Blogging is for the Birds!

Yeah, I know, it's been forever since I put anything up. So, to make it up to you, there is a LOT of stuff in this one. I have been collecting this particular group of pictures for awhile - it's not any one occasion. One of the most entertaining way for me to test out my skills on the BIG lens is birdwatching. Now, if any of you have tried to catch birds on an 800mm or equivelant lens with no tripod, you know that it is tough to get good shots until you have practiced a lot.

Lucky for me, I have had many many opportunities to practice including several lovely visitors that share my deck with me. Several years in a row now, I have had a pair of Mourning Doves (and likely a pair of progeny) nesting in hanging planters on my deck. This is a fun little series that I got once this pair got used to me.

This is the pair:


This is mommy on the nest - took me awhile to figure out how to tell the difference between males and females:


This is daddy showing the eggs - turns out Doves share the job of sitting and he's got a distinctive scar so he's easy to spot:



Finally, here's a pic of the babies!



In another incident of sheer luck, I had my lens ready while hiking the coast in Oregon and caught this Bald Eagle just playing around. He wasn't exactly close so I wouldn't have had a chance without the big lens BUT I still can't believe I got any good shots at all.





Ok, back to the deck visitors. I love to watch my birdfeeder but only the very bravest of the birds will come to the feeder while I'm out on the deck because of confined space. So you will notice that these pictures are partially diffused by the screen door between us since I took these pictures from my livingroom.

This is a gold finch and a house finch sharing a ledge:


I managed to catch the gold finch flying off:


and the house finch all on his own:


I also was amused to catch what appears to be a red-cockaded woodpecker (had to do a little research to come up with that) adding "texture" to the side of the house:



Last summer, I was visiting some friends who live just outside Rochester, MN and have great set up for attracting birds of many varieties. I spent quite awhile early one morning just watching to see who would show up as the sun was coming up. I apologize that they seem a little grainier than I would like since it was max zoom in most cases and pretty dim early morning light.

The first to show were the rose breasted grosbeaks:




then there was a VERY shy blue jay which is a vastly different attitude from the brazen guys who live by me:


My patience was rewarded by seeing a pair of baltimore orioles finally come out into the open since I had been hearing them for two days without a sighting:



Lastly, I got the chance to follow a very cute downy woodpecker:




This last grouping are just pictures I caught during various walks around my neighborhood.

A female cardinal hiding in the fall trees:


An egret fishing along the edge of a pond:


A pair of gold finches flirting back and forth in the water grasses:


A fledgling sparrow feeling his first pangs of separation anxiety:


and lastly, a beautiful woodduck:

Autumn Glory

My mom, my sister-in-law, Kathy, and my nephew, Matthew all made a little trip to the MN Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. It's really one of my favorite places. And we really couldn't have picked a better time either - it was peak color here in the Twin Cities area.

Here's the fam!


and one of the cutest nephews on the planet:



and here are some of my favorite pics from the outting.











and the last couple are extra special - it's of a sculpture by Paul Granlund, who I became a huge fan of during college. He has a very distinctive style and you can always recognize a Granlund.





If you want to check out the rest of the pictures from the day - and there are really some lovely colors in there - click the picture below and enter the password "autumn".

Photobucket Album

Senior Year

Ok, my brother Nathan is a senior so, per the issue that professional photographers are freaking expensive, as with a couple brothers before him, his sucker sister takes him out for a photoshoot!

I was surprised with him and myself and really liked some of the shots we got. I think my favorites and his favorites will be different but that's the point of having a bunch of options isn't it? So here are some of MY favorites - he can post his own.

The first two are at Rice Creek Regional Trail where he trains for Nordic Skiing:





This next one is at North Heights Lutheran Church where he attends:



and finally - these last two are included just for interests sake. The first one because it is just freaky because it looks like a picture of his brother, Paul, instead of like him and the second one just because we both thought it was a cool "story picture" about graduation in itself and the road of life in front of him with no idea where it ends.





If you want to look at the rest of the pictures in the album, click on the picture below and type in the password "Nathan" and you can see the 20 best shots we got.

Photobucket Album

New Arrival!

This has been a VERY long week but I'm sure glad that it is coming to an end in such a dramatic fashion. Last night, Sept. 18, 2008, Camden Lee Thomas finally came into the world after his poor mom worked at it since TUESDAY!!

My brother Joe and his girlfriend, Amanda, are the proud parents of the 4th grandchild on our side and the first on hers. Yes, big surprise, yet another Thomas boy.... a little on the predictable side. But we kind of like him anyway, just saying.

Here he is:

Camden Lee Thomas

son of Joe Thomas & Amanda Dusterhoft

9-18-08, 6:24 pm
7 lbs 4 oz, 20 inches long

Mom & Daddy are pretty excited if a little tired after all that work. Here's his first visit with mommy:


Daddy is a little giddy cause he's talking to his boy (keep in mind, by this time, we were ALL pretty loopy):


and maybe my favorite picture from the night - Daddy just mesmerized by the little boy in the warmer:


final closing shot of the youngest Thomas:

so.. everyone is happy and healthy and resting up a little bit before they come home this weekend.

