Benny and the Fig

When the temperature gauge hits 90 plus,  I grab my possibles bag, which has everything I need in case I get stuck and have to hang out longer than anticipated, I fill up some water bottles, find Benny my Yellow Lab who is usually already in the water or laying in the shade drying off after his last trip into the water, load it all into the boat and off we go… Our destination? A little stretch of beach that is barely visible at high tide but as the tide recedes it reveals my version of a tropical paradise. The sand is nice and firm, it is fairly free of the rocks and vegetation that are inherent to life on the river. In short, it is the perfect place to beach the boat and jump into the river for some much needed relief from the heat.

Most days I float around and watch Benny do what Benny does, Benny needs no one to stay amused whether it be a stick, rock, crawdad crawling along the shore or in this case a fig Benny is all action from the time we arrive till the time we leave.

While sitting in the water trying to figure out what to do next, Benny got that what’s that look?The look he gets when he see’s something that he deems retrievable, that one item he thinks he may be able to con me into throwing for him. As his interest heightens he assumes the retrieve position.and off he goes, while I sit there wondering what the heck is he after now.With the efficiency of a Swiss watch he swims out and retrieves the mystery item post haste,he swoops it up as I’m sitting there thinking that I sure hope it’s not something dead or disgusting and back he comes item in hand… er… mouth.Thanks Benny for the….Fig? Great now I have to go through the whole fake Benny left while I throw right into the bushes and hope he doesn’t see me do it routine.

Delta Sunsets

Low pressure systems mean outstanding Delta Sunsets, Here are a few.This was one of those sunsets that just kept getting better.Always remember when shooting a spectacular sunset, turn around or you might miss a shot like thisHad to throw this one in, put this in the category of pics you take when you are to lazy to go fishing. Finally this sunset was taken on the backside of the low pressure system but I felt it was post worthyand as always, remember to look behind you when shooting a sunset.Thanks for visiting Double Barrel Outdoors if you enjoy our stuff, tell a friend.

Double Barrel Outdoors has just been nominated!

Renee and Pallas at http://randpphotoalbums.wordpress.com/ have just nominated DBO for the Lovely Blogger Award, I’d like to thank them for dropping by and liking my blog enough to nominate it for this award. I would also like to encourage everyone to go check out their blog they are animal lovers and have some sweet pics of the great Country/Island of New Zealand.

These are the rules for receiving this award:

1.)  Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.

2.)  Share 7 things about yourself.

3.)  Nominate 15 or so bloggers you admire.

4.)  Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know.

About me.

1.) I love taking pics

2.) My favorite shoot venues are Surfers, Wildlife, and anything to do with cool light.

3.) I live on an Island.

4.) Fishing is my favorite pastime,

5.) I love fast boats and the coolness of the river water on a hot day.

6.) I love my dog Benny

7.) I have a love hate relationship with the computer and technology in general.

My Nominations are:

http://mike585.wordpress.com/

http://thissydneylife.wordpress.com

http://northwestphotos.wordpress.com

http://thenorthwardroute.wordpress.com

http://photonatureblog.com

http://twogoodeggs.wordpress.com

http://clairejatkinson.wordpress.com

http://ieatthepeach.wordpress.com

http://chicks-with-ticks.com

http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com

And finally no award is complete without a award winning sunset. (in my eyes)

Daily Delta Safari Pics

Here are some pics taken during a normal day on the River. The Heron provide me with an endless photo ops whether they are consuming fish fighting with another bird or just chillin on the side of the RiverThe Egret with their majestic grace, never ending hunger for anything that moves and penchant for bugging the local Heron also provide a source of never ending entertainment When the tide is up and the Heron and Egret are sitting in the shade somewhere the hummingbirds buzz around drinking the nectar from the local fauna. These curious little guys will fly into the Houseboat for a quick look around if I leave the screen open, I have yet to get the camera up quick enough to catch them though.No River excursion would be complete without some duck pics. They are by far my favorite subject as well as the most difficult to shoot.The Turtle’s also are very wary and can be a tough photo op, turtle and Duck photo ops together are necessarily rare but usually the are heading somewhere else by the time you spot them and get the camera in focus. My lenses are old and kinda slow. No ride around the block is complete without some photo ops of my number one favorite subject Benny he accompanies me everywhere and rarely produces a bad pic.Sometimes it’s a tough call photo or fish, fishing usually wins as the largemouth bass fishing around here can be spectacular at times.Finally, when your too busy fishing to get a good sunset pic just turn around and get a great shot of the Moon.Thanks for checking out my Blog hope you enjoy.

The Heron and the Egret

 

These birds are for the lack of a better term “Eating Machines” If it moves they will eat it, crawdads, any and all varieties of fish, small birds you name it, if it passes within striking distance they will nail it and from what I have observed they are territorial about their favorite hunting spot. It seems like this Great Egret and Great Blue Heron go at it on a daily basis. The Heron usually wins the who gets to stay war but the Egret makes the best of his opportunities when infringing on the Herons spot. The Heron struts, postures and will eventually chase the egret away.But before the Heron get it’s way the Egret usually makes the most of its spot stealing intrusion.After the Egret works the spot over and the Heron has finally  had enough and chased it away, it resumes in it’s never ending quest for something to eat.All in all I think the Heron may have won the battle of the spot but the Egret definitely took home the bacon, and while these two Titans battled it out this little guy didn’t do too bad either.

