While boating around Charlotte Harbour, we spotted a few dolphins in the water. They were quick to appear and disappear so we had to chase them for a bit, but I managed to get a few clear shots.
Recently I visited my parents in Port Charlotte, Florida. Friends of theirs graciously invited us out for a boat ride around the harbour and into some of the canals. At the end of the day we spotted a few dolphins.
One of the highlights was whale watching with my cousin and her family. We were fortunate enough to have two curious whales come to the boat to put on a show for over 20 minutes. After that, we went to Bird Island to see the Puffins. The island is home to millons of seabirds.
I went camping with my girlfriend at Presqu'ile Provincial Park (a great location, I would highly recommend it and look forward to returning next year). They have different nature trails for hiking including a boardwalk through a marsh. These are some of the plants and animals we saw. There are also a few landscapes and panoramas - to be posted in the next couple of days.
I have learned that while visiting my parents in The County I should keep my camera at the ready as there always seems to be interesting things to see there. On my most recent trip I had gone into Belleville to run some errands for my father, while driving back I was stopped waiting for the road construction crew to let traffic through. In the oncoming lane a bright red car slowly passed by, with three shaggy dogs sticking their heads out the rear window enjoying a beautiful spring day. I wished I had my camera ready as I would love to have that photo. As soon as I passed the construction I pulled over, dug out my my camera and put it on the seat next to me so I would be ready the next time. (which turned out to be about 10 minutes later).
I was driving down one of the side roads when I saw a farm with some horses that was quite close to the road. I pulled onto the shoulder, parked and began to take a few shots. I was using my telephoto lens (70-300mm) as I didn’t want to intrude on someone else's property. Very quickly, a dog came out and started barking at me, and I thought ‘That’s it, I’m outta here’. As I was pulling away, I saw the farmer walking over to the dog and he was looking at me. I quickly pulled over, got out of the car and explained that I was just taking a couple of photos of his horses. In true County fashion he says “No problem. Park in the driveway here and come on over”. Wes, (my new farmer friend), proceeded to explain the differences between all the horses and let me take as many shots as I wanted. He even got some corn meal from the barn to entice the horses over to the fence for me. Wes was clearly proud of his beautiful animals and invited me back anytime. In retrospect, I wish I had got a photo of him as well as the horses. Over the Easter weekend I went to visit my parents in Prince Edward County. Due to its location "The County" as it's know to the locals, is a great location for photographing birds in the spring as they migrate. Of course, the several birdhouses on their property didn't hurt either. My father built the white purple martin house in the sky, and my uncle built the cedar one.
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