Picture-A-Week 2019 - Week 08

[pierces]

Pictures taken between Monday, February 18 and Sunday, February 24.

 

Rules: See above

That's it. This isn't a contest.

All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising).

Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize.

The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays.

Post one. Post many. Up to you.

Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

 

 

[boeckli]

Sydney had four cruise ships in port today - unfortunately no sunshine but at least there were only a few spits of rain

 

Arcadia at the Overseas Passenger Terminal

 

Pacific Explorer and Amadea at White Bay

 

and Silver Muse anchored in the harbour

 

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by boeckli

[dileep]

[dileep]

15 hours ago, boeckli said:

Sydney had four cruise ships in port today - unfortunately no sunshine but at least there were only a few spits of rain

 

Arcadia at the Overseas Passenger Terminal

 

Pacific Explorer and Amadea at White Bay

 

and Silver Muse anchored in the harbour

 

 

 

 

 

That is amazing! Did you take the photos from the ferry?

[boeckli]

30 minutes ago, dileep said:

 

That is amazing! Did you take the photos from the ferry?

 

Glad you like.

First one from wharf at Circular Quay, second from ferry to Darling Harbour,  third from Manly ferry. Today Arcadia is back at anchor, basically swapped with Silver Muse. They were forced to stay in Sydney due to a cyclone off the Queensland coast that can't make up its mind ...

More Arcadia photos in the shps in port thread (I might add a couple more of Silver Muse too). I didn't get any closer to the ones at White Bay.

[dileep]

11 hours ago, boeckli said:

 

Glad you like.

First one from wharf at Circular Quay, second from ferry to Darling Harbour,  third from Manly ferry. Today Arcadia is back at anchor, basically swapped with Silver Muse. They were forced to stay in Sydney due to a cyclone off the Queensland coast that can't make up its mind ...

More Arcadia photos in the shps in port thread (I might add a couple more of Silver Muse too). I didn't get any closer to the ones at White Bay.

 

11 hours ago, boeckli said:

 

Glad you like.

First one from wharf at Circular Quay, second from ferry to Darling Harbour,  third from Manly ferry. Today Arcadia is back at anchor, basically swapped with Silver Muse. They were forced to stay in Sydney due to a cyclone off the Queensland coast that can't make up its mind ...

More Arcadia photos in the shps in port thread (I might add a couple more of Silver Muse too). I didn't get any closer to the ones at White Bay.

 

We spent half a day last November just riding the ferry on Melbourne race day starting in Manly, to Circular Quay, on the Darling Harbor, and back to Circular key and beyond. Lots of fun and very scenic.

 

 

[Geezer Cruiser]

The blue stands out even more on such a gray day! 

 

[pierces]

On Saturday, we drove north to Springville to visit Kim's Mom and Dad at her brother's place. It was a good trip and we drove through some pretty spectacular scenery. Snow had closed the 5 Freeway over the Tejon pass from the Los Angeles area to Bakersfield earlier in the week and the snow was very much still in evidence. After we arrived and greetings were exchanged, some of us went down to Evan’s workshop to check it out. I noticed this view immediately. The Sierra Nevada mountain range runs down nearly the entire eastern side of the state and forms a majestic backbone contrasting the lack of same in Sacramento and the Coastal population centers.

 

Hi, Sierras!

 

 

 

Dave

[boeckli]

6 hours ago, pierces said:

On Saturday, we drove north to Springville to visit Kim's Mom and Dad at her brother's place. It was a good trip and we drove through some pretty spectacular scenery. Snow had closed the 5 Freeway over the Tejon pass from the Los Angeles area to Bakersfield earlier in the week and the snow was very much still in evidence. After we arrived and greetings were exchanged, some of us went down to Evan’s workshop to check it out. I noticed this view immediately. The Sierra Nevada mountain range runs down nearly the entire eastern side of the state and forms a majestic backbone contrasting the lack of same in Sacramento and the Coastal population centers.

 

Hi, Sierras!

 

 

 

Dave

 

Quite spectacular! ☺

[Krazy Kruizers]

On 2/21/2019 at 7:15 AM, boeckli said:

Sydney had four cruise ships in port today - unfortunately no sunshine but at least there were only a few spits of rain

 

Arcadia at the Overseas Passenger Terminal

 

Pacific Explorer and Amadea at White Bay

 

and Silver Muse anchored in the harbour

 

 

 

 

 

Great pictures.  Especially with the plane flying in the back ground with the 2 ships.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On 2/22/2019 at 5:24 PM, Geezer Cruiser said:

The blue stands out even more on such a gray day! 

 

 

Great picture -- you are right -- the blue does stand out on a grey day.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On 2/25/2019 at 11:14 AM, pierces said:

On Saturday, we drove north to Springville to visit Kim's Mom and Dad at her brother's place. It was a good trip and we drove through some pretty spectacular scenery. Snow had closed the 5 Freeway over the Tejon pass from the Los Angeles area to Bakersfield earlier in the week and the snow was very much still in evidence. After we arrived and greetings were exchanged, some of us went down to Evan’s workshop to check it out. I noticed this view immediately. The Sierra Nevada mountain range runs down nearly the entire eastern side of the state and forms a majestic backbone contrasting the lack of same in Sacramento and the Coastal population centers.

 

Hi, Sierras!

 

 

 

Dave

 

Your picture does indicate that you had a beautiful day and drive.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On 2/21/2019 at 10:15 PM, dileep said:

 

Sadly we did not get to see the full moon -- we had a snow storm.

[zackiedawg]

Had a good day of birding on Saturday last weekend - got some good action shots, nice species diversity, and even got to see and shoot a few of the less common or periodic birds I haven't seen as often.  Here are a few of the shots:

 

A yellow-bellied sapsucker, only common here for about 1 month out of the year.  They drill holes in the tree to generate sap and eat it - you can see many little holes all around the tree, some leaking sap already:

 

Not a great shot for wall display, but for me, more exciting.  This is a bird I've photographed exactly twice before, both times getting only a bit of the face or bill with the rest blocked by reeds and leaves...just enough to identify it.  It's a very rare bird for my area...called a Virginia rail.  This was the most exposed shot I've ever gotten of one, but was shooting into the sun, from 100 feet away, and I had 2 seconds to see, focus, and shoot before he ran into the reeds again:

 

A great egret male - showing off his amazing peacock-like display as it's mating season...the great egrets grow these very long feathers down their backs as mating season approaches, and when the male builds a nest, he then fans out his display to attract attention, to show what a great nest he's built and how strong and vibrant he is for a potential mate:

 

The female great egrets grow the same feathers, but don't display as often - it's usually the male trying to show off, but occasionally the female will display back again when courting.  This female great egret saw the male above displaying, and flew over his way to show her interest:

 

The common cattle egret gets gussied up for mating season too - the usually all-white bird with dull grey-yellow legs and bill turns on the colors for attracting a mate, with the red legs, golden yellow patches on head and breast, vivid red eyes, and rainbow-hued bill:

 

So why are 'black-bellied whistling ducks' called that?  If you have ever heard them, you'd hear that they don't 'quack' as a duck is expected to, but instead make a strange whistling musical call.  And the other part of the name?  Well, here's the belly of one in flight to help figure that out:

[puppycanducruise]

Great pictures everyone, thanks for sharing.

Love the birds!