animal on Oxymoronical

A dream of a robin

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:13:21 +0000

Normally what I look for in photos is sharp focus. I want to make out every detail. But as I was editing this photo of a robin perched in a magnolia bush I found the background turning all milky and making it all look dreamlike. So I leaned into it and in the end this might be one of the best photos I’ve ever taken.

Chupmunk against leaf

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 12:25:14 +0000

While I’ve spent a quarter of my life in the US I still grew up in the UK and got used to the wildlife here. So sometimes when I’m back in the US I will find an animal that while quite common is quite new to me. Such was the case when I came to this park (actually in Toronto) and found a bunch of chipmunks running around the paths. I think some of the passers by thought me a little strange for spending so much time watching them, but I’m still happy with the photos I got.

Perched long-tailed tit

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:08:52 +0000

One of my favourite things to photograph is birds. And one of my favourite birds is the long-tailed tit. They’re really cute but unfortunately quite skittish and so hard to capture. This year I treated myself to a big zoom lens and at the time I would have said it was for shooting deer or eagles, but one of the first things I did with it was sit out in my garden and waited for a long-tailed tit to come to the feeder.

Dragonfly resting

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 11:20:45 +0000

Many animals seem to be creatures of habit. They’ll keep doing the same thing over and over unless you interrupt them. This is great for photography because if you’re careful you can predict what an animal will do. This was true for this dragonfly. Any time I tried to walk up to it it would fly off. But it kept landing in the same spot. So I just stood right there with my camera trained on the branch and kept still and sure enough back it came.

Mobbed

Fri, 18 Apr 2014 16:23:11 +0000

It’s a common sight in California. A red tailed hawk just minding his own business and along come a bunch of crows to chase them off.

Harvesting pollen

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:10:00 +0000

I had never really thought before what bees do with pollen but just look at this! All that pollen packed onto its little legs. Lucky shot really, I think I took a few hundred and got one that came out good!

Skimming the water

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 08:54:32 +0000

I’m always impressed at how close pelicans skim to the surface of the sea, no matter how many waves there are.

Willet in flight

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 15:52:53 +0000

Perhaps oddly the thing I most love about this photo is the stream of water from the tips of the Willet’s toes to the water as it launches itself into the air.

Scaring prey

Sat, 26 May 2012 19:22:26 +0000

On a road trip to Solvang we stopped at a gas station and found a red-tailed hawk perched in a tree. Suddenly it flew into the air and started screeching trying to scare out some prey. Not super well focused but I love this photo anyway.

Shakin her booty

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:14:59 +0000

A wood duck in High Park in Toronto. They have very vibrant colours, the male a little more so than this female but I loved the movement in this shot.

Green lizard

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:45:07 +0000

These little lizards were all over the place in Hawaii.