An Almost Uneventful Outing

[sm4him]

Well, my two threads yesterday were met with such enthusiastic response that I thought I'd add another today. :lmao:

Sarcasm aside (but probably not for long):

On Sunday, I didn't have time between morning and evening church to go to my current favorite spot, so I thought I'd return to a spot that was pretty good back last fall and winter. The last two trips there had been pretty fruitless, but I thought perhaps now that it's Spring, it would be rife with birds again.

The day was MUCH cloudier and overcast than I'd thought it was going to be, but I went anyway. Heard all kinds of birds, including a Northern Bobwhite, but couldn't FIND any of them to get a picture. Tried several different spots, all to no avail. After about two hours of seeing no interesting birds at all, I was pretty much ready to quit. But by this time I was on the opposite end of the refuge from where my car was parked--then I was reminded of something that happens to me once in a while; I get so caught up in the photography aspect that I forget to just ENJOY where I am and all the beauty that is around me. So, I resolved to just ENJOY being outside in the Springtime and not CARE whether I got any good pictures or not. I resolved that at least half a dozen times. Sometimes, I succeeded.

I did get a few pictures of things that interested or amused me, like this birdhouse.
And this dock across the river from me:



Then I started taking pictures of the water reflections:


At this point, I'd long since given up on getting any good bird photos. I walked past a little area where I could see the river, and saw some kayakers out on the other side, and started to move on. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement. Backed up about three steps, and there, about 50 feet away from me, was this:

First one I'd ever seen at this particular location!

Another shot of him:


Well, now I was pretty pumped! I decided I'd take the LONG way back to the car, winding along the trail right next to the river and see if I found anything else interesting. Alas, that plan lasted less than five minutes before the wind start howling and I realized that a storm was coming in fast. So, I took off toward the road instead and hoped I'd get back to the car before the deluge hit. It was just starting to sprinkle a bit when I saw something way off in the distance, over the ridge:

I took that picture mostly just so I could zoom in on it and see if I could tell what kind of nests those were. Vultures, maybe? I had no idea.
Imagine my surprise when I zoomed WAY in and saw...HERONS! It's a whole colony of heron nests!

And then the rains came. Had to hurry on my way back to the car before I got soaked. But now, all I can think about are those heron nests, and when I can possibly get back out there to explore. I'm not even sure how close I can potentially get to them, but I'm sure going to get back out there and explore my options! I'm hoping to take half a day off work tomorrow, or else maybe get out there for a while Saturday, although I think my niece has soccer games much of the day on Saturday. Still, I gotta get back out there!

As always, C&C, general comments and witty banter greatly appreciated.

 

[mishele]

Love the first one....lol :lmao:

 

[Designer]

You've helped me see the larger picture. Thank you.

 

[BlackSheep]

The water reflection shot is pretty cool, nicely done.

The osprey shots look a bit dark to me, not sure if it's my monitor or not though.

 

[WesternGuy]

So...what's the story behind the first one - red neck bootlegger with a banjo?

All kidding aside, I like the osprey and the heron nests look interesting. Look forward to more images when you can get back to them. The osprey is a little underexposed, maybe 1/2 a stop or so. The "problem" with shooting a dark bird against a light sky - your meter goes for the 18% grey and the lighter sky gives you a slightly underexposed, darker bird. If you shot raw, you might be able to lighten it up in post.

WesternGuy

 

[sm4him]

Thanks for the comments, all!

So...what's the story behind the first one - red neck bootlegger with a banjo?

Pretty much. At least two of those three. :lmao:

All kidding aside, I like the osprey and the heron nests look interesting. Look forward to more images when you can get back to them. The osprey is a little underexposed, maybe 1/2 a stop or so. The "problem" with shooting a dark bird against a light sky - your meter goes for the 18% grey and the lighter sky gives you a slightly underexposed, darker bird. If you shot raw, you might be able to lighten it up in post.

WesternGuy

Now that I look closer, I agree that the first Osprey is probably just a little underexposed. That's the shot when I first came up on it, and I just tried to grab the picture while it was staring at me like that. We surprised each other with our presence there, and I wasn't at all sure that he wouldn't immediately take off, with me being that close. I did drop my shutter speed a touch, from 1/1000 to 1/800, and my aperture, from 8 to 7.1, on the second shot.

 

[coastalconn]

Hey I left an enthusiastic comment on flickr

Hmm, deliverance in the first shot huh?

The Osprey does look a little noisy. Have you tried using auto iso in manual? It's how I've been shooting lately. You can still use +/- EC. It really helps when you don't have time to react. In a situation like the Osprey I would spot meter on the bird and just let the sky blow out...

Pretty cool seeing all the herons nesting..

 

[baturn]

1st shot gave me a good laugh--Thanks. I like the Osprey looking right at you. Nice capture.

 

[sm4him]

Hey I left an enthusiastic comment on flickr

Hmm, deliverance in the first shot huh?

The Osprey does look a little noisy. Have you tried using auto iso in manual? It's how I've been shooting lately. You can still use +/- EC. It really helps when you don't have time to react. In a situation like the Osprey I would spot meter on the bird and just let the sky blow out...

Pretty cool seeing all the herons nesting..

Thanks, Kris. I'd forgotten that I saw recently where you were doing that, but I'm gonna have to pull out the manual to figure out how to use auto ISO when I'm shooting on manual.

I'm not too sure why it would be that noisy; it wasn't cropped or sharpened that much, and the ISO was 640. But, it is what it is. I could probably try doing some noise reduction on it.

 

[JacaRanda]

#1 is a keeper and could be used in jokes forever. Outside of the dreary overcast rainy ish day making bird photography a little more difficult.....I really like how the 2nd osprey is framed within the branches.

What a cool discovery of the Heron nest. Betcha gonna spend a good amount of time in that area!