Good Times.

Summer at Como

With Guest Photographer Benjamin Thomas

It has been FOREVER since I posted!!!! I have been taking lots of pictures but .. honestly, this has just fallen to too low a priority to take the time to get everything uploaded. So, I have a serious backlog of stuff to share. But I'll start with the most recent.

So my mother and I took my youngest brother, Ben, over to the Butterfly exhibit at Como Conservatory and man, was that a great photographic challenge! Both Ben and I got some really beautiful pictures, both of the butterflies and of some of the conservatory flowers as well - just because we can never resist.

This one is probably one of my favorite pics of the day:


But this one also has it's own charm:


Ben got this shot that just blew me away:


The next group needs a bit of explanation. There was one particular kind of butterfly there called a Blue Morpho. They proved to be EXCEEDINGLY elusive to capture on camera. They really wouldn't settle down anywhere and they had very quick and erratic light paths. Both Ben and I spent more than an hour trying to find and/or chase a few down. We managed to get a few weaker shots but because the challenge was so immense, we are still pretty proud that we have anything to show for all the effort.

We saw a LOT of this in there but catching it on camera was a sheer miracle:


of course, now THIS picture is a zoomed in one that shows why it was so hard to see them sitting anywhere - turns out I have several pics of them just sitting on flowers but we didn't know it was THEM because the underside of the wing is so different!


We also had a lot of fun because butterflies don't care about landing on people so we'd been there about 10 seconds when one landed on my mom's back. Of course, she didn't even know which kind until she saw the pictures at home. But after a few minutes, one picked up on Ben's camera as a place that looked interesting.





and then when I decided in the pursuit of the Blue Morpho that I was going to set up shop on a bench and try to wait for one to come to me, I made a friend.


So we all got picked by a different flutterby type and had our fun. There are a lot more fun pics in the album if you click on the picture below and type in the password "conservatory".

Photobucket Album

In addition to the butterflies, we also had to go get more flower pics because neither of us can walk by a blossom without aiming that camera. This is my best shot I think:

But Ben really nabbed a great one here:

if you want to see an album of a bunch we got, here's another picture link and you can use the same password from above:

Springing up at Como Conservatory

It's been a bit since I was able to just go out and take some pictures - sadly, I kind of overdid it when I finally got the opportunity. Some friends and I went to the Como Park Conservatory on the morning of April 13th. Three hours later I left having taken nearly 1200 frames. That makes for a LOT of sorting and editing. I'm quite happy to say that I have it down to a much more reasonable number, although still a lot of them. But nothing made it feel like spring like spending some time wiht a bunch of gorgeous flowers and coming out to beautiful sunshine.

To see the shots that remain, click on the album photo and enter the password "conservatory". For the best view, I recommend clicking on Slideshow.

Photobucket Album

Birth Announcement!!!

with guest photographer: Jonathan D. Thomas

Well... shockingly enough, a GIRL has been born into the Thomas gene pool!! Obviously, I am fond of pointing out that it does happen occasionally *raises hand* but it's hard to avoid the reality that it's a rare event despite birth being a pretty common one. But my brother, Jon, and his wife, Naomi, are now the parents of the first girl born to our family in nearly 36 years.



Elizabeth Jo Thomas
born: March 31, just before 9 pm.
Weight: 7 lbs 1 oz.
Length: 20.5 inches

She had a pretty big crowd waiting to greet her when she came into the world - but she better get used to it because her family is pretty darn big. I was glad to get just a few minutes with her myself.


while Daddy used the video camera to record the majority of the day, once all the hard work and excitement was coming to a close, I gave him my camera and let him follow the little doll to the nursery for her first bath and such things.


And just because it was so funny, I had to post this picture Daddy took while he was still trying to figure out his sister's fancy little camera


She really seems pretty calm about the whole thing after a bit but one of my favorite pictures that Jon got is this one where she's looking straight at him and kind of looks like she's thinking, "Daddy, what is that thing you have on your face?"


Luckily, it's QUITE obvious that she resembles her mother very strongly - including her extraordinarily large eyes. I'm sure that the Thomas genes will show up eventually - sadly, they always do - but for now, she's got her very pretty mommy's looks.


Of course, the nickname debate has begun in earnest already. Daddy has decided to call her LizardBreath. Yeah, he's not very nice. And it's going to be especially difficult considering the orginal "LizardBreath" (our 21 yo cousin) lives in the same house when she's not at school. Personally, I'm trying out LizaJo to see how well it sticks... And I think it is the nurses that Jon said are calling her EllieJo. That is nice too - we'll see what sticks.

ETA: it appears that EllieJo is definitely in the lead but a couple late entries have joined the fray, including EJ. We'll have to see how much of a tomboy vs girly girl she ends up being.