Posted on by Anne Sandler · 33 Comments

Beauties and Cuties

When I want to get my swan fix, yes I think they are beautiful and graceful, I go to Mather Lake Regional Park. It’s only about a half hour from my home. This lake is also a popular fishing place. Here are some pictures from a recent visit.

Now for the cuties. One month ago a female giraffe was born at the Sacramento Zoo. Right now they are taking votes to name her. Your vote will cost you a minimum of $5. (I think). On my last visit, I got there when the zoo opened and our un-named baby was out. She stayed by her mom except for a few runs around the enclosure. I was amazed at how the other adult females watched out for her. Here she is!

I have more images of other animals that I’ll show you next time. Baby giraffe will probably have a name by then. Isn’t she cute!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 20 Comments

Playing Catch Up: Mather Lake

I’ve been busy? I’ve been preoccupied? Time got away from me? Whatever the reason, I’m looking at my unposted photos from May. One of those outings was to Mather Lake and I was still trying to get used to the new Tamron 18 -300mm lens. You’ll be happy to know that it and I have become good friends. It’s just so different from the Fuji lenses.

I like Mather Lake because it’s close and has swans. I love swans. They are so graceful. But very often they are on the other side of the lake. Too far for a 300mm lens. That day in May I got lucky.

Here are some photos.

There’s more to come!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 16 Comments

Catching Up: Swans at Mather Lake

Things happen and sometimes get us off track. I realized that I haven’t been keeping up with my personal posts that I do on Wednesdays. So….I’ll make up for lost time.

Mather Lake is a small lake, and part of the Sacramento Regional Parks System, at the southern end of Sacramento. It’s a great place to photograph swans and other small wildlife like beavers, etc. So I said I’d go and crossed my fingers, hoping there would be swans more in the middle of the lake so I could capture them with my 300 mm lens.

Again, I will thank my friend Ray who made me a short monopod for my heavy lens. Wow, what a difference! We walked around the lake and I was happy. There were many Mute Swans, and some were by the shore! Here’s some of what I captured.

We didn’t see any other critters, but I was happy with these swans. I think they are so graceful in the water. On our way back to our cars, I spotted a juvenile swan. I looked it up and it was a juvenile. It was by itself so maybe it was mature enough to be on its own.

This is not my “Swan Song.” There will be more catching up posts, in addition to my regular LAPC weekly post, soon.