Monthly Archives: April 2014

Day 077: Damp Day Kingfisher

Year 1

Damp Day at the Photoshoot!

I left shortly before dawn on my bicycle for today’s planned birding photoshoot. I had noticed while bike riding yesterday afternoon what appeared to be real good belted kingfisher territory. A pond had some small dead trees in the water which appeared to provide the perfect ambush spots for a hungry kingfisher.

  • Good news: A kingfisher agreed with me.
  • Bad news: Unexpected rain got me, the kingfisher and a hawk rather wet.

I suspect the kingfisher did not mind the extra water, but the hawk and I were not thrilled. You will be able see the individual drops of water on the railing in the red-shouldered hawk photo! I had hoped the belted kingfisher would move closer and use some trees near me, but at least he did not hang out on the far side of the pond. Oh well, the the life of a photographer!

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Day 077: Sunset Learning Bird Photography

Background

Although the day started with rain (see earlier post), it ended with a beautiful mostly clear evening. Given Molly and I will head back north where there is still snow on the ground early Friday morning, I took a walk that started just before sundown. After enjoying a beautiful sunset which included some photographs of a red-shouldered hawk on the hunt, I continued my walk into the twilight. It was peaceful, calm and quiet.

As I neared my Dad’s home I saw a great egret intent on an evening fish. As you know, birds do not tend to stand still for having their picture taken. However, given the sky was gorgeous and reflecting into the pond, I wondered …

Thus, I set my camera for an exposure of 1/500th of a second and used the highest manual ISO possible on my camera (3200). Thankfully the egret was so engrossed in its fishing, I was able to take a series of about 15 photographs. I would just position myself in front of the bird, and wait for it to walk to my desired scene. With each picture I played around a bit more with my settings. I hope you like my final photo!

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Day 076: Poisson on Par 3!

Year 1

This little blue heron was intent on having fish for breakfast. Given the dark sky conditions due to the impending thunderstorms, finding a bird to photograph out in the open with no trees around was very helpful. My normal desire for fast shutter speeds given how quickly birds tend to move had to be moderated to account for low light and the need to get sufficient light into my camera. Thus, poission on par 3!

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