Autumn & Winter in Pleasanton/Sunol, CA (2015)

Pleasanton and Sunol, CA has recently been through autumn and now it is winter. I have took some photos around the city and in my backyard of autumn foliage and winter scenery. Sorry about the non-posting these past 2 months. I spent the entire month of November pretty much sick dealing with several flu and cold viruses (and I had no energy to get up). The whole ordeal lead to messing up my sleep cycle for the month of December. Anyways, despite me feeling really really bad, I did actually go out for some photos, but due to my health concerns, it took a lot longer for me to get the photos processed and sorted. Anyways, it is now sorted, and I am here to show them to you! :) I hope you all had a great holiday season and will enjoy these shots. The photos in this blog post are from 11/23, 11/24, 12/3, and 12/11.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To view my best Pleasanton, CA photos for 2015, use this link. To view my best autumn foliage photos, use this link. To see all of my 2015 Pleasanton, CA photos, use this link.

Back lit autumn leaves in Pleasanton, CA. This photo along with the next 3 shots are from 11/23. 

Autumn leaf bokeh from Pleasanton, CA.  

Another autumn leaf bokeh photo.  

 A photo of fallen autumn foliage on the grass. This photo was shot at Hansen Park in Pleasanton, CA.

More autumn foliage photo from Pleasanton, CA. This photo and the next two photos are shot on 11/24. 

A photo shot down a street in Pleasanton, CA of a few rows of autumn trees.  

 A photo of autumn foliage in Sunol, CA.

After a super windy night in Pleasanton, CA, a bunch of autumn foliage landed in my backyard pool. As much as it was a pain in the butt to clean up the pool after this storm, the leaves floating on the pool did make a great subject for photography. The photos of the leaves floating on my pool was shot on 12/3. 

I noticed a red leaf that was isolated in the pool. I thought it would make a cool subject.  

Black and white process of the photo above. 

I then decided to try a shot with some leaves that was more isolated instead of all piled up.  

 Black and white process of the photo above.

A photo of autumn foliage/winter scenery from a residential neighborhood in Pleasanton, CA. The rest of the photos in this blog post is taken on 12/11. 

Black and white process of the photo above.  

An autumn foliage/winter scenery shot from Hansen Park in Pleasanton, CA.  

 Black and white process of the photo above.

What is left of autumn foliage on a tree in Hansen Park in Pleasanton, CA.  

An autumn foliage/winter scenery shot down a sidewalk in a residential neighborhood in Pleasanton, CA.  

Black and white process of the photo above. 

This is all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

California Towhee (Melozone crissalis) - Backyard Photography

I recently spotted a California Towhee (Melozone crissalis) in my backyard. Decided to get a few photos of it. I am here to share with you the two photos I took. I hope you enjoy viewing these photos! I was hoping to have a bit more photos in this blog post, but I don't have that many interesting things I can take a photo of in my backyard.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best backyard photos for 2014, use this link. To see my best bird photos for 2014, use this link. To see all of my 2014 backyard photos, use this link.

These are all the photos for today. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Squirrel and Parakeet

I just have a really short post for you guys today which was shot at the end of March. I have 2 photos of a squirrel that was on the fence in my backyard, and 2 photos of my parakeets. I hope you enjoy viewing them!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best backyard photography for 2013 and 2014, use this link. To see all of my 2014 backyard photography photos, use this link.

 Here are 2 photos of the squirrel on my fence. 

Here is a photo of my parakeet named Peanut. It really loves playing with the mirror for some reason. 

These are all the photos for today. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Helping Out a Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos)

With all the sad stories recently, here is a happy one. So on 4/30/2014, my neighbors saw a Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos) drop into my yard. Then the duck was just flapping its wings, and started running in circles. I was about to call animal control, but after closer inspection, I saw that the duck was tangled up in some fishing line on the end of its wing. The duck must have gotten tangled up in some fishing line, tried to get loose but got tangled up in my yard as it flew by.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best backyard photography for 2013 and 2014, use this link. To view my best bird photos for 2014, use this link. To see all of my 2014 backyard photography photos, use this link.

