Working On My Game.....

I have been working very hard on learning my new camera. From all the new AF possibilities to how it handles high ISO noise, I want to get this nailed down as soon as possible so I don’t miss a great shot because I wasn’t ready.

So Brick Pond is the logical spot for me to embarrass myself in relative anonymity, with only the birds there to point out all of my mistakes. Brick Pond has a very healthy population of Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers this year, so finding subjects is not the issue. Getting them close enough and in the right light is the problem.

I wanted to begin to push the ISO limits to see how far I could go and still get a good image, and the birds were happy to oblige. Click on the image to enlarge…

I believe that these first 3 images were shot at ISO 7200 and I’m pretty happy with the way they cleaned up. I could print these and be confident they would look good on paper. Two factors that affect how your high ISO images come out are cropping and under-exposing. Cropping just magnifies the noise and underexposing will make you bring up the shadows in your image, showing the noise even more clearly. The less you crop, the better off you are. Easier said than done, I know, but do your best. And if you find that you are shooting more and more high ISO, get a separate program like Topaz or OnOne to help you with that. They really do make a difference!

A couple more from that morning….. nothing special, but at least the birds cooperated and let me get some much needed information about the new camera!

Now get out and shoot!

When the light is right…..

Wayyyyyy Behind........

The break between sports shooting this winter and wildlife shooting was very short this year, and I am way behind on my editing and blog posting.

I was out last week at my favorite GBH rookery hoping for some early season pics of the adults building nests, breeding, squabbling for preferred nesting sites and in general being the raucous birds that they are. It was a chilly, cloudy morning so I knew it would be a balancing act between shutter speed and ISO.
And then a guest showed up that I really didn’t expect, but they definitely brought some excitement and fear to the pond. Click on the images to enlarge

Wait, isn’t this backwards???

That is an Immature Bald Eagle in the GBH nest. The Eagle chased the GBH out of her nest without much of a fight, and proceeded to have eggs for breakfast! The Heron was not happy, but right now her options were very limited.

And when the Eagle got done there, he moved over to the next nest a short distance away and started to munch on another fresh egg. But this time he got a little more than he bargained for!

I wish that I could have this shot back, but it is what it is. In this nest, the Heron decided that enough was enough and she attacked the Eagle so fiercely that she made him retreat, and in doing so, he lost his grip on the egg he had planned to steal! You can see the egg yolk and egg white dripping from the broken shell in his talon. That would have been a killer shot…. woulda, coulda, shoulda….. but at least you can see the end result! I just wasn’t prepared enough for what happened. But I’ll get over it. That’s why God invented beer!!!!

THIEF!!!!!

He came around one more time but by then both parents were there and he didn’t stand much of a chance, so he retreated to a nearby tree and eventually left the area.

High key Eagle

So that is my tale of a great experience for me. I had never witnessed anything like this before and it is one I won’t soon forget! Hope you enjoyed it too! Now get out and shoot!

Playing Catch Up....

For the last month we have been shooting sports championships all over the state, so I have been getting very behind on my blog posts.
But I did manage to sneak in a quick trip a couple weeks ago to see my buddy Dave in the Buffalo area. Originally we were going to go to Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge but the water at the refuge was still pretty much iced over, so Dave cooked up an alternate plan. He took me to the Irondequoit Bay area, near Rochester instead. The water up along Lake Ontario is usually open at this time of year and the migrating ducks were already back in pretty good numbers.
We hit several spots in and around a smaller bay off of the main bay called Braddock Bay. This was a different style of shooting for me. It’s a run and gun type of shooting, and we put plenty of miles on the car moving from one spot to another.

The first thing that struck me was the variety of species of ducks compared to what we see here in the spring. Redheads, Buffleheads, Ringnecks, Scaup, etc., it was a smorgasboard of duckulous proportions! I even got to see a Long Tailed duck, which was a first for me. I have included a few pics that were good enough to show. the wind was blowing around 25-30 mph all day, so that didn’t make things easy and I’m also learning a new camera, so I had plenty of wasted electrons!! But I hope you enjoy them!! Click on the images to enlarge…

Redheads on the alert!!!

Ringneck Ducks flying in formation, with Mom on point!

