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! Willet

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/tc14 @420mm, ISO 800, f6.3, 1/2000, +1/3ev, SB800 for fill

Here is one more Willet shot from Florida. Using fill flash on a cloudy really helps bring the colors out when there isn't much contrast. The sun would peak out from behind the clouds only for a few seconds at a time.

Eastern Bluebird pt.II

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, ISO 400, f7.1, 1/2000, EV +1/3, SB800

Here is part two of Monday's failed water fowl shoot. Chad did have some success shooting eastern bluebird. For this shot, I sat in the grass waiting for the male to return to the bird box with grass for the nest. Here is what I ended up with!

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! Sanderling

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/tc14 @420mm, f6.3, ISO 400, SB800 for fill

I can't get enough of these little guys! I was going back through my photos from my recent Florida trip and found a few more that I like. I'll post a new Ruddy Turnstone later this week.

Photo of the Day! Gray Jay pt.II

Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, ISO 1000, f3.5

Here is another photo from last winter in northern Minnesota. I'm really looking forward to try this same shot with my D7000! To get this shot I had to pre-focus just behind the tree a couple of inches and wait for the bird to fly into the space.

Photo of the Day! Gray Jay

Nikon D90, 300mm f2.8 w/tc14 @420mm, f6.3, ISO 800

Since I woke up to snow again yesterday, I thought I would post a photo with a little snow falling. This photo is from a trip to northern Minnesota last December.