Slow and clunky

At least sixteen crows this morning.

Shot mostly at 64MP, and I have thoughts.

There’s more lag at the higher resolution, so I can’t take pictures in rapid succession.

And finding and resizing these giant images is disrupting my workflow.

To the point I’m out of time and need to leave for work.

I plan to put together a more in-depth comparison post, but that will have to wait.

Some flower and decay shots (more to come):

And then my morning coffee ritual.

I’m owed three hours by work for my weekend efforts. My plan is to reclaim that this afternoon.

We’ll see if it happens.

 

Silhouettes and sunlight

About twenty crows this morning.

A few waiting near the house, more just down the street, watching from a tree.

They were fairly active as we walked, following along.

Partly cloudy this morning, so there was some sunlight.

Having survived the flora and the fauna, I came home to my morning coffee ritual.

With the one secret ingredient that gets me through the day.

 

The low key murder experience

As I’ve been taking my morning walks with the Doggo, I’ve been taking a recorder with me. A Roland R07 recorder paired with Sound Professionals in-ear microphones.

I’ve always been interested in sound and binaural recordings, and this setup allows me to create my own.

The theory is that when you record with in-ear microphones, you’re capturing the sound as a human would naturally hear it, so the recordings are ultra-realistic.

There are people out their who do this professionally, and their recordings are amazing.

I’m strictly amateur, with consumer-grade equipment and not a lot of experience. I’ve been trying to get a good recording of the crows for about three weeks now, and due to time constraints and mystery equipment trouble, finally got to the point of “screw it, this is good enough … for now.”

The inspiration was when I had forty crows swirling and cawing around me. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my recording gear on me when that happened, and since I’ve started recording, I’ve yet to duplicate that intense experience.

So the video embedded below is the tame, low key version of experiencing a frenzied murder. If you do decide to listen, I highly recommend headphones. The experience is much better with them. Like don’t even bother listening without them better.

 

Kerfuffle at the end of the world

Stepping outside was like stepping out of a tent on a camping trip first thing in the morning.

There was a profound stillness and a chill that bit.

It was also overcast.

Despite this, we encountered twenty-five to thirty crows.

With three gulls circling off in the distance.

The lighting was gloomy, almost otherworldly at first.

Golden hour? Didn’t feel like it.

It felt more … apocalyptic.

But it soon, well, not exactly brightened up, but turned less … doomsday?

Every time the peanuts went down, the crowd went wild and screamed.

And flapped.

I really hope the recording turns out.

The flowers were far more sedate.

Audibly, anyway.

And then my morning coffee ritual.

Followed by a Mexican standoff that I did not expect.

The crow didn’t fly away this time, but the squirrel still thieved a peanut.

 

Night and day, locked in eternal struggle, with only the birds as witness

Up a bit earlier this morning, but still light out.

The moon setting, the sun rising.

Twenty-five crows, not a bad number.

A couple of gulls off in the distance, but they seemed uninterested in us.

And there were flowers. Plenty of flowers.

No cacti, thankfully.

Followed by my morning coffee ritual.

We switched sugar substitutes. Sucralose is way sweeter than allulose.

Which I learned the hard way…

Do it! Do it! Poop in my coffee! I need something to cut the sweetness!

 

Gull-p

Fifteen, maybe sixteen crows this morning.

And several gulls.

Only about half the crows followed me the whole time, but as with yesterday, they were waiting when we came out.

The flowers distracted me from the potential war brewing between the crows and the gulls.

And back to the Yeti mug for my morning coffee ritual.

 

A somewhat ominous number

Abbreviated post, as work called and needs me to go in ASAP.

Sigh.

I lost count at thirty-three crows. A very decent number.

They were waiting as we came out of the house, followed us the whole way.

Not thirty-three right from go, and it thinned down towards the end, but thirty-free (and likely more) for most of it.

The slightly adjusted route continues to provide some new flowers to photograph.

But not a lot.

I found the jet and the tree an interesting juxtaposition.

And I was in the middle of my morning coffee routine when work called.

And did I mention I’ll be working late as well?

Sigh.

 

Nat twenty

The crows cottoned onto me almost immediately for this morning’s walk.

About twenty, all told.

Not terribly excitable, but active enough.

Flowers were out too, though I think they have less say in the matter.

Switched things up a bit on our route, so some of these are even new!

And there were the usual anomalies.

Closed the pre-work routine with my morning coffee ritual.

Is there bird poop in it? You rolls the dice, you takes your chances…

 

I’ve never been more surprised by an act of cowardice

What a lovely day to demand peanuts.

Hello there.

Holy sh*t!

Not the face! Not the face!

Not gonna lie. I feel dirty right now…

 

Not bad … for a Monday

About twenty-five crows this morning.

Plenty of light when we left, but they showed up late to the game.

The flowers are always here on time, though not always looking so healthy during winter.

And the morning isn’t complete without a thieving bastard or two.

Having successfully navigated yet another morning walk, it was time for the morning coffee ritual.