A Harrier Hawk, a first for me!

A better angle….

I also saw my first Saw-Whet Owl on this trip! Unfortunately the best image I have is a small brown blur in a sea of pine branches! One of the most common Owls, yet this was a first for me! I’m including a link so you can see a pic of these little cuties! Northern Saw-whet Owl Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Many thanks to my friend Dave for guiding me for the day! I would never have seen the Owl without him pointing it out to me! I will definitely return the favor when you come down for the GBHs….. Thanks for looking and remember…. get out and shoot!!!

A nod to a favorite poem and poet.....

Last Friday I was fortunate enough to be asked to give a presentation on wildlife photography to a group from Two Rivers Photography Club, of which I am a member. I’m not very good at giving these talks but as I do more of them, I think I’m getting better at it! I basically wanted to help some of the newer photographers get started in wildlife photography. Everyone always thinks it has to be extremely expensive to shoot wildlife and I wanted to dispel that notion. (Although you can spend an insane amount of money if you wish!)
So I thought that I would share some of the images with you all that I shared with the club. Nothing fantastic, but I wanted to show them that even a guy like me can get out there and enjoy the world that many people never get to see. I’m a pretty lucky guy!
Click to Enlarge….

Showing the importance of controlling depth of field….

An example of High Key photography

You gotta be there early!!!

Whispering sweet nothings….

Simple Beauty

Posing….

And to end the program, I shared a poem by Mary Oliver that very eloquently captures my feelings about being out in nature. Several of the attendees asked me to send them a copy of the poem, so here you go!

"Rear View", or "What the Hell Is Going On???"

I was at Brick Pond yesterday. The usual suspects like geese and Mallards (lots of them!) and several Muskrats. Nothing special.

As I was walking back from the blind I noticed a large Muskrat hut that just didn’t look right. The huts kind of look like a miniature version of a Beaver lodge. The Muskrats build these huts for shelter. But when I saw this hut there was something large and brown on the side of the hut. My first instinct was that it was a Beaver, but that made no sense at all. So I pulled up my binoculars and this is what I saw: click to enlarge

Even the goose can’t figure it out!!!

What the Hell is going on here???? A secret Muskrat lodge meeting? I had no way to explain this until I got home and did some research. Apparently, when the food supplies get too low as is often the case in late winter, they will actually eat their own house! When you stop and think about it, it does make perfect sense. The hut itself is made mainly out of one of their preferred foods, the Cattails. But it also seems that they would be easy prey for a hawk or an eagle. Maybe the goose is the lookout!!!

You can clearly see the shape of the tail in the first image. So that is your fun wildlife fact for the day! I hope you enjoyed it!

Spring Training......

It’s the middle of February already….. and most of the bird photographers that I know are anxiously awaiting ice-out on the local waters, including me!
So when Brick Pond opened up this last week, I knew that I had to get out and get going on spring training. It’s not just for athletes, we photographers lose our edge and sense of timing when we aren’t actively shooting on a regular basis.

Even though the only birds available were geese and Mallards, that’s okay. They are both good choices to get your panning skills back in shape, and every once in a while, you get a keeper out of your practice pics. I don’t think there are any from this bunch that I will keep for the archives but that’s not the point. Get out, sharpen your skills and enjoy being alive and out in nature! click on the images to enlarge

Make the most out of your practice time, no matter the species….. I wish the background was blurred a bit more….

Once in a while, you get surprise guests, like these Hooded Mergansers!!!

Jump shooting!!!

In Sync, wings down!

Slightly different wing position… you like this one or the one above?

Start with a goose, end with a goose!

It doesn’t matter what species you use as practice, but you definitely need to shake the rust off! When the shot of a lifetime comes around you’ll want to be ready!
Thanks for looking!!!!

Back At The States......

What the heck, I can’t always shoot wildlife!
Becky, Dave and I have been shooting sports for several years now. Because wildlife photography is such isolated endeavor, it’s fun to get together with your photo friends and shoot something different. And actually, sports and wildlife photography are very similar in the types of gear that is used. In addition, you are shooting the same type of shot: fast moving, erratic subjects usually in less than ideal conditions. Just what every photographer dreams of; twitchy subjects, crappy weather, and poor lighting conditions! But we’re not complaining (much).

