Birds in the Wild – Page 14 – Circadianreflections Blog

P52 34/52 Rufous Hummingbird-Female

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015Posted in birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Hummingbirds, Project 52, Rufous HummingbirdsTagged Birding, Birds, Project 52, Rufous Hummingbirds13 Comments

This is my first photograph and sighting of a Rufous Hummingbird! I’m still so excited about seeing this little Hummer. So, I’ve posted this image instead of a macro for this week’s Project 52 image.

Instead of carrying my long lens I decided to take my Lumix FZ200 to use if any wildlife or birds came along. I’m sort of getting the hang of this Bridge Camera. I just need to use it more. I’m planning to take it on He-Man’s Birthday Cruise which is just around the corner! It will be easier packing, carrying it around, and I won’t need a tripod.

Panasonic Lumix FZ200 @ 108mm = 648mm in 35mm format | f5| 1/1600s| ISO 160| Manual Priority| Pattern Metering|Lexar Professional Digital Film|CS6

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 20/52 Osprey

July 21, 2015July 21, 2015Posted in Birds in the Wild, Birds of Northern America, Birds of Prey, California, Monochrome Madness2, OspreyTagged Birds in the Wild, Birds of Prey, Black and White Photography, Monochrome Madness2, Osprey5 Comments

This image I made back in May while out looking for Dancing Grebes. This Osprey is looking at its nest where its mate and chicks were.

To see the other images that were submitted this week click over to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2 page here!

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4 + Tamron 1.4x TC = 420mm| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6Silver Efex Pro 2

Clark’s Grebes Golden Hour Courtship Dance

May 27, 2015May 27, 2015Posted in Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Clark's Grebes, Clear Lake CA, Courtship Dance, Mating Rituals of BirdsTagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Clark's Grebes, Clear Lake CA, Courtship Dance, Courtship Dance in Golden Hour, Eyes of the Wild Boat Tours, Mating Rituals of Birds13 Comments

Daylight starts pretty early this time of year so we met our Boat Captain at 5:45am to get in as much morning light as possible. Soon we were sailing far out into the lake to find the Grebes. It wasn’t long before Faith our Captain spotted a large group and headed for them.

Twilight turned to Dawn then Golden Hour. We were very lucky to have been able to see this set of Clark’s Grebes dancing across the water with their breast mostly exposed to us during Golden hour. The warmth and color wasn’t like this for long.
Gosh, they were beautiful! This pair had a rather long run too.

Most the morning the Grebes danced away from us. Though Faith gave the Grebes plenty of space and room to dance our way they didn’t.
This was the very first dance we saw that morning. It turned out to be my favorite image. It happened so fast that I nearly missed it. Thankfully, Faith’s skill at spotting pairs that might dance, and her fast reflexes to get the boat in the right position she was able to alert us in time to catch this run.

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm + Tamron 1.4x TC| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL High Speed Digital Film| CS6

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2/12: Clark Grebes Courtship Dance

May 26, 2015May 26, 2015Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Black and White Photography, Clark's Grebes, Courtship Dance, Mating Dance, Monochrome Madness2Tagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Black and White Photography, Clark's Grebes, Clear Lake CA, Courtship Dance, Eyes of the Wild Boat Tours, Mating Dance, Monochrome Madness2, Nature1 Comment

Over the week-end several friends and I went up to Lakeport, CA to view Western and Clark’s Grebes doing their annual Mating Rituals. Part of the ritual is the Courtship Dance. It’s absolutely amazing to watch. We went out on the lake with Eyes of the Wild Pontoon Boat Tours at 5:45am. We followed several large groups of Grebes and watched, and photographed their mating behavior.

The males and females come together talking then they get really low in the water face to face, and their voices/tones change then in an instant they’re up; dancing together across the water’s surface!

Sometimes they come together low in the water, talk a bit then change their minds about dancing, other times one will get up to dance and find he or she is all alone in the dance. 🙂

It was a fascinating, and entertaining morning on the lake.

