On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter Albatrossity.
I recently spent some time in Southern California, visiting an old friend from grad school days in Riverside and environs. The main focus was bird photography, so we went to the coast, to the mountains, to the desert, and to the Salton Sea. Here are a few of the shots from that trip
California Thrasher
Taken on 2018-04-17
Big Morongo Preserve
Not usually so cooperative, these birds generally skulk in the shadows.
Dulzura Kangaroo Rat
Taken on 2018-04-18
Motte Reserve, Riverside County
Yeah, I know that this is not a bird. But k-rats are cute and fuzzy, and a challenge to photograph since they are strictly nocturnal, so I thought I’d include this shot.
Rufous Hummingbird
Taken on 2018-04-16
Riverside CA
Male Rufous Hummingbird, in a backyard in Riverside which hosted all 5 of the expected SoCal hummer species (Rufous, Anna’s, Allen’s, Black-chinned, and Costa’s)
Male Costa’s Hummingbird
Taken on 2018-04-16
Riverside CA
Another flashy male hummer from that backyard in Riverside
Western Sandpiper
Taken on 2018-04-15
Salton Sea, CA
Shorebirds are the main attraction for birders at the Salton Sea this time of year, and there were plenty of these Western Sandpipers to see and photograph
Surfbird
Taken on 2018-04-14
Crystal Cove State Park, Orange County CA
Not a bird that I usually see in my home state of Kansas, so it was nice to find a flock of these guys foraging on some rocks as the tide came in one morning
Female Vermilion Flycatcher
Taken on 2018-04-17
Big Morongo Reserve
The ruby-red male that this bird was paired with was being a royal pain in the ass, refusing to pose for any decent pictures. But this bird was very cooperative, and perched in a low cottonwood branch for this pastel portrait
Thank you so much Albatrossity, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
?BillinGlendaleCA
Nice pics, I’ve had trouble with shooting birds.
rikyrah
I really admire those who can shoot birds with such clarity. Love the pictures.??
OzarkHillbilly
That last photo is just perfect.
JPL
@rikyrah: I agree. The pictures are beautiful.
Schlemazel
That is some fine picture takin’, thanks
really love hummingbirds they are tiny jewel boxes
Quinerly
Fantastic pics! Thanks for posting.
Mary G
You are a master photographer and it’s nice to see birds from my home area. I went to the Salton Sea a couple of years ago, and there were a lot of interesting birds there, the water smelled so bad we had to leave after five minutes. It’s a problem because it’s eventually going to dry up and then all that pollution will be picked up by the wind and be breathed in.
otmar
Those are really good pictures. So what does your rig look like?
Waratah
Thank you. First time for me to think a rat was cute. The birds are beautiful and I agree with with Ozark Hillbilly the last one is my favorite.
My daughter went to Palo Dura Canyon recently and was excited to see a road runner close up in the camping area. the photos she took with her phone camera showed the Canyon still beautiful even with the drought.
Baud
Those are some might fine looking dinosaurs.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: I thought that one looked like a japanese painting or drawing. Just lovely.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Good morning, Baud. Thanks for making me laugh first thing in the morning.
arrieve
Amazing bird pictures as always. I have never managed to get a picture of a hummingbird.
David Evana
@rikyrah: I find sandpipers relatively easy because they are predictable and usually on a simple background. It’s the ones who hop gaily from branch to branch that I lack the patience for.
debbie
Nature’s colors cannot be topped!
Major Major Major Major
What lovely little creatures!
Elizabelle
Love Albatrossity’s wonderful bird photos. Thank you again.
The thresher’s hooked beak interests me. Clearly, there’s an evolutionary benefit to the thresher; what’s up with that beak?
And I like the K-rat too.
pat
Would love to know what you were using for camera, lens, tripod? flash??
Thanks!
J R in WV
I will third the question about camera/lens, exposures, apertures, etc. Am I the only one who includes that? Seems interesting to others who shoot anything.
My longest lens is 300mm, and it’s hard to get a good clean exposure without bracing it or myself against something stationary and solid at that length.
Great photos, Albatrossity!! Keep up the good work, and thanks for sharing with us!
Albatrossity
Thanks, all. Yeah, I don’t usually include camera/lens information in the captions, because most folks find it to be very boring. These were all shot with a tripod-mounted Canon EOS 5D body and a 500mm lens combined with a 2x teleconverter to give an effective focal length of 1000mm. Some (suich as the k-rat, hummingbirds, thrasher and flycatcher) were shot with an on-camera Canon 430X III flash and a Better Beamer flash extender, so aperture and shutter speed would be different for those pics. I’ve not played around much with flash before, other than for hummers, so this was all an interesting experiment!
Steeplejack
Last August Albatrossity wrote this about his gear:
Most of [the photographs] were shot with a Canon EOS5D (Mark II) body and the 100-400mm Canon zoom lens. All were handheld or shot with the aid of a monopod; IMHO tripods are too heavy/unwieldy to lug overseas or into a forest, etc. All in natural lighting.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Ha! Timing. And now FYWP won’t let me edit/delete my comment.
eclare
Gorgeous photos!