The last two weeks we were shooting the semifinals and finals of the NYS boys football championships. The semis were outside at UE stadium and the finals were at the Carrier Dome (or whatever they call it now). And let me tell you, the Dome is a photographer’s dream: warm, no rain and reasonably decent, constant light! I have posted just a few of the images from the tournament here. You can go to my website gallery for a few more, OR go to Beyond the Print to see all of the images from all three of us! Click the images to enlarge….

Obviously, we all had a great time and with any luck we’ll be back next year! Hope you enjoy them! And remember: Get out and shoot!

Sometimes It's Just Not Fair.....

We’ve been shooting sports for the last month, and it’s starting to wear on us. You have to travel to the event, shoot all day and then go home and cull 6000-8000 images and edit the good ones. We love it, but I needed a break. I found just enough time last Wednesday to sneak down to Brick Pond for a little R&R. When I am out shooting wildlife everything else just melts into the background. It’s my drug of choice when I need some chill time.

There was open water pretty much all over the pond and of course the Geese were there. There were also quite a few Mallards who braved the weather to stick around. Until the pond ices over, I think they will stay.
But I was looking for my little furry buddies to see if they were going to stick around when it gets cold. Otters will sometimes take over a portion of a Beaver lodge for the winter and I was hoping they would do that at BP.
But as the time went by, I began to think that they had left the pond for the winter. I was looking at my watch to decide when to give it up for the day when …. there they were! The two of them were hunting as a pair, very efficient and methodical, working their way from west to east on the far side of the pond. The odds of them coming close enough for a decent picture are not good but eventually they worked close enough to me and surprisingly got out of the water for a break!
Click on the images to enlarge….

I think they knew they were being photographed!

They were only on that log for a few minutes, but I was burning electrons as fast as I could to get some decent poses before they slipped silently back into the water.

I got some good pictures with some nice poses, and I was glad for that. But something was missing, and that something was their mother. I had watched them for most of the summer, mom and the kids, but in late October I was able to watch mom as she crawled up on the beaver lodge. And I knew something wasn’t right. She just didn’t walk right and when I looked at the images I took of her, I could see why. She had a large red bulbous mass sticking out of her and I couldn’t tell what it was, but I knew it wasn’t right.

I took the pictures to someone who was much more knowledgeable about this than I am, and the news wasn’t good. Although they can’t say for sure, they believe that the Otter had a Prolapsed Uterus. Which means the Uterus is physically sticking out of her. Although they can sometimes reverse themselves and go back up into the body the prognosis is not good. Most likely she would either die of blood loss or infection. It’s been a month since I have seen her so I’m pretty sure she didn’t make it.
Like I said; sometimes it’s just not fair…..

A Day In The Life...... (and death)

Down at Brick Pond earlier this week. The water level is pretty low, just the way I like it. The birds are a bit more concentrated around the remaining pools of water, and it makes for some interesting interaction.
Dawn brings the Green Herons out for the day. They’re very similar in some ways to humans; some are slow to wake up and start moving and feeding, and others are a ball of fire from the get-go. The guy below took forever to get going, but once he did he was very good at his craft! Click on the images to enlarge…

Morning stretch. He needs a cup of coffee to get going!!!

First fish of the day!

While I was there, this little one came and kept me company for a bit, never coming out of the thick brush. I haven’t ID’d it yet, but it looks like a young Catbird to me.

Back to fishing. This guy (and I call him a guy because I had to pick one) turned out to be a very competent fisherman, catching several fish in a short period of time.

This guy is good!

But what he did next is the reason for this post. As he was sitting on the log fishing, he suddenly looked to his left and flew off. I thought maybe one of his siblings was about pounce on him and start a fight, but as fast as he flew off he came back to the log and he had a passenger….

We deliver!

Somehow he managed to see that frog 30 feet away from his perch on the log, flew over and caught him, and brought him back to his original spot. All within 20 seconds! And if you look closely at the pic you can see that the frog still has a tail! This was a first for me! The really bad thing about it is that there was a branch right in his flight path. I have a whole series of images as he came back across the water, and all of them have this damn branch in it!

It’s not a good day for the frog…

A couple times he almost dropped the frog back into the water!

