Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Canon SX30 IS

Note: my latest garden article is up! :D Part 9—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden: We Have A Pumpkin Patch!! A few years ago, Steve and I went to a nearby county fair and we had a lot of fun taking pictures of the farm animals. One of the sows had an enormous litter of piglets and we spent a long time cooing at their cuteness! I learned something today about the word "Ungulate". I always thought it meant "hooved mammal", but that's not entirely correct. Wikipedia gives this definition: "Ungulates are a diverse group of large mammals, most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole body weight while moving. The term means, roughly, "being hoofed" or "hoofed animal". As a descriptive term, "ungulate" normally excludes cetaceans, as they do not possess most of the typical morphological characteristics of ungulates; recent discoveries indicate that they are descended from early artiodactyls, and thus are directly related to other even-toed ungulates such as cattle, with hippopotamuses being their closest living relatives. As a result of these discoveries, the new order Cetartiodactyla has been proposed to include the members of Artiodactyla and Cetacea, to reflect their common ancestry; however, strictly speaking, this is merely a matter of nomenclature, since it is possible simply to recognize Cetacea as a subgroup of Artiodactyla." I had no idea that whales were considered to be ungulates!! My apologies for not being around much lately. The garden is keeping me very busy, along with everything else going on right now! Explored on June 11, 2014, highest placement, #2.

Here's another picture from my trip to the zoo when I was down in San Francisco visiting my dad. There were several wonderful aviaries which you could walk into and get quite close to the birds if they chose to be near the viewing area. This pair of birds captivated for quite a while, with the one on the left so lovingly preening the one on the right. It was really sweet, and I also loved how unusual these birds looked. In fact, their name translates to their shape, "Hammer Head"! :) From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamerkop The Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta), also known as Hammerkop, Hammerkopf, Hammerhead, Hammerhead Stork, Umbrette, Umber Bird, Tufted Umber, or Anvilhead, is a medium-sized wading bird (56 cm long, weighing 470 g). The shape of its head with a curved bill and crest at the back is reminiscent of a hammer, hence its name. It ranges from Africa, Madagascar to Arabia, in wetlands of a wide variety, including estuaries, lakesides, fish pond, riverbanks and rocky coasts in Tanzania. The Hamerkop, which is a sedentary bird that often show local movements, is not globally threatened and is locally abundant in Africa and Madagascar.

I wanted to see what would happen if I massaged this image into a black background, and now I am really REALLY wishing that I had my Mark II with me that day!!!

I'll be posting a picture every day from my trip to the San Francisco Zoo last week, and here's one that didn't appear on the collage I made! This is a lovely Chilean Flamingo, and the large flock of about 50 was located mere feet away, over a relatively low fence, so taking pictures was easy and so much fun! I was surprised how small these birds were...they stand between 43-51" tall but for some reason, I thought they were 64-72"!! Granted, they ARE large birds, I just thought they were bigger!! :D I took the liberty of cutting this bird out and giving it a black background for a more dramatic look. :) From Wikipedia: The Chilean Flamingo is a large species of flamingo at 110–130 cm (43–51 in), closely related to Caribbean Flamingo and Greater Flamingo. It breeds in temperate South America from Ecuador and Peru to Chile and Argentina and east to Brazil; it has been introduced into Germany and the Netherlands. There also a small population in Utah and California. Like all flamingos it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound.

I had such a fun time watching the penguins on their island! They swam in the water, played, preened their feathers, and sunbathed in absolute happiness! It was a joy to see them, and I just love how well this picture turned out!! :D

What a wonderful time I had watching the penguins at the zoo! They have a long island with a large moat and pond area all around it. People get an unobstructed view, and the penguins have a great place to swim, play, and enjoy themselves. Their island has lots of caves to sleep in, and it was really fun watching them waddle in and out of their houses! :) Naturally, watching them swim, play, and preen was mesmerizing to me, and I had a hard time pulling myself away. Such happy birds, they were all content and relaxed, without any worries whatsoever. Here is one of the many pictures I got of them preening in the water. They rolled over and over in the water, shook their feathers and sprayed water everywhere, and preened each other too. They are so cute!!! :)

This was me when I saw this Prairie Dog, and I could not help myself!! "OMG LOOK AT THAT CUTIE PIE!!! I'M DYING HERE!! AWWWWWWWWW!!!! YOU ARE SO CUTE AND SO ADORABLE!!" Yes, I totally lost it. ""I wanna hug him and squeeze him and call him George!!" Bonkers. Off the deep end. "I LOVE YOU!!!! LOOK AT THAT TUMMY!!! I WANT TO TICKLE IT!! AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!" I'm really glad they didn't call security! :D :D :D Honestly, this is the first time I've gotten to take pictures of these little guys, and I've never been so close to them before! I was in HEAVEN!!! There were at least 25 of them, INCLUDING BABIES!!!!!!! *bounces up and down squealing* BABIES!!!!! AWWWWWWWW!!! They were running around and rolling all over the place and trying to eat hay and falling over, oh dear...it's a wonder I didn't explode from overexposure to CUTE! :D (I got pictures of the babies but it was through dirty plexiglass so I may not have any luck with them. I'll try though!)

