Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: duck

(+8 insets!) Steve and I spent a long, full week at LaPine State Park and it was just awesome! The only thing that could have improved our stay was a few more days there! The forest, the river, the trails, the proximity to endless natural beauty…we had such a super time! One day we went to Paulina Lake, which nestles within the 54,000 acres of Newberry Volcanic National Monument. The lake itself, along with its close neighbor, East Lake, are in the caldera of Newberry Volcano, an active volcanic area that formed about 600,000 years ago. We spent a lovely day hiking the perimeter of the lake, accompanied by Pumpkin, who enjoyed the beautiful lake as much as wee did. The trail meandered near the shore most of the way but also ventured into the conifer forest, climbing up at times to afford high glimpses over the lake. The most remarkable sight was the obsidian that covered the ground in some areas, littering the trail with gleaming shards of volcanic glass. There were hillsides of obsidian boulders and rocks that created an incredible sight, and Steve and I marveled at the sight of so much obsidian in one place. The walk was almost perfect the whole way. The temperature was warm and sunny without being hot. The only part that wasn't great was a stretch about half a mile long where we encountered clouds of gnats. They were completely out of control! They were in swarms so thick that you could hear them buzzing in your ears and it was necessary to flap a hand in front of my face to see the way. Bugs drive Steve crazy, so he was a very unhappy camper, worried they would be an issue for the entire hike. I told him they would probably abate once we got away from the algae-covered lake edge where they were breeding. Thankfully my guess was right and the rest of the hike was bug-free and fabulous! Today's Pictures Yes, I know…my main picture probably ought to have been a view of the lake. However, I just couldn't resist the image I got of an upended duck as it was rummaging for vegetation below! Really, can you blame me?! :D (By the way, Dduring our hike, I managed to get enough nice pictures that I'll be posting two sets to share our adventure, so here's set 1!) Insets Include… …a lovely view of Paulina Lake complete with a beautiful mountain in the background …a pair of Lodgepole Pines leaning out over the water and the trail meandering past …a lichen-covered tree stump at the edge of the water …a fishing boat buzzing by after a hopefully successful morning …one of the gleaming obsidian boulders next to the trail, irresistible to touch and admire …gleaming chunks of obsidian on the ground to stare at …one of the hillsides covered with obsidian rocks which tumbled down to the trail and invited us to explore its amazing bounty …The Squidgy Gang (Bun, George and Stormy) at Deschute River, LaPine State Park, 2020! :D I hope everyone is having a safe and pleasant week! Thank you so much for your visits and comments, I appreciate all of you! Explored on 8/20/20; highest placement #12.

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is doing well, staying healthy and away from others! I've been getting a few notes from folks checking in on me so I wanted to let everyone know that both Steve and I are doing just great! Healthy, happy and doing just fine, our supervisor, Pumpkin (our parrot) is making sure we're doing everything right each day. :) All of this virus business is just really hard to deal with so we continue to keep our heads down. I also wanted to apologize for not coming around to visit. I feel very guilty. :( It's really hard for me because the moment I get to a person's stream I'm hit with a wall of concern and worry about each person and their family. I think maybe it's because I'm so empathic that this just totally immobilizes me and makes me hugely depressed and anxious. Please forgive my absence, I just can't handle the deep concern and worry that I feel about each and every one of you. I am sure that once the world turns the corner on this virus I will feel better but right now it's just too hard for me to be the social butterfly, even though I want to so badly. :( I continue to hide from the world's horrendous tragedies by playing the amazing and wonderfully innocent game, "Garden Paws."(link to review) It's hopelessly adorable, beautiful and really fun, full of animals so cute you just want to pop. You can raise baby farm animals to adults and then use their eggs, feathers, milk, etc. for crafting many things. Seeds you plant in your garden grow into flowers for bouquets, fruits and veggies for cooking and baking and you can pick them in the wild too. There are trees and minerals to harvest, a town to help develop, and about 10 zillion things to keep you running and happily distracted from the worries of the real world. I used to play another game like this called "Animal Crossing" but I am happy to say that this game is much better, in my opinion. If you are looking for a way to distract yourself in a world that is beautiful and full of fun things to keep you busy, it might be something for you to try! Today's picture was taken a year ago in the nearby town of Grant's Pass. They have a lovely riverside park which is the home to many semi-tame waterfowl and one day Steve and I stopped for a short visit. This darling Mallard hen is one of my favorites of the pictures I took and I hope that it makes you chuckle too. My, but isn't she WIDE?! Hilarious! I can't help but smile whenever I see this picture so I figured it would be perfect for my post! :) *** Pam, it's always so nice to hear from you and I'm glad to know that you guys are keeping healthy and have everything you need to keep away from the world for the most part. I know you're right--this will all blow over--but it's staggering to see this thing blowing up bigger and bigger... You are in my thoughts and I hope my virtual hugs make it to you! :) Explored on 4/5/20; highest placement #1.

