photoartflightCormorant Portraits, Sunning On Treetops
Posted on February 15, 2020
We saw a quite a few Cormorants sunning on the top of trees as we were walking the trails on our trip to Lake Woodruff NWR. The featured image was taken with a 300mm f/4 lens. I liked the strong sunlight on the Cormorant enabling more detail in the dark black bird. The images here were 2 different cormorants from different tree branches.
Additional Cormorant Images:
Cormorant @ 273mm
Cormorant @ 375mm
Cormorant @ 375mm
Cormorant @ 375mm
Cormorant @ 309mm
Marsh Rabbit
Posted on February 7, 2020
While we were walking the trails at Lake Woodruff NWR, we saw a few small rabbits. Looking them up they seem to be Marsh Rabbits. Marsh rabbits are typically smaller than Eastern Cottontail Rabbits. Adults from the Florida peninsula weigh approximately 2.2–2.6 pounds with a total length upwards of 17 inches. The hind feet of the average mainland marsh rabbit is also larger, at 3.6 inches compared with 3.5 inches for the typical Florida Marsh Rabbit. The featured image was taken @ 600mm.
Marsh Rabbit @ 600mm
Marsh Rabbit @ 428mm
Marsh Rabbit @ 600mm
American Alligators @ Lake Woodruff NWR
Posted on February 6, 2020
On our trip to Lake Woodruff NWR we saw quite a few American Alligators in the channels along the paths. In other years we saw more, but they are not my favorite photo subjects, so it was fine for me. This is a closeup Head shot that was taken along one of the channels near the entrance. Other years we saw them on the paths or the shoreline. But this trip they were mostly in the water. It was hard to get good shots of them because of the reflections of the grasses and other plants along the shoreline which made the background busy looking.
Same image as the featured image with a feathered in softer background
American Alligator @ 600mm
American Alligator with reflections of the grasses in the water @ 200mm
Sandhill Cranes FlyBy In Morning Light
Posted on February 5, 2020
A couple of images of Sandhill Cranes flying out early in the morning. Images shot at 213mm with a 150-600mm Tamron lens.
Sandhill Crane Fly-By Sequence
Posted on February 5, 2020
A series of images of a Sandhill Crane Slow FlyBy. Interesting to see the wing positions as it slowly flew by me. I was using a Tamron 150-600mm lens. Images captured @ 428mm.
Sandhill Crane Panoramas From Lake Woodruff NWR
Posted on February 5, 2020
On our trip to Lake Woodruff NWR in DeLand Florida we were hoping to see Sandhill Cranes. They did not disappoint us. The only problem was it was a spur of the moment trip so I traveled light and only chose the lenses I thought would be best. I did not want to load up the car with too many lenses to carry once we got there. So for long lenses I brought a 300mm with a close focusing capability and a Tamron 150-600mm zoom for versatility along with teleconverters. Usually the Sandhill Cranes are in large flocks or off in the distance. The first walk in to the trails, 2 Sandhills landed right by us within a couple of feet. They stuck with us for quite a while giving me the opportunity to get a lot of portraits. But to get the whole Sandhill Crane in, I resorted to shooting panoramas of them. All panos were shot handheld and assembled in Photoshop. The featured image is only 2 vertical images blended because the Crane was a little further away from me at this point.
Sandhill Crane, 2 Vertical Image Panorama, 300mm lens
7 horizontal images, handheld panorama, 300mm lens
Sandhill Crane, 2 Vertical Image Panorama, 300mm lens
Sandhill Crane Panorama, 7 Horizontal Images, 300mm
Great Blue Heron FlyBy
Posted on February 4, 2020
Here are a few Great Blue Heron images taken on our Lake Woodruff NWR trip to Florida. As we were walking the trails I saw this Great Blue Heron coming by us. I was ready and got a few side view images that I liked showing an angular side view. I thought it really showed the length and form of the Great Blue Egret as it flew by. This view also shows how large they really are when stretched out in flight. All images were @ 600mm, taken with a Tamron 150-600mm lens. I am really liking the Tamron lens. It produces great images with fine detail and is very versatile with the wide zoom range. Especially nice when you are walking and not wanting to carry a variety of lenses to cover what you might see to photograph along the way.
Great Blue Heron FlyBy @600mm
Winging Further Away @ 600mm
Great Egret Catches Lunch
Posted on October 17, 2019
Outside our complex is a small pond along an access road. There usually are a lot of Canada Geese here, but scattered along the far shoreline in the pond are Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons and Cormorants. Also a few shore birds are working along the edge. It is down a slope from the road, so you are sort of shooting down at them from quite a distance so you need a long lens to photograph them. Because of the distance I was using a Tamron 150-600mm lens with a Sigma 2X teleconverter for a 1200mm field of view to fill the frame more with the birds. I am surprised the Canon R autofocuses quickly with the combination of a 2X Teleconverter on a f/6.3 zoom lens. With the 2X teleconverter on the Tamron 150-600mm f/6.3 lens, my wide open f/stop was f/13. So I stoped down to f/16 to help with shrapness. My Canon 1D Series bodies would not autofocus past f/11 if you stacked teleconverters.
Great Egret finally catches a fish for lunch – Canon R @ 1200mm
Great Egret Working Shoreline – Canon R @ 1200mm
Great Egret Working It’s way down the far Shoreline – Canon R @ 1200mm
Cormorants Swimming By – Canon R 1200mm
Cormorants Swimming By – Canon R – 1200mm
Great Egret working the Far Shoreline – Canon R – 1200mm
Bombay Hook NWR Landscapes
Posted on October 3, 2019
Here are a series of landscape & cloudscape images from a recent visit to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. The featured image was shot @ 14mm along the Wildlife Drive.
Bombay Hook Landscape along Wildlife Drive – Shearness Pool @ 12mm, Canon R
Bombay Hook Landscape along Wildlife Drive @ 158mm, Canon R, Tamron 150-600mm
Bombay Hook Landscape along Wildlife Drive – Shearness Pool @12mm, 2 img pano, Canon R
Bombay Hook Landscape, Shearness Pool along Wildlife Drive @ 14mm, Olympus OM-D
Great Blue Heron In Finis Pool @ Bombay Hook NWR
Posted on October 2, 2019
Towards the end of the Wildlife Drive at Bombay Hook is Finis Pool. Quite often you can get photos of turtles here along with ducks. On this day we found a cooperative Great Blue Heron that posed for us. We took a few images and then moved on to not disturb the Heron. Plus a couple of turtle images, since we were there. Here I was using a Canon R with a Tamron 150-600mm zoom.
Great Blue Heron @ 600mm
Great Blue Heron @ 428mm
Great Blue Heron @ 600mm
Great Blue Heron @ 600mm
Turtle on Stump – Finis Pool – 600mm
Turtles Warming In Sun – Finis Pool, 600mm
