I had the distinct pleasure to take a lot of photographs over the July 4th holiday. I spent the weekend on the eastern end of Long Island, NY. Over the last decade, local bird enthusiasts and members of the LI Audubon have erected poles with platforms for Osprey to call home. There are 5 such nesting sites that I stop by occasionally. This year there seems to be only 2 with mating pairs taking care of their young. One such nest has 3 chicks. Feeding Time
I worked this nest for several hours each day at sunset for 4 days. The reward was an opportunity to learn a lot about the behavior of Osprey as well as a chance to practice my flight shots and panning technique. Female Osprey landing on nest
While at one time Osprey were an endangered species, thanks to the tireless work of scientists, volunteers and enthusiasts, the species numbers are on the rise. That can clearly be witnessed by the activity at this nest. Osprey Chick Stretching its Wings
One other behavior that I witnessed was the Osprey being harassed by a Red Winged Black Bird. I have been told that Black Birds regularly harass birds of prey but have never seen it first hand.
What a great weekend! Osprey Being Harassed by Red Winged Black Bird
I love photographing in Florida. The diversity of and access to wildlife is hard to beat anywhere. I had the opportunity to visit Palm Beach County this past week. I used the time to visit one of my favorite places, Jupiter Beach Park. The park is a fantastic place to photograph at sunrise. The assortment of birds that I see regularly there are Ruddy Turnstones, Brown Pelicans, Common Terns and Least Terns. I have also occasionally photographed Osprey, Great and Snowy Egrets and Laughing Gulls at this location. Oh yeah, there are a group of regulars here that feed the pigeons each morning, so if you want pigeon pictures, this location will fill your CF card! Ruddy Turnstone on a rock
There is a jetty to walk on which you can capture people habituated Ruddy Turnstones like the photograph above. There is also a long stretch of beach you can walk as well. That is where I shot the Ruddy Turnstone image below. Ruddy Turnstone in Rippling Wave
In order to prepare for this trip, I looked at some past images from the park to figure out how I could improve on the images I already had in my files. As a result I came away with 2 goals for this trip. 1) Take images with cleaner backgrounds. As you can see in the first image, I went to great lengths to ensure that I captured as much of the inlet behind the bird as possible, limiting anything that would be a distraction to my subject. 2) Find some emotion and pull some heart strings with the images I took.
I think I was successful with goal number 1. The images I came away with on this trip were much better than those of the past. This is good, it means as a photographer I am improving my skills and craft. An essential trait to any business. On the second goal I was less successful. I tried to pull emotion by photographing many, and I mean many, of the Ruddy Turnstones I saw limping around the beach. Why were they limping? Their feet were tied with fishing line, an unfortunate consequence of foraging near fishermen. However I did not pull off telling that story the way I wanted. I also snapped a few pictures of an Osprey flying overhead with a fish in its talons but did not have the right light in order to bring true emotion to that image.
The closest I came to pulling emotion was this photograph of a least tern preparing to drop into the water at sunrise. At least it stirred emotion in me! Least Tern Preparing to dive into the water
I know, I know. I have done a terrible job of blogging the last few weeks. I apologize. To make it up to everyone I have some cool content I have been working on. More on that in the coming weeks.
One question I received from some “wildlife photography newbies” was “whats it like to photograph wildlife”? So I thought it would be interesting to show everyone some “scenes” from 2 of my recent Florida birding shoots. Thanks to fellow photographer Ralph Liniado for providing the photographs of me (save the emails and comments, I know I have a bald spot on the back of my head)!
The first picture is of me on Pass-a-Grille Beach. Getting low gives bird photography a whole new perspective. Not to mention a wet backside. We did a lot of “scooting” that day, and it was cold!
Sunset on Pass-a-Grille Beach
The result of working the scene above lead to the following photo opportunity. Laughing Gull, Pass-a-Grille Beach
The next picture of me was from the Brandon Harley Davidson Rookery, what a great place to take bird photographs at sunset! Brandon Harley Davidson Rookery
This position on shore led to one of my favorite clicks from Florida.
White Ibis Prepares for Landing
Hope you enjoyed this and maybe, just maybe it gave you some motivation to get out and shoot this weekend. The weather forecast is for spectacular conditions in New England this weekend.
Reddish Egrets became a new specimen to add to my files this winter. I was fortunate to find several at the Audubon Sanctuary in Tampa Bay. Reddish Egret lookng for love
The photographs above and below show the Reddish Egret in his breeding plumage. Reddish Egret eyeing a meal
It was great to have a chance to add this terrific bird to my list of birds I have photographed. Alas, because the weather was rainy, I will have to go back to Florida and try to add a few shots with some sweet light!
One of the highlights on my recent trip to Florida to photograph migrating birds was spending time at an American Bald Eagle nest. Male American Bald Eagle watching over nest with 2 chicks
With this being my first time photographing American Bald Eagles, I was hopeful to learn some biology as well as come away with a few shots worth keeping. There was some interesting history associated with this nest. Apparently American Bald Eagles are very good parents. 2 weeks prior to our arrival, an Audubon biologist climbed this pine tree and placed an orphaned chick in the nest with the biological chick. The result? The mother and father took to the orphan just like there own. The only difference was double the fish to catch! Male American Bald Eagle in Pine Tree
Given the beautiful weather it was a pleasure to be outside this morning. In fact this was the nicest of the mornings we had to date. There were also some local photographers and bird enthusiasts around so picking up some local knowledge about the nest was easy.
