“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” ― Eudora Welty
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
I’m looking through some photos of earlier birding trips and finding a few I like more now than when I first uploaded them.
Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm @300mm| f5.6| 1/2000 sec| ISO 500| Manual Mode| Tripod| January 2012
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200 @ 200mm + 1.4TC| Tripod| Watsonville, CA
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200mm @ 200mm + 1.4x TC | f8| 1/2000 sec| ISO 800| Manual Mode| Tripod I spent part of the time shooting him in manual focus. With the TC on my Auto-Focus would hunt from time to time and I found it faster just to manually focus. I was changing from AF to MF I don’t know if this was MF or AF. Must find that in my Metadata.
Please click the photo to view it large. It looks blurry at this compressed size.
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
I decided to spend the night in Santa Cruz the night before shooting the Moonset at Pigeon Point Lightstation. I would be able to sleep in an extra 40 minutes. Which meant I could sleep until 3:45AM and only drive 30 minutes to my shooting location, and I would get to spend some time with my friend Rainey. We met at the University of Santa Cruz Arboretum to photograph the Allen’s Hummingbirds that return each February to the succulent garden at the Arboretum. They are so cute, and very active. This guy hardly stayed still 2 seconds together. He looked kind of cross about me taking his photo a few times. You don’t suppose he’s sticking his tongue out at me do you?
We stayed at the Arboretum until closing time then we went to Vasili’s Greek Restaurant on Mission Blvd. for dinner. We shared an order of SPANIKOPITA: Spinach and Feta Cheese Baked in a Filo Dough Triangle which was served with fresh sliced lemon to squeeze over the warm filo triangles, and an order of KEFTETHAKIA: Greek Meatballs. These were served sitting in a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil, and garlic vinaigrette. These were to die for! We both wished we had ordered these for our entrée.
We both ordered the HORIATIKI SALATA for our entrée. A salad of Capers, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Red Onions, Feta Cheese, Pepperoncini & Greek Olives, tossed with a light vinaigrette and topped with a slice of fresh French bread for dipping into the vinaigrette. They offer 2 sizes small and large. The small was more than plenty.
Neither one of us had room for dessert. I will definitely be returning to Vasili’s.
From here we went over the Natural Bridge State Beach to shoot the sunset. (See 1st photo) After the sun went down, and the color faded we began to pack up and call it a night, when a woman who parked in the spot next to me asked,” Are you taking photos of that thing in the sky? What is it?” I looked up and saw what looked like a rocket streaking across the sky heading southwest with a long contrail then at that moment something broke off the contrail and it fell toward the sea.
and the end of the contrail with the little piece falling off …
Then it just disappeared. Poof. It burned up. A meteorite? Space junk? We have no idea. There was nothing in the paper. Perhaps it was just a flare? It made for an interesting end to our afternoon and evening.
Rainey and I went for a coffee, then said good-night as we both had early wake-up calls. Her’s for work, mine for a Moonset.
Santa Cruz, California, Natural Bridges State Beach, Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35mm & 80-200mm| Induro Tripod| Dinner photo taken with my iphone
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This is my first Pheasant capture! A couple of friends and I were shooting with a Meet-up group in Solano County and were on the way back from lunch when one of my companions noticed him. I was shooting from a car window, and didn’t think anything would be very good, but was thrilled to see this shot would be a keeper. I love his coloring, wing patterns, and long tail. Even though he’s sort of camouflaged in the grass I’m thrilled that I was able to capture a photo of him in his natural habitat. He darted behind a knoll just after this shot. I didn’t see him again.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 70-300 @ 300| f5.6| 1/1600 sec| Iso 500| Manual Mode| Hand-held
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Sunday afternoon I spent with Rainey and Dali photographing birds and waterfowl. Late in the day we saw a Bittern and an Eurasian Wigeon. The lighting and weather weren’t ideal; the sky was getting darker both due to time, and it had been stormy the night before so the sky was still overcast and flat. Monday the sky was blue, and the sun was shining so we decided to go back in the afternoon to take advantage of the better light. The Bittern was there in the same place we’d seen it before tucked in the reeds under an overpass with the late afternoon sun warming his back. This shot was taken from the overpass looking down on him/her.
I uploaded Lightroom Beta 4 to try it out. I’m a bit lost since this is the first time I’ve ever tried LR, but I have to say the highlights and shadow recovery sliders are pretty good. The white feathers around his neck were pretty blown out due to the late afternoon sun beating right down on him. LR did a great job of bringing back the detail in his feathers on his shoulder, and neck. I’m going to be using LR4 for the next several weeks. I’ll be sharing my thoughts and feelings about it as I learn it.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200 @200mm+ Tamron 1.4x TC| f8| 1/50sec| ISO 500| Manual Mode|hand-held
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This morning as I was pulling up to my house I noticed in the tree across the street a Merlin Hawk perched on a branch. I was so excited I couldn’t get in the driveway, parked ,and out of the car fast enough. I raced into the house, grabbed my long lens then raced back outside all the while hoping he was still there.
He was! I think it’s a juvenile. Well, it looks young to me.
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I got several shots of him perched then quick as a wink he took flight. He was so fast I could barely keep up with him panning. There is more motion blur than I would have liked, but his eye is pretty sharp. I definitely need more practice panning. Shooting in Continuous High I only got 4 frames of him in flight before he was gone; this one, and one other have motion blur the other two I only caught his tail in the frames.
It’s the first time in the 25 years I’ve lived here I’ve ever seen a falcon. Several weeks ago I saw a hawk for the first time on my street. This winter food must be in short supply in the country. I can’t imagine anything else bringing them into the suburbs. I hope he comes back and I am around to photograph him.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR@ 300mm| f8| 1/1000 sec| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Hand-held
Update: A reader Tj of TjFivephotography emails, ” It looks more like a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper’s Hawk b/c this one doesn’t have the markings under the eyes like falcons do.”
He sent a cool link showing photos of both birds. I’m leaning toward this one being a Coopers Hawk. What do you all think?
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm
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