Now he’s turning the frog around to start the beginning of the end for the frog…

And of course we all know how it ends. And I didn’t show the in between pics that show the heron viciously slamming the frog on the log to tenderize him a little. Not that I am squeamish about it, but it doesn’t add much to the story.
My question to all of you is; Were you rooting for the frog or the bird? If the frog gets away does the heron starve? One of them has to lose in this deal. As wildlife photographers we are confronted with this on a regular basis, and I think about it often. With very mixed feelings.
Once again, thank you all for looking!

It's Getting To Be That Time Of The Year.......

5:30 in the morning and it’s already 70 degrees. The mosquitoes are taking turns picking out real estate on my forehead and to top it off I left my coffee thermos at home!!! Not a great way to start the day. This is the time of year that shooting wildlife can get difficult. The little ones are no longer those cute little puffballs. Now they are little miniatures of their parents. And the parents are looking a little ragged too. The ducks are molting and the wood duck males look like escaped convicts with shaved heads! And the mature vegetation has made it difficult to get a clear shot. I thought it couldn’t get worse but then it started raining. The forecast said a 6% chance of rain. Way to go Howard, you screwed the pooch again!

I figured if the birds didn’t mind, neither did I. And I was hoping the Green Herons would keep me company, at least for a little bit. And I can report that they certainly kept me entertained today. Green Herons are a fairly large bird, maybe a little smaller than a crow. But they are so light they can almost “walk on water”, as you can see below. Click on the images to enlarge….

Beep-Beep!!!

This next Heron was trying to interrupt his siblings hunt by “dropping in” on him!

“I must go, my people need me….”

And then it was the Kingfishers turn. There are two separate families of Kingfishers, and they never tire of harassing each other. It’s like a giant game of aerial tag whenever they get together. But they eventually settled down for a few minutes and ended up giving me two or three of my best shots. The next two shots are from the same branch, but at a different time and a totally different quality of light. Look at the difference in the color of the light in the two images. Not better, just different. I like them both!

A cooler color of light….

And a bit warmer for this image….

The last one with the raindrops is going to get printed. It just has such a nice feel to it…..
But the next one is my favorite and captures the spirit of the Kingfisher better than any words I can put on paper…..

Bring on the world!!!

They are constant motion, constant jabbering, always full of piss and vinegar! That’s why I love them!
So in the end, it was a great day! Like they all are…….

Thank you so much for looking! Talk soon!

Do I Have The Best Job In The World, Or What????

I was down at Brick Pond last night. I hadn’t planned on going because the weatherman was calling for thunderstorms. But then I remembered that the weatherman couldn’t find his ass with both hands and a flashlight, so why am I depending on him? I grabbed my gear and headed down to the pond.
It was a hot afternoon and I was sweating when I got to the blind. And guess who was waiting for me? Big Mama…. Click on the images to enlarge

Giving me the old stink eye…..

I had just enough time to get my camera out of my pack to get this image. I think she watched me sweating my way up the trail and decided to wait for me to see her before she took off. But she just slowly walked down the log and hopped into the water and leisurely made her way into the pond.
But that gave me time to get set up and be ready for the next guests…. Green Herons are funny birds. They are the smallest of the herons in our area, but they can make the most noise! And there is a whole family of them down at Brick, at least 6 that I know of.

Yada, Yada, Yada…….

And this one is a juvenile. You can tell by what’s left of his downy feathers on the top of his head. But he kept me company for quite a while by showing me his ineptness at catching anything that resembled food. He was an expert at catching sticks and twigs though. These birds have probably never seen live food before, just what gets regurgitated for him in the nest. So they need to learn the hard way about catching their own prey and it takes a while…..

Wow! Is that what food looks like????

Maybe I’ll do better from up high…..

But these guys were just the warmup for the main event…. the babies!!!!

I have been very fortunate this year to see an incredible number of young birds, of all kinds. But tonight was like hitting the lottery. Not only did I see the young herons, but now baby Wood ducks?? I’m so glad the weatherman screwed up again!

Submarine move…..

I had seen a Merganser chick do the exact same thing last week and I just thought it was a fluke, but now I’m not sure. Maybe this is the latest hashtag trick for ducks???

more and more….

