Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Rainy Day Osprey





1/500 sec. f/8 ISO 1000

I was at the lake early yesterday despite the thunderstorms we were having. I'm not sure why I even stopped other than my camera gear was already in the truck and I was close by. The rain let up somewhat after I got there, but the nearby lightning almost made me decide to abandon my idea. I took a few photos on one end of the lake and then the rain started coming down too hard again. I packed up my gear and drove to the other end just to take a look before leaving.

The fickle rain let up by the time I made the drive to the opposite end, so I parked and got my gear back out. I noticed a bird over the lake and at first glance thought it was a gull. As it passed overhead, I realized it was an osprey. It was the first one I had ever seen in my home area and turned out to be the very first one I've ever photographed. It was making passes from one end of the lake to the other sometimes slowing down to hover briefly.

You can't tell from the photos, but the sky was a very dark gray and it was drizzling. The lighting was absolutely terrible for my big lens. I had to overexpose my photos by 1 1/3 stops just to keep the osprey from being a black blob. Even at a high ISO, my shutter speed was slow for flight shots. Sometimes you just have to do the best you can. I wasn't able to photograph the dive bomb because the osprey was too far down the lake, but fortunately it did fly back by me with the fish. Considering it would have been easier just to go home, I was happy with the outcome.




Monday, April 28, 2014

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Friday, April 25, 2014

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Sticks And Wire

1/80 sec. f/8 ISO 400

Sometimes simple is the way to go.
Linking to Good Fences

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Her Majesty

1/1250 sec. f/8 ISO 200

Female Bald Eagle
Salato Wildlife Center

Friday, April 18, 2014

Thursday, April 17, 2014

A Fence For The Boys

1/100 sec. f/11 ISO 100

Percheron/Thoroughbred Cross Geldings
Linking to Good Fences

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Monday, April 14, 2014

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Friday, April 11, 2014

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Deadly Fence

1/160 sec. f/8 ISO 1000

Cooper's Hawk
Linking to Good Fences

A good fence for the hunter, but maybe not so good for the hunted.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Tree Turkey


1/640 sec. f/8 ISO 500

Female Wild Turkey

Monday, April 7, 2014

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Portrait Of Boo-Boo

1/80 sec. f/11 ISO 500

Black Bear
Salato Wildlife Center

Friday, April 4, 2014

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Good Bison



1/320 sec. f/11 ISO 500

American Bison
Linking to Good Fences

If good fences make good neighbors, it stands to reason good bison fences make for good bison. Or at least less cranky bison.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Caught

1/1250 sec. f/8 ISO 1600

Great Blue Heron
Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday

What I found interesting about this shot are the reflections. There's the direct reflection of the heron and then below that is a second reflection with two eyes.