A surprising yellow bird visitor at UP Clarkfied

I try to carry my camera with me always and yesterday January 28, a yellow bird just flew past me to land in the trees besides the canal of UP Clarkfield. I was taken aback, but I knew I have to catch a photo quickly. The camera focusing was not fast and accurate since I used an adapter with UV filter attached. I hope someone will be able to recognize the colorul bird.

Egrets at Candaba which is starting to look like one big rice paddy.

I visited candaba last Sunday January 6, 2014. The whole place does not look like a wilderness, instead the place was full of hectares and hectares of rice fields, duck-raising ponds and fishponds full of water lilies. There is even a big highway being constructed in which according to some connects Candaba to Bulacan. Nevertheless, here is a photo of migrating egrets caught on our Canon SX50HS.

I do not think the birds would like to stay in Candaba, which does not look wetlands anymore. It should have been declared a wilderness a long time ago. But with population pressures, politics and mismanagement of natural resources, Candaba as a migratory bird capital is the most laughable description of the wetlands.

Moon with Jupiter, January 15, 2014.

The moon with planet Jupiter is captured in these photos. Halos usually appear when there are high clouds with ice crystals. These usually occur at or near the full moon phase.

Moon with halo,January 14, 2014

I took photos of the moon with a halo, and with the planet Jupiter shining bright within the halo. I was disappointed that I saw some lens flares in some of the photos, perhaps due to the very bright moon's reflection of the Sun's rays. Modern lenses have multi-elements glasses inside. We tried adjusting the center position of the camera, avoiding the direct focus on the moon in some of the shots, so that the flares would have minimal impact.




Here is an example of lens flare ruining an image of the near or full moon. The full moon will be on January 18, 2014.

All photos taken handheld, with the Canon SX50HS superzoom camera.

Moon with two planets inside halo

My classmate in West Negros College in Electrical Engineering is now working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He and his family are also interested in photography and his daughter caught sight of the moon last year with a halo with two planets inside on January 23, 2013.

Photograph taken with a Canon 600D with 75-300mm lens.

Image copyrighted by Engr. Bayani Ortiz,published with permission in this blog.

Gagamba,January 11, 2014

Gagamba on January 10, 2014

Kamagong (Diospyros blancoi) tree with fruits (Mabolos)

A fruit of the Kamagong tree is called a mabolo in the Philippines. The only thing which does not make the fruit endearing to the Filipinos is its aroma, which is strong, and can be removed by peeling off the skin. The seeds may be very large but seedless varieties exist. The texture of the fruit is like apple or papaya, and the taste is delicious when the opened fruit is chilled.

Plant/tree	Diospyros blancoi|discolor
Common Name	velvet apple, Kamagong, Mabolo
Location	Sta. .Maria, Bulacan
Date	January 9, 2014
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Reference	Wikipedia,StuartXchange

Moon on january 10, 2014