Birds – Page 50

Late Flight

After spending a sunny fall day at Ridgefield, I found myself near sunset photographing ducks and coots feeding in Rest Lake. Suddenly a few tundra swans took off from a distant part of the lake and kept coming in my direction until they flew by my car. Sadly I didn’t have time to change settings on the camera so some things weren’t set up the way I would like, besides which I don’t normally shoot birds in flight so it’s not something with which I have much practice.

Nevertheless it was a nice ending to the day. I took a few more pictures of ruddy ducks and then headed for home.

At the Edge of the Ice

A female bufflehead surfaces next to the ice in a rapidly thawing Horse Lake. I felt bad for her, she had been feeding on her own, the only bufflehead on the lake, when a male/female pair flew in and started harassing her. She’d move off on her own, minding her own business, but the other two would still frequently swim over and chase her away. She was the first bird I photographed that morning but this picture is from an hour and a half later near the end of my time watching her.

The Pintails

Six pintails stand amidst the melting ice of Horse Lake. They reminded me of teenagers lined up along a wall at a dance, a little too nervous to take to the dance floor, especially the males who looked like they were decked out in formal attire. In truth they were a little ill at ease and anxious for the ice to finish melting, as they are as awkward on the ice as they are graceful in the water.

Sunny Day, Cloudy Day, Same Day

On a sunny afternoon, this seemingly happy wood duck raised his head to stretch before resuming preening some of the hard-to-reach areas. I don’t often see wood ducks in this part of Long Lake so it was a treat to watch him. Five minutes later the clouds rolled in and changed the lighting as he paused during his preening ritual. I love shooting on both sunny and cloudy days and on this day got to do both frequently, but the constantly changing light levels made it challenging to correctly meter the scene and I often didn’t keep up fast enough.

Do I Know You?

I’ve often photographed a lone female ring-necked duck on Horse Lake, wondering if its the same bird that returns from one year to the next, but this one was on nearby Long Lake. Might be the same bird, of course the ducks move around especially when they get spooked, but I don’t have any way of knowing.

Follow the Eyes

One thing I’ve long wanted in a camera is the ability for the focus to lock onto and track the eye of an animal I’m photographing. It would have come in handy here, I was testing out my Canon mirrorless camera to see how limiting its poor autofocus would be if used as a backup in case my main camera failed. I had been watching this bittern that had been mostly sitting still, with some occasional preening, when it suddenly threw its mouth wide open and shook its head about. While the camera had focused fine on the bird while it was sitting still, by the time this shot was taken the bittern had already moved far enough that it isn’t in good focus.

The technology is moving in this direction for photographing people at least, but I fear it will be a while yet before we can do it with moving animals. While my main camera would have handled this situation much better, it still requires thinking about it’s many autofocus modes, and I’d love to spend less time thinking about the technical side of photography and instead just enjoy the animals I’m watching.

The Wayward Feather

This song sparrow was working the same bit of floating branches as this red-winged blackbird but with a different technique. While the blackbird hunted for food by moving debris about with her beak, the sparrow was using its feet to do the same. Curiously it had one tail feather askew but it didn’t seem to be impeding it in any way that I could see. I saw the same bird on another day with its downward-facing feather but I suspect it fell off in short order as days later I saw a sparrow working the branches with all feathers cooperating.

Leaf Drop

This cedar waxwing seemed to be playing with a leaf and twig, moving them around with its beak. I had a little too much lens for this one so it’s zoomed in more than I would like, but I didn’t have time to back up, it was only inside the bush for a moment.

Wren-sized Hole

In terms of its own health, this tree had seen better days. Partly covered in moss and lichen, its cracked bark was dotted with holes from woodpeckers either seeking insects or creating shelter. But there was still life within this tree, and soon there would be lives within it, as this house wren found a perfectly sized entrance hole into an old cavity where it could make its nest and soon, raise its young.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 500mm f/4
🗓️: May 31, 2010

Stately

The robin is one of the most familiar birds in the United States and I had a fondness for them growing up, partly because they were easy to see in the many trees around our house and partly because they were the state bird of my state at the time, Michigan. I love photographing them but funnily enough don’t see them that often in the places I visit most. This male was feeding on the ground on a rainy winter afternoon at my favorite wildlife refuge and was the last shot I took on the day.