And soon I had all my ducks in a row……. I can’t believe I said that…..

In the next pic below, Mom looks really proud of her kids….. or am I being too anthropomorphic? Too bad, it’s my blog!!!!

Yep, these are all mine…… I think…

And it didn’t stop there! Pretty soon everybody was trying to crawl under Mom!!!

And it looked like Mom was about ready to burst!!!

Now I think the next pic is by far the best one, even with the damn branch in the way! The look on the little one’s face on the left is priceless!!

But all good things must come to an end…… Mom spotted me and the that was the end of that! The Mom train pulled out and didn’t look back!

Sayonara!!!!

All in all, it was a great night considering I almost didn’t come out! Lesson learned……..

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!!!! Thanks for looking!

Persistence.... Perseverance.... Balls...... however you want to say it.....

This little one had it in spades!!!!!
I was at Brick Pond early in the morning and was fortunate enough to have a family of Mergansers (Mom and the kids, the males are nowhere to be found) feeding in front of me. Eventually they got their fill and decided to get up on a log near me to take a break. Keeping track of these little ones is probably an adventure in itself, so Mom was probably glad for the break.

This isn’t working for the little one on the right….

There was only one problem. The little one on the right wanted to be with the other two siblings on the left, but big mama was in between. He or she would have to get back in the water and swim around Mom to get next to the other two. The little one had no intention of getting back into the water. He had just spent the last ten minutes preening and had no intention of getting back in that chilly water! So the little one improvised and solved the problem in a way that left me shaking my head laughing!!!

What is the armed services slogan, “adapt and improvise???”

This little shit decided to go under Mom to get next to his siblings!! The next sequence of images shows exactly how it was accomplished!

Mom is just not prepared for this!!!

On his way!!!

I think by now Mom realizes that she is going to lose this battle….. So she tries to stand up and let the little one go by.

In the end, the little one gets its way and Mom relents. She could have just shoved him off into the water and made him swim to get to the other side. But that is not what Moms do……

Junior is very happy being back with his buds, at least in the anthropomorphic world that I live in. If you go out photographing with just the intention of getting some pictures, you are missing the most important part. Seeing something like this is priceless, and on those days where it’s hard to get out of bed at 3am I just have to think back to this and I am ready to get going again!!! I’m also glad that I could bring this little slice of their lives to all of you. Please enjoy!!! And if you know someone who would enjoy the pictures, send them the link!

"Branches" Revisited.....

A week or so ago I posted a pic on FB of a Wood Duck that would have made a remarkable picture, except for the fact that there was a small branch directly in front of the bird! I was very frustrated at the bird because if he had walked a short bit to my right he would have been in the open, making for the mythical “perfect shot”
Well, as Paul Harvey would say, I’m here to tell you “the rest of the story….”

I spent a considerable amount of time waiting for him to finish preening and move up the log so I could get a clear shot. Ducks in general are quite fastidious, which is a fancy word that means they spend a lot of time looking good! And before he got up on the log he gave me a few decent looks in the water.

He thinks he’s hiding…..

Patience….

So here he is on the log, doing everything he can to stay in front of the branches!

Shake it off……..

“The Look”

Stretching Out…

Then he starts to move up the log a little bit….. I’m thinking “just one more step”…. actually I’m thinking he should get his ass in gear and move up the log!!!

Move it!!!

Story of my life…..

Well, he did oblige me and moved alright…… right back to the water!!!!!
So I figured it was over. I gave it another half hour to see if he would come back, but it didn’t look good. But then the photo gods looked down and must have taken pity on me because here he was, swimming back towards me! And unbelievably he hopped back up on the same log, farther up, where I could get a clear shot! And he proceeded to put on a show for me, giving me all of his best poses. It was like he felt pity for the poor photographer …..

I’m not sure if he is stretching or farting…..

I like this last one the best….. I’m thinking of printing this one…..

Stylin’………

So I guess the moral of the story would be…….. Patience. Without it this all would have happened. I just wouldn’t have been there to see and photograph it. And for that, I consider myself lucky.
Thanks for looking!!!!

And That Is When The S**t Hit The Fan......

