Starlings Build a Nest

A couple of starlings built a nest in a 2nd floor air vent opposite my office window.  I warned my neighbours about the avian invasion but frantic nesting continued unhampered by human intervention.

People in Ontario often confuse starlings with grackles. The two dark-feathered birds are similar in size and shape, but starlings have more colour, and white dots that distinguish them from their grackle cousins. Males shimmer teal, turquoise and plum tones. Females are smaller and plainer, mostly brown with speckled feathers. Nesting begins in April.

In April and May the male starling was busy bringing nesting materials and food to his mate who appeared to stay inside the vent (rearranging furniture!) and laying up to 7 eggs.

If this female starling appeared awkward, try to imagine flying against a wall, creating lift, opening a slat with a beak and thrusting forward through a slim entrance. (Now imagine doing it many times a day and possibly pregnant!)

This might have been Mum telling Dad to hurry up with more building materials and food. Or maybe she just birthed a few eggs and squawked out the good news.

Dad launched out of the vent hundreds of times a day to bring home twigs and straw, grubs and worms

Pushing out from the vent required a quickness & thrust that was difficult to track with my camera. Dad nearly always brought something out with him, as if nest-cleaning, or eating a snack on the fly.

Dad often aborted his entries to the vent to rest on the eaves with a mouthful of food. Many times it took him a few trial flights before he could open the vent. I wondered if the safety of the isolated vent outweighed the awkwardness of not having a stable landing-place.

Dad dug up every variety of grub he could find. After hundreds of entries to the vent,  squishy “grub goo” coated the slats. Pretty hard going for the grubs where Dad had pushed them against the slats to open the vent (grub abuse).

Dad clung desperately to the siding, and gaged what was required to flap upwards in a wall-creep fashion.

A momentary rest before shoving food through to Mum

Tireless effort (and more varieties of grubs than I care to imagine)

Attacking the vent head on

Attacking from the left (and it looks like Dad scored a piece of sponge cake)

From the right

This shot in the late evening showed Dad grappling with his feet in a test of aeronautic principles. He often appeared in rather desperate postures.

Beautiful coördinated motion

Stouffville’s Whistle Radio, ThePassingShow Interview

Three of ThePassingShow Club members interviewed on Shelf Life, Whistle Radio, hosted by Whitchurch-Stouffville Librarian, Catherine Sword

Part 1

Part 2

ThePassingShow members: Mary McIntyre, Kevin McWhinne, Peter Rudner with host Catherine Sword, Whistle Radio, Stouffville

Copyright © 2012 by Mary E. McIntyre. Reproduction of photographs and full or partial content from Camera Combo blog only with acknowledgement attributed to author Mary E. McIntyre and the following link: http://cameracombo.wordpress.com

Stouffville’s Photographic History

Nearly a year of research by local photography club, The Passing Show (TPS), culminates in a window display (Feb 1 – Mar 15) featuring Main Street  Photographers from 1864 – 1992, at the entrance to Whitchurch-Stouffville Library.

Whitchurch-Stouffville Library Display Case – Main Street Photographers 1863 – 1992

Tune in to a TPS radio interview with members Peter Rudner, Kevin McWhinnie and Mary McIntyre hosted by Librarian Catherine Sword on her show Shelf Life at Whistle Radio – 102.7 FM. Airing Times: February 19 at 5:30 pm; February 21 at 8:30 am and February 24 at 5:30 pm

Stouffville is one of the fasted growing communities in Ontario. TPS members encourage old-timers and newcomers to share the rich heritage of the town. Witness through photography the changes then and now.

Photography by Ken Jarvis Photography, Stouffville, Ontario

Copyright © 2012 by Mary E. McIntyre. Reproduction of photographs and full or partial content from Camera Combo blog only with acknowledgement attributed to author Mary E. McIntyre and the following link: http://cameracombo.wordpress.com

5 Hours in Key West

How to capture one of the world’s most fascinating destinations in 5 hours – the seedy underside, the elegant and opulent, the quirky and bizarre, the tourists traps? And nearly everyone who works in Key West wants to put a hand in your pocket (some literally). Chickens and roosters strut freely among the tourists (like cows in India). Art galleries and pricey glass stores thrive amidst bars, trinkets and trash. Here goes, a little something for everyone.

Cruise ships disgorge tourists beside exclusive port-view hotels and Mallory Square. I arrived on a simpler vessel, the Atlanticat (see former post here).

Built in 1926, the vintage Crown Plaza La Concha Hotel is close to Mallory Square. The hotel boasts of famous guests like Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams.

Typical architecture in historic Key West (Caroline St.): remnants of former gentility put to modern multi-use

The Whistle Bar in a historic building on famous Duval Street is atop The Bull Bar, and next door to The Lost Weekend Liquor Store. I lunched in a restaurant opposite named The Flying Monkey Saloon, delicious fresh fish.

