Third fawn of the season

One of the hinds gave birth this afternoon — the third fawn of the season. I must have missed seeing it by no more than a minute or two. I was leaving for a No. 1 Line walk and had the camera with me, the 300mm lens already mounted.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Tui (2)

The bottlebrush continues to attract tui.

[If you haven't noticed already, there's a new post up on Pohanginapete.]

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Tui

New Zealand lacks the diversity of land birds of many other countries, including India, but we have some wonderful personalities among our species, and tui rank high among those. This one was feeding on bottlebrush (Callistemon) flowers close to my place yesterday.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Conifer forest, McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala)

Somewhere around here I picked up my first ever leech. A small (but messy) price to pay to be able to enjoy sights like this.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

The road from Manali to Leh

At the first stop on the second day of the drive from Manali to Leh I chatted with the driver of our minibus. How long had he been driving this route, I asked. He hesitated, then said seven, eight years. Later, someone else asked him and he replied six, seven years. Whatever the true period, he clearly knew the road extremely well.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

View from the back door, dusk

I've posted similar photographs before, but I don't get tired of evenings like this. (And no, I own nothing you see here except the car.)

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Manali morning

I enjoyed my time in Old Manali for many reasons, not the least of which was being able to enjoy sights like this from the balcony of my guest house, which was high enough up the mountainside to be almost out of earshot of the party music thumping out of Old Manali's main tourist area late at night. Not surprisingly, perhaps, dawn was a particularly quiet and tranquil time of day.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Mist at Naddi, near Dharamsala

At Naddi village near McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, dense mist lingered, began to disperse a little, then closed in again. I liked the feeling of not being able to see everything, of not knowing what might be hidden.

[You might need a good monitor to appreciate this: the colours and tones are likely to be too subtle for some screens.]

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor