California

Joshua Tree National Park - Big Rock

Joshua Tree

Union Pacific Freight Train

Indian and dog in the town of Idylwild

Wind Power - Palm Springs

Humming Bird goes for the nectar



Local Artist in San Jacinto Mountains

Golden Eagle watching over his domain

Lovely varied set. Looks like a fantastic location for photography.

I was interested to see what sort of settings you used for the first humming bird shot and was surprised to see a speed of just 1/640 @ ISO 200. Scottish light must be a few notches dimmer LOL

Wow look at all those turbines! Nice set

Thanks Phil,
Yes the light is very bright so low ISO's are possible. Humming birds are so fast and small you mostly don't even see them, you are just aware that something small passed by in a blur of motion. It's only when they settle over a flower that you stand a chance to capture them. Also, an interesting factoid is that they are the only bird that can fly backwards.

Thanks Azz,
This wind farm in Palm Springs sits either side of Interstate I-10 and the turbines go on for miles, but so many of these are inoperable. Maintenance is very difficult and parts expensive, so the broken ones tend to stay broken and are just left as a pile of junk. There is a wind farm in Altamont, Ca, that has devastated migratory birdlife. An estimated 10,000 birds including up to 80 protected golden eagles, 380 burrowing owls, 300 red-tailed hawks and 330 falcons were being shredded each year in Altamont’s massed banks of turbine blades. The National Audubon Society, America’s RSPB, has called it ‘probably the worst site ever chosen for a wind energy project’. As a result, it has agreed to grind to a halt for four months every year to avoid causing more carnage during the migration season.