Pic of the Day

Snow Egret, Egrette thula:  Saint Augustine Alligator Farm

Saint Augustine, Florida

Pic of the Day

Barred Owl, Strix Varia: Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Florida:

     This image goes all the back to around the spring of 1989 or 1990, and yes it was shot on film.  The sentinel of the south, the Barred Owl is perhaps the most common owl found in southern swamps and forest.  Its “who – who – who cooks for you” call, heard in the evening twilight is synonymous with southern nights.

     I had long sought the opportunity to photograph this iconic bird and got the opportunity in Corkscrew Swamp, an Audubon Society sanctuary east of Naples, Florida.  Barred owls are common in the sanctuary and I had seen owls in the swamp for many years, but they were always far from the boardwalk and inaccessible as photo subjects. 

     On one trip I was fortunate to find a Barred Owl perched on a limb no more than 20 feet from the boardwalk.  It was at the perfect distance from my lens.  The owl was patient with me as I hastily set-up my tripod and began to shoot.  The owl must have enjoyed the attention, fore it perched on the limb for half an hour while I put roll-after-roll of film through the camera.

Nikon F4, 500mm f/4 Nikkor, Kodachorme 64

Pic of the Day

Wilson's Warbler, Cardellina pusilla:  Magee Marsh, Ohio

at "Biggest Week in American Birding"

     I have had a wonderful time at Magee Marsh this week.  While the birds have not been the best I have seen, I had two great days of shooting.  This little Wilson’s warbler was one of my favorite shots.  It is difficult to get clean backgrounds at Magee, but I positioned my self for a green foliage background that blurred out of focus just perfectly for this shot.  I hoped that the Wilson’s would alight in the right place, and it did.  Wish all the shots from this week had a nice background like this.  Backgrounds can make or break an image!

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 1/200 second @ f/8

Pic of the Day

Wood Stork, Mycteria americana:  Saint Augustine Alligator Farm

Saint Augustine, Florida

Pic of the Day

Snowy Egret, Egretta thula:  Saint Augustine Alligator Farm

Saint Augustine, Florida

Pic of the Day

Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja:  Saint Augustine Alligator Farm

Saint Augustine, Florida

Pic of the Day

Hairy Woodpecker,  Picoides villosus:

Horse Cove; near Gurley, Alabama

Downy Woodpecker, Picoides pubescens:

Horse Cove; near Gurley, Alabama

      Many Hairy vs Downy Woodpecker identification sites mention that Hairy Woodpeckers have all-white outer tail feathers (rectrices), as compared to Downy Woodpeckers whose outer tail feathers have black bars.  What is not mentioned, is that Hairy Woodpeckers may have a few black marks on the outer rectrices[1].  Around my house, all of the Hairy Woodpeckers I have seen, have a few black spots on the outer rectrices also, as shown in this photo. (top)

     Also note that the Hairy Woodpecker's bill length is almost as long as the width of its head, while the length of the Downy Woodpecker's bill length is less than half the width of its head.
I often have to look twice when I see either of these birds at my feeder, and look very carefully at the bird's bill length.  You can't always rely on dark spots on the outer rectrices to separate the two species.

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[1] Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part 1 Columbidae to Ploceidae; Peter Pyle; Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, California; 1997, p189

Top (Hairy Woodpecker):  Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 1/80 second @ f/7.1
Bottom (Downy Woodpecker): Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 1/160 second @ f/7.1

Pic of the Day

Brown-headed Nuthatch, Sitta Pusilla:

Guntersville Dam Recreational Area near New Hope, Alabama

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 1/250 second @ f/8

Pic of the Day

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus:  Horse Cove, near Gurley, Alabama

     Back in the blind today shooting feeder birds.  Yesterday I had a couple of dozen Rose-breased Grosbeaks on my feeders at a time.  Today things were much different with less than a dozen at a time.  Looks like we are near the end of the grosbeak migration here in North Alabama.  I would be interested in hearing from others here in North Alabama on the numbers you are seeing.  I'm heading north myself, hoping to see these beauties at Magee Marsh.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 1/400 second @ f/5.6

Pic of the Day

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus

Hartwick State Park; Grayling, Michigan

     On Monday, March 20^th I saw my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak for the year here in North Alabama.  As I have mentioned in the past I get rose-breasted for about two weeks in the spring and fall.  Of course, spring is when they are in prime plumage and the birds I have been seeing are absolutely perfect.  I shot this male grosbeak on its nesting grounds at Hartwick Pines State Park just outside of Grayling, Michigan.  I hope to shoot a few here before they move on north, and again at Magee Marsh, Ohio in a couple of week.  Hope you get these beautiful birds at your feeders this spring also.

NIkon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 1/80 second @ f/4

Sharp-tailed Grouse Continued II

     After shooting the star filled sky (previous post) I sat in the blind for an hour waiting for the grouse to come to the lek.  Setting in the chair I began to doze off when I was wakened by the call of a Sanhill Crane.  Unusual I thought, it was still pitch black yet a crane squawked a couple of times, and the call came from above.  Something must have frightened the crane from its roost.  There was a southerly breeze, but if a flock of cranes were heading north there would have surely been many cranes making their rattling calls as they flew overhead.

