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What have you seen lately?

I find that drivers are VERY afraid of turkeys on the road. They stop like the turkeys will attack or something. I was late for somewhere last week. Came around a corner. Dammit! Line of turkeys crossing the road. I slowed but did not stop. Turkeys more than 1/3 the way across scurried. The two that hadn't made it that far turned around.

Shock of shocks. They DO get out of the way. LOL. They are just still foreign to people around here. I get that we had effectively zero 20 years ago. Well, maybe 25 years ago. But c'mon. Get with it, drivers.
 
So Tuesday AM I'm driving down 138 in Somerset to get to work. There is a school on the east side with a basset-ball court and a field. As I'm crossing the lights at the school, I see a BUNCH of turkey vultures sitting in the field. Just sitting there. Not in trees. On the ground. Not moving.

As I get closer, one of the TV's has his (her) wings completely outspread facing hte road. Not moving. Just wings completely outstretched.

As I get even closer, it isn't just him. Of the 20 or so TV's, 8 or so have their wings full out facing the road. Now I'm slowing down instead of accelerating from the red light.

I get even with the center of the "pack" and notice ONE TV is perched on the fence between the road and field - staring down into the other TV's.

So either they were kicking his sorry ass out of the club OR crowning him king of all turkey vultures. I'm not sure which. But it was one or the other.


Oh, and then I got to work and there were fornicating sparrows in the tree outside my office. At one point, it was a three-some. Funny stuff.
 
My Red Winged Blackbirds are back, building a nest in the cat of nine tails. Last year, I fed them dried meal worms and by the end of the season when the fledglings were about to leave, the male was almost feeding out of my hand.

Just watched an Osprey hit the lake and took off with a good sized fish. Too far away to identify the fish type.
 
I've been seeing herds of deer lately. Thursday on my way to work, in a 15 minute drive, there was a herd of 7, a herd of 5 and another one of 5. Yesterday was a herd of 6.

Seeing them in onesies and twosies as well, but the big groups are odd, to me.

Turkeys are everywhere. My kids want to hunt them, thinking it'll be easy with so many around. Sure it will.
 
smokey-seven said:
My Red Winged Blackbirds are back, building a nest in the cat of nine tails. Last year, I fed them dried meal worms and by the end of the season when the fledglings were about to leave, the male was almost feeding out of my hand.

Just watched an Osprey hit the lake and took off with a good sized fish. Too far away to identify the fish type.
Click to expand...

The nests are FULL UP. There's one in Broad Cove just off of 138 in Somerset that has been empty for years. A pair showed up and shooshed (jshoojshed? words you cannot spell for 500, Alex.) it all up from a bare platform to a full next this past week. Drive anywhere near the Taunton River in teh Dighton/Somerset area and you'll see a bunch of osprey. Which is so strange b/c 20 years ago, you were LUCKY to see one.
 
My computer is to the right of this pic. I overlook the lake as I work online. This showed up yesterday and pecked at the window a bit so I said, "Stop that." and he did. He then turned around and spent the next 1/2 hour standing there, looking at me and watching the lake. I even stood up, left the computer and got a coffee and he was there when I returned and sat back down. All he did was watch me.

duk.jpg
 
chuckster said:
Great pics, what are you shooting with?
Click to expand...
www.samsung.com

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra | Samsung US

Welcome to the epic new standard. Introducing Galaxy S22 Ultra, with a built-in S Pen, Nightography camera and a battery that goes way beyond all day.
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with
galaxystore.samsung.com

Expert RAW - Apps on Galaxy Store

Vividly capture your precious moments with the Expert RAW . The Expert RAW offers a wider dynamic range, letting you capture a lot more, from dark areas to bright areas, in one photo. Various ...
galaxystore.samsung.com galaxystore.samsung.com
 
chuckster said:
Great pics, what are you shooting with?
Click to expand...
One additional thought:

Expert RAW shoots as DNG. But it also includes its own HDR algorithm to produce a JPEG. Most of the time - and for all of those in that post - that's fine. Sometimes it isn't, such as when you have REALLY high dynamic range, e.g. sunrise.

In those cases (or in cases where I really, REALLY need something decent), I'll fetch the DNG, develop with ACR, and use my usual Photoshop workflow which includes Topaz DenoiseAI.

Example: this morning's ride - sunrise. JPEG from the algorithm:

20230421_054117.jpg

The algorithm missed a lot of nuance... and has a bit of that weird ghosting that happens with HDR with dark objects immediately adjacent to light. So:

20230421_054117 copy.jpg
 
SpaceCritter said:
One additional thought:

Expert RAW shoots as DNG. But it also includes its own HDR algorithm to produce a JPEG. Most of the time - and for all of those in that post - that's fine. Sometimes it isn't, such as when you have REALLY high dynamic range, e.g. sunrise.

In those cases (or in cases where I really, REALLY need something decent), I'll fetch the DNG, develop with ACR, and use my usual Photoshop workflow which includes Topaz DenoiseAI.

Example: this morning's ride - sunrise. JPEG from the algorithm:

View attachment 744807

The algorithm missed a lot of nuance... and has a bit of that weird ghosting that happens with HDR with dark objects immediately adjacent to light. So:

View attachment 744808
Click to expand...
Thank you for the explanation, but that stuff is way above my pay grade. I'm just a picture taker! lol
 
chuckster said:
Thank you for the explanation, but that stuff is way above my pay grade. I'm just a picture taker! lol
Click to expand...
Most shooting "real" photos (with a "real" camera) are shooting RAWs, and developing later in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom or whatever. My "real" camera is still a Nikon D90. Problem is, I'd rather not put it in

along with the trail tools, bikestuff, etc. Its home is my Ass-Over-Bandbox Bag:

which is designed to protect the camera, lenses, etc., even if I go ass-over-bandbox. And the AOB Bag really isn't for holding much bikestuff (and not really ANY trail tools - certainly not a Katanaboy or Gerber E-Tool).

BUT the for-real camera has the for-real GLASS. As much as they've been improving them with all sorts of gee-whiz, at the end of the day a cellphone camera is still a cellphone camera with its dinky lens(es - several in the case of the S22 Ultra). Only so many photons can get in.

For a designated photo ride, I'll take the AOB Bag with all the for-real gear. But that's not most rides on most days. So 95%+ of the time, the S22 Ultra in the stinky old RUSH12 with the trail tools etc. will have to do.

This, for example, was done with the D90:

View: https://youtu.be/kP2nTYOzs6g


27 frames IIRC each of which was a three-shot HDR, stitched together as an animation in Sony Vegas Pro.
 
Last edited:
Escapee.

I saw one on Christmas morning in our backyard circa. . . .1989 or 90. He just wandered up from the woods, did a quick circle in the grass and wandered back down into the woods. Such an odd place to see one. Nearest release area is about 5 miles and a month. LOL
 
I just happened to look out my kitchen window and caught this guy flying up with some nest-making material. Stopped on the cable line and sat there for 5-10 minutes. Got my camera, an old, small Canon Powershot A560 which has given me some great shots. He was about 50' from me so I cranked up the optical zoom and luckily caught this pic. IMG_1190.JPG
 

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