Wood Ducks are temperamental little creatures. Or maybe I should say Schizophrenic? Whatever you want to call it, I really didn’t expect the “discussion” I was witness to yesterday morning.
I was minding my own business, just waiting for a wood duck chick parade to come by. Birds are hatching now so it’s not too unusual to see a family of chicks lined up behind Mom just enjoying their new life. I didn’t see the chicks, but a lone hen wood duck began swimming in my general direction. Now I only have 5 or 6 thousand wood duck images already, but what’s a few extra electrons on my memory card? Or so I thought. As the first hen neared a small patch of Lily pads, another hen who was hidden in the Lily pads came out and just lit into this poor hen! It looked like Friday Night Wrestling as they glared at each other and squared off.

And so it begins……

They sure weren’t acting like ladies!!!

And the poor Merganser in the lower left is just trying to mind her own business!!!

The next two images are basically all I could see for several seconds as the water was flying everywhere!

Just a difference of opinion…..

Coming up for air!!!

This whole episode only lasted for about a minute, at most. Then they both stopped as fast as they started, apparently none the worse for wear. You just can’t make this crap up!

Like nothing had ever happened!

After it was over, the “winner” got up on a log to show the rest of the swamp who was the baddest duck in the swamp!

It’s good to be the Queen!!

And she kept running her mouth for the next ten minutes to make sure everybody knew it!!

If a big mouth was money in the bank, she’d be a millionaire!!!

More to come, thanks for looking!!!

Playing Catch Up......

Sorry kids, I am so far behind on my posting from the Florida trip I’ll be lucky to catch up before the end of the year! I managed to take about 8000 images while I was there. Normally I would do my editing after dinner each day but the weather was so nice, and the Margaritas so tasty, that editing just wasn’t at the top of my list! So I will do my best now…..

First up is a bird I think I featured in one of my earlier blogs, the Yellow Crowned Night Heron. But right below that image is a night heron in the juvenile stage He barely moved in the two hours that I was there but he did not seem disturbed at all. They’re very quiet and usually keep to themselves, unlike the Snowy Egret that is the wetland busybody! As always, click on the images to enlarge them

Next up is another bird I may have shown you already, a Little Blue Heron. This is another bird that is very different once it matures. The juvenile is shown first, already showing signs of maturing by changing from white to blue. The following pic is a mature bird and is a beautiful blue pretty much all over.

A Wood Stork is next on the list. When you first see them on the ground they look a little strange. At first I thought God had some spare parts left over during creation, but the more time I spent observing these birds I gained a bit of respect for them. On the ground they are as graceful as the Great egrets and when they fly they are a very impressive bird! They have a huge wingspan and their breeding plumage is a striking black and white. I will feature them in their own post later on.

And what post would be complete without some Wood duck pics???? I don’t know why, but I see more Wood Ducks down here than I do at home!

The incredible thing is that all of these pics were shot in a two hour stretch on one morning! I feel very fortunate to be able to be here at just the right time of the year to see all of this! Enjoy and thanks for looking!!!

Opinions And Critiques Wanted........

Hey all. I could use your help please! I’m going to be entering a competition next week and I’m not sure what I want to enter. I’ve been looking through some of my recent work and I could use some extra eyes and opinions on which ones are good enough to enter. I have not done any final tweaking on them, so I can change them a bit if needed. It doesn’t matter if you are a photographer or not. Just tell me which ones you like and why. And please don’t be shy about the critiques. I’ve got a pretty thick skin and as long as you are honest with your comments, I will take them constructively. One other thing: In case somebody is wondering, I have not replaced any of the backgrounds on any of these images. The background was dark to begin with and I used the sliders in Lightroom for the rest.
So, what do you like??????

Like Stephen Stills Said..... "Love The Light You're With"......

