Belleview Park Goslings and Ducklings

Family of Canada Geese at Belleview Park, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada

The other day my Dad and I had to go do a curbside pickup.  I order almost all of the stuff we need online, and get it delivered or else book a slot for curbside pickup. I have to go with my Dad because he doesn't have a smart phone and I need the phone to show the receipt at most places.

On the way home, I asked if we could stop at the park so I could walk around and get some fresh air, and see the river.

Luckily my Dad agreed and it was a gorgeous day; warm but not hot, with a nice breeze.  Best of all, the ducks and geese had babies!  I love seeing the fuzzy ducklings and goslings so very much!

The geese were way out in the river and I called to them and told them they had a beautiful family, and they swam right over to me.

They even got out of the river.

The babies walked right up to me.  They were so cute and so fluffy!  I wish I would have had some birdseeds with me.

The duckpond was a lovely shade of green, because of the trees reflecting on the water.

I just love the way the water looks.

So pretty!

I was able to walk right up to this seagull!  I was inches away.  I swear he was posing for me, lol.

It was so nice to see blue sky, water, and green grass and trees.  I wished I could have stayed there forever.

On the way back to the truck, I saw a big freighter in the St. Mary's river.

I zoomed in...

And then zoomed in even more, to see the name of the ship.

It was so cool!

I didn't want to leave...

But Dad was waiting in the truck.  He didn't feel like walking and said he had a nice time sitting in the truck, watching the river.

When I got home the sun was setting.

It was a lovely day.

I hope you are all OK and staying safe. Take care.

New Camera Test, Pigeon, Smokey, Dasha

I am LOVING my new camera.

I have been playing around with the zoom, comparing no zoom vs zoom, and here are some pigeon on the roof photos, lol.

No zoom

I didn't use any zoom in the above photo.  If you click on the photo to make it bigger, you can (just barely) see the pigeon on the roof).  In the photo below, I used partial zoom, and look how close the bird is now.

Partial Zoom

More zoom

more zoom

I couldn't zoom all the way in because the bird was too close to use the full zoom, but even with partial zoom, the details are stunning! Check out the purple feathers and the red eye!  So cool.

The pigeon didn't seem to mind being my first living model and seemed to pose.  Probably because I feed them and they know me, lol. 

My parrot, Smokey, on the other hand, was not as cooperative a model, lol.  Here she is, checking out the new camera. 

Smokey checking out my new camera

Smokey being destructive

Smokey throwing her bowl around

Smokey playing peekaboo

Smokey is an African Grey parrot; very clever, very talkative, but not a fan of cameras, lol.  I've been living with this bird since 1990; can you believe it?  She was 6 months old when I got her so we've been together almost all of her life.  She is very bonded to me and I worry about how she'll cope if anything ever happens to me.

Just for fun, I also tested the camera on my little Dwarf Hamster, Dasha.  She is very fast so I have to feed her to get her to slow down enough to get photos, lol.  

New Camera, A Sony DSCHXS350B

I bought a new camera!

Those aren't my photos of the camera, lol, but it's exactly the same as my camera.  It's a Sony DSCHX350B, and I bought it at BEST BUY, on sale.

The DSCHX, which I am pronouncing "Dish Hex", lol, is a superzoom camera. It can zoom in...a lot.  It's also described as a bridge camera, which I read means that it is not quite a point and shoot but not quite a DSLR camera. It's the bridge between the 2.  It has one fixed lens. 

It took awhile to come in the mail due to the covid 19 pandemic, but it finally arrived last week and I am loving it.  The zoom on this thing is crazy!

It has a fixed ZEISS lens with 50x optical zoom and 100x Clear Image Zoom.  According to best buy, "The 20.4MP CMOS sensor produces high quality images at 10fps and records Full HD videos at 60p/30p/24p in AVCHD video format. Optical SteadyShot image stabilization ensures you get sharp images."

I'm not a photographer so don't really  know what all of that means, except that it has an amazing zoom lens and it helps steady my hand so photos aren't shaky.

It takes high def video as well, which is cool, and the little photo display thing on the back can be angled which is helpful, except I'm terrified I'll break it.

There are only two things I don't like about it. It's heavy, like, really heavy. I'm going to have to crochet a neck piece for the strap because it digs into my neck.  And I don't like that the lens cap is not attached.  My old camera had an attached lens cap so I never had to worry about losing it.  I'm really bad for losing things.

All in all though, I'm really glad I bought my new camera and can't wait to learn how to use it.