To see all the other entries to Leanne Cole’s week 12 of Monochrome Madness 2 click here.

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm + Tamron 1.4x TC| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro 2

More to come…

Golden Crown Sparrow

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, SparrowsTagged Bird Photography, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Golden Crown Sparrow, Northern California, Sparrows6 Comments

I made this image last week-end early in the morning. It was quite overcast and gray most the day, and this little Sparrow was inside the canopy making the shot a bit tricky. Since my extender is broken and I still haven’t sent it in I was using my old D300s for the crop factor and I don’t like to take my ISO up any higher than 500 on that camera, so the bird was a bit dark.

I opened up the shadows and exposure a bit on the bird using the adjustment brush in Adobe’s Camera Raw after going through my normal white balance, camera, and lens calibration, and noise reduction settings in ACR. Then I opened the image in CS6 for resizing, added my watermark, and web sharpening.

Using Actions in CS6 to add the final touches this image took me less than 5 minutes to develop.

I like that! 🙂

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 300mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6| Tripod

More to come…

A bonny perch

February 6, 2015Posted in Bird Photography, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Great Egret, SNWRTagged Bird Photography, Birding, Birds of North America, Great Egret, High Key, Nature, Shorebirds7 Comments

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 + 14eII TC= 420mm| Lexar Professional 600x Speed Digital Film

More to come…

The Surprise Visitors

January 22, 2015January 22, 2015Posted in American Robin, Bird Photography, Birds in the Wild, Birds of Northern America, Cedar Waxwing, Northern California Birds, Purple Finch, Santa Clara County birdsTagged American Robin, Bird Photography, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Cedar Waxwing, Nature Photography, Northern California Birding, Purple Finch, Santa Clara County Birding11 Comments

This morning when I went out front I noticed a large flock of American Robins in the Ginko trees across the street, and there was a group of another bird I didn’t quite recognize, but knew it was something I’d want to photograph so, ran back in the house and grabbed my camera; hoping I had enough battery charge left to get an image or two!

I got a few shots then looked at them quickly in review mode, and saw that the birds were Cedar Waxwings! I’ve never seen them here before! Can you imagine my excitement? I was standing across the street from the tree which meant the images would need to be cropped in quite a bit so, I slowly advanced closer to the tree firing my shutter the whole time. I got too close, and all the birds scattered like leaves in a gust of wind. My only thought…COME B A C K!!!

Did I tell you that He-Man ruptured his Patella Tendon Nov. 10th? Ruptured…the whole quadricep muscle came off his knee cap! He had surgery on Nov. 12th and has been healing and in rehab since. His Surgeon told him he’d be “out” for the whole season and then some. He’s a cyclist, and a very active guy. This was the worst possible diagnosis. Yesterday he got the “okay” to start driving again. So, this afternoon he drove me in Pearl ( the Subaru Forester) to the post office which is 2 miles from our house.
It was like riding a bike. He was fabulous…moving from the brake to the gas pedal was no problem at all. When we got home he immediately got in Va-Va my 5 Speed Toyota Corolla Sport to take her for a spin, but I had spotted the Waxwings in the trees across the street again, and the light was nice. I begged for 5 minutes! As I was shooting he backed out, rolled down the window and said, “I’ll be fine. I’m just going around the block a few times.” I said, ” WAIT I’ll come with!” He said, ” No need. I’ll be fine. Get the shots.” He was back before I finished shooting. 🙂

5 Cedar Waxwings…

Mrs. American Robin with Mr. American Robin close by,

Cedar Waxwings

Purple Finch

Cedar Waxwing

Fabulous birds in front of my house, and the only thing He-Man needs me to do now that he can’t do for himself is put on his socks, and tie his shoes. Life is good!

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 w?AF-S Nikkor 14eII TC| Hand-held| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Developed in CS6

More to come…

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