First… computer woes!  I won’t go into the details here but I needed to make some major changes to several aspects of my computer system.  My photo processing was getting slower and slower and costing me more and more time.  I was concerned that my computer might crash and that I would lose my photos, some of which I was already unable to access. The problems were the result of a very old Apple computer, an even older version of Adobe Lightroom and a certain amount of disorganization.  

In late November I purchased an enhanced iMac computer, subscribed to Adobe’s Classic Lightroom/Photoshop software and arranged for a local computer business to migrate data and ‘straighten things out’.  I haven’t had time yet to try to access all of my older photos but I have processed several hundred new photos stored in my camera with no problems. 

In the past week or so I’ve made several visits to the Cap Sante Marina to photograph waterfowl.  Thus far I’ve photographed Common loons, Hooded mergansers and Buffleheads.  

Here are several photos resulting from my efforts… 

These are Hooded mergansers, a female in the foreground and a male in the background…

Earlier in the week I was fortunate to see a merganser emerge with a nice-sized shrimp, caught in unusually shallow waters for a shrimp.

And finally, a Common loon completing its preening routine…