photoartflightSleeping Mute Swans At Brigantine
Posted on February 21, 2019
When we first got to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division in Oceanville, NJ, it was an overcast day and very early in the am. On the first leg of the Wildlife Drive, by Gull Pond, I found these sleeping Swans. I was photographing them and then they started to move around giving me a few more options for photos. Then I heard a piercing rattle and knew it was a Belted Kingfisher. It landed a few trees away from me, but I was able to get a few images, even though it was not large in the frame and had poor light before it flew on. I wish it had been a little sunnier, but I got what I could. All images here were with a Canon R, 400mm f/4 DO lens with a Series III 1.4X teleconverter.
Sleeping Mute Swan
Posted on September 23, 2018
I found this Mute Swan at a local nature area a while ago. While I was photographing this Swan you can see it opened its eye and was keeping an eye on me. Also photographed a few detail shots. After a few shots I moved on.
Mute Swans With Cygnets
Posted on June 29, 2018
This pair of Swans were swimming by with their fairly new born Cygnets. Cygnets do not spend much time in the nest after they hatch. Usually not more than a day. The Male Swan (called the Cob) helps the Female (known as the Pen) until they are about a year old. They seem to continually swim around this small lake.
Mute Swan Closeups with Reflections
Posted on February 4, 2018
Continuing from a previous post. These are a series of images when the Swan swam up to where I was standing. I had to take off my 1.4x teleconverter and even back up to get the whole swan in the image for the featured image and the first one below. The last two were with the 400mm Canon f/4 DO lens with the 1.4x Series III teleconverter as they were a little farther out but still swimming towards me.
Immature Mute Swan Fly By
Posted on March 18, 2017
A flyby of this Immature Mute Swan. I was watching this Immature Mute Swan swimming across this small lake. It took off and flew towards me so I was able to get some closer flight photos. Usually they fly away from where I am setup, so the Swan cooperated with me.
Mute Swan Landscape
Posted on March 5, 2017
I was following, with my camera, this Mute Swan as it was swimming around the lake. It was in a “displaying” posture which is usually when a mate is nearby or a rival male is near, before it chases it away. I saw neither of those two choices. It just kept swimming around the small lake.
Mute Swans
Posted on February 12, 2017
Most of the Wildlife Drive was closed for repairs so access was limited to the refuge. Some of my favorite areas to photograph birds were not accessible. But I did find a few Mute Swans that cooperated and did a slow swim by for a few photos.
Mute Swan FlyBy
Posted on February 7, 2017
These were taken at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge a while ago. It was a foggy day and we were hoping it would burn off as the sun was getting higher. We saw this group of 4 swans coming towards us out of the heavy fog. They were close together and one behind was an Immature Mute Swan. They came very close and in a tight formation. I shot quite a few as they flew by, thinking they would not be great because of the fog and grayish look. But in Photoshop I brought up enough detail to be interesting.
Mute Swan Gliding In For Landing On A Foggy Morning
Posted on January 26, 2017
Still going through files I had not gotten to working on. Somehow work keeps getting in the way. This is from a local nature area. It was a foggy morning so I thought I might get some ducks in the fog before the sun burned off the fog. Then a Mute Swan glided in heading towards me. I liked this one because of the reflection of the landing Swan. The light was poor and again I added contrast and other editing techniques to make it less “muddy” looking but still give the look of the foggy morning.
Mute Swan Portraits
Posted on December 28, 2016
I was at a local park looking for subjects to photograph. They have some trails through the woods and a large 2.5 acre pond. There is usually a pair of Mute Swans in the pond. I did not see any at first, but then one of them appeared on the far side of the pond and eventually came fairly close to where I was. These were shot with a m43 camera with a 100-300mm Panasonic lens. So in Full frame equivalence, that is equal to 200-600mm, quite a bit of reach in a small lightweight easy to carry setup. It is surprisingly sharp if you are careful. Still prefer my standard Canon gear, but sometimes I just do not want to carry it all!
Assorted portraits and views at various focal lengths up to 300mm, depending on the distance of the Swan from me.
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