Partial Annular Solar Eclipse

Today there was an annular solar eclipse. I was too far south to see the Ring of Fire, but I got to see the sun shaped like a crescent with a couple cards with a pinhole and with my camera. 

This picture came out rather nicely, considering I couldn't use my viewfinder to set up the shot because I would burn my eyes out if looked at the sun through my 300 mm camera lens.

After getting all the pictures I wanted of the sun, I turned around and saw some interesting shadows on the wall, with upside-down crescents of light shining through the leaves. It's the same thing happening there as the pinhole I used to see the eclipse.

Butterflies and the Beach

Right now I live close to the beach so one day I walked down and took some pictures of the sunset.

Also nearby is a butterfly preserve where monarch butterflies spend the winter.

The sun caught the wings of the handful of butterflies on this tree, but the trees in the shade had some of their branches and large parts of their trunks covered with the butterflies.

This Christmas I got a wide angle lens (10-22 mm). I used it to take some pictures at some beaches.

More Birds This Morning

This morning I walked over to the Devereux Lagoon where I saw at least eight black-crowned night herons in less than an hour.

I was outside and on my way by 6:50. The morning sunlight was beautiful.

Here are all the black-crowned night heron pictures I liked. The brown spotted ones are juveniles.

I Moved Away and Found Some Birds

This summer I graduated from high school and moved away to go to college. With the UCSB lagoon within walking distance (round trip is five miles), I can get up in the early hours of the morning and look for birds.

Here is what I got yesterday morning:

Great Blue Herons

Black-necked stilts

The first black-crowned night heron I've ever seen!

I was really excited to see it because I've wanted to see one for a long time. Then I saw about seven of them this morning at Devereux Lagoon, so it's not quite as exciting as it was yesterday.

Black Turnstone doing some ballet moves:

Female black-bellied plover. I saw several males too.

Some sort of sandpiper. I am feeling lazy and have not looked into what kind it is.

Sanderlings, probably.

Vacation to Carmel

This year's trip to Carmel came earlier since that's the only time my family could all go together, so my sister and I got to miss two days of school.

As usual, we went to Point Lobos and saw some animals and scenery.

Black Oystercatcher

Mule deer fawn

Western sheep moth caterpillar

A different caterpillar

Scenery!

This is how you get kinks in your neck.

Fisherman's wharf in Monterey

Yellow-billed magpie at a rest stop on the way home.