Tag: yawning

Follow the Eyes

An American bittern with its mouth wide open

One thing I’ve long wanted in a camera is the ability for the focus to lock onto and track the eye of an animal I’m photographing. It would have come in handy here, I was testing out my Canon mirrorless camera to see how limiting its poor autofocus would be if used as a backup in case my main camera failed. I had been watching this bittern that had been mostly sitting still, with some occasional preening, when it suddenly threw its mouth wide open and shook its head about. While the camera had focused fine on the bird while it was sitting still, by the time this shot was taken the bittern had already moved far enough that it isn’t in good focus.

The technology is moving in this direction for photographing people at least, but I fear it will be a while yet before we can do it with moving animals. While my main camera would have handled this situation much better, it still requires thinking about it’s many autofocus modes, and I’d love to spend less time thinking about the technical side of photography and instead just enjoy the animals I’m watching.

Accomplishing Much By Doing Nothing

Despite being off work for two days, when looking at my task list I didn’t get much done, although it feels like I’ve accomplished a lot, helping the pets work through the stress of Trixie’s arrival.

I was most concerned about Boo given his recent stress reaction so I was pleasantly surprised yesterday morning when he climbed into my lap while I was having breakfast. He settled in for a long nap which concerned me as I still had to get up to walk Ellie, so I waited as long as I could then gently placed him back on the couch when I got up. Perhaps he’s been learning from Sam, as he got up and took my nicely warmed spot.

He was still there when I got back from our walk so I sat down and put him in my lap and he fell back asleep. Later when I had to get up I came back to find him right back in my spot, so this time I let him be and sat next to him. Sam came in and curled up in my lap and that’s how the three of us spent the morning, until I at last got up for some lunch and came back to see Sam had taken my new spot.

I left the brothers curled up beside each other and Ellie and I went up to join Trixie for some quiet time in her room. She curled up in my lap and that’s how we spent the afternoon. A lazy day, but a good one.

So Trixie, What Did You Think of Your First Vet Visit?

Our tortoiseshell kitten Trixie yawns

Okay then!

In truth her visit went fine, she charmed everyone she met. She just got a visual inspection this trip, in two weeks she’ll get some shots and then we’ll see a real test. She may be a bit older than initially thought, probably closer to six months than four or five, as she already has her adult teeth. It may be that she’s going to be a bit on the small side.

She was a bit unsure of herself when she got home so we gave her some time alone and soon enough she came out to play. Last night I laid down on the bed near her and she moved over and snuggled her face into mine. It was so adorable I could barely stand it.

She still has a bit of the sniffles but that seems to be getting better. Sam and Boo initially were very curious about the kitten on the other side of the door, Sam especially, but lately they’ve stopped trying to get in and are content to wait and see what happens. We’ll introduce our dog Ellie first since she should be the easiest, then give the cats brief introductions when we’re sure Trixie is up to it and her sneezing has stopped.

On the one hand I can’t wait for her to just be a part of the family, but on the other these early bonding moments are pretty special, as we see her start to understand that she’s home.

The Happy Scaup

A female lesser scaup yawns as she swims across Horse Lake

Over the past few years I’ve noticed there’s a lone female scaup that sometimes hangs out at Horse Lake. I don’t know if it’s the same bird from year to year, and she often hangs out at the far side of the lake, but it’s always a treat when she swims in close. Unfortunately in this instance I had been photographing diving coots and ducks and to get a high shutter speed was shooting at ISO 3200. That’s higher than I like to push the 7D and the technical quality of the picture suffers a bit for it, but since she was yawning it provides a nice change from my other pictures of her.