As a bonus, Mr. Downy Woodpecker showed up again.



Thanks for looking.

PS. I actually used these shots as a bit of education with my children on predator and prey. Then we went and looked up more animals they eat at the request of my children. Did you know they will eat other birds? I didn't.

Edit: Posted the same pic twice. :) And I forgot to mention that the light was horrid. It was overcast most of the day and in some of the brush where I took pictures my poor lens with only an f-stop rating of 4.5-5.6 struggled.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Cool ... I love the coyote.

[Maestro]

4. Thanks.

It's small bananas compared to what you get in Alaska, say, for example, Snowzilla! ;)

[priller]

2. Doesn't really look like suburbia to me

Coyote is cool. (BTW, "coyote" is one of the few Aztec words carried over into English.)

Do you do any sharpening in Photoshop? I think it would make these shots ever better!

[Maestro]

3. I really need to learn more about Photoshop.

I have the full blown CS2, but don't hardly do anything with it. I was pretty disappointed with my last hawk shots. They looked fine on the computer screen but in print they were very underexposed and not as sharp. Part of the lack of sharpness came from all the cropping I did, but I need to better learn the unsharp mask command.

I hope the coyote comes back again too. About the only time I see them around here is after they have been hit by a car. :-( I definitely hear them howling especially when a pair have pups. The pups make all sorts of noise at night.

[priller]

5. Sharpening is your friend!

Even basic "unsharp mask" will help a lot. "Smart Sharpening" is even better. But sharpening is a surprisingly deep subject. Whole books have been written about it (well, at least one I know of). And, as it turns out, it's necessary for digital cameras, especially if you shoot in RAW mode.

[Maestro]

6. And I do shoot in RAW

especially for the ease of setting the exposure. I have seen the sharpening mode in RAW but to tell you truth I haven't seen much difference in the pictures when I work with it.

[priller]

7. Right, the "sharpen" slider in Camera Raw doesn't do much

In fact, I don't think it's supposed to do much, because generally you want sharpening to be one of the last things you do to an image. Unsharp mask and smart sharpening can have a large effect, though. Give it a try!

[Richard D]

8. Cóyotl for sure . . .

and the most important of all of the gods' creation, ahuacatl, from which is made ahuacamolli, which wouldn't be the same without chilli or a ripe tomatl .
A nice cup of hot cacahuatl after dinner would top off a good meal while sitting on the porch of your xacalli (ok, this one is obscure).

[Maestro]

9. Okay I'm hijacking my own thread

ahuacatl is aquacate in Spanish and avocado in English.
ahuacamolli is guacamole in English
chilli is obvious as is tomatl
cacahuatl, café in Spanish and coffee in English. That is wierd because the common Mexican Spanish word for peanut is cacahuate. That looks very similar.
xacalli is tough, cabaña in Spanish, cabin in English?

[Richard D]

12. Words are fun.

Cacahuatl is the bean of Theobroma cacao. Theobroma means "food of the gods", and the cacao part originated from the Nahuatl. The reason why we call it chocolate instead of caca is, well, fairly obvious. Chocolate probably originated from the Mayan "chocol haa" ("hot water") combined with the Nahuatl cacahuatl ("bitter water"). Probably also where the Nahuatl xocolatl came from.

xacalli is the origin of the word "shack".

[priller]

11. Ha! Maybe not so few after all.

And from "xocolatl", pronounced shok-o-latl, we get chocolate.

A few years ago I was in Oaxaca on a much too brief vacation. In Oaxaca City, in the mercado district, they had these chocolate shops where they actually roasted and ground the cacao beans right in the store. They had these grinders that looked to me like mini cement mixer drums, where they combined the ground beans with sugar and butter and sometimes cinammon or almonds. You can smell it before you reach the store, it's so strong, almost overpowering, but completely wonderful.

That was by far my favorite vacation. Only there for 3 days but I loved it. Terrible what's happening there now.

[Richard D]

13. I have many of the same memories.

One of the most beautiful cities in Mexico. I hope they find peace there soon.
If you liked Oaxaca you will really love the highlands of Guatemala.

[qanda]

10. I usually don't say much

But I just wanted to let you know that I love your threads and actually look forward to them. Thanks for sharing and I hope you'll keep them up.

[Maestro]

14. Sure will qanda.

No problem. Check back soon.