Showing posts with label hummingbird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hummingbird. Show all posts
03 October 2008
28 September 2008
This Bird Can be Such a Card!
This photo was taken on a Panasonic PV-GS320 digital video camera. Although still images taken by this camera are not as sharp as ones shot on a dedicated still camera, its images can be manipulated to produce lovely photos like this. (It is not a still frame from video. The camera captures still images on an SD card.) This photo was enhanced using Adobe Photoshop CS3. I created several layers, manipulated each layer with different effects, and combined the layers for the full effect shown above.
The texture effect applied to the image doesn't appear to show up as well in this smaller version of the photo. The original Photoshop file dimensions are about twice as big as the full-size version you can see by clicking on the picture above. If I enlarged and darkened the texture effect on the original file, it would be too much for that version, but look fine for this smaller version.
This is the original photo. The only changes I made was cropping it to a 4:3 aspect ratio (the camera takes photos in a 16:9 aspect), and reducing the size to 640 x 480.
26 September 2008
Hurricane Ike Faces Off with a Humdinger!
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During the hurricane and its devastating aftermath, my attention was split between concern for our friends, home, and businesses in Houston, and this amusing bird. I believe it's a young male ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). It can't be seen in this picture, but he has a few metallic red spots on his neck.
He decided this feeder was his and would attempt to drive off other hummingbirds who wanted to feed, as well as wasps, and anyone watching through the window. Because he would perch nearby the feeder and puff himself up to look larger than his actual 3" length, we call him Humdinger.
Now that we are back in Houston, after twelve days away, we are completing the cleanup procedure and getting back to business. Luckily, we didn't have any damage to our homes or businesses, so we've been cleaning our stinky fridges and a chest freezer. Our food loss was minimal, but I had to replace all of our condiments and fresh vegetables.
I found a good website with information about deodorizing refrigerators.
Our outdoor red-eared slider, Crimson, survived and stayed in her pond and enclosure. Some large yucca branches fell into the pond, but they didn't damage either the pond or the turtle.
As of today, September 26, over 400,000 Houston homes are still without power, and thousands of Galvestonians are without homes. We ask everyone to pray and keep positive thoughts for everyone affected by the storm and encourage donating to charities helping Texans get back on their feet.
Charities Helping Hurricane Ike Survivors
Houston Food Bank
San Antonio Food Bank
Austin Food Bank
Houston SPCA
Bexar County (San Antonio) SPCA
Associated Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
The Red Cross
Also, don't forget the people on the Caribbean Islands who were devastated by both Hurricane Gustav and Ike. Catholic Relief Services is one of the international charities helping the poor in this area.
During the hurricane and its devastating aftermath, my attention was split between concern for our friends, home, and businesses in Houston, and this amusing bird. I believe it's a young male ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). It can't be seen in this picture, but he has a few metallic red spots on his neck.
He decided this feeder was his and would attempt to drive off other hummingbirds who wanted to feed, as well as wasps, and anyone watching through the window. Because he would perch nearby the feeder and puff himself up to look larger than his actual 3" length, we call him Humdinger.
Now that we are back in Houston, after twelve days away, we are completing the cleanup procedure and getting back to business. Luckily, we didn't have any damage to our homes or businesses, so we've been cleaning our stinky fridges and a chest freezer. Our food loss was minimal, but I had to replace all of our condiments and fresh vegetables.
I found a good website with information about deodorizing refrigerators.
Our outdoor red-eared slider, Crimson, survived and stayed in her pond and enclosure. Some large yucca branches fell into the pond, but they didn't damage either the pond or the turtle.
As of today, September 26, over 400,000 Houston homes are still without power, and thousands of Galvestonians are without homes. We ask everyone to pray and keep positive thoughts for everyone affected by the storm and encourage donating to charities helping Texans get back on their feet.
Charities Helping Hurricane Ike Survivors
Houston Food Bank
San Antonio Food Bank
Austin Food Bank
Houston SPCA
Bexar County (San Antonio) SPCA
Associated Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
The Red Cross
Also, don't forget the people on the Caribbean Islands who were devastated by both Hurricane Gustav and Ike. Catholic Relief Services is one of the international charities helping the poor in this area.
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