(+2 insets) (Sorry for the War & Peace length…you can skip to the end for info about the pictures! It's important to me that I have a nice journal for myself, so this is excessively long! However, if you've been enjoying my adventures, go get a pot of coffee! :D) Last night after dinner, Steve and I walked out onto the dock and sat down to listen to the evening birdy show. So many kinds of birds I'd never heard of before. My favorites were the birds that sounded like laughing hyenas…one would start going and then a whole flock would join in. I couldn't help but laugh myself! :) Steve thought we could be more comfortable so he returned a few minutes with our new comfy deck chairs and a coat and hat for me. It was starting to get quite chilly with the sun gone for the day and the breeze was kicking up over the lake. My warm sweater wasn't enough but the coat and hat fixed all of that and we sat together in bliss. Almost all of the birds were in the marsh quite some ways from us and we could only see a few specks. We didn't care…being out there was such a joy. The lake and mountains all around were just so lovely. We heard flapping just overhead and saw a pair of Canada Geese fly in and land on the grassy bank nearby. Then we heard honking and in came another one. It nearly crash-landed on one of the two and ran after it, honking and flapping its wings. The two ran around with open wings, challenging one another before taking off and flying out into the lake, making a wide turn and coming back in again, honking the whole time. The third one flew off, honking, to land in the water far off. The two flew away, one chasing the other, and after a couple of minutes, one of them returned to land with the third one in the water. Well, well. Some satisfied honks and the pair swam contentedly away. What a cool thing to witness! With that we decided to head in. It was getting dark, cold and windy, and we were very happy with our commune with Upper Lake Klamath. Bedtime is just like at home with Pumpkin cuddling for an hour while we watch a tv show or part of a movie. We're hoping the tv we got can be better calibrated for proper color rendition but otherwise it's perfect. (Update: Steve fixed the color, yay!)(By the way, watching a show is a nightly routine to get our parrot ready for bed and something we've done every day for almost 20 years since we brought her home! :D) ------------ This morning Steve and I were awoken at 6am by a very loud beep that repeated every 30 seconds or so. We finally determined that it was the propane gas alarm but before we did anything else, Steve opened the doors to ventilate the trailer in case there were any fumes. We were surprised because there shouldn't have been any problems since we weren't doing anything out of the ordinary. Once Steve located the online manual he learned that the sensor was giving an "end of life" battery alarm. We'll replace that first thing when we get home. With the alarming (literally) early wake-up, we both went back to sleep for another hour or so and continued our happy new trailer tradition of a snuggle before starting the day. We are certainly enjoying our trailer and all of us are sleeping very comfortably. This campsite has "full hookups" which mean we have water, electricity and sewer too, so it's all been super easy for us, just as we wanted for our first time out in our RV. The kinks are also worked out for just about everything so our lists of "things missing" and "need to add/fix" are getting much shorter--hooray! Today Steve and I took a canoe out onto Upper Klamath Lake's canoe trail! As expected, we were really excited! After an early brunch of eggs, bacon, and an avocado--along with world-class espresso & cream--we put together a daypack with plenty of snacks, applied sunscreen, brought bug spray and bottles of water and headed out. Steve took his Canon 5D MkIII with our awesome 24-105mm lens. My choice was a no-brainer. I brought my awesome new Sony with its 25x zoom. I had to snicker to myself though…ever since I got my Canon 5D MkII, I'd been dreaming of coming back to Upper Klamath to "retake" my "inferior" pictures (they are actually just fine) taken with my old Canon SX30IS superzoom camera. And now, when I finally get the chance to retake those pictures with my MkII, I'm not doing it. I'm taking my Sony and laughing the whole time! (Also, even if I'd wanted to take it, we have only one 24-105mm and though this is the proper use of our 100-300mm, I'm just not going to deal with that monster lens…it needs a tripod. A tripod in a CANOE? Um…no. LOL. We need to sell that lens I'm afraid. It deserves a home where it will be used! Our canoe trip was a truly lovely experience, as we knew it would be. You cannot beat the beauty of that lake. What a nice time it was, paddling along the canoe trail and listening to the birds everywhere. The sounds of the water as we dipped into the lake and stroked along was soothing as was the lapping of the water up against the boat. Twinkling water and pretty ripples everywhere--it was truly a form of natural meditation to go on this adventure. So serene. We did have to laugh though…getting closer to the birds was not happening. The moment they saw our canoe, you could almost hear the birds scream "EEEEEEEEE!!!" as they took off and flew away! Oh well, we didn't care. Birds were not the only reason to visit this lake! :-) The weather simply couldn't have been better. Blue skies dappled with white sky sheepies, a light breeze and the perfect temperature. We were so happy! We stopped to nibble our snacks here and there, our canoe parked on reeds while we listened to the symphony of birdlife everywhere. Even though the hoards of waterfowl we'd envisioned weren't there, I did get a few pictures of some birds I have never seen before, including my picture of the day! :) One species which is common in wetlands is the lovely Red-Winged Blackbird, and though Steve and I have seen these birds (and now on our property too!), we've never had the chance to take pictures. We got many opportunities on our adventure, which made us both really happy! (I know I got at least one really nice picture but won't be posting it today…I'm so delighted though!) The scenery was also incredible and will be fun to post images of what we got to see! What a place. Totally spectacular!! At one point we passed by some manmade bird houses and sitting on branches nearby were a pair of lovely swallowtails who were contentedly preening their feathers. Overhead there were at least half a dozen more zooming around, diving low over the water and then up again, doing all kinds of acrobatics. All of them were twittering and carrying on grandly. It was straight out of a Disney scene! We were so happy for this aerial show! We ended up going for about 5 miles and both of us were ready to be back after 3 hours of paddling. My arms and shoulders will have a few things to say to me tomorrow morning, I expect! :D What a great time we had! Steve prepared dinner while I read my book "Paddle to the Amazon" in our hammock hanging between two trees, what fun. He knew I'd wanted to spend some time "hanging out" and was happy to accommodate for my "bucket list" item, what a sweetheart! Ok, I have to be done!! Today's picture is a duck that I believe is called a Buffelhead...if you know what else it might be I'd love to have it properly identified! The two insets include a Brewer's Blackbird that I photographed at the campground, and a view of the lake from the camp. So peaceful. :) Pam, I'm hoping all is well with you! Thank you for your sweet comments on my adventure so far! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/25/19, highest placement, #3.

