Tag: Birding

Western Tanager-Male

Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , Leave a comment

Copyright 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

Western Tanager-MaleMy first Western Tanager Photograph! I’ve seen this bird before, but wasn’t able to capture a photograph of it that time. I’m very excited about this capture. This may be one of 5-6 Tanagers in this area that may be nesting here. If so it’s rare. I read yesterday, “The Breeding Bird Atlas of Santa Clara County reports the species as an
“uncommon to rare breeder” in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range, with lowest altitude nests reported at 400-500 feet. Lake Almaden has an altitude of about 200 feet, so if nesting occurs, it would be at the lowest altitude ever noted in the county. ”  Tom Grey

I was in this location yesterday with Dali, Tom Grey, and several others who like me were very excited to see these birds.

Here are a few more poses I managed to capture.

Trying to keep a low profile,

Western Tanager-MaleSurveying the area,
Western Tanager-Male 3

A backward glance,

Western Tanager-Male profile

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200mm| f8| 1/400s| ISO 800| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod

 

American Goldfinch-Female

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Says Phoebe, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

This is a flittly little bird…though quite common here in Northern California.

I got this ID wrong. Thank you Shari, and Rainey for the correction!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-400mm @ 400mm| 1/500 sec| f/8| ISO 320| Aperture Priority| Hand-held

Northern Harrier on the Hunt

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

This Harrier was just one of many great birds I saw when I got out for a day of birding recently. The Harriers were flying low over the ponds, and marshes all day long. Whenever they were near, or overhead the Snow Geese, White-Fronted Geese, Ibis, and Coots would take to the sky. The noise was amazing to hear.
Late in the afternoon  we saw a Harrier chasing a Snow Goose, the goose dived into the marsh grass with the Harrier in hot pursuit! We waited with anticipation to see if the Harrier would come up with the Goose. He did not! That was one lucky goose.

Northern Harrior on the Hunt                                                                 Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200 @ 200 + Tamron 1.4x TC| f8| 1/800 sec| ISO 500| Hand-held and shot from the car window

There must have been a Harrier nearby to create this stir-up

White Fronted Geese

Snow geese in retreat…

Snow Geese in Flight

a couple of Greater White-fronted Geese enjoying the pond,

Greater White-fronted Geese

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American Kestrel- Female

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American Kestrel- Female, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
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

Peregrine Falcon

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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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Common Merganser

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved

I’m so excited!!! After first seeing this species from afar in May 2010 on a cold morning floating with its mate on the Merced River in Yosemite I’ve been hoping to see one and be close enough to get a good photo of one within my focal range. I did see a few this past Spring, but they were too far away for me to get a good photo of one.  Finally after all this time I saw 4 this past Sunday that were well within my range!!! Yes, I am doing the Happy Dance!

Stretch!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200mm@200mm| Manual Priority| Hand-held

They dance!

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

I’ve been a bit  behind working on my photographs from my trip to Oregon to see Clark and Western Grebes do their Spring mating courtship and Dance. I’ve still not transferred my files from my laptop to my PC where I do my processing and editing, but I have finally finished some.

By the last morning of our trip I still had not taken any photographs of the Grebes dancing that I liked. I had nearly given up hope of getting any really good photos as they tend to be very shy; keeping themselves pretty far from shore which really tested the limits of my focal range of 300mm + a 2x Teleconverter which gave me an effective range of 600mm. It wasn’t far enough!

We decided to go back once more before leaving for home. After spending 2 mornings on the pond we learned they’re awake and most active beginning about 8AM and settling down by 10AM, so arriving just before 8AM we set up in our favorites spots and waited for them wake up. About half past 8AM this is what I saw and captured with my camera…

The Visual Connection

 

After a quick sizing up one after the other dipped their heads in the water and then flung the water off!

I feel the tension rising as both were totally oblivious to anyone or anything around them. They only saw each other as they flung the water over and over again. This went on for a full minute!

and suddenly they were up gliding across the water in perfect synchronization!

The sound of the beating water was the only sound I heard. It was marvelous, and thrilling to watch. I feel very blessed to have seen it, and to have shared the experience with good friends.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 300mmVRII + 20eIII TC =600mm| Tripod| Wimberley Sidekick