Monthly Archives: June 2016

Bicycle Birding!

Year 3, ,

Most folks bird by car, and then hike. In my case, the bicycle is often my preferred mode of transportation. Yesterday morning I set off at 7 am for a 30 mile jaunt up the hill from Lake Superior, and then a nice tour through the rural lands near my home, before enjoying a 2.5 mile downhill glide back to the shores of Lake Superior and home. When taking this kind of ride it pays to think about the position of the sun before setting off. One wants to be able to see w/o squinting into the sun. (read my post: Bird Photography by Bicycle)

If you enjoy photographing birds, it is on bike rides where a super zoom / bridge camera really shines. My Canon SX60 (read my camera review) easily fits in my front handlebar bag, and my monopod is trapped to my rear bag. When biking I can easily pull my camera out of the handlebar bag for a quick photo w/o even dismounting from my camera. For better images, I dismount and use my monopod.

Here is a very brief trip report. On Seven Bridges Road during the first mile near my own house I had fun observing many warblers, an Indigo Bunting, a great crested flycatcher and a red-bellied woodpecker. Upon climbing to Lester River Road, a huge number of Common Yellowthroats were present in addition to normal “farm birds”. Roberg Road which I use to bike between Lester River Road and Lakewood Road yielded a gem. A Sandhill Crane was having a morning snack, and this sighting is the closest I have ever had to the Duluth city limits.

I was actually disappointed to not see my American Kestrel family in a farm known to me out on Korkki Road … only the Kildeer family was in evidence. Upon taking the long downhill to Lake Superior the big lake did not yield up any interesting watefowl. In addition, to the birds my ride was relaxing and beautiful … the wildflowers (lupines) are in full bloom, and the rest of the scenery was also grand!

Seven Bridges Road (Great Crested Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, Red-Bellied Woodpecker)
Y3-M06-Amity-Great-Crested-Flycatcher-1 Y3-M06-Amity-Great-Crested-Flycatcher-2 Y3-M06-Amity-Indigo-Bunting-2 Y3-M06-Amity-Red-Bellied-Woodpecker-1 Y3-M06-Amity-Red-Bellied-Woodpecker-2

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Roberg Road (Red Barn, Sandhill Crane)

Y3-M06-Roberg-Road-Red-BarnY3-M06-Roberg-Road-Sandhill-Crane-2

Lizmore Road Lupines
Y3-M06-Lizmore-Road-Lupines

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Homestead Road (My Trusty Steed Just Before the Long Downhill to Lake Superior)
Y3-M06-Homestead-Road-Plunge-Bicycle Korkki-Bike-Birding

The Strawberry Moon Over Lake Superior

Year 3

Now arriving tonight at Canal Park in Duluth, the freighter Whitefish Bay under the Strawberry Moon! (and some lighthouse photos)

The first image is a particular favorite of mine. I was almost ready to call it quits last night, when I noticed the Whitefish Bay approaching the entrance to the Duluth harbor. I then positioned myself and hoped the moon would not get too high. During the wait I played around with higher ISO settings because I knew I would need a faster shutter speed to insure the ship was not blurry due to motion. In addition, I worked my zoom lens in and out, trying to insure the moon did not get too small, but also allowing me to zoom out for a wider image. I settled on 1,600 ISO. Normally I like to photograph the moon with an ISO of 100 which will yield less noise in a finished image. Finally I set my aperture open wider than normal for a moonrise (5.6) to capture more light. The end result was I was able to have an exposure of only 1/200th of a second and render the Whitefish Bay motionless.
Strawberry-Moon-Canal-Park-3 Strawberry-Moon-Canal-Park-2 Strawberry-Moon-Canal-Park-1

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Lake Superior Lupines at Dawn

Year 3

Three nights ago I got up at 12:15 am to photograph Lupines in the moonlight. Well, the following morning at 4:45 am I was out on the shores of Lake Superior awaiting the sunrise to photograph my favorite flowers. The first photo was taken 20 minutes before sunrise, whereas the final two were a few minutes after dawn (about 5:15 am).

Given the challenging light, I combined 3 images via HDR into one photograph such that I could both photograph the sun (or sky), but also bring out the colors of the flowers. This leads to the question, which photograph best reflects reality? Surprisingly the answer is not as easy as one might think. Right after the sun popped above the horizon, if a person looked directly at the sun, the flowers would only appear as silhouettes. However, if one made sure not to look directly at the yellow orb, the color of the flowers would be obvious. Thus, in my mind all the photographs are realistic.

20 Minutes Before Sunrise: Lupines on the shore of Lake Superior
Lupine-Sunrise-1-HDR-Panorama

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5 Minutes After Sunrise: Lupines on the shore of Lake Superior
Lupine-Sunrise-2c-HDR-Panorama Lupine-Sunrise-2b-HDR-Panorama