Morning Wheat

Image

Mallard Drake and Red-winged Blackbirds hittin the
wheat field for some breakfast.

Arm Chair Photography – Birds of Prey

Still recouping from a rib injury I have been pretty much confined to the comfy arm chair on the front deck of the houseboat. I must say it could be worse, the photo opportunities abound and I have noticed things that I have not noticed in the 10 years I have been here. There is definitely something to be said about just sitting in silence and observing. I think we all get so busy doing what we do that we take little time to just sit and observe, smell the roses sort of speak. My observations most especially in the last two weeks have focused on the Birds of Prey that inhabit the River. In the past Birds of Prey have always been the main focus of my Wildlife photography,  I must say though I have never captured these predators in the act of what they do to survive on a daily basis with the frequency that I have in the past 2 weeks just sitting on the deck of my houseboat. These are some of the photos I have taken in the last 2 weeks, I hope you enjoy.

The Tern is one of my favorite subjects to photograph, not only are they graceful and acrobatic, they are tenacious fishermen and have frequently led me to the fish on my own fishing excursions, timing is everything when trying to photograph these guys.The Egrets and Herons remind me of great prehistoric beasts as they stalk the shallows in search of food, they are extremely patient as well as opportunistic, they strike their prey with extreme accuracy and deadly resolve. If it moves they will eat it. In this first photo look to the left of the Heron as he flips the crawdad to get a better swallowing angle, another unsuspecting crawdad awaits the same fate as its now deceased predecessor.After wrestling and consuming this fat Bluegill this Heron flew back across the river to take a much needed nap.After his nap the Heron returned on the evening tide for a quick meal of CatfishNot to be outdone the Egret caught and consumed it’s meal of BluegillThe beauty of just sitting in one spot and being patient is you never know what will fly by, this can be boring but it pays to be ready at all times, on this occasion an Osprey flew by to show me its daily catch.This guy is a show off, this is not the first time he has come by to show me his catch.Not to be outdone the local Redtail Hawk flew by to show off her catch on the way to her nest to feed the babies.This photo was not taken from the comfort of my arm chair but I thought it appropriate for the purposes of this post.Hope you enjoyed this post your feedback is appreciated, stay tuned for more.

Arm Chair Photography

A couple of weeks ago I decided to go jump in the lake, er… river.. and in the process of climbing back into my boat I somehow cracked a rib… great. Now anyone that has a cracked rib knows those things suck, there are certain things that you just can’t do without some form of discomfort, breathing and coughing being at the top of the list, so you pretty much just sit and wait for your rib or ribs to heal.

Turns out the 2nd best view and the most comfortable place to sit is in the overstuffed chair on the front deck of the houseboat, from this vantage point you can sit and observe the daily rituals of most of the wildlife that inhabit the area without interfering with their daily routine. Every morning the Redtail hawks set out in search of food for themselves and their young, they soar all day over the levee and the farmers fields stopping only to go bring food to and check on their young, The starlings make themselves busy bringing worms on a nonstop basis to the nest they have to my chagrin constructed in the propane locker on the roof of the houseboat, the acrobatic Swallows dart in and out constantly bringing material for their nests and skimming the top of the water for an occasional sip of water. The Egret and Heron show up, usually at low tide to ply the shallow water and mud flats for a dinner consisting of whatever happens to move usually a bluegill or crawdad but I have seen them try to eat a bass in the 6 pound range.

The Tern work the shoreline with a constant precision in search of an unsuspecting meal, and the Osprey fly by usually with some kind of fish usually a bluegill or bass firmly clenched in their talons. Guess if I have to recover from a broken rib there could be worse places to do it. Stay tuned for more on Armchair Photography.

Delta Scenics

While going through my archives trying to come up with a few extra gigs of storage I came across some scenic s that I took in and around my home in the Delta. Hope you enjoy.

I forgot all about this breathtaking Sunset taken off the back deck of my houseboat.

These next 3 photos are of a dramatic Sunrise that sent me scrambling for my camera one early morning. Thank Benny (my lab) for these wonderful shots, for whatever reason he couldn’t wait for the normal 7 am wake up and kept bugging me to be let outside so he could take care of business. I was cussing and grumbling until I open the door and got a look at this spectacular event.

After taking this shot a quick boat ride around the island yielded these lovely shots.Doesn’t get any better than this fishing and a spectacular sunrise! Now you know why fishermen get up so early. This sunset was taken off my back deck the mountain is Mt. Diablo. I was so busy focusing on the cloud formations over the mountain I did not look to my left or into the water to get the whole picture. The clouds, sunset and reflections had formed this beautiful pattern and luckily I stopped shooting long enough to take a look at the whole picture, I might have missed this spectacular shot even as I was looking right at it!And finally a couple of my favorites.

Surf Silhouettes

The toughest part of evening surf shoots is you are generally shooting directly into a setting sun. To make matters worse you are basically shooting blind because checking your LCD after each shot is generally not a viable option unless you want to spend money on devices that allow you to better view your LCD. Speaking personally if I have any extra money to spend on camera goodies it goes into a fund that will allow me to eventually upgrade from the antique and extremely slow lenses that I currently have the displeasure to use. In most cases when shooting in these conditions I usually rely on past experience and hope for the best. The bonus side of shooting directly into the sun is you can end up with some amazing silhouettes, here are some examples.