Several weeks ago, I went on a birdwalk at Ken Miller Recreation Center. What I thought would be a soporific stroll, actually turned out to be a pleasant learning experience.
Our guide was a rather rustic looking gentleman who sported a khaki fishing hat. The frayed pockets of his cargo pants was a vault for his worn-out bird manual and birdcall sound-machine. This beguiling appearance obscured the fact that he was actually a science teacher at an elite private school. Despite his bucolic attire, cheerful glow manifested his sun-weathered face, and his eyes twinkled with zeal as he lead us throughout the reserve. Our bird watching group was equally as enthusiastic, with binoculars of varying sizes dangling from each of our necks. One sprightly man even carried telescopic contraption.
This was serious bird watching business yo :P
From far away, the birds looked brown, tiny and austere. But through the magnified lens, each winged creature blossomed in their unique prepossessing majesty. Indeed within two hours, I saw various hummingbirds, phoebes, shovelers, mockingbirds, mallards etc. I even saw a lone Eastern Phoebe, which according to the guide was a rare sighting. "It must have flown out of its regular course”.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to snap-close up pictures of these winged creatures since I am still on the quest to save enough for my Canon s95 ... But the landscape was a breathtaking sight itself. With the help of my trusty Kodak M347 point and shoot and Samsung cellphone camera, I tried to capture the scenery as best I could. I exercised my penchant for Photoshop afterwards by digitally enhancing them.
Hopefully you will enjoy some of my works as well.
Path leading to the lake
Bird watching enthusiasts... wait for me! (Spot my guide? hint: hat)
My favorite picture.. isn't it ironic that the nature reserve is less than a mile away from an oil refinery? Sigh, our world nowadays.
This was taken through my cellphone after my camera ran out of batteries. See that lone shadow on the very top branch? Yup thats the Eastern Pheobe. Some people search for 10-15 years just to find this. What an auspicious moment!
Across the lake
The lake flooded over part of the sidewalk... yup, and I ran through that too :P
Graffiti on the beautiful fences :( (you can see this from the first picture as well)
These birds weren't scared of me at all!
Thats it for now! =D
The original pictures prior to Photoshoping
The photoshopping is pretty impressive. About how long does it take to photoshop one photo?
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