Angry looking Redhead drake in a snow storm – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 1000, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This Redhead isn’t “angry” at all but it does look angry to my eyes and this morning I’m feeling about as angry as this duck looks. I’ll explain but first I have to give a bit more information about how my mornings start.
When I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is to get my coffee brewing, the aroma of coffee brewing starts my day off right and that first sip chases away any fog left in my brain from my nightly slumber. I boot up my computer after the coffee starts and emails start to download as I open my browser window to open up a weather map. I’ve been using the map at Intellicast.com for sometime now because it loaded fast, has been more accurate than other maps (mostly) and I could quickly go from their map to the hourly forecast for my area or to their extended forecast. Sure, it had some ads but not so many that the pages took forever to load. I have other weather maps on my bookmark toolbar so I can get to them fast but my “go to” weather map was at Intellicast.
As a bird photographer I want to have good light if I am going to drive 20, 40 or 90 miles to look for birds to photograph. I want to know of the clouds are moving away or moving in and which direction they are moving. I simply need to have an idea what to expect.
Being able to quickly see if there are clouds and what the clouds are doing, where they are heading and if there is any precipitation falling is important to me that early in the morning because it often determines what I will do that morning and it also helps me decide how fast I need to move to finish up my daily post. If I decide that it looks good to get out into the field I need to push myself to get ready to head out the door.
Even though I knew the weather here this morning was supposed to be pretty awful I got up and went to look on the Intellicast weather map to see just how bad the clouds were because I look for sucker holes that might give me a few minutes of light to go down to the local pond to photograph birds or if there is a bigger break to head out to look for birds further away from home. I knew that the chances of that happening today are and were slim but I still wanted to look at the radar/satellite in motion. I clicked the bookmark toolbar for Intellicast and their map is gone, replaced by the terribly slow loading, ad bloated, Weather Underground Wundermap.
It took about 2 minutes to see what I wanted to see on that Wundermap this morning. Maybe it was slower than normal because they had just switched over. To get the Weather Underground Wundermap to remember my personal preferences for their map I would have to sign up for an account with them and I’m just not going to do that for a slow loading map where I have to click to close ads just to get to the layers I want to see or have loaded.
I guess it is time to go back to the Weather.com map which isn’t perfect but certainly isn’t as slow, bloated with ads or as annoying as the Wundermap.
Sometimes changes are for the better and as a geeky person I get excited about those but this certainly wasn’t a change for the better as far as I am concerned.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to view more of my Redhead photos plus facts and information about this species.
Now that’s a REAL stinkeye! Great shot Mia. Thanks.
Well, crap on a cracker. I hate it when someone tries to “fix” something that ain’t broke and then breaks it in the process. Hopefully, you’ll get some decent weather or at least a few of those sucker holes.
This guy sums up my feelings about a LOT of stuff!
Sigh. And hiss and spit.
I can imagine you with the same angry look as the Drake. Weather is important to me also. I look at the Weather where I have relatives and friends living to see the comparison of temps.
You can get an ad free version for $1.99/year that lets you customize the information you want. It’s great without the ads. Check it out!
If that Redhead is located in a National Park or National Wildlife Refuge he probably is angry! I know I am!
I turned to my weather map this morning to see all red and warnings of an imminent storm heading our way. I usually take these dire warnings with a grain of salt but am always prepared….just in case! Love the “angry” redhead.
Intellecast has been my go to site for weather since I started using the internet for that purpose before the turn of the century. I’ll keep the Weather Underground, underground. Pissed of old man.
Hello, this is my first time commenting here.
Love that Redhead shot, he looks how I feel when the roads freeze over here! The snow and choppy water add a lot of additional detail to the image as well!
And believe me, I know the feeling of a weather forecast saying bright sunny days, and looking out a window to see nothing but fog and clouds. The feeling somehow feels to get worse overtime, so just gotta roll with it I guess.