A memorable experience with lots of birds in flight; describing the day may take two posts... with lots of pictures and a long story (post1)

Yesterday morning, MLK Day, I went out for another birding adventure and what an adventure it was. Birds all over the place, in flight, standing in the river, swimming, or just sitting in a tree. I didn't really see a lot of birds on the outbound walk but heard quite a few, and there were flocks of Canada geese flying overhead. Arriving at the point (~1.2 miles) where the trail overlooks the Rio Grande, there were Canada geese swimming and sandhill cranes standing in the river; something I've not seen them do before. I was hand-carrying my camera/lens and didn't have my tripod or my larger birding lens which, in retrospect, was a huge mistake. I'm just not able to carry all this stuff without getting hurt so I have to make choices. If it is a mistake, I need to learn from it...what would I do differently? I made sure my camera settings were correct and then started taking pictures. Soon enough the sandhill cranes took flight in bunches, and the pictures all appeared to be in really good focus.  I recently replaced my android cell phone with a new iPhone, so I was also taking photos with that. 

Finishing up at that spot, I continued walking northeast towards a rather large area that juts out into the river. Here were some geese again, but amongst them was a solitary wood duck. I  knelt down and starting taking pictures and the wood duck took off, flying low over the river. Click, click, click; I'm pretty sure I got it in flight, another picture of a bird in flight I didn't already have. The shot was composed well, my camera settings were correct, but I didn't have my tripod. There were simply too many things moving: me (and consequently the camera) and the wood duck (flying). Although I got the shot it was not in good focus, but what a wonderful experience! Turning back towards the south, I got back on the trail, always keeping my eyes peeled for eagles or other birds. Sure enough, an eagle appeared through the trees, majestically flying low over the river. There are trees that line the river and taking a photo is near-impossible, as the woods are fairly dense. But, no matter, as seeing an eagle in flight is just wow! 

Almost back to the parking lot and a stone's throw from the bridge, I turned toward the river as I have seen the eagles hanging out in the trees here. I sat down on a park bench and as soon as I sat down, bam!; an eagle is flying right in front of me. I raised my camera and started shooting pictures. The brush on the river was the perfect backdrop. I took about a dozen pictures, some in really good focus but against a solid blue sky. Others had the brush and the river in the background; but most of those were unfortunately blurred. This was truly amazing. The eagle was swooping down low over the river from the tops of trees, seemingly in to be in an endless 'do loop,' repeating this sequence over and over. This was an amazing end to the morning. Below is a subset of the pictures I took. Because of the large quantity I will use 2 posts (post1 and post2) or something like that. Enjoy!












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Capturing birds in flight, a Cooper's hawk, and the process of working to get a 'tack' sharp photo

Image
  Capturing birds in flight like the Cooper's hawk above has been quite an adventure into photography for me. I'm not sure that the average person knows exactly how hard it is to capture a sharp image, but I can tell you it's more difficult than one would think. Initially starting out just shooting birds that were still, I always had the desire to capture birds in flight, the question is: how do you do it? Capturing flying birds has required me to watch quite a few youtube videos and read from a few birding books that I have, hoping that there would be an answer to this question. Having the right camera with the ability to shoot at unbelievably high shutter speeds is a start. My Sony Alpha 6400 seemingly has no end to how fast it can take pictures. However, shutter speed by itself is not the only factor. Something called the 'exposure triangle' is the key. I won't go too much further into this as it can take hours to explain, but these three components involve 1...
Read more

A Northern Goshawk

Image
Goshawks usually reside in the northern United States. When prey is scarce, though, they may be found well to the south of their normal range. A couple of days ago while walking through the open space, I passed by a tree where some birds were making a huge ruckus. I stopped, turned around, and tried to figure out what was causing the birds to be upset. I didn't see the goshawk right away; it was camouflaged almost perfectly against a thick tree branch. The goshawk didn't move, fly away, or alert me in anyway that it was there, but the birds sure knew. Finally I saw it, an eyas (juvenile hawk), which might explain why it didn't fly away, just not experienced yet. The goshawk was not huge by any standard and had beautiful feathers that it was seemingly shedding. Goshawks hunt their prey by putting on short bursts of amazingly fast flight, twisting among branches and crashing through thickets in the intensity of pursuit. They generally mate for life with females laying 2-4 egg...
Read more

A blue Grosbeak

Image
 I rarely see one of these beautiful birds. They are usually found in fields as was the case with this one. Males are blue with two brown wing bars. A mated pair of Grosbeaks usually raise two broods of nestings per year.They build their nests low in small trees, shrubs and tangles in vines. The oldest grosbeak on record was a male who was at least 7 years and two months old when he was captured and re released during banding operation in Virginia.  
Read more