Wordless Wednesday – Winter in Webster Park

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. About a month ago I showed you pictures of some ducks at Webster Park. Since then the weather has turned much colder and snowier and there isn’t much open water to see any more.

Webster Park Pier in Black & White

To see how different the pier looked in December you can scroll down to the last picture in this post. All the white to the left in that picture is the frozen lake but on the right the water is still fairly open.

Webster Park Jetty

This moon scape looking scene is actually a jetty where the rocks are and in warmer weather is open water where you see those small humps. Here is what the jetty looks like in warmer times although the pictures aren’t taken from quite the same angle.

Webster Park Jetty in October 2020

It’s been fun seeing how this little park area has changed as the temps have dropped. There may be more views of the lake as it fills more with solid ice to come.

We’re joining Comedy Plus for their Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

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Nature Friday – Long-Tailed Ducks at Webster Park

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. About a week ago we had a rare somewhat sunny day so Charlie and I headed to our favorite place to do some nature photography, Lake Ontario at Webster Park. I reported in my last nature Friday post that the parking lot had been closed but this time it was open! It was nice to get out and enjoy what has become a very rare sunny day. We had gone about 60 days with complete cloud cover and since last Saturday it’s been mostly cloudy every day again.

Female Long-Tailed Duck

By the time we arrived at the park it was later in the morning so there were no opportunities for any sunrise pictures but we were lucky enough to find some Long-Tailed ducks in the water. 

Male Long-Tailed Duck

The water was quite choppy which made photographing the ducks very challenging as they bobbed up and down on the waves. There were two males and one female in the area. The female stayed near the mouth of a creek that drains into Lake Ontario where the waves were crashing as the water rushed out. There was quite a bit of debris like sticks and small logs in the water there too. Long-Tailed ducks are diving ducks that spend the most time underwater compared to other diving ducks and the female was demonstrating that very well.

Female Long-Tailed duck getting ready to dive.

Dive!

Submerged!

I don’t know what she found under the water as I never saw her bring anything up. She was diving so frequently that I wasn’t sure I got any decent pictures of her until I got home. Since I had the camera set to shoot slow speed burst I was happy to see I captured one of her dives. It was quite a challenge photographing the female as she would only spend a few seconds on the surface before diving again and you were never quite sure where she would come up next. By the time I had her in my viewfinder she was diving again!

Meanwhile the boys were just hanging out, riding the waves.

The boys spent some of their time preening.

I thought it was funny that while the female was working so hard diving the boys were making themselves more beautiful. In all the time I was watching them I didn’t see the males dive once. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing these ducks on Lake Ontario at Webster Park this week.

Join the Nature Friday Blog Hop

We are joining the LLB Gang for their Nature Friday Blog Hop. You should pop over to their blog to see all the other posts.

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Nature Friday – Wet & Wild Webster Park Sunset

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. This past Tuesday the weather looked good to catch a nice sunset on Lake Ontario at Webster Park so Charlie and I headed up there to take a look. Since December 1st the parking lot closest to the shore has been closed but there is room at the top of the driveway for a couple of cars to park there. So far we’ve been lucky to be able to park there and this time, for the first time since we could remember, there was nobody else in this area of the park. Usually there are always a few fishermen but thanks to the high waves and cold temps (it was about 30°F with a stiff wind) they stayed away! (Don’t forget to click on the pictures to see a bigger view)

The waves were crashing against the break wall

I’ve been waiting for a day just like this to try to capture the waves as they crash into the break wall. I set my camera on a tripod with my camera about 2 feet above the ground so it would be about eye level with the waves.

A large wave crests close to the wall.

In order to freeze the water in the air I set my aperture at f6.4, and my ISO at 1600 to achieve a shutter speed between 1/800th to 1/1000th of a second. Since you can’t really anticipate the exact moment when the perfect wave crash will occur I also set my camera to take high speed burst pictures (15 frames per second). In the 20 or so minutes I was taking pictures I managed to shoot about 700 pictures!

The sunset was the perfect background for the crashing waves

Here is a little video of the wave action that day.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

Charlie captured this picture of the pier while I was shooting the crashing waves

I hope you enjoyed a different view of Lake Ontario at Webster Park this week.

Join the Nature Friday Blog Hop

We are joining the LLB Gang for their Nature Friday Blog Hop. You should pop over to their blog to see all the other posts.

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Wordless Wednesday

Hi everyone! It’s Millie & Walter here.

We would like you to paws for a moment…

…and check out these beautiful sunset pictures.

Webster Park Sunset

Webster Park Sunset

Our pawrents had to abandon us for a while to get these beauties but we think it was worth it.

We’re joining Comedy Plus for their Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

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Wordless Wednesday – Fall Sunset at Webster Park

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. A few weeks ago Charlie and I ventured up to Webster park again in hopes of seeing another beautiful sunset. We weren’t disappointed.

Sunset at Webster Park
(click on the image for a better view)

A little later sunset at Webster Park
(click on the image for a better view)

I’m joining Comedy Plus for their Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

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Wordless Wednesday – Webster Park Sunset

Hi everyone it’s Cindy here. This past Sunday evening Charlie and I headed out to Webster Park to see what the sunset would be like. It wasn’t as beautiful as we had hoped but here is a little of what we saw.

I love the panorama setting on my new camera
(maximize your browser window then click on the image to make it bigger)

Here is a little video I put together of a sequence of pictures I took.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

One last picture as the sun was fading below the horizon

I’m joining Comedy Plus for their Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

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Lighthouses Around the World Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Today we are joining our friends in the Lighthouses Around the World Blog Hop for National Lighthouse Day. We searched our archives and found a few lighthouse pictures we could share.

Living along the south shore of Lake Ontario there are a few lighthouses around. Many of our local lighthouses have been turned into historical sites and museums.

Sodus Bay Lighthouse and Museum

Sodus Bay is the largest natural harbor on Lake Ontario and is located about 38 miles east of Rochester, New York. The original lighthouse at this location was erected in the late 1850’s. This lighthouse is no longer operational but is used as a museum and is operated by the Sodus Bay Historical Society. You can read more about the history of this lighthouse here.

When piers were erected at the entrance of Sodus Bay the Outer Lighthouse was added to the end of one of the piers.

Sodus Bay Outer Lighthouse

The late winter shot above shows about 50 feet of dirty compacted snow that extends out from where the grasses are in the foreground of the picture. Below is a close up of the outer lighthouse.

Sodus Bay Outer Lighthouse

Closer to Rochester in Webster, NY there is another pier with a light tower on it.

Webster Park jetty in winter

It may be difficult to see but at the end of this ice covered pier there is a light tower. Here is a closer view in color taken on the same day.

Moving further west we will visit the Irondequoit Bay Outlet light tower.

West side Irondequoit Bay outlet light tower

This light tower is on the end of the west side pier.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a few of the lighthouses and light towers along the southern shore of Lake Ontario near Rochester, NY.

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Black & White Sunday – Western New York Winter

It’s been a cold and snowy winter so far. Here are a couple of shots of Lake Ontario taken from Webster Park a couple of years ago. If you ventured to the park this year you would see much of the same. This is what a “Lake Effect” snow band looks like as it approaches the shore.

Winter Storm

Mute Swans and Storm Clouds

We are participating in the Black & White Sunday blog hop.

We aren’t sure if we have received everyone’s stamps so if you still have some to send just leave us a comment so we can keep our eyes out for them.  If you need our mailing address just leave a comment. We will be collecting stamps all year so if you already sent us your stamps start collecting for next year. Feel free to send them on any time when you have more than you want.

All photo’s in today’s post courtesy of Charlie.

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