Kauai 2014: day 5, part 1

Lots of pics this day, thanks to a return trip to Kilauea Lighthouse, so I decided to break it into two parts. First up, albatross:

I had to do some processing on this one, as the shadows were pretty bad in the original, but I wanted to share because of the drop of water at the tip of its beak:

They liked to soar around the point the lighthouse sits on, which provided ample opportunities for pictures. Getting a good shot that was in focus was a bit trickier; these were some of the better ones.

I liked the illusion of the beak seeming to come straight out of the body:

Mixing things up a bit, a frigate bird I only noticed just as it was going over my head:

A bit further out, this frigate bird did some preening mid-flight:

And then spotted something below that enticed it to dive:

Back to the albatross, a few of my better closeup shots: 

A red-footed booby cruising by:

And a brown booby:

Finally, to close things out, one of the most epic side-eyes I've ever been on the receiving end of:

Kauai 2014: day 4

Quiet day at the house; as I recall, I was still working on recovering from jet lag, and it wasn't the best day weather-wise. So I wandered out onto the lanai, where I spotted a spider building a web. After I bit of research, I think I've identified it as a spiny orbweaver. Regardless, it was fascinating to watch it work, and I think I got some fairly decent shots along the way.

Kauai 2014: Day 3

Current goal is to get this year's vacation pics posted before I go on next year's. Let's see how that goes. As I recall, this was Super Bowl Sunday. So we started the day with a quiet morning at the house, during which I occasionally wandered outside to take a few photos. Starting things off, some Japanese white-eye shots:

I left this one pretty much as is, rather than cropping in on the bird, to help provide a better sense of the bird's size. And, in this case, how well it blends in with the foliage it's sitting in: 

Checking out a banana tree: 

A brown anole I happened to spot as I stood out on the lanai; love the curl in its tail: 

Later on, while at a good friend's house for his annual Super Bowl party, I got bored by the blowout the game turned into and went outside to try and photograph some birds instead. A Northern Cardinal obliged by landing on a banana leaf fairly close to where I stood: 

A Red-Crested Cardinal that didn't want to be left out of the fun:

 

These two didn't occupy the same leaf for very long:

After getting my host's permission, I put out some birdseed on the lanai railing, and it didn't take long to get results: 

I definitely got a couple of nice closeups out of it:

Caught a bit of a tiff as well:

One of the most entertaining aspects of feeding birds is watching the Java sparrows and zebra doves jockey for position along the railing: 

 

The zebra dove in the middle is practically standing on a Java sparrow's head:

 

And for my parting shot, a Java sparrow just peeking over the edge of a banana leaf: 

Branch Pond

To make up for how very long it's been, an extra-long foliage post. All of these images were taken during a trip with my father to Branch Pond, off Kelly Stand Road here in Vermont, on September 27.

First up, a shot taken as we started our journey up the mountain:

Images from the path we walked to get to the pond itself:

Branch Pond:

In the back center of this one, you can see someone standing on a floating platform, fly fishing:

A shot taken through the trees at one of the few moments the water was relatively calm:

Pretty much the same view, sans trees but with an unfortunate bit of lens flare:

Just thought this was an interesting little shot:

A mushroom Dad spotted as we wandered around the pond:

The largest Gartersnake I've ever seen in the wild, also spotted by Dad:

I just thought the inky markings on this trunk were interesting:

I also snuck a picture of Dad as he sat and looked over the pond:

Photos from our walk back to the Jeep:

Yes, this is the same tree as the photo above, just from a slightly different angle and with me attempting to be artsy by including the sun through the pine trees on the other side:

We stopped on our drive back down the mountain so I could take this photo looking back up the road:

Considering I got Dad to stop in the middle of a one-way bridge so I could take this shot, I figured I really should include it

Finally, my favorite shot of the day: