New webnectar

There's a new version of the webnectar website that is now live. As you probably know, I've been sticking most of my wildlife and landscape photos on Facebook, and occasionally linking to them here.

I realize that not everyone is on Facebook, so as part of my ongoing update of webnectar, I've just added a 'recent' section there that will contain my most recent wildlife (mainly condor) and landscape shots. Like my FB page, it'll get updated at least once or twice a week, and at times where I have a surfeit of images (like at the moment, after an awesome condor weekend last weekend), it'll be updated daily - with a slideshow of up to the 12 most recent images in the recent section.

One final note, I'm also using it to stay on top of the latest web technologies - which means that after I get it looking really nice on the latest browsers, I then have to get it to at least work with older browsers, so if you're on IE 8 or earlier note that you'll get a less than stellar, dumbed down experience (and as an aside, why are you on IE 8? - get Chrome or Firefox or something better - the whole web experience will be better).

http://webnectar.com

Christmas 2011

As is typical, I didn't have a traditional Christmas, but I did have a great one:

Christmas Eve -

Hang out on the cliffs looking for condors - actually got to see a pair of condors mating (not pictured), and had a great day with a couple of friends, all while being out on the Ducati (hence the boots and the leather pants)

(thanks to Dan for the photo)

Christmas Day -

There were six of us on the cliffs all deciding to spend the day out on the coast looking for condors instead of a more traditional day. The condors didn't disappoint!

A Great Condor Weekend, Without Condors!

Yes, this last weekend, I got to see some great condor action (had to haze two of 'em to get them away from being too close to the road, and had a few really close fly by's too).

However, this post is not about condors - it's about all the other wildlife I got to see in between the bouts of condor spotting.

Firstly, we have a pod of Risso's dolphins that swam past the cliff I was atop of. The water was really clear and calm, and the dolphins were in close enough that you could really see them clearly underwater, as you can see below!

On Sunday morning, as I was heading down to Big Sur, I spotted a bob cat in a field next to the road, so I pulled over to check it out. It didn't get that close, as whatever it was hunting for breakfast didn't get that close either, but I did manage to get this shot as it stalked whatever it was after (this is a heavy crop of the original image).


On Sunday, after a couple of close condor fly by's, a flock of pelicans appeared right at our height - they were too close to get the whole flock in the frame, but I did manage to get this one by itself.

Finally, the hummers were flitting around most of the weekend, but were not garnering that much attention as there was so much other wildlife to check out - here's a shot of one of them, flying under the radar, so to speak.


If you're interested in the condor photos too, they're slowly appearing on my Facebook fan page at https://www.facebook.com/webnectar (as will some of these none condor photos too)

"Manny"

"Manny" - as I learned over Labor Day weekend - is a male nanny. Here's me in full Manny mode as I hang out with Gateau Man's three kids and a couple of their friends.

Home

I finally got around to finishing off my time lapse experiments into a single (hopefully cohesive) short film - hope you like it!

It's The Details

When the sky is devoid of condors and the mist is spoiling the magnificent majesty of Big Sur, it's time to concentrate on the details.

Birthday Weekend!

A fortuitous set of circumstances meant that my 45th birthday occurred the day before an all day whale watching trip out of Santa Barbara - a trip both myself and my wildlife partner in crime Ali had been hoping to take, so a plan was hatched.

Spend a long weekend in Santa Barbara, check the town out on the Friday, whale watch on Saturday and drive back home up the coast on Sunday looking for elephant seals and condors.

As Friday was my 45th birthday, this photo at the Santa Barbara Amtrak station made sense (almost)!

Santa Barbara is a mission town, and the local mission was at the other end of the main street from where we were staying, so a (longer than expected) walk got us to the mission to check it out - the largest mission I've seen so far.

Our rental condo was only a block from the beach, so it was a quick 10 minute walk to this view of Stearns Wharf jutting out into the Pacific ocean.


On the Saturday, we did the whale watching cruise and got to see lots of dolphins (bottle nose, common and Risso's), whales (blues and humpbacks) and a fair bit of other marine life - wildlife photos will be appearing at my FB wildlife page - https://www.facebook.com/webnectar

Here Ali is poised, ready to shoot the next piece of wildlife appearing out of the ocean.


On our way back into town, you get to see Santa Barbara with Stearns Wharf in the foreground and the mountains in the background.

A very cool way to celebrate my latest birthday and a great weekend.