What fun to see this magnificent male Mandrill baboon walking around! I was fascinated by this fellow and the females he was with, and so were countless other people...it wasn't easy to fight my way in to get pictures, but eventually I got my chance! My favorite picture is unfortunately a bit blurry, so I can't make it full size as we all want...what a shame it's not crystal clear, that grimace is just amazing and I was very lucky to capture this at all! Since I couldn't enlarge that one, I decided to make a collage of some of the pictures I got! :) Isn't he handsome! :)

One of the nicest areas in the zoo is their huge African savannah/forest, where a number of large animals were kept, including giraffes, Kudu, ostriches, and others. Zebras were supposed to be there, but I didn't see any, which made me a very sad panda as I love them so! But I did get this wonderful picture of a very large giraffe with a young Kudu grazing in front of it! :)

Doesn't this bird look like it's a dinosaur?! I just LOVE seeing birds with these primative bony growths! To me, they look like modern feathered dinosaurs! :) And the feathers are so lovely, I looked for some on the ground but sadly, I didn't find any. :(

At the zoo, there is a wonderful island surrounded by a beautiful pond, which is, in turn, bordered by a lovely, expansive lawn. On this island live two gorgeous Bald Eagles! They are both injured and will never fly again, but instead, have a loving, forever home where nobody can bother them and they can enjoy the outdoors in contented bliss. I was thunderstruck to see this eagle and its companion, as I have never seen one since I became interested in photography, and I've been wanting to see these birds forever! I couldn't get over how amazingly beautiful these birds are!! Here is text from the San Francisco Zoo website that tells more about their eagles and the wonderful conservation efforts they've helped so much with: For over twenty years, the San Francisco Zoo has helped to conserve bald eagles, maintaining the largest captive breeding and release program in the country. Even though the species is not officially endangered any longer, the Zoo’s off-exhibit captive breeding facility for bald eagles is still home to two pairs of bald eagles. Since 1991, the Bald Eagle Recovery Program, in conjunction with the Wildlife Institute, has released over 95 eagles to sites in central and southern California, as well as Tennessee. The Zoo initiated its California Bald Eagle Breeding Program in 1985 to help with the recovery of the state's bald eagle breeding population, which had declined from a historic high of approximately 400 pairs to fewer than 35 pairs in the 1970’s. Live Eagle Nest Cam! During breeding season, you can watch the Catalina Island eagles at the West End nest via live webcam! Visit www.iws.org and select "Eagle Nest Cam" from "Interactive" on the menu. The Bald Eagle Recovery Program is headquartered at the Zoo's off-exhibit facility, the Avian Conservation Center. San Francisco Zoo houses three rescued eagles, injured in the wild and incapable of being re-released. You might see one of our rescued bald eagles on Eagle Island near the bear exhibits, or meet one of our eagle ambassadors at a special event, or on a walk through the Zoo with a handler. www.sfzoo.org/baldeagle

Alphabet Site: K is for Kudu!! :D Would you just LOOK at this magnificent creature?!! What HORNS it has! These are one of my favorite antelopes, and it was so nice to get a picture of both an adult and a juvenile during my visit to the zoo! From Wikipedia: The greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is a woodland antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas, due to a declining habitat, deforestation and poaching. The greater kudu is one of two species commonly known as kudu, the other being the lesser kudu, Tragelaphus imberbis.

I was so happy to get a picture of this gorgeous fellow. He was really not very happy that people were staring at him and he did glare at me. I didn't want to upset him, but I wanted his picture so badly, so I took a few pictures. Shortly after this image, he turned around and sat with his back facing the group of people staring at him. What a message that sent! New note: I found out that this fellow's name is Oscar Jonsey and he is a new father to a darling baby girl at the San Francisco Zoo! www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23692362/baby-gorilla-born-at-san-francisco-zoo

There were several peacocks and hens walking around the zoo while I wandered around and I was able to get an image of one of the peacock's magnificent tails! So beautiful!

I was so happy to see both a lion a lioness at the zoo. At first this male was looking the other direction or laying flat on the ground, but then, for just a moment or two, he looked almost directly at me! HOORAY!

Yesterday's zoo picture was a lion, so today I thought I should share my pair of sea lion pictures! :) The image at the top is a female sunning herself, and below, she is playing with the male! Aren't they adorable?! :)

Wow, would you just take a look at this bird?! Holy hairdo, Batman, that's one ugly bird! :D That poor thing must have fallen out of an Ugly Tree and hit every branch on the way down! WOW! But I also have to say, it's very cool-looking, don't you think?! The wonderful aviary I went inside had at least a dozen or more of these birds, and they were busy nesting and gathering sticks. I saw one completed nest with more in progress, very interesting to watch them building. So intent on their project, the birds weren't overly concerned about people, which I really enjoyed!

This beautiful gorilla was very happy and relaxed and sat near several others. They all seemed to be enjoying the warm day and this one looked at me from quite a distance away with curiosity in its eyes. What a joy to see these amazing animals!