The Green Parrot Bar has a webcam so if you want to see and hear the vibes going on in the Green Parrot today … so different from when Ernest Hemingway visited. This webcam doesn’t do the bar justice.  When I stepped inside the bar it filled my senses with music, buzzing conversation, clinking glasses and vintage artifacts.

Writer, Ernest Hemingway’s 1931 – 1940 home (with his wife and children) is a hot tourist attraction, built 1851.

A front porch with a lot of personality

Cuban cigars make their way to stores in Key West. Of the next 4 photos, where would you want to buy an authentic Cuban cigar?

The Island Cigar Factory

Inside the Island Cigar Factory

Typical storefront for Cuban cigars

Bare-bones cigar store entrepreneur

Jimmy Buffet songs (“Here we are again in Margaritaville”) feature in his Duval St. Bar, appropriately named, Margaritaville Cafe, and claims to be the “original.”

Maybe residents, maybe passing through, but not likely tourists.

Making a living with engraved Conch shells, pronounced “konk”

The Bouncer at Coyote Ugly Saloon

Everybody’s got a gimmick. I watched Bandana Man walk with his parrot over to an unsuspecting tourist and plop the bird on the man’s shoulder. Unfortunately, Bandana Man was given the cold-shoulder by the tourist and didn’t make any money off what? the novelty? a photo? On to the next unsuspecting tourist.

World’s Smallest Bar, and there was a customer inside with probably enough room for 2 or 3 more and two more still if the stools were outside on the street.

A great band played music at the Hog’s Breath Saloon

Old cement bunker that used to house the terminal for the undersea cable that linked Key West and Cuba

Famous Mallory Square where gracious hotels in Key West’s historic port and  shopping district rub shoulders with sunset buskers and t-shirt stalls. This is action central every day.

Buskers gather every evening for a sunset Buskerfest at Mallory Square. How much is instant Karma worth? $10.00

Waiting for the buskers to begin their performances. As if by magic, an array of cheap stalls lined the square with new gimmicks to part the tourist and his money.

Mallory Square companions. The shorter fellow set up a stall lickety-split. T-shirts, I believe. The  friends stood by a kiosk which appeared to be a central exchange for permission tags for setting up a stall. Hawkers’ money appears to be added to a central system inside the kiosk. Baffling, but good for employment.

This fellow was a uni-cyclist and juggler. My great disappointment (when he gave permission for me to take his photo) was he blinked and I missed the reason for the photo, amazing ice-blue eyes.

A proud former Vietnam War Vet and Sword-Swallower. At least that was his story which he hyped for 20 minutes before he … hard to watch.

Colourful restaurant linked to Mallory Square.

Unusual brick architecture on Duval Street.

Shell crazy trucker-artist.

Back to gentility at the historic Cypress House Fine Lodging on Caroline St. As it was November, the hotel got a jump on Christmas with red-painted coconuts and gold sprayed branches,  a few lighted reindeer … I’m from Canada, snow country. This felt bizarre, but no more so than the Xmas wreath on the front of a golf cart, or the holly pinned on a resident’s cap brim.

Never far from quirky,  this Fort and Museum Bar

The bar side of the Fort and Museum Bar

And under all the hype, gimmicks and tired tourists is a tired restaurant worker taking a few quiet minutes for her dinner in the alley beside a cafe.

Copyright © 2012 by Mary E. McIntyre. Reproduction of photographs and full or partial content from Camera Combo blog only with acknowledgement attributed to author Mary E. McIntyre and the following link: http://cameracombo.wordpress.com

Key West Express

In November, to avoid the 5-6 hour drive from Ft. Myers to Key West, my friend and I booked a 1-day cruise on the Atlanticat. The ship, a 400-passenger catamaran in a fleet of three similar to it, belongs to Key West Express and berths at Ft. Myers Beach, Florida. We chugged out of the harbour at 8:30 am, cruised south in the Gulf of Mexico for 4 hours, spent 5 hours tracking down Key West’s main attractions, and cruised back to Ft. Myers by 9:45 pm. The weather was warm and sunny and the Gulf of Mexico was mercifully calm. No signs of sea sickness for nearly 400 passengers onboard.

Atlanticat’s Ft. Myers departure at 8:30 am. Passengers on 3 decks: main level indoor lounge and snack bar, smaller 2nd level indoor lounge with outdoor seating, and top deck open to the weather.

Fishing boats in Ft. Myers Beach Harbour

Ft. Myers Beach Harbour – By the time we returned to Ft. Myers beach at night the boat stranded on the sand bar had floated free.

Picturesque Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille, Ft. Myers Beach Harbour

Dixie Fish Co. Bar and Restaurant, Ft. Myers Beach Harbour

Onboard Atlanticat in the Gulf of Mexico, cruising at 45 miles per hour. The weather was warm, but the wind was fierce.

Sightseers who stayed on the top deck to watch the departure from Ft. Myers quickly scurried to the lower decks when full cruising speeds created strong winds. In the morning light,  a slight rainbow in the wake. Along with a few others I stayed on the top deck with my back to the wind. Very zen and “king of the world” time, blue ocean as far as I could see.

