Category Archives: Photography

September Birds

September was a great birding month — I got out quite a bit in wonderful Fall weather and got six species for my life list — and missed several more.

It was also a month where I struggled with digiscoping, starting off with my big Canon 60D with a 50mm lens and remote shutter control but found it very bulky and shaky.  I switched back to my little SD4000 point and shoot and tried shooting in bursts.  Here are some results — not quite ready for primetime.  They do capture for me some of the places and birds I ran into in MA and VT.

A gaggle of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and a few juvenile Little Blue Herons at Parker River WNR

A flock of Greater Yellowlegs flew in while I was walking the Hellcat Dike at Parker River.

A juvenile Least Tern which was raised on the beach at Sandy Point SP on Plum Island, MA

Semi-palmated Sandpipers huddled up in the wind at Sandy Point.

A Wood Duck at Berlin Pond, VT.  Morning light always makes shooting a challenge.

Female Black Duck at Berlin Pond

Backyard Digiscoping

I’ve fiddled with digiscoping for the last year, reading a lot of forums, shooting a lot of poor shots — both with my point and shoot and with my SLR.  Because of camera shake and problems with picking up images on my SD4000, I’ve decided to work with my Canon 60D and 50mm lens.  I also decided to practice, practice at home on the birds in my yard and patch and work on settings, technique, and just picking up birds in the scope.

So, for that last few days, I’ve lugged my heavy camera, scope, and tripod around our woods trails on my many walks with the dogs and started practicing.  Of course, the dog is a wonderful help.  Every time I try for a Common Yellowthroat or Song Sparrow in the brush, she sees me looking and decides to take a look for herself.  So, a certain amount of “you idiot” or worse accompanies my digiscoping.

Here are some shots I’ve taken in the last couple of days:

Here’s a young Common Yellowthroat hiding in the bushes.  They constantly move and are a real challenge for me to digiscope.

 

Two molting Goldfinches at the thistle feeder.  They seem to be really hitting the food these days.

 

We are getting a lot of hummers to the feeder.  They like to rest in the old crabapple tree.

 

We have quite a crop of song sparrows enjoying the bugs around our yard.  No singing but very active.

Enjoying the birds of summer

While activity has dropped off in our woods, I’m starting to get the feeling that birds are getting ready to head on out — and trying to enjoy the ones I see during my daily dog walks in our woods.  Last evening, I watched a Cedar Waxwing for some time as it worked a low berry bush, noting the spectacular coloration and trying to envision the feather patterns that made that happen.  Today, we were inundated with Goldfinches on the feeders — just a whirlwind of yellow and black.

We still have Hermit Thrushes and Ovenbirds although only the thrushes are singing.  The other regular on the low-lying bushes is the Common YellowThroat.  They chip pretty steadily as they feed and respond quite well to pishing, hopping up on a branch to check things out.

It’s been hot and muggy for Vermont — not great weather to lug camera gear around the woods.  A cold front is coming through tonight so I think I’ll try to capture some digiscoped shots of our yard birds before they head south.  The hummers are still hitting the feeder during the cooler parts of the day but all in all, it’s the dog days of August.  Birds and birders don’t like it.

Digiscoping With Frozen Fingers

Two weeks ago, I was birding in shorts and T-shirts.  That was then, today in Vermont it was 28 degrees with blowing snow flurries as I birded early this morning at Berlin Pond.  A Bald Eagle was spotted there yesterday but I dipped on it today but saw a nice array of birds before quitting to thaw out a bit.  I used my point&shoot to try some digiscoping with so-so results.  Here’s a couple:

A Common Grackle looking pretty sharp on a Saturday morning.
Ring-necked Ducks are reliable visitors each spring.
A pair of Tree Swallows posed patiently but the photos were blurry.  May be the wind.

I fumbled with cold hands trying to set iso and aperture but ran out of patience.  So, it’s time to read the manual again.  One “expert” advised me to shoot automatic and let the camera figure it all out.  I think I’ll continue to work on settings and see if I can get the Canon SD3000 working the way others have it working.  Next time, it will be in a freezing-free temperature without a gale blowing.

Shooting Birds – with a camera

One of the many photographic challenges, particularly when you have a Vizsla on leash in one hand, binoculars in the other, and a camera hanging from your neck, is to get a decent shot of flying birds. Here at Goose Island State Park, it’s sometimes easier since the vistas open up and many of the birds are larger and easier to find in the view finder. If there’s a stiff wind and you can catch them fighting it, they slow down for you.
So, with Penny “helping,” I have been shooting some of the birds we see on our outings, with varying success. It’s very much a work in progress and a $5k telephoto lens would help – but that’s not going to happen.

As a pilot, I like Brown Pelicans as much as any bird. Wonderful fliers, big targets, and they always look like they are having fun.

Not a good shot of a Northern Harrier but it does show the white body marking that, along with their low-flying hunting, makes them easy to ID.


