[Skymist]

Love to see other wildlife in this thread Skymist - nice shot of the seal.
These 3 (cross post) from last weekend (much quieter now migration is over)
Olive Backed Pipit

I love that shot of the Pipit.
Today despite the poor conditions (heavy overcast) I went out with the K-5 and Bigma, and found this male Brewer's Blackbird at water's edge catching small insects which I could not quite see from my distance, in the iceplant and succulent plants growing out of these rocks. For some reason the red and green coloration in the vegetation seems to make the shot sort of Christmas-y.
K-5, Bigma at 500mm, about 1/500s F/6.7, ISO 800, in poor lighting.

[crewl1]

Great shot, love the colors skymist.

[derekkite]

You wonder how these little guys can survive in the cold water. It was singing away.

[Skymist]

the weather hasn't been steller these past weekends but was able to get a few shots from my new 500

Great to see the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. I've been working on the Sapsuckers too, without much luck, and so far this is the best shot I have, of a Red Breasted Sapsucker from quite a distance, at the top of a tree, taken on an overcast late afternoon last week. I'm hoping to improve on this shot, but it takes patience and a lot of time to get close enough to one of these fast-moving birds.
K-5 with Bigma.

[Frogfish]

When was it built - late Ching or Republic period? It looks rather less decorated than most in Taiwan.

Hi Tim, I don't know much about it but the amount of decoration is almost always directly related to the amount of devotees visting the temples (and this tiny one is up a hidden and very steep path, on a rocky island, next to a container base, across the Donghai Bridge, 32 kms off-shore) ! I took my father to see the huge monasteries in Putuoshan (in the Zhou Shan Islands off the coast of Ningbo) and those are extremely ornate since everyone visiting the island (hundreds of thousands a year) must pay a substantial entrance fee (most of which goes to the numerous temples on the island - one of the 3 centres of Buddhism in China).

See my website here for a few examples : Zhou Shan Islands & Monasteries - Shanghai Safari - Kevin Harding

Thanks for the LIKE Daytona !

[Frogfish]

I wanted to switch it up today and went for a two hour hike along the trans canada trail to look for some bigger wildlife and only saw this little guy..2.6mp iso 1250..

Lovely shot nevertheless Travis !

[tim60]

Hi Tim, I don't know much about it but the amount of decoration is almost always directly related to the amount of devotees visting the temples (and this tiny one is up a hidden and very steep path, on a rocky island, next to a container base, across the Donghai Bridge, 32 kms off-shore) ! I took my father to see the huge monasteries in Putuoshan (in the Zhou Shan Islands off the coast of Ningbo) and those are extremely ornate since everyone visiting the island (hundreds of thousands a year) must pay a substantial entrance fee (most of which goes to the numerous temples on the island - one of the 3 centres of Buddhism in China).

See my website here for a few examples : Zhou Shan Islands & Monasteries - Shanghai Safari - Kevin Harding

Thanks for the LIKE Daytona !

Thanks for the explanation. Ningbo - near a centre of Buddhism in China - that's interesting. It was also one of the places that one of the 19th century Christian missionaries did some of his early work, apparently to reasonable success.

[Frogfish]

I love that shot of the Pipit.
Today despite the poor conditions (heavy overcast) I went out with the K-5 and Bigma, and found this male Brewer's Blackbird at water's edge catching small insects which I could not quite see from my distance, in the iceplant and succulent plants growing out of these rocks. For some reason the red and green coloration in the vegetation seems to make the shot sort of Christmas-y.
K-5, Bigma at 500mm, about 1/500s F/6.7, ISO 800, in poor lighting.

Thanks Skymist !

Such lovely colours in this shot - and a smart looking bird.

[Frogfish]

Thanks for the explanation. Ningbo - near a centre of Buddhism in China - that's interesting. It was also one of the places that one of the 19th century Christian missionaries did some of his early work, apparently to reasonable success.

The number of visitors to Putuoshan is huge because of it's relative close proximity to large population centres such as Shanghai / Ningbo / Nanjing / Hangzhou and Wenzhou (close to 100M in those environs alone !) and it's small airport. At public holiday times the entrance to the island looks like that of a cup final football match !

Interestingly Christianity (which has about 50M followers in China) is one of 4 core religions that the Communist party have allowed (even promoted - to fill the spiritual gap left by the lack of people becoming paid-up members of the Communist Party); Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Mazu (practiced by seafarers to Mazu, Goddess of the Sea).

[daytona9]

Great to see the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. I've been working on the Sapsuckers too, without much luck, and so far this is the best shot I have, of a Red Breasted Sapsucker from quite a distance, at the top of a tree, taken on an overcast late afternoon last week. I'm hoping to improve on this shot, but it takes patience and a lot of time to get close enough to one of these fast-moving birds.
K-5 with Bigma.

Good shot, Skymist. I know what that's like - been trying to get a good shot of a Superb Fairy Wren for years, this is my best so far. These guys are about 4" long and half of that is the tail.
(Shot with Bigma, at Sydney Olympic Park.)

[daytona9]

I wanted to switch it up today and went for a two hour hike along the trans canada trail to look for some bigger wildlife and only saw this little guy..2.6mp iso 1250..

Nice shot, dane.dawg. Just when you think you're not going to find anything, you are rewarded with a little gem like this.
I took my bike for a run up the coast last August, specifically to shoot Whistling Kites. Here's some of the better ones, plus an Australian Pelican, all handheld with the Bigma.

Cheers,
Greg.

[Sandy Hancock]

Good shot, Skymist. I know what that's like - been trying to get a good shot of a Superb Fairy Wren for years, this is my best so far. These guys are about 4" long and half of that is the tail.
(Shot with Bigma, at Sydney Olympic Park.)

They are beautiful birds. I shot one in the Grampians recently. See post #5075.

[dane.dawg]

Bigger than BHS? What were you hoping to find ?

Theres been some cougar sightings along the trail..Kevin that monastery is very cool, great shots Adam and Skymist. Derrek has it been snowing all week in Nelson? Amy, nice sapsucker shot hope you are enjoy your new lens.. We have a lot of black bears here but not that many of these guys..

[stormtech]

Very nice dane.dawg - it sure looks like he has his winter coat and ready for the big sleep.

[SteveM]

I can't get over how this thread has really taken off lately. Terrific shots of the Whistling Kites Greg. I'm no exactly sure what part of the province you're in dane.dawg but it looks amazing. We have some trouble from time to time with cougars, but luckily we only have black bears here on the island.