It was however a little strange waiting for the sweet light at sunrise. You see this nest is in a cemetery!
I wish I were able to show you closer images but I had equipment trouble at the end of the trip and my lens was just not long enough. The story of my life!
We had a great start to photographing birds in Florida. Our first trek brought us to Maximo Beach & Park. While the weather was cool, the skies were blue and the sun rose to kiss our subjects with beautiful warm light.
American Oyster Catcher on Bed of Oysters
The American Oyster Catcher was one of the birds I hoped to photograph. We were lucky to have this one present itself on a bed of oysters!
The afternoon found us at a fishing pier working on our panning and bird flight photography. The main characters present were the Florida Brown Pelican, Royal Tern and Laughing Gulls. Brown Pelican on Pier Florida Brown Pelican in flight Royal Tern in flight
The recent snow storms along the Eastern U.S. left many people without power, telephone and dare I say it, internet service! The snow was so heavy on Friday there wasn’t even places for the birds to hide.
Black Eyed Junco and White Throated Sparrow in snow storm
I decided to venture out on Friday because photographing landscapes and wildlife is usually better in bad weather, much to the chagrin of the photographer. The other reason I went outside was I had seen from the kitchen window something I had never seen before. During the storm, a flock of approximately 50 European Starlings attached our bird feeders. The tree was completely covered in them. I quickly found that these birds are very skittish when it comes to people. As soon as I opened the door to go out, they flew away without me being able to make 1 click.
However, as the saying goes, all clouds do have a silver lining. As I was standing under the tree with the feeders, a Red Bellied Woodpecker flew right past my head and landed in the tree. I have been trying to photograph this bird for a year. Like the Starlings, the Red Bellied Woodpeckers don’t like people. But the combination of the commotion of the swarm of birds and heavy snow was enough to camouflage me. I was able to get the lens up before the bird knew I was there. He didn’t stay long however, just long enough.
Red Bellied Woodpecker in tree during Snow Storm
As I mentioned before I try to use the bad weather to take some landscape photographs. I tried my hand with a few black and whites which I thought made sense given the overcast skies and heavy snow. Japaneese Maple covered in Snow
I love trying to find interesting patterns that occur in nature. They are always there and are always changing.
Those who know me know I love the beach, especially those on Long Island. I will always consider Long Island home even though I no longer live there. I chose to head out to Quogue to visit my parents this weekend, President’s weekend, given my daughter was off from school. I was amazed at how quiet it was. All the better for us!
New snow had fallen and the landscape photography was excellent.
Snow Spotted Sand Dune
Away from visiting with my parents, one reason I went out to Long Island this weekend was for the bird photography opportunities. With no one around I knew I would have ample time to work areas with minimal interruption from cars or beach goers, a luxury not afforded during the summer months.
The biggest “find” I had for the weekend was spotting a lone American Bittern at a very small salt marsh. It was truly amazing that I was able to catch this bird out of the corner of my eye while driving. You can see from the picture that he is camouflaged well with his surroundings.
American Bittern in Salt Marsh
This was my first chance to photograph an American Bittern. Observing its behavior and hunting style was a thrill. Unfortunately I only came away with a few marginal pictures. I was experiencing some focusing problems with my camera combination, a Nikon D700 and 200-400 f/4 with 1.7 TCe. I’m not sure if the error was operator induced or mechanical but most of the issues were back focusing so I am thinking I need to calibrate the camera and lens combination.
Another cool behavior I was able to witness for the first time was courtesy of the Herring Gulls. Floating Herring Gull
This flock of Herring Gulls would dive for clams and crabs, fly to an area where the bay was covered in ice, and from about 50 ft. in the air, drop their catch on the ice. This would have the effect of breaking the shells and stunning the prey so the gull could make quick work of eating the insides. It was amazing to watch this behavior over and over again.
On my way back from a great morning of photographing birds, I spotted a Great Blue Heron heading out to the bay. I just had to stop and make one more click! Great Blue Heron in flight
One of the nice surprises of the winter has been the appearance on our property of a flock of Dark Eyed Junco’s. After doing some research it seems that these birds are very loyal, as in once they make your property home good luck in getting rid of them! Dark Eyed Junco Eating Holly Berries
They have been a lot of fun to watch. They swarm and communicate just like any busy family. I might even try to capture some video of this as pictures don’t do the interaction justice.
But then a funny thing happened. Last week, several of these birds mysteriously started to kamikaze into our windows. We couldn’t figure out what it was but came to the conclusion that the sun at this time of year must have put a funny reflection into the sliding doors and the birds thought they were flying to another tree. Mystery solved, or so we thought.
Then over the weekend I was watching the activity at the feeders from the family room. All the birds seemed uneasy. In an instant they scattered and from over the house came a red tailed hawk. The hawk grabbed one of the Junco’s out of mid air, perched on a nearby tree, bit the head off of the Junco and flew away. So much for my “sun in a different part of the sky” theory. So it seems the birds were fleeing from the hawk when they hit the sliding doors.
As I am sure many of you have heard, the eastern U.S. is in the midst of a heavy snow storm. Stone Wall Covered in Snow
Given that the Junco’s are black and gray, I am watching to see if the hawk uses the snow to help isolate some of the birds. So far no sign of the hawk.
