Wild Wednesday 17/52 Wild Chicks in the Park

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Nikon, Owls and Owlets, Photography, Wild WednesdayTagged , , , ,

Copyright ©2018 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Saturday I was feeling strong, and well enough to do some birding with friends. I rose 4:15am to be ready for my friend to pick me up then from there we drove north 50 minutes to meet Gordon from undiscoveredimagesamonstus

After meeting Gordon we headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge to go to a pond for birding.  We spent over an hour there then we headed over the Richmond Bridge to meet more friends at Blake Garden. After spending a couple hours at the Garden we headed to lunch. It was a great breakfast place. I’d go back and order the same thing.  I didn’t take any photos of my food I was too hungry by then.

After lunch and saying farewell to a friend we headed to Golden Gate Park to look for the Owlets we heard were there.

I was familiar with the tree the owls like to nest in having been to it several years ago, so finding that was easy, but we relied on birders there ahead of us to point us in the direction of the owlet nest.

Mama Owl was there too, but she was well camouflaged in the foliage much higher in the tree.  I have a really bad image of her I’ll spare you from seeing.

There are 3 owlets, but I was only able to see two of their faces. 😦  The one in the very far right is still sleeping.

Owlets San Francisco CA_DMZ6602

I changed positions to the other side of the tree and got this shot of one of the owlets.

Owlet San Francisco CA_DMZ6629-3

The only bummer for me was that I couldn’t find my 200-500mm lens to use that day.  I put it away somewhere safe when I went hiking in Quarry Hill Garden several weeks ago. Then I got the flu and was out of it for nearly two weeks. When I went to get my lens where I thought I put it it wasn’t there. I looked high and low, and couldn’t find it, so only had my 300mm with me, and it really was too short for the day.  Aside from that it was a fun, and successful day of birding.

I did finally find my 200-500mm the following day in a box with the Christmas ribbons and bows. I totally forgot putting it in there!

I’ll be sharing images from our trip to the pond and garden in other posts.

Nikon D810| Nikkor 300mm f/4| SanDisk Digital Film| PSCC 2018

more to come…

 

42 thoughts on “Wild Wednesday 17/52 Wild Chicks in the Park”

  1. Oh wow!! Deborah, my favorite photos are of birds, dear! ❤️
    As many have said, your “bad” shots are always such better than my good ones! xo
    I love baby birds and these owlets are adorable!! So precious. 💕

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  3. Those owlets are adorable Deborah. I am forever putting stuff somewhere for “safe keeping” and then forgetting where that is. I was in a mad dash the other day trying to find the attachment for my tripod. I did find it before I had to leave, but it was close. lol.

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  9. Ugh! I hate it when I decide to put something in a place where I can never lose it –apparently that means I’m hiding it from myself.
    Deborah, these little owls are adorable. What beautiful shots you got of them! I’m happy to know you’re back on your feet. Thanks for taking us along. Hugs!

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  12. Oh my, they’re so cute that it hurts! Whaaaaaaaat? Doesn’t everyone put camera lenses in with Christmas ribbons and bows? That really makes me laugh. The philosophy I’ve developed (no pun intended) over the years regarding “lost” things is that God usually has something else He needs me to find as I search for them, so I try to relax and keep looking until I find both lost things. 🙂

    Happy Wednesday!

    janet

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    1. Thank you so much Marian! These are cropped in a bit. I couldn’t get too, too close and still see them. My longer lens really would have been the better choice.
      I’m going back now that I found where I put my longer lens. 🙂 I’m going to haul out my tripod too. That’ll help a lot since I haven’t got much in the way of arm strength.

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  14. Oh my gosh, they’re so cute! Sometimes I want to see your ‘bad’ shots, because they’re probably like my ‘good’ shots, lol, but your good shots are amazing.
    I hope your lens turns up soon 🙂 So glad you’re feeling better!

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    1. Oh thank you so much Joey! Really the shots of Mama are a mess. I’m only keeping one for myself. She was so high I had to get out in the street and shoot nearly straight up, but I couldn’t get out in the street quite far enough due to traffic. I didn’t think I’d need my tripod so left it in the car. BIG MISTAKE! I was so wobbly all the images and quite a few of the chick images I deleted because they were too out of focus…b/c of me being weak armed and wobbly. 😦
      Next time I go I’m hauling my tripod out of the car!

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    1. Thank you so much Cheryl! I found my lens the following day. I had to find it! I had put in a box with Christmas ribbons and bows. A safe place since I couldn’t find it for days! 🙂 Of course that spot is blown now that I’ve shared it with the world. 🙂

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    1. LOL! Where else! I wished I had looked there first. I really could have used the longer focal length.
      I suppose now that I’ve told everyone my “safe” spot it’s out for future use. 🙂

      Thanks so much for the comment and smile this morning Peter!

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    1. Thank you so much Dan! They were cuties. I hope to get back a little later in the day soon. One of our friends was able to stay for the best light, and she saw the Mother fly down with food and the little ones eating.
      Gordon, myself and one other friend couldn’t stay but we wished we could have. We knew we were going to miss something neat.

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