Some local wildlife
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brianvds
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It's a carpenter bee. They're big and fluffy, like bumblebees, but they bore holes into wood for their nests, hence the name. They're also thieves: I have noticed that when flowers are too small for them to get into, they drill a little hole at the base of the flower, stick in their tongues and steal nectar without paying for it in pollination services.
brianvds
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I always think of those wood bees as "stupid." They fly so slow and loud and remind me of a dumb cartoon character going along in the air, "Doo-doot, dar duh dar..."
Yup, they sort of clumsily bumble around; I find them very cute.
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Interesting - the fat carpenter bees I'm most familiar with are yellow and black: they look like regular bees. This guy is unique looking with his black & white.It's a carpenter bee. They're big and fluffy, like bumblebees, but they bore holes into wood for their nests, hence the name. They're also thieves: I have noticed that when flowers are too small for them to get into, they drill a little hole at the base of the flower, stick in their tongues and steal nectar without paying for it in pollination services.
They do drone loudly and hover slowly. In my former neck of the woods, I think they're also called carpenter bees because of their naughty ways around house and deck boards.
I love the little brats.
brianvds
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Some from this morning's walk in the neighborhood...
Saw this Cape glossy starling juvenile in the garden. It somehow got out of its nest and cannot fly well yet:
But the parents are around and still looking after it, so I let it be:
Cape turtle dove basking in the morning sun:
Gardeners don't like snails, but I think they're cute:
Cape white-eyes:
They move around in small flocks, rapidly hopping around in dense vegetation, which makes them very difficult to photograph. I took about a thousand photos to get two that were more or less in focus!
These black-eyed bulbuls, on the other hand, posed nicely:
Bonus pic - not wildlife, but with such a nice pose, how can one not snap a quick pic?
Saw this Cape glossy starling juvenile in the garden. It somehow got out of its nest and cannot fly well yet:
But the parents are around and still looking after it, so I let it be:
Cape turtle dove basking in the morning sun:
Gardeners don't like snails, but I think they're cute:
Cape white-eyes:
They move around in small flocks, rapidly hopping around in dense vegetation, which makes them very difficult to photograph. I took about a thousand photos to get two that were more or less in focus!
These black-eyed bulbuls, on the other hand, posed nicely:
Bonus pic - not wildlife, but with such a nice pose, how can one not snap a quick pic?
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brianvds
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I enjoy your wildlife photos.
For a narrow depth of field you can try the "Aperture priority" mode, usually marked as A. Then you can fix a lens aperture and leave remaining settings to the camera to select.
If anything, I find the depth of field too narrow for many pictures...
Anyway, on with the wildlife, this time with a humble cell phone camera. I found this handsome fellow in my landlady's swimming pool:
They're known as water scorpions, but it's a misnomer - they are not scorpions, and for all their fearsome appearance they are harmless to humans. The "stinger" is just a breathing tube.
brianvds
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Wow. What incredible pictures! They look like it's on the moon!
I put it in a plastic tub, but what with the sun shining on it, it did indeed create a somewhat weird effect.
Some more wildlife, taken in my local small reserve some days ago:
This is called a robber fly. They're a species of fly, but are fierce little predators. This one is holding a prey item which it is slowly sucking dry.
