July 30, 2016

I shot these right outside my front door this morning. I think this is a blue dasher...

July 24, 2016

I was up at 4:30 again this morning and made another trip to Delaware to see who would be hanging around the marsh.  Shortly after dawn this heron flew in roosted in a dead tree near where I had set up with my tripod. After around 30 minutes he flew down and landed about 25' square in front of me. I saw a green heron on this pile of branches a couple weeks back so it was no accident I was in this spot. The problem I had was I set up too close to the bird and could not get the entire bird in the frame. I put on a mesh camouflage suit which was very effective, the bird never figured me out and stayed for more than an hour. I was sitting on a folding stool behind the tripod, both feet fell asleep and my butt went numb while I was unable to move for fear of spooking the bird away.

I was is such hope this heron would snatch a fish, frog, or something and I would have an amazing close up shot of him consuming some unlucky prey; never happened. He looked very interested in something in the water a few times and moved around on the brush pile a bit but never went after anything. Perhaps his belly was full and he was just loafing.

July 23, 2016

I made an early morning trip up to Delaware  Wildlife Area again this morning. I had hoped to see the green herons that I saw last week but they were either not around or hiding somewhere. What I did see were a group of belted king fishers chasing each other around the pond and catching small fish. King fishers have been on the list of birds I want to shoot and prior to today I have had an extremely difficult time getting close to them. I actually had one perch in a tree I was next to and was so close the camera couldn't focus on him.

There were a nice group of wood ducks hanging out, I am fairly certain they were probably all hatched together this spring. The pond I was at is somewhat isolated and gets very few human visitors as the entire area around it is completely overgrown and access is fairly miserable which is good for me and the birds as it keeps others away!

July 16, 2016

Made an early morning trip up to Delaware Wildlife Area this morning. I started at the marsh where I had caught the sand-hill cranes the other day. There were a bunch of herons in there that I could not possibly get close to and some wood ducks. I shot the deer in a field behind the marsh, I like the running shot the most of those. I had not sprayed up and the mosquitoes made me absolutely miserable so I went to a different area and applied repellent.

The second place I went was a pond that I think gets no human visitors; it is isolated by very thick
 ( and wet with dew this morning) cover. At this pond were a treasure trove of wading birds, mainly herons, both great blue and green herons. The greens I could not get close to so not any really good shots of them I will show one  not particularly great shot. There were two kingfishers buzzing around that just would not come my way for a close up, they are on the short list of birds I really want to photograph.

There were a good number of sandpipers working on the floating mats of vegetation, really cool to watch them!

July 11, 2016

I had a couple hours after dinner this evening to spend at a local creek. I was a bit late and the light wasn't great but I did catch this heron roosted high in a sycamore tree on the opposite side of the creek. Not terrific shots but I think the subject is interesting. Sometimes a less than great shot is OK if it tells a good story.

I noticed what appear to be raw spots on the leading edges of the wings in the flying shots. I wonder if this is due to some mating ritual or from nesting? This photography endeavor only gets more fascinating.

July 9, 2016

I took a run up to Delaware Wildlife Area last evening just to see what was around. One of the large marsh's where I photographed tons of teal back in the spring was completely dry and full of beautiful, lush, green grasses. I suspect the DNR has  purposely drained the marsh to grow the grasses and will re-flood the marsh for the fall waterfowl migration. There are good numbers of meadow type birds flitting around in all that fresh grass.

I went over to another marsh on the property that has plenty of water and was very surprised to see a pair of sand-hill cranes hanging around. It seems a bit late for them to be here, it is fairly common to see them here during migration but not this late into the summer, the cranes must not have read the book that says they should be somewhere else
.

July 4, 2016

I was down fishing a local creek this afternoon. I don't take my DSLR camera on fishing trips because I normally wade and there is too much chance of the camera ending up in the drink and it would also be cumbersome to carry. I was working my way back up the creek after catching no fish and feeling about half disgusted when I noticed a couple of cedar waxwings swooping over the water as they often do so I stopped and watched them. I was very near a down tree laying in shallow water. One of the waxwings would sit on the tree and then come off and swoop within just a couple feet of me, they must have a nest close by is the only explanation I have for their behavior as I have found them very difficult to get close to when I have tried approaching them in the past. This went on for quite a few minutes and every time the bird would swoop past me I would move step or two closer to his perch. I eventually got within about 12 feet or so of his favorite spot. Not having a good camera I finally resorted to the I phone that I feel SUCKS for any kind of real photography. Here is the proof that I am correct about pictures taken with cell phones. Even with he poor light  today's opportunity to take some amazing shots of one of my favorite bird species, would have yielded fantastic results with the proper camera. Long story concluded, here is a crappy shot of a cedar waxwing.