I recently had a chance to photograph and watch this immature Black Crowned Night Heron try to fish.
He was stumbling around the tidal pond while watching me at the same time. This made it difficult for him to catch fish!
He will be a great specimen to watch when he gets his adult plumage.
Another sign spring is here is the Red Winged Black Birds are back!
Not the background I normally like to see in my images but a sign of Spring none the less.
Images captured by D3x, 600 VRII wTC-2.0E III on Lexar UDMA digital film
As some of you probably gathered from Monday’s post, I was a little surprised at some of the birds I found on my recent trip to Quogue. My biggest surprise was finding this little guy sitting on a bale of hay in the middle of an open field.
Now I have to admit owls are a new species for me. I have been in search of a Great Horned Owl for 6 months now and still have not found one. So if you think my identification is incorrect, please let me know. It seemed to me that my identification came down to 3 possibilities, Short Eared Owl, Barred Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owl. What led me to my conclusion was the face. This owl has yellow eyes so we can scratch off the Barred Owl and the facial features and overall size to me rule out the Northern Saw-whet Owl.
I’m still not sure how I was able to see this owl given I was driving and it was about 100 yards away from where I made these images. I suspect that he was in that field sitting on the hay bale waiting for some unsuspecting million dollar house mouse to come by!
Images captured by D3x, 600 VRII wTC-2.0E III on Lexar UDMA digital film
As many of you know, my family has spent portions of every summer at the beach, specifically the Hamptons. I love to spend time there in the winter for several reasons. First, no one is there so it is very peaceful, void of the hullabaloo associated with the summer rush. Second, there are great opportunities for shore bird photography. Unfortunately this year I did not get out there in January or February which is prime time for wintering shore birds. However this weekend I decided to venture out east to mostly visit with my parents and help them with some things around the house. This winter has been particularly bad out east and some basic maintenance was in order, so in comes the oldest of the family caretakers. 😉 I ventured out on Friday morning with minimal expectations for finding good birds to photograph. Given that it was already March, I suspected that the wintering birds had already left the area and that I was too early for any of the spring and summer species that call the area home. As I expected, I was right, not much to photograph. And with the snow all but melted from our recent heat wave, the area was a mess, devoid of any great photo opportunities, or so I thought.
After driving around for some time I came across this sole Killdeer in a hay field.
It was interesting to watch this little guy. There was no water around where he was foraging and there was a massive construction project with a pile driver smashing piles right across the street. It was so noisy I was surprised that the bird would even be in this area let alone allow me to get close enough to take these pictures and watch him for an hour.
I have to admit that I knew when I was making these images that I would use them for nothing other than this blog. The busy background kills the images for my taste. I prefer a minimalist background and a subject that pops from the page. However, as I often do, I used this time to practice my skills and learn biology. You can read as many books as you like about animal behavior and bird behavior in particular, but nothing beats sitting and watching first hand. I also enjoy using my gear. The sound of a shutter clicking usually gets my creative juices going which leads to other things! Maybe it helped me unearth some other images that will make their way on the blog this week?
Images captured by D3x, 600 VRII wTC-2.0E III on Lexar UDMA digital film
I was honored to be included on a list of bird blogs and photography you should follow. The list is toward the bottom of the post, Check it out!
He’s cute isn’t he?
I was afraid you would say that. I think he is cute as well if not for one thing. He is eating all my bird seed and destroying my bird feeders, even those touted as squirrel proof!
I must admit he is a very resourceful little fellow. No matter what I try, he figures a way around it. If I could figure a way to get him through HR, I would hire him. 😉 This whole situation has made me mad, as mad as Bill Murray in one of my favorite movies, Caddyshack. Hopefully I don’t resort to using heavy explosives in the yard!
Images captured by D3x, 600 VRII wTC-2.0E III on Lexar UDMA digital film
Its amazing how the weather change the last few days has put some pep in my step. This was aided of course by finding this Black-Capped Chickadee who was a very willing photographic subject.
We have had the first string of days with temps in the mid 40’s. It was great being outside, doing some birding, all while not shivering from the cold.
Images captured by D3x, 600 VRII wTC-2.0E III on Lexar UDMA digital film
This beautiful cardinal was back yesterday and very happy with the new kind of bird seed I stocked the feeders with. 😉
This was really the first Cardinal in 2 years that didn’t appear to care that I was trying to take his picture. He left the area if I made a sudden move, which I always try to avoid, but always seemed to come right back.
These are some of the first Northern Cardinal images I have made that I really like. Great color, sharp focus and good composition. There are some things I could have done better in the composition and my subject is not in his peak breeding colors yet but away from that I am pretty happy with the outcome.
Images captured by D3x, 600 VRII wTC-2.0E III on Lexar UDMA digital film
Its hard to imagine that 13 years ago, I started tying my first hockey skates. Vincent and Peter (then 7 & 5 years old) both needed to rise at 4:30 AM in order to attend learn to skate for Mid-Fairfield Youth Hockey Association (MFYHA). Some mornings I would put their uniforms on, pads, skates you name it, and carry them to the car, all while they were still sleeping!
Both boys had great hockey careers that traveled down different paths. Both boys were on travel teams which meant Lee Ann and I needed to divvy up the driving responsibilities. Little Megan was often along for the ride! With my 60-70 hour work week and 2-3 days of hockey travel, family time was reduced to Sunday dinner. Much to the chagrin of my wife, I wouldn’t have traded in those thousands of hours on the road or in cheap hotels with the boys for anything in the world!
Vincent decided to stop playing in High School after being part of several state and regional championship teams. He is a great young man and currently a Jr. at Bucknell University.
Peter on the other hand told me at 5 years old that he was going to play in his words “hockey in college”. At that time I just laughed and thought it was cute but at the same time wondered how it was that a 5 year old would even know what college hockey was. That was the last time I underestimated Peter! Peter devoted himself to all aspects of hockey, playing and training for 11 months a year. His teams won state, regional and ultimately the USA Hockey National Championship in 2007.
So it goes that Peter plays his last high school game for Taft tomorrow. 13 years of lugging hockey bags, touching smelly pads and nursing broken bones comes to an end. How did Peter do on his prediction 13 years ago? Pretty good if you ask me. He will be playing for Williams College in the fall. Now I am just a spectator for the encore!
I had a lot of fun working with this family of American Black Ducks. The pale color of the water at sunrise in addition to their willingness to “pose” for me made photographing them a lot of fun.
I think the results are really cool, almost like the images are portraits in a studio setting, except they were taken at sunrise!
Images captured by D3x, 600 VRII wTC-14E II on Lexar UDMA digital film
