Hermit Thrush…I think!

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This little bird lives in my neighbors Oleander bush, and I rarely see it. I tried photographing it last year when it flew up to the fence, but the shots were through a window, and I really wanted an image without a window between us.

