Category: Photography

Sunrise hues and Sandhill Cranes

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , 1 Comment

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

The Sandhill Cranes are making their winter migration  from the North to the Pacific Fly-way in California’s Central Valley.  Lodi,CA was having its annual Sandhill Crane festival over the week-end of Nov. 3-4, 2012. Several friends and I went. We had a great time and spotted some great birds in addition to the Cranes. I took this photo the morning of the 4th just after the sun rose. We got up early, and drove out to the country to see the “Fly-out”. The Cranes spent the night in the fields where we were, but they spend the day in other fields where they’ll graze on corn.

My ears were filled with the sounds of honking Cranes, and geese, quacking ducks, and periodically the sounds of hundreds of wings as flocks of birds lifted off. It was an amazing morning to be alive.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200@80mm|f5.6| 1/3200| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Hand-held

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American Kestrel- Female

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American Kestrel- Female, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

“Not on a wire, not on a pole, it’s a tree for me!” This is the little mantra I said today as I saw a Kestrel on a wire. Later in the morning while we were driving through an Auto-tour in San Luis National Wildlife Refuge I spotted this kestrel in a tree! I was so excited, and thrilled when I uploaded this photo. It’s the first Kestrel I’ve shot that wasn’t on a pole or wire, and the first I’ve posted I believe.
We (Rainy, Dali, Judi, and I) saw so many neat birds and photographed quite a few of them.
We saw, this Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, Black Phoebe’s, Sparrow’s a new one for me I need to ID, my first Merlin!, Ross Geese, Coots, Blue Herons, Egrets: mostly Great Egrets, a Kingfisher, an American Bluebird, a Burrowing Owl, Mallards, Northern Pintails, Shrike, Meadow Larks, Plovers, Ibis, Sandhill Cranes, White fronted Geese, Red-winged Blackbirds, Shovelers, and White-tail Kites. In addition we saw a Coyote,  I saw a raccoon, and  we saw a dear friend Judi. It was an amazing, fantastic, sunny, everything going our way, very good day!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200 @200mm + Tamron 1.4TC|f7.1| 1/800 sec| ISO 640| Manual Priority| Hand-held

Catch of the Day

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Catch of the Day, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

This photograph of a female Wood Duck  has been marinating in my archives for sometime. I find if I come back to photos months later I find more keepers.
I want to give a huge Shout Out to my friend Rainey for showing me this spot. THANK YOU Rainey!
It was a fun afternoon.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200 @ 185mm| f5.6| 1/800 sec| ISO 500| Manual Priority| Hand-held

Get a Grip!

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Get a Grip!, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Here’s another shot of the Peregrine landing after an unsuccessful sortie.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor80-200@200mm+ Tamron 1.4T f5.6| 1/1600sec| ISO 640| Manual Priority| Hand-held

 

Landscape in Lodi

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Landscape in Lodi, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Dawn from the outer edge of a freshly mowed corn field waiting for the Sandhill Crane Fly-out.
It was a very peaceful, easy morning…until the Geese woke up.
Good grief they’re a noisy bunch!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D| f16| 0.4 sec| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod

California, Nikon D700, Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D

 

Peregrine Falcon

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , 1 Comment

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I’m not sure if this is a juvenile or not. Anyone know? It was thrilling to see him. I knew he was in the area and went out last week with my photography friend Dali, but it didn’t come around that afternoon, but we did see the White Tailed Kite then. This morning Dali emailed me early and asked if I wanted to go out to look for the Peregrine again and I said, “Yes!”. We spotted it perched straight-away. We had the pleasure of observing and photographing it for a couple of hours. This is only the second time I’ve seen and photographed a Peregrine Falcon.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200@200 + Tamron 1.4x TC|f5.6| 1/600sec| ISO 640| Manual Priority|hand-held

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Autumn Impressions

Posted in California, Landscapes, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

Autumn Impressions, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Last fall while in the Eastern Sierras I tried this technique several times and just couldn’t get it right. I was determined to keep trying each time I found myself near a grove of trees.
This past week-end while out shooting Fall Color was the perfect time to give it another go. It took a few tries, but I got the look I was after.

I tried zooming too. Those came out pretty neat I’ll share those soon.
My favorite photographer that employes this technique is Eva Polak www.evapolak.com/autumn1.html

Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200@ 80mm| f14| 1/15s| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Hand-held