An Osprey who got away while I grabbed for the camera


A couple of Roseate Spoonbills we saw yesterday. Their breeding plumage will start soon but they pretty neat right now.


The ubiquitous Turkey Vulture with its pronounced dihedral. They are everywhere in Texas.


White Ibis with the black wingtips – hard to miss.

So, tomorrow the sun should be out with better lighting possibilities. We’ll see how it goes – good thing it’s easy to trash digital prints. Practice does help.

Shooting Birds

One of the many photographic challenges, particularly when you have a Vizsla on leash in one hand, binoculars in the other, and a camera hanging from your neck, is to get a decent shot of flying birds. Here at Goose Island State Park, it’s sometimes easier since the vistas open up and many of the birds are larger and easier to find in the view finder. If there’s a stiff wind and you can catch them fighting it, they slow down for you.
So, with Penny “helping,” I have been shooting some of the birds we see on our outings, with varying success. It’s very much a work in progress and a $5k telephoto lens would help – but that’s not going to happen.

As a pilot, I like Brown Pelicans as much as any bird. Wonderful fliers, big targets, and they always look like they are having fun.

Not a good shot of a Northern Harrier but it does show the white body marking that, along with their low-flying hunting, makes them easy to ID.



An Osprey who got away while I grabbed for the camera



A couple of Roseate Spoonbills we saw yesterday. Their breeding plumage will start soon but they pretty neat right now.



The ubiquitous Turkey Vulture with its pronounced dihedral. They are everywhere in Texas.



White Ibis with the black wingtips – hard to miss.

So, tomorrow the sun should be out with better lighting possibilities. We’ll see how it goes – good thing it’s easy to trash digital prints. Practice does help.

Some Southern Birds

I’ve been shooting with the Canon, with varied success, as we’ve stayed at several state parks on our trip.  I’ve also been experimenting with digiscoping.  Here are a few of the birds we’ve encountered:

A Brown Nuthatch feeding at Fountainebleau. Note grub in beak

American Coot at Fountainebleau
A nesting Great Horned Owl again at Fountainebleau

A flight of White Ibis on a foggy morning

A Pine Warbler visits us at Clarkco State Park, MS

Same Pine Warbler

A Red-headed Woodpecker digiscoped at Fountainebleau SP

Getting Digiscoping Tips

I have been corresponding with a blogging friend from Maine, Stephen Ingraham, who is a Birding and Observation Product Specialist for Carl Zeiss Sports Optics.  He knows a lot about digiscoping and in emails today, answered questions for me and helped out a great deal.  His advice on letting the camera do a lot of the work, using some of the automatic settings, make a lot of sense.  He also recommended this video, which while aimed at Zeiss products, is applicable to any setup.  I found it pretty helpful and interesting so I’m sharing it.  
I practiced a bit out back today and here are a couple of examples of how my digiscoping went.  I’m pretty happy with it and need to get out there and shoot.
It’s about time to head south

I’ve got an itch I can’t quite reach

Beginning Digiscoping

I took my scope up to Berlin Pond today – a local hot spot for waterfowl as the ice melts and later, for migratory warblers and a host of other birds.  I’ve been fiddling with using my old SLR with a DCA adapter but am trying a new Canon SD4000IS point and shoot to see how that works.  Right now, I’m pretty low on the learning curve.

Lots of stuff is starting to show up:  Canada Geese, Ring-necked Ducks, and lots of Hooded Mergansers.  I spent a lot of time trying to identify two ducks, which turned out to be Green-winged Teal, but who persisted in sitting on the ice all tucked in, probably resting for the next flight further north.  Several pairs of Mallards showed up and I got a decent shot of them, plus one of a goose parading on the ice.

It’s nice to work without freezing fingers so I think, as I practice, things will improve.  Stay tuned.

Whoopers

Yesterday, at the halftime of the Packers game, we decided to take a quick drive up to where the Whooping Cranes were last year.  We had not heard any reports of sightings and thought we’d check it out.

Sure enough, once we got on the street (more of a rural road),  there were a few cars and pickup trucks parked and I knew what had attracted them.  There were three Whoopers, a mom and dad along with a juvenile.  They were feeding about a hundred yards from the road and oblivious to the cameras and binoculars trained on them.

I took a bunch of photos but they were too far away for good resolution.  I got out my telescope and we got a good look at them — one had two leg bands on it and the juvenile was quite brown in spots.  Very elegant birds.  I tried to digiscope using my old Rebel XT and took a few shots when something flushed them and I lost them in the scope.

We watched them gracefully fly away, taking their time deciding where to head, and slowly head back towards the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where most of their 175 western brethren are wintering.

Seeing them slowly recede to the Northeast made me think of the 2500 mile journey they took the fall from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada.  They are protected at the refuge and stock up on blue crabs and clams — and next spring will launch for the return trip north.  Great birds — hope to see more while we are here.

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