Feeding Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail -- Putah Creek, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 2500, f/5.6, 1/1600s

Another of many swallowtail shots from Saturday.  This is one of dozens of pipvines that I saw on that drive through the hills around Lake Berryessa and Napa Valley.  The wings are blurred by movement.

Pipevine Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail -- Putah Creek, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO: 3200

Moving on to the next flower.

I saw dozens of these butterflies yesterday near Lake Berryessa and the Napa River.  I think I saw one to a couple of dozen on very stop I made over roughly thirty miles.  Crazy.

Dressed for the Long Flight Home

Common Goldeneye -- Oakland/Alameda Estuary, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 1000, f/5.6, 1/2000s

I saw a small flock of common goldeneyes hanging out under the Fruitvale Bridge this morning.  That's not exactly uncommon.  They looked different, though.  Scruffier.  Less colorful.

Compared to their winter plumage, they look like they've dressed down to their sweatpants in preparation for the long flight North.  The green on their head is gone and the sharp black and white lines have been replaced by brown head feathers and an almost mottled look on their back and wings.  We don't get to see this look much in California.  I'm guessing they are just about ready to fly away for the season.

Family Portrait

Stout Grove, Redwood National Park, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/4, 1/25s, ISO: 100

After a week of posting "easy" photos taken under a redwood canopy, here we have an example of a more difficult shot.  DXO has bailed me out a bit in post-processing, but the extreme difference between the light and dark sections are still evident.

This photo of my brother's family was shot a couple of years ago on a beautiful sunny day in the Stout Grove in Redwood National Park.  I joined my brother and his family for a couple of days of camping in Redwood National Park.  That was a fun trip.  There's a totally different vibe to the redwood groves in that park to what one experiences in Muir Woods.  I'm not going to try to explain that difference, at least not today.  Visit 'em both if you haven't experienced them, you won't regret it.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 154, image #7429.

One More from Sunday

Muir Woods National Monument, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/5.6, 8s, ISO: 100

Into the Woods

Muir Woods National Monument, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/5.6, 3s, ISO: 100

Muir Woods is one of those places where everyone seems to be taking photos.  I've found that it's a tough to get satisfactory photos there.  That's one of the reasons I only go when it's raining.  Besides thinning out the crowds a little, cloudy skies (or in Sunday's case a thick fog layer over the park) evens out the light.  Basically the entire place is dark rather than having some spots being dark with spots of bright light mixed in.  I was able to use a three second exposure here.  On a sunny day, the creek and path would have been lit up but the trees would have quickly disappeared into black.  Well, unless I overexposed the creek and path, that is.  Point being, this would have been a very difficult shot to pull off on a sunny day.  With the thick fog layer overhead, though, it was fairly simple.  This was the brightest spot and shortest exposure I used all day on Sunday.

The other thing rain does to Muir Woods is a bit more obvious.  It makes everything wet.  The place looks like a rain forest when it has been soaked by a good rain.  This might just be the Oregon native in me, but this is what I think a forest should look like.  Green.  Wet.  Big trees.  Water.  Salmon even spawn in that creek in winter.  So I've read, anyway, I've never witnessed any fish in the creek.  It's muddy because it's running high from the rain.  The water is often much clearer.

Big Trees

Muir Woods National Park, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/6.3, 10s, ISO: 100

If you like big trees, Muir Woods is a pretty nice place to go.  It's got a beautiful selection of old -growth redwoods.  These aren't the largest redwoods you can find, but they're big enough to drop a few jaws and the setting with redwood creek running through the valley is unbeatable.  The vegetation is more dense than what you'll find in some of the Northern groves which adds to the beauty on a wet day.