Category: Travel

Early evening on the Marsh

Posted in Birds, California, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, Travel, WildlifeTagged , , , , 6 Comments

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

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

Golden hour on this section of the Marsh was absolutely gorgeous the Sat. I spent here photographing birds. There were some low clouds, and a fine mist of fog was moving in just as the sky was getting a hint of pink. It acted as a diffuser making the golds and yellows POP! I moved to a couple of locations around this area looking for a composition I liked so when I finally saw this one I was in such a rush to compose it before missing this light I made the decision to shoot it with my telephoto lens on. I remember thinking as I looked through the viewfinder to compose it, “Oh! this is nice I can zero in on this part of the marsh rather than getting all in.”  By doing so the ducks have a little more body, and the reeds and willows are nearer, so we can see more texture and detail.  The whole scene is compressed so we feel a closer connection to the pond.

I haven’t used my telephoto to shoot a landscape in many months, and if the light wasn’t changing fast I probably would have switched to my favorite 17-35mm wide angle lens. In retrospect I’m happy that I didn’t take the few seconds to change lenses as it was a good reminder for me that not all landscapes need to be a sweeping vista, or shot with a wide-angle lens.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR@ 102mm| f10| 1/250 second| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Tripod

 

 

Juvenile Bald Eagle

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

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

If you click the photo and then once redirected click it once more you can view it larger to see him better.

I believe this is a 3rd year Bald Eagle. He was in the shadow of the upper branch and didn’t change his gaze for the longest time. He was also at the end of my lens range.
My friend Dali and I stayed watching and photographing him for about 5 minutes then we moved on to meet some other friends. When we circled back around he was gone. We didn’t see him again. I’ve only seen 4 Eagles in the wild in my whole life! As you can imagine this was a very exciting sighting for me.

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, California

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300@ 300mm| f5.6| 1/2500 sec| ISO 500| Manual mode| Hand-held

Sunset on the Marsh

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

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

This was a lovely ending to another exciting day of birding in the Pacific Flyway.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 1735 @ 32mm| f16| 0.8 sec| ISO 160| manual mode| tripod

Oh, I see what you’re doing there.

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

On Monday a holiday in the States myself and two girlfriends set out for the country to do some bird photography. This young Long-eared Owl was high in a conifer tree along with many other owls. My friend Theresa said she stopped counting after 18!
There looked like there might be another breed of owls in there too, but I couldn’t get a good look at any of them.

Exposing for this guy was a bit tricky. He was tucked into the tree behind these pine needles with occasional sun filtering through to highlight him. I took a lot of photographs of him hoping I hit the light just right. After 30 minutes I decided to move on. The best light was going to be in early afternoon. If I was still there I’d try it then. I wasn’t.

My book of North American Birds by National Geographic says this is an Uncommonly seen breed. Making this another fantastic find for me and my girlfriends!

I think Theresa, Rainey and I are probably Uncommon girlfriends too. How many do you know that get together for a day of birding rather than shopping? “)

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mmVR @ 300mm| f8| 1/50 second| ISO 800| Manual Mode| Tripod

Feisty Falcated Asian Duck

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

This little guy is a celebrity who is drawing large crowds of birders and photographers from around the continent to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge in California’s Pacific Fly-way belt.

His native home is China where I’ve read they’re hunted extensively. The burning question is did he migrate, is he a stow-away, or an escapee from a private zoo? No one knows how he came to be here, but they have been spotted in California  further north of here  in Lassen County back in 1969, 2002, and 2003.

His name Falcated refers to his sickle-shaped wing feathers.

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

I called him feisty because he was not shy about telling off the American Wigeons he was swimming peacefully with only seconds before.

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

I think he’s taken a fancy to the female Wigeon and is showing off his lovely iridescent colors, and fine plumage.

Below he’s swimming with White-fronted Geese and a male American Wigeon.

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

This celebrity doesn’t sign autographs or grant interviews, but don’t let that stop you from going to see him. It’s been said before and I’ll say it again, “This is no ugly duckling!”

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR

fact resource  http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/06/4166680/falcated-duck-attracts-bird-watchers.html

Sunrise in Alabama Hills

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Sometimes you do get an opportunity to redo a shot. On my New Year’s Photography Trip we planned to shoot Mobius Arch in Alabama Hills on our first morning there. The last time I was there to shoot a sunrise I was a bit late and missed the “blue period”. I’ve been wanting a “do over” since.  This time we left in plenty of time, and we didn’t stop for coffee. We weren’t the first in the parking lot and we thought as we hiked out to Mobius Arch that there would be someone already there which meant we wouldn’t have the choice spot on the boulder to shoot from.

We were so lucky; no one was there! Behind the Arch is a large boulder most photographers set up on. My 3 friends  and I sat huddled together with our tripods and packs waiting for sunrise. I framed up Lone Pine Peak through Mobius Arch with the first lights of day lighting it. I think that the stars in the upper left corner is The Great Square of Pegasus.

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

About an hour later we were rewarded with Alpine Glow. The  craggy mountain tips on the right that you see with Alpine glow is part of Mt. Whitney.

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

As we were shooting and waiting for the light a couple of guys hiked up. It was their car we’d seen in the parking lot when we arrived. They took a wrong turn and got a bit lost before finding the right trail.  We made a bit more space so they could shoot too. They were shooting over our heads for the Alpine Glow show. It’s always fun to meet other photographers when out and about. Turns out these two were also from the Bay Area. Small world!

I gave up my spot on the rock to Sasha. Then I turned around and saw the sun crest the White Mountains.

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

We said farewell to Sasha,  and his friend  then we drove around the park scouting out other locations to shoot. We found another arch and some neat formations. Famished we left the park and headed into Lone Pine for a hearty breakfast and much-needed coffee.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35| Tripod

UPDATE: On a whim I did a photo search on flickr for other shots taken this morning at Mobius Arch and found this photo by Photosuze! You can’t see too much of me, but I’m behind the guy in blue who is my friend Dali, I’m wearing a white coat, pink hat, and my face is to my camera. My friend Alex is behind me sitting on the edge, and you can just make out my friend T’s hat. You see I wasn’t kidding there isn’t much room on that rock!

Catching the light