mission 1: raven quest

[pilgrim]

I was watching this new show sponsored by Nikon, called Wildlife exploration or somthing along those lines. They charterd a boat and cruised down this river in search for black bears, and the photographer would talk about his gear and what not. (pretty cool show) anywhos, I thought that it looked pretty fun how they had this mission in mind and they went out a did it. I thoguht to myself, hey, I like missions too. Plus I have a huge intrest in wildlife.
At anygiven time of day you can usually look out my window and see either a turkey voulcher, or a raven flying around.
unfortunately, they fly so high, and so far away that it is impossible to get a decent shot, even with my 400mm the best I could get was this:

so my brother and I decided to track down the ravens nest. We went out for a little hike and manged to spot what appeared to be a nest, hiked up that hill and amazingly enough found the nest:

the nest is about 2feet by 2feet, so it is rather large, which leads me to believe it is in fact the ravens nest.
My plan is to find a comfy spot and just wait. Sit it out for aslong as I can, and hopefully something will land in either the nest or a tree near by. Allowing me to get a nice full body, or even head shot! :shock:

Anywhos, sorry for the huge post, I was just pretty excited that I a nest. I'm going to head back out there in about 2-3 hours and sit it out. I'll be sure to add the pictures to this thread if I see anything.

Oh, and here's some stuff I saw on the way back from the hill.

not the best pictures, but I had to post something to make up for that novel of a thread.

 

[malachite]

Wow, I never realized Gambel's quail made it as far north as Canada. We get these crazy bird watchers here in AZ during the winter to watch the bald eagles. These people stake out a nest for weeks at a time in some type of blind with 1000mm plus telephotos poking out. Every year there are new laws and regulations about how close you can get because some people just don't get it. A few winters ago, 5 square miles ended up getting roped off around a small lake up north. That of course got national news, which in turn brought a national sized crowd. Haven't seen the eagles since.

Same story with the California Condors on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Everyone wants a feather and the best place to get one is IN the nests.

Anyway, good luck with your project. Just about everything I shoot is part of a personal project. Pick a subject and away you go. Work on it a bit and new ideas for your subject come up.

And there's my novel sized contribution

 

[Corry]

I really like that first one! The way the tips of the feathers on his wings and tails are outlined in really neat! And I like how you got him at full wingspan. Neat!

 

[Big Mike]

Nice shots.

I have seen a few episodes of that Nikon Expeditions show...it just makes me mad. It so nice to see a show about photography on TV but that host is either playing really stupid or more likely...just really stupid.

I don't' mind that he pushed Nikon & Fuji...but he acts like he will get the world's greatest pictures simply because he is using Nikon gear. On time the guest pro Photographer showed the host the selectable focus points and mentioned the rule of thirds. The host goes on to brag that his camera has rule of thirds and is therefore the greatest thing since sliced bread...just stupid.

 

[cowbert098]

Wow, amazing photos.

My guess is that this is a canadian show?

 

[mentos_007]

great photos! I hope you'll stand all this sitting there and catch something I'm not so patient

 

[hobbes28]

Those are all good. I especially like the third. It's kinda funny to me.

 

[pilgrim]

Thanks for the comments everyone

quail are a quite common site around here malachite, not to sure if they are the same tpye as you have down there..
Thats really too bad about the eagles People really don't understand :evil:

and big mike, I tottaly agree with you about the host of the show. My brother told me he is also the host of a fishing show.. so maybe he doesnt even know that much about photography
also, how can they not show his pictures at the end of the show :shock: , I don't know if it was just the episode I saw, but they never showed any of his work at the end of the show, and I was really looking forward to it...

and yah cowbert, its a canadian show.. the episode I saw was even from vancouver island, where I live :shock:




So this afternoon I spent about 3 hours in the woods.. saw the raven.. a falcon.. a bunch of voulchers and a bald eagle even made an appearance.. sadly though they only flew around, never landed in the trees .

However, I did run across a quail on the way back, so it wasn't all a waste.

 

[malachite]

Those are some good pics. Work on it a bit, get full profile shots with a little more depth of field, and you've got some very marketable images.

Your quail it seems are very similar but the last two shots show the differences. While the profile is very similar, the ones we have down here are colored a little differently. Our's are lighter grey with the markings being a very bright, rust colored red for the males. They're coined "grey ghosts" because of their uncanny knack of disappearing right in front of you when they don't want to be seen. These are much of a symbol of the southwest as are saguaro cactus. And they taste good too............but that's a different subject

 

[pilgrim]

hmm, you seem to know your quails malachite.. do you have any idea what the little feather dealy off their head is for? just looks?

oh, and yes, quail do taste good. But that was back in my killing days, I'll stick to shooting them with my camera now

 

[malachite]

They're just for show. Called a plume or top-knot, the males have the bigger teardrop shaped ones while females have less prominent ones with an all black head instead of the rusty-red.

The sounds they make are what make the desert seem alive. The males get up on something high and stand 'lookout' while the rest of the covey mindlessly eats away. Then he jets over to the next outcropping of rock and does his call to let the others know which direction to head. Meanwhile the females just cluck and chirp away, minding the little ones and letting the lookout male know they heard him the first time and are heading that way.

They're fun to watch. They group up during the end of the day before they roost for the night, calling all over the place. This happens during magic hour when I'm out taking pics so it's just something I hear and see all the time. An Arizona sunset just isn't right without the cooing and clicking of quail as a soundtrack. One of the little things for me that makes the desert what it is.

[/end quail disertation]

 

[pilgrim]

wow, you know alot more about them then I thought :shock:
so im assuming the one in my last two pictures is a male. I also noticed how he would stand up on this log and watch as the kiddies and the wife would run around.
yup, pretty intresting birds

 

[mrsid99]

Great work Pilgrim!

 

[Digital Matt]

Great shots Pilgrim. I like your mission idea too. I do that myself from time to time. It's good that you found a location to return to. I have a shot similar to your first one, only of a seagull. It may have been all you could get, but I think it's great. It really emphasizes the freedom of flight.

 

[Lungfarmer]

Great work I love wildlife shots.