Y’all know I’m that crazy guy that gets up in the middle of the night so he can be at his shooting spot before dawn. That way I can be in the right spot, at the right time, and the right bird flies in and lands in the right direction for that “right” shot. Boy, do I wish it would work that way all the time!!!
But we all know that the “perfect” light only makes an occasional appearance when we’re out in the field, usually when we’re drinking a coffee or peeing in the bushes. So, what do you do when the light is being difficult? You can either give up and go home or find a way to make the best of it. Usually if the light is really bad I will just sit there and observe. The more you learn about the habits of the animals you are photographing, the better you can predict what they will do and you can be prepared when it happens. I’m not a big believer of luck in wildlife photography. To me, luck is where preparation and opportunity meet. Opportunities happen all the time out in the field. But if you are not prepared for them, the opportunity will pass you by and go find someone else. Happens all the time, to all of us!
Okay, off my soapbox now. This first image below is taken while there was still some pretty good light. This Ibis came by so close to me that this image is the full, uncropped image! But at that distance my depth of field was only about a half inch in either direction. As a result I missed sharp focus on the eye. Remember what I said about opportunity? Click on the images to enlarge

The next image below you can see the sunlight creeping in. This can be good or bad. Sometimes it can create interesting backgrounds for your shots and sometimes it can land on the bird’s face and totally ruin the shot.

You can also use the bright backgrounds to create a silhouette of your image.

Now in the next 3 images the Sun is really starting to make its presence felt. But if the birds will cooperate and turn the right way you can get some very nice rim and/or backlit photos. Don’t quit now, because these photos can be very dramatic images! But don’t dawdle either! This light only lasts for a short time.

Look at the difference in light quality between foreground and background. Cool gray and warm yellow.

In the next pic below the Sun is beginning to get harsh. You can see the overexposed leg on this bird. But, the Sun also gives a nice sparkle to all the water splashes from the bird striking the water. And if you look, you can see the bird’s eye through the water splash.

And finally, on this last pic, you can see how harsh the light is getting. The birds in the background are all bathed in very warm sunlight. Fortunately, the Heron had his back turned so I could still get detail out of his face and it makes for an interesting contrast with the overexposed birds in the background.

Mel and I had so much fun on this morning shoot. We had never seen this many birds in this one spot and we took full advantage of it. It would have been even better if we had a light cloud cover, because I would have stayed until my cards were full! My wife doesn’t like getting up early on these morning shoots very much but after this one she was a regular partner with me! It’s a chance to spend some special time with her, and I always enjoy her company on a shoot. Days like this are the reason I get up early and it’s even more special when I can share an experience like this!
Thank you all for looking! More to come!

These Guys Play For Keeps!!!

I was down on the Gulf Coast of Florida recently and I spent a fair amount of time shooting birds. I apologize for not keeping up with the blog while I was down there but to be honest I just wasn’t very motivated. But one morning that I was out I saw one of the most knock down, drag out fights that I have ever seen between two Anhingas. They are diving type water birds, very similar to the Cormorants that you see in our area. Click on the images to enlarge.

Who’s the baddest of them all???

These two had been yapping at each other all morning but had been keeping their distance. Until all of a sudden they both agreed it was time to settle their differences and it was on!!!

These two were going right for the throat, and they weren’t messing around!

This continued for several minutes and they weren’t letting go!

You can see the beak of the lighter colored one sticking through the skin of the other.

I really thought that one of them was going to become Alligator food!

At this point they both fell off the log they were fighting on and crashed into the water. They squared off facing each other with wings flared out and I thought then that this would end it, one way or the other.

And then the strangest thing happened! They both flew back up onto the log and began………… mating????? What the Hell????? I know that birds can sometimes get a little rambunctious with their mating rituals but these two were beating the crap out of each other! I’d hate to see what happens when they are pissed off at each other!!!

A great but totally unexpected experience, that’s for sure! I will try to post more a soon as I can, because it was a terrific year for photography down there!!! Thanks for looking!

Pissing Contest.....

Sorry that I have not been posting lately, I think the weather down here is making me lazy! (or maybe the Margaritas are?)
But I wanted to share a short sequence of images from the other day. There were 2 Snowy Egrets in front of me and they both wanted the same fishing area. Doesn’t matter that it’s a 6 acre pond with numerous good fishing areas, they both wanted the exact same square foot of water. And being the bitchy birds that they are, the fireworks soon erupted. It’s a short sequence, couldn’t have lasted more than 5 seconds, but it sure was fun to watch! I didn’t do much editing on them yet, just a little sharpening and toning down the whites a little. Hope you enjoy! Click on the images to enlarge.

Here we go!!!

More to come!