Approaching our slip (berth, anchorage, designated parking spot?) near the famous Mallory Square in Key West Habour

At 5:45 pm, the Atlanticat sneaked out from under a rain cloud as we cruised into the Gulf of Mexico for our return to Ft. Myers at dark.

Night ocean on the Atlanticat in the Gulf of Mexico between Key West and Ft. Myers. For 1 1/2 hours a couple from Colorado and I, and two 18-yr-old boys from Michigan swapped stories and sheltered on the upper deck. I highly recommend this alternative to driving to Key West, but be warned. The captain announced at the end of our journey that the two crossings that day were the smoothest they’d had for 3 weeks. Just lucky, I guess.

Copyright © 2012 by Mary E. McIntyre. Reproduction of photographs and full or partial content from Camera Combo blog only with acknowledgement attributed to author Mary E. McIntyre and the following link: http://cameracombo.wordpress.com

The Dark Side of Cotton

Cotton Candy

Georgia’s cotton crop is ready for harvesting when I visit the state in November. Walking among the brilliant white blooms, I understand where the term “cotton candy” came from. Cicadas whine in the air as I step into the red sandy soil that anchors hundreds of rows of cotton plants.

Exploding cotton pant

Why had the southern states developed this hugely profitable industry in the 18th century? Partly due to the demand for raw materials to fuel a British Industrial Revolution, partly due to the cotton gin, an invention that more easily separated the cotton from its seed, but mostly due to the south’s commitment to slave labour.

I toured a historic cemetery in Milledgeville (capital of Georgia 1804 -1868). Of 7,800 graves, 1,400 are unknown. And of the many unknown there are graves designated for slaves. Disquieting to me is the way slave graves are identified. If a slave was born into slavery, a metal post hangs 1 chain link; if they were born into and worked in slavery, 2 links; if born into, worked in and died in slavery, 3 links. I’m uncomfortable with the lingering tribute, wondering if the descendants of slaves take offence to the chains, or if they perpetuate the chains as a reminder to all of us of man’s inhumanity.

2 links of a chain identifies a slave who was born in slavery  and worked in slavery

3 links of a chain mark a slave who was born in slavery, worked in slavery and died in slavery

Copyright © 2012 by Mary E. McIntyre. Reproduction of photographs and full or partial content from Camera Combo blog only with acknowledgement attributed to author Mary E. McIntyre and the following link: http://cameracombo.wordpress.com

Fly, Swim, Crawl & Slither

PART TWO: Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve – Wildlife

View PART ONE here

I have an irrational fear of snakes (like a hefty number of the world’s population).

On a walk through Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers, the highlight of my exploration is photographing an alligator sunning on a floating log on Alligator Lake. The s-s-s-snake word doesn’t come up because I don’t want to see snakes. And I wouldn’t have, except for the sharp eye of my companion who spies two intimate water moccasins entwined in a loving embrace on a sunny patch about 8 feet away from us beside the boardwalk.

My friend doesn’t fear snakes, so when I zap off three quick photos and disappear down the trail, I leave her behind to shutter-click to her heart’s content. If she gets into trouble, she’s on her own. I don’t carry anti-venom.

So let’s get the s-s-s-snake photo out-of-the-way quickly so you can see other opportunities for photographing diverse wildlife in the slough in November.

The slough wetlands abound with water birds, such as Anhinga, and Cormorant, the latter spreading its wings for drying out after diving for fish. We spy a Green Heron close to the path (and in a mood to stay put long enough for us to photograph it). I thought our intrusion might spook the pretty bird, but have since learned they are patient hunters, perching on branches above the water, waiting for fish to swim below them – and strike.

Green Heron

One of my favourite wading birds is the White Ibis. It’s a busy hunter in the shallows, occasionally stares at us and quickly realizes cameras aren’t edible, and goes on its way. Perhaps it’s the bubble gum pink legs and long beak that gives this bird a clownish demeanour.

White Ibis perches single-legged – hoping I’ll go away and leave it alone.

“Alright, Lady. Enough with the camera. I’m workin’ here.”

A big old turtle lumbers around in the water plants beside the boardwalk. Its shell is about 12 – 14 inches long and I’m guessing it is a large female Red-Bellied Cooter. We see other turtles sunning themselves but they have higher domes that are shiny (maybe small male). It might be that they are younger versions of the one with the well-worn shell in the photo below.

Red-bellied Cooter (I think).

This little Cuban Brown Anole  thinks I can’t see him.

As cold-blooded reptiles, Alligators raise their body temperature by basking in the sun.

Great Egrets – the slight angry curve in this one’s neck warns me that I am the stranger here.

Squirrels gather acorns from Laurel Oaks, as squirrels do with nuts, seeds and acorns all over the world.

Cormorants drying out their wings alongside sunbathing turtles

Copyright © 2012 by Mary E. McIntyre. Reproduction of photographs and full or partial content from Camera Combo blog only with acknowledgement attributed to author Mary E. McIntyre and the following link: http://cameracombo.wordpress.com