Last month I’d gone out with a friend of mine who is a Docent at a local Wildlife Refuge on a van tour he was giving at the Refuge.  The morning was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, and the group small. We weren’t setting our tripods up on top of each other, and Alex gave us plenty of time in each location that he had chosen for us.

There were lots of Great Egrets on the pond this particular morning. One of the first stops I shot this Egret coming in for a landing. The reflections were great on this pond this morning.

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A little later I managed to capture this one I call “The Dance”.

I had taken my Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 AF-D prime lens and Tamron 1.4x Extender for this outing. I wasn’t very happy with the IQ (Image Quality) when I used the Extender with my 80-200mm f/2.8 Telephoto Zoom. I have read and heard that Primes perform much better with Extenders.

I have to say that is the case here. I am much happier with these results. For birding this is a great place to go. There were Avocets in their Winter plumage, stilts, Blue Herons, and sea gulls.  There is an island out here on the pond where White Pelicans come to rest too. I’ll share photos of those soon.

Thank you Alex for inviting me to come along!