Photo of the Week! Sanderling

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/2500, +1/3ev

Since I haven't been out shooting much lately, I've been going through my old files to see if I had left something behind. This photo was from my trip to Pensacola Beach, FL last April. I did flag it as something I liked in Lightroom, but never got around to processing it until this last week. What I like about this photo is the inclusion of the other birds that are out of focus. Almost every other bird photo I have is a single bird in the frame. I thought I would change it up a bit with this one.

Photo of the Day! Tree Swallow!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/800

This was from this week while photographing bluebirds. The tree swallows made it a point to harass the bluebirds and their nest boxes whenever possible. The bluebirds were vigilante though and fearlessly chanced them away each time. This tree swallow was much more relaxed soaking up some sun.

Photo of the Day! American Goldfinch!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/1600

Late post today, Derek and I just got back from photographing song birds this morning. We saw some more eastern bluebirds, field sparrows, goldfinch and some other regulars. This is my favorite from the morning.

Photo of the Day! Eastern Bluebird!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm, f/4 AFS + TC-14E II @ 700mm, ISO 320, f/8, 1/500 

Derek and I went to a local wildlife area yesterday in hopes of finding some migrating water fowl. It was our first trip this year to this spot and unfortunately the water fowl was non existent. But we did notice some very active eastern bluebirds that were protecting their nest box from some harassing swallows. The bluebirds followed a pretty consistent pattern of perching locations in the area. The male made use of this perch several times so we decided to set our cameras up and wait. Of course as soon as we did, he decided to go elsewhere. After a couple of hours of waiting and the activity levels decreasing, we decided to pack up for the day. As we were about to leave Derek said, look at your perch! Would you know it, there he was. Fortunately my camera was still on the tripod. I quickly got back into position and fired a few off before he flew away. This is actually one of my first bluebird photos so I was very pleased.

Photo of the Day! Clark's Nutcracker!

Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f/4 AFS + TC-17E II @ 500mm, ISO 1000, f/6.7, 1/250, handheld

This was the first time I had seen a Clark's Nutcracker. All I knew is it was a pretty and interesting bird. As it turns out the Clark's Nutcracker is well known for it's ability to cache huge amounts of pine seeds for later consumption. The Clark's Nutcracker can cache as many as 98,000 seeds per year. This image was taken in the Lake Louise area of Banff National Park in Alberta Canada.

Photo of the Day! Cedar Waxwing 2!

Nikon D90, Sigma 150-500 OS @ 500mm, ISO 320, f/6.3,1/1250

This goes along with yesterday's post. I didn't quite get the super clean background like on yesterday's post, but I still liked this image.

Photo of the Day! Juvenile Peregrine Falcon!

Nikon D40x, 70-300VR @ 300mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/3200

This is the same juvenile peregrine falcon as yesterday. This is another great display of the juvenile coloration and pattern.

Photo of the Day! Peregrine Falcon!

Nikon D40x, Nikkor 70-300VR @ 300mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/2500

Continuing with peregrine falcons, this is a juvenile peregrine. I really like the coloration and patterns of the juveniles, even more so than the adults. This one is also giving an intense look! This image was taken a few years ago and as I look at the technical specs I realized I should have lowered the ISO because my shutter speed was plenty fast.