We all know them, those times of the day when we see little because the sun has moved on. Some people call that night. That is where many photographers pack up and go to sleep, have a party or just clean their gear. For me this is a time to go outside and see what I can get.
Photography in the evening and in the night can be a bit challenging. First, you will be walking around in places where most people have left. And you walk there with some expensive gear and a very visible tripod.
Photographing birds on branches or walking in shallow water is one thing, getting them in their specific element is a different matter altogether. Birds are mostly known for their flying capabilities, so getting them in flight is probably a “must”.
So this time I’ll try to get some of those birds in the air and make sure they show up properly 
. It must be a funny sight to see a big guy with a fairly big camera moving it all over the place and hear him swear softly under his breath…
Once I have good subject matter, I tend to go overboard with it. Not to take a plunge, but more in the sense of boring people with “always the same”. Even on this blog you can see that there are periods of “more or less the same” type of posts. It just comes and goes with the seasons. It’s hard to find sunny, beach-ey pictures in winter.
One subject that is always possible is birds. While in winter they seem to be limited to a few species, in spring there is an explosion of species, subspecies and other distinctions of birds here in Manitoba. However, the real concentration of species lasts only for two to three weeks, then all the birds disperse to their respective homelands.
In a park… A PARK? Yes, parks here in Manitoba have a whole different meaning than the parks we are used to in Europe. A park in Europe usually is no bigger than a few backyards together, a duck pond (sometimes) and a bit of grass for the kids to play on. Here in Manitoba, a park means lots of space, both for nature and man. Mostly for nature.
And that is how it should be. A park is there to show man what nature can look like without the need for long travels and uncertain results. St Vital Park is located within the city limits and is thus considered a city park.
When people think of Manitoba or even Canada in general, all they can think of is snow, ice, Santa Claus and a few more pretty frozen ideas. Cocktails with ice and ice-cool beer are not part of those thoughts. Birds are also on a very short list. However, Manitoba, being one of the central areas in North America inherits birds from all directions, with many species overlapping in this area.
That makes Manitoba a birder’s paradise. This post reflects a single lunch break, and even I have omitted pictures of birds that were not showable. It’s ok to show off that you can take pictures, not so ok to show that the birds were faster than the photographer .