This is a photo of the duck after we cut it loose. I was in a rush to free the wildlife, that grabbing my camera didn't even occur when I saw it. 

Another 2 photos of the duck before we let it go. 

After we let it go, it hesitated for a few seconds, looked at us, checked its wing, and then slowly walked over and jumped in the pool. 

Here are photos of it swimming in the swimming pool. 

More photos of it swimming around the pool. 

Surprisingly, I managed to get a photo of the duck moving its head. I think this is quite a special ability of birds. I hear birds actually need to keep their eyes still (for a little bit longer) to see clearly as they walk and move around due to their wobble. This photo clearly shows the eyes perfectly still as the duck shook its head.  

More photos of the duck swimming in the pool. 

More photos of the duck swimming in the pool. 

More photos of the duck swimming in the pool. 

After around 30 to 40 minutes of swimming in my pool, the duck flew off. It didn't seem to be injured or anything. I guess it did feel some pain, but it was probably just slightly bruised. These are all the photos for today. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) Nest (Part 2)

Please note this story has a sad and tragic ending. If you do not like these kind of stories, feel free to skip this post. Happening at the same time as the destroyed mallard duck nest (blog post here), I had a pair of House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) nest in my backyard. Sadly, this story ended even sadder than the story about the ducks... I will be splitting this story into a 2 part post.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best backyard photography for 2013 and 2014, use this link. To view my best bird photos for 2014, use this link. To see all of my 2014 backyard photography photos, use this link.

Part 1 | Part 2 |

Part 2 will just be House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) chicks hatching, begging for food, and dying.

Photo shot on 4-9-2014. First chick hatched. 

Photo shot on 4-9-2014. Later that evening, another chick has hatched.  

Photo shot on 4-10-2014. Four out of the five chicks has hatched.  

 Photo shot on 4-10-2014. A more in focus shot of a baby house finch chick. 

Photo shot on 4-11-2014. All of the chicks has hatched. 

Photo shot on 4-12-2014. 

Photo shot on 4-13-2014. As they grew bigger, it was harder and harder to focus on them with my Nexus 5 camera due to the limited space above the nest. 

Photo shot on 4-14-2014. I decided it would be easier to focus and photograph the reflection using a mirror. I was going to use this mirror for macro photography of bugs, but I guess it is good in tight places too. 

Photo shot on 4-16-2014. The little chicks aren't fooled by my phone or hand, but somehow them seeing their own reflection seems to confuse them and they open their mouth to beg for food. 

More photos shot on 4-16-2014. By now, they have grown enough, I no longer needed to do a top down view when they have their necks up begging for food. I'd use the mirror to trick them and then stick my phone up for a photo. 

Photo shot on 4-16-2014. 

Photo shot on 4-18-2014. This is the last photo of them alive. That weekend I was busy with other stuff and a photo shoot so I ended up not keeping a close eye on them. 

Photo shot on 4-21-2014. I should have suspected something was wrong when none of them reacted to my mirror when I stuck it up there to try to get them to stick their necks up. I thought they were sleeping that day...

Photo shot on 4-22-2014. This day, I went up for a closer inspection with my mirror. Sure enough, the birds were laying perfectly still in the same positions as the day before. I knew something was wrong. I broke off a tree branch from a bush in my yard and poked them with it. Checked again, no movement. I knew they were dead. Thinking back to the weekend, I didn't see the parent birds come back. Also checking my yard and the surrounding neighbor's bird feeder, the House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) community (around 10 to 20 of them) are no where to be found. They aren't hanging out at their normal places either. I concluded a cat or maybe a raccoon (many of them in this neighborhood) must have killed the population in this area. I cut the rope I used to secure the nest in place, took them down for one last photo before I disposed of them. Can't bury them because it will just be dinner for something in this neighborhood... I know if I buried them, they will become something's meal because the corpses have already started stinking. Since this day, I haven't heard a house finch call or seen one in my yard or the surrounding yards... So sad. 

I hope I didn't make you too sad with this story... These are all the photos for today. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Part 1 | Part 2 |