Sharp-tailred Grouse

     Sitting in the darkness I leaned back in my chair and fell back into my slumber.  Suddenly I thought, “how will I know when the grouse arrive!” About that time I heard a meadowlark, then, moments later the soft cooing of a grouse, then another, and another, the birds were on the lek.  I had my camera at the ready, but there was no light.  It would be another thirty-minutes or more before the sun would break the horizon.

     Looking through a portal of the blind I could barely discern the vegetation on the lek, nothing had detail.  Eventually, as I stood staring into the nothingness I caught a glimpse of movement.  A Sharp-tailed Grouse was there, but it was like a ghost.  I could barely make out the shape of the bird.  As I stared into the dimly lit landscape the bird became easier to see, and then I began to see others, many others.  As the light grew in intensity so did the activity of grouse.  They were like synchronize swimmers.  They all ran across the lek with outstretched quivering wings, produced a thumping sound that only a grouse can create.  Then, in unison males would pair up, sit on the ground and face each other.  It was a stand off, each staring at each other with great intensity just waiting for the other to flinch.  One bird would make a slight lunge toward the other, then, the other would lunge forward.  

Sharp-tailed Grouse facing-off

The act continued until each would take flight toward the other, pounding their chests into each other creating a loud thump.  This was usually followed with the two birds flying upward a few feet pecking and scratching each other with beaks and talons.  As the birds came back to earth the stare down resumed and the ritual was repeated.  All this so the females could pick the strongest and healthiest males to mate with.

Sharp-tailed Grouse

     Often during the stare down, one bird would callout sending all the males into a running frenzy across the lek.  Their outstretched wings quivered, their heads held low to the ground, as all the males began to vocalize the display call at the same time.  It was a cacophony of audible madness.       As I watched the birds, I picked up on the call that caused the frenzy.  As I listened to their vocalizations I put words to the call to help me remember the sound.  Clearly the birds were saying…. “Cock-a-Waffle.”  The sound was being repeated over and over again.  If you say the phrase really fast, you will sound just like a Sharped-tailed Grouse.

     As each of the wing quivering, “Cock-a-Waffle” calling frenzies took place I snapped images as fast as possible trying to capture the movement.  I soon realized that capturing a moment of the dance did not to it justice.  I could show the high points, but still photography would never do justice to this ancient ritual.  This snippet of video gives the reader an idea of what occurred, but  you must see this event live, and in person to really appreciate the dance.

(If video does not show up below click this link to see the video on youtube:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qo9YIk3rDA

Sharp-tailed Grouse on Lek near Halsey, Nebraska

Too be continued ………….

Sharp-tailed Grouse in Nebraska I

Sharp-tailed Grouse lek under the Milky Way

Nebraska National Forest near Halsey, Nebraska

     On the day before my Sharp-tailed Grouse adventure began, a local friend and I went to the lek and set-up two photography blinds.  When we arrived we looked for feathers, and found many.  There was no doubt that the lek was active, so we set about erecting the photo blinds.  Setting the blind up before the morning shoot was essential.  The moon was only 2 days old, so there was no moonlight whatsoever the following morning.  We would have never been able to get the blinds in the proper place in the dark.

The next morning we arrived at the blind two hours before sunrise.  The temperature was somewhere in the forties, not warm but not brutally cold.  The stars were wonderful.  I have some pretty dark skies at home, but they had nothing on a moonless night in the heart of Nebraska. 

     The constellation Scorpio loomed over the southern horizon and the Milky Way was as brilliant as I had ever seen it, maybe more.  It was then that I thought of shooting an image of the sky above the lek.  I wanted my blog viewers to understand the experience, and arriving at the blind before sunrise so not to disturb the birds is essential.

    Over the years I have found that a ten second exposure when using a 20mm to 35mm, f2 lens works quite well as an exposure.  This exposure produces star that are points of light instead of streaks of light (star trails).  I did not have a cable release with me so I set my shutter to 13 seconds.  I set the camera to mirror lock up to reduce vibration. I then placed my hand in front of the lens, trip the shutter, counted to 3 and removed my hand.  This prevents vibration from touching the shutter button.  The technique seems to work fairly well.  At ten seconds there does seem to be slight star movement when the image is made larger.

     After my morning of shooting Sharp-tailed Grouse (see previous post) I took a photo of the lek in the morning light.  To create this photo I used photoshop and combined the two images.  I layered the star image over the lek image and proceeded to erase the black landscape area of the star image.  I reduced the opacity of the eraser to 5% and erased the black landscape area of the star image until the foreground area of the lek was visible.  I erased just enough to give the hint of the grassy lek.

    The idea is to give you a hint of my experience.  It was absolutely amazing.  The stars, the grasslands, and birds; but nothing I say here, or images that I post can convey the experience.  It is something that you must experience yourself to fully understand its magnitude.

To Be Continued ……………...

Nikon D800, Nikkor 35mm f2, 10 seconds @ f2