Snowflake the Swan

[SeilerBird]

On my cross country journey I spent a few nights at Lakeside RV Park in Livingston Louisiana. It is one of the nicest parks I have ever stayed in. There is a nice lake in the middle of the park and there is a tame Mute Swan living there named Snowflake. I am currently staying in the Panhandle of Florida. Today CaptSteve's wife took me to the Sasquatch Zoo in Crestview Florida for a private tour. I have also included a few shots from a walk in the woods.

 

[SeilerBird]

A few more...

 

[SeilerBird]

The last few...

 

[gmsboss1]

Glad to see your pictures here again!

My favorite is the Emu!

Watch for a PM.

Don

 

[tstumpf]

Very Cool!

-Roni

 

[Larry N.]

Very nice shots, as usual Tom. Thanks.

 

[Howard R]

The EMU sort of looks like he is smiling .... in a funny sort of way.  ;D

Thanks Tom, certainly enjoy your work.

Howard and Kelly

 

[Tom and Margi]

Love the yawning tiger.  ;D

Margi

 

[captsteve]

Awesome shots Tom! Just be careful, DW might leave you in the woods if you keep showing her up on the Bald Eagle!! lol

Have a blast on Sat. with the Tigers!

Steve

 

[SeilerBird]

The EMU sort of looks like he is smiling .... in a funny sort of way.  ;D

Thanks Tom, certainly enjoy your work.

Thank you Howard and Kelly, however I don't really consider any of this work. It is all fun.

The shot of the Emu is very deceptive. It looks like a sweet little bird politely posing for a photo. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a big vicious bird that is savagely attacking me and trying to eat my lens. The Sasquatch Zoo is a small zoo and almost every animal is enclosed in a chain link fence enclosure. This makes it impossible for the animal to escape, but it also makes it a very difficult place to photograph the animals. However the Emu was in a large corral with a family of Llamas that was surrounded by chain link, but not covered with chain link. And there was a gate big enough to drive a car through that was just some steel bars and about 4 feet high. The Emu could stick his head through the gate or over the gate and lash out about two feet, which he would do anytime I got within two feet of the gate.

At first I tried to photograph him with a telephoto and that just didn't work at all so I switched to my 8mm fisheye. With this lens I would have to be two feet away from him at the most or the image just would not work. And the lighting was poor so I had to use a flash. So I stood there for quite a while trying to get a decent image and almost every image failed miserably. Finally I got lucky and got the image I posted, which I think is in my top ten all time photos. I really like it a lot.

Here are two of the outtakes from that photo session.

 

[SeilerBird]

Love the yawning tiger.  ;D

Thank you Margi. However there is some frustration over this shot. I got a much better shot of him yawning and it was ruined by the reflection of the flash off of the chain link fence. Here is the shot:

 

[Steve & Linda]

Tom, love your photos! I guess you'd tell us novices to have patience when taking pictures; it appears your patience paid off. I am missing your link to your photo gallery, however. Can you guide me to finding it again?

Linda

 

[quaywe]

SeilerBird,
Love the photos, especially the emu.
I teach process controls & automation programming and that's the exact look I get from some students at times ;D
I'd like permission if I may to use that image as the desktop wallpaper on my training PC's, for some it'll be like looking in the mirror
Cheers & thanks
Geoff

 

[SeilerBird]

I'd like permission if I may to use that image as the desktop wallpaper on my training PC's, for some it'll be like looking in the mirror

Thank you for your kind words Geoff. I would be honored if you used my image as wallpaper. I don't enforce copyrights at all. Anyone is allowed to use any of my images any time for any reason. You don't even need to give me credit. Enjoy!

 

[quaywe]

it looks perfect !!

 

[SeilerBird]

it looks perfect !!

That is way too cool. ;D

 

[boatbuilder]

Love the pictures Tom! I always share them with my wife.  The emu looks like an alien with the orange eyes.

 

[ArdraF]

The shot of the Emu is very deceptive. It looks like a sweet little bird politely posing for a photo. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a big vicious bird that is savagely attacking me and trying to eat my lens.

Oh, Tom, what a good chuckle from the Emu picture.  Your earlier playing around with the fisheye lens really paid off.  Great photo!  And, you're absolutely correct about them being more vicious than sweet.  We were at a drive-through animal park once and the emu tried his best to peck away the window.  They have vicious beaks, not to mention they're speedy little devils.  On the other hand, the same park had a baby elephant that was darling.  He came up and put his trunk on the window.  We kept that round mark on the window without washing it for quite a while because it always made us smile.

Glad you made it to Florida safely.  Have fun there!

ArdraF

 

[SeilerBird]

Ardra - I still have not looked at my lens to see it he did any damage. He pecked at the lens at least a dozen times. It made a nice click sound every time he struck the lens. There is no doubt he would have done some damage to me if my hands had gotten in the way. This was the first time I was attacked by a bird that I was trying to photograph and the first time I was ever actually afraid of my subject. But an Emu is a huge bird, I mean HUGE.

But he was small compared to the Ostrich. The Ostrich was hysterical. He was a very horny male. Every time I got close enough to him to take a photo he would go into his mating dance. When a male finds a suitable female, it sits on its hacks and starts waving its wings around and throwing its head from side to side. I don't really think I look like a female Ostrich but he did it every single time I got close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8lfwgdPffE

Unfortunately there was a chain link fence that prevented me from photographing his dance. I am glad I could not get too close to him or who knows what would have happened...

 

[captsteve]

In evolutionary terms the Emu is very close to still being a dinosaur. After messing with that one I think his daddy was one of those Raptors in Jurassic Park. LOL

On the other hand, Tom, Isnt it cool to have the access to be able to love on and scratch the big cats. I heard you got to scratch Levi the Loin, He's my buddy and comes to the fence for love whenever he see's me.