This n' That n' Trout - Mostly Photos (#218)

I've collected something of a mishmash of photos over the last few months which I'd like to inflict share with you good folks. As a bonus, I'm offering a video of leaping rainbow trout! All for the incredibly low (albeit regular) price of free!

The photo below will probably become my new header picture. It's taken from virtually the same place, but in winter rather than fall. Maybe I should put it to a vote. Keep the old one or replace it with this one? (Or maybe I should have just switched to see if anyone would notice?)

Remember, if you wish, you can click each photo to see a larger version.

Last fall, in the middle of the annual salmon run, I took the following pic. You can see the shadows of the big fish in the creek behind an oblivious Benny.

The trio of ducks below, appeared to me to be lost in thought. Perhaps in the same one: "Who's that lumbering dude pointing that thing at us?

This next one goes back to last New Year's Eve. It's a snapshot of part of the table at hosts' Debbie and Mario's place. I swear by my Big Baba's apron that the view changed every three minutes as more (and more and more) food and drinks appeared and disappeared. But every view was just as festive and colourful as the one below.

A few weeks later, Hilary decided to buy a bouquet of flowers to beat back the winter gloom. They made a striking display on her dining room table. (She just up and bought them. Honest. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss a hint....)

Here's a closer look at one of the blooms on the other side of the bouquet.

I wish I could have gotten a better pic of the next subject. He was a rare visitor to the little pond near my home which hosts a large flock of mallards. He's a Northern Pintail duck. What's particularly striking about them is the configuration of their feathers (which of course, explains their name).

At Hilary's last weekend, I borrowed her camera to take a few pics of birds at her feeder. Shooting through the patio door glass obviously flattens out the picture - but the subtle iridescence of the grackle's colouring still comes through.

For several weeks, birds were avoiding both my and Hilary's feeders. I eventually became convinced we had an unappealing batch of seed. Changing the seed helped coax the birds back. But undoubtedly, the presence of the little fellow in my next photograph deterred the locals as well. The merlin perched nonchalantly in my magnolia tree, about 10 feet from the bird feeder, undoubtedly awaiting the arrival of his own feathered lunch. After admiring him a while and taking the shot (again, unfortunately, through glass) - I went outside and shooed him away.

Well, it seems I still have a few pics but this post has gone on long enough. I'll save them for another time. As threatened promised, the video below was taken about a week ago, a few minutes' walk from my house. The rainbow trout (steelhead) were anxious to get upstream to get some serious, fin-to-fin canoodling done. Part-way through the video, if your sounds are on, you'll hear an excited little boy announce each airborne fish he spots.

Enjoy.