(+3 insets!) Please view large for more hideous details! :D Steve and I are simply bouncing up and down in excitement!!!! Our tails are flapping wildly!! We cannot control our ear-to-ear grins and happy squeeing! On Monday, we will be driving our RV about an hour away to Upper Klamath Lake where we will park at a reserved campground space!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!! *more uncontrolled bouncing* We plan to arrive at about noon on Monday, stay for 3 nights and leave on the morning of the 4th day. This campsite has water and electricity hookups and more, so it will be just like being at home. Except for one thing…WE WON'T BE AT HOME! :D For our first trip we wanted to go somewhere close by that was familiar to us. It wasn't hard to choose because most places we thought of are still too cold to camp at…but not this spot! Upper Klamath is the largest lake in Oregon and features an enormous variety of local and migrant birds, both waterfowl and others. One of the coolest features found here is the 9.5 mile canoe trail that takes you around and through the shallow marshy areas and give you access to views of many species of waterfowl. Steve and I have paddled this trail one autumn many years ago and it was an amazing experience for both of us. If you'd like to see pictures of our adventure, I have an album that you'll enjoy: Upper Klamath Lake We know that Upper Klamath Lake attracts countless birds during springtime, both as a breeding ground and also a stop-over for birds in migration, but we've never been able to visit during any of the peak times. We're hoping to see lots of birds but even if we don't, it will be an incredibly beautiful place to stay! Where we're staying also has trails to hike and cycle, though we won't be bringing our bikes this time around. The plan is to drive out there and just hang out. We want to just enjoy the beautiful area and not do too much. We need to see how we like this camping business. Heh. Pumpkin and Molly will also be going so we'll have the whole family with us! We can't believe that we're really and truly going to begin our RV touring in just a few days! That being said, we still have lots of things to do but we'll be ready and on time when Monday rolls around. Today I'm featuring pictures I took a couple of days ago with my new Sony camera! Steve and I drove about 30 miles to Grants Pass to do some errands. Afterwards we drove to a park that lines the edge of the Rogue River. While Steve entertained himself on his phone, I hopped out and dove into ducky and goosy heaven! :) There are always lots of people-sensitized Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks there so I knew I'd have plenty of opportunities for some close-up bird pictures. Other species are usually there too and this day the star was a gorgeously hideous Muscovy Duck! A resting seagull made for some nice pictures too. I wasn't sure how much luck I'd have with my new camera but I clicked away and crossed my fingers. Imagine my delight when I discovered dozens of excellent shots that were crisp and included soft backgrounds! I can see that over-exposure will be an issue on bright days--you may notice some blowout here and there--but because I have the choice to save my images in RAW format, I was able to correct most of the problems very nicely. I can't tell you how pleased I am. This camera is so much better than my last bridge camera! I mean, obviously it should be--a camera from 2010 should be blown out of the water by one from 2017--but it's awesome to see this for myself. I am finding some aberrations at full zoom but hey, my Canon 100-300 had them too. They aren't bad and easy enough to fix. To have the freedom to capture portraits of animals I hadn't been able to for so many years…I'm over the moon! :) Today's main picture is a portrait of the Muscovy Duck. I'm afraid this species fell out of the Ugly Tree and hit every branch on the way down! *cringe* :D However, they are really interesting to look at and have gorgeous variegated feathers to appreciate. I'm also sharing a full view of the Muscovy and mallard hybrid with a portrait crop that I captured. The mallard looks different than the normal longer-faced types I've seen. I know they interbreed with other ducks sometimes, maybe that accounts for the lovely petite face? I'll have more to share in the next few days, including some neat Canada Geese images. :D Pam, I did a search for "duck" and came up with Flicka and his ducky toy ! Awwww, how adorable. Moosey and Zoey both loved to shred stuff but Moosey loved STICKS. He'd happily gnaw on a stick until there was nothing left…then he'd look up at us and he mouth would be covered in stick bits and drool…*shudder*…but he was so proud and happy that of course we'd exclaim, "YOU DID IT!! GOOD BOY MOOSIE!!!" And he'd beam with big happy eyes and bang his tail on the ground in joy! :D *sigh*…we miss our Moosey and Zoey ever so… I hope that the storm is long gone and sun has brightened your day like it has here! *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon* :) Explored on 4/20/19, highest placement, #3.

Steve and I visited the Harry & David garden and park back in April 2014 for some springtime photography. Strolling around their pond, we were amazed to see several very stunning but unusual Mallard ducks. I learned that they are a blend between a domestic, fancy-colored duck and a wild Mallard. So beautiful!! :)

Note: I just finished writing the first of a series of blog posts about my new garden! My New Adventure: A Raised Bed Flower Garden! A couple of months ago, Steve and I visited a large public garden because we'd seen a friend's photography and hoped to see some of the same things. There was a huge variety of plants and flowers, and although we were too early for much of the show, we weren't late for the DUCK SHOW! There were two large ponds and many beautiful ducks, geese and other waterfowl to photograph. I managed to get very lucky with this shot, and captured this pair's lively discussion! :D (Thanks very much to Hawkeye (Art) for the extra information about the unusually colored duck on the left, it appears to be either a male Saxony or Leucistic Mallard, how COOL!) Early Announcement and Invitation: I have decided to do another A-Z project after this one is finished, and would like to invite all who are interested to join me! It's going to be about a month before I'm done with this current project, but I wanted to bring it up now so you can begin thinking about it to decide if you'd like to join in the fun! The requirements are as restricted as you want to make them: you can make it easy by having it like mine, "Anything that starts with the letter", or you can have a theme for your project, such as "A-Z Birds", "A-Z Flowers", "A-Z Insects". Keep in mind that a theme can be anything, such as photographic terms, or things that are a specific color, or items in your house or tool shop. The sky is the limit with an A-Z project, and yet, it's only 26 pictures, so it's not a project that will take over your whole life. Start thinking about it now, and if you want to join in, you can begin capturing and processing your pictures, placing them into a folder to upload as I upload mine! Explored on May 21, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

(for those of you who are interested in seeing my San Francisco trip images, I have uploaded 10 pictures in this batch [158 in the past few weeks]. Thanks everyone for your comments and your visits to my photostream! I hope you enjoy the show!) (Oh, and yes, I know there are really too many pictures to be uploading at one time but I have too many images I want to put into my Flickr stream so it just can't be helped!) One of the places Laura and I walked to was the Arboretum, which is a wonderful, enormous collection of plants from all over the world. There are many ponds and water features throughout the Arboretum and they attract lots of water fowl, including ducks, geese, and egrets! This is the first mallard I've ever photographed! :) Isn't he spectacular?! By the way, for those of you who may not know, there is a very fun, free Flickr competition site which you might like to take part in. It's called FlickrDuel and features dozens of ongoing competitions, or duels every day. You can enter your pictures into many different categories and vote on contests too. It's another way to enjoy your photography! This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

She was with the male in the previous photograph. What a lovely little hen! This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

Back in October, the day before Halloween (10/31), Steve and I went to a beautiful park in Ashland, Oregon, called Lithia Park. We wanted to take pictures of fall colors, and while we were there, we found a pond full of happy Mallard ducks! If you have read my new profile, one of the two images that Steve took which pushed me over the edge to move up to a full-frame sensor, was that of a female mallard duck flapping her wings. This was *MY* best picture of that flapping mallard. I think it's a nice picture...but...the difference in quality between mine and Steve's (shown in the first comment below) filled me with great frustration. *I* wanted to take shots like HIS, not like MINE! (By the way, if you haven't read my profile, you can see it here: www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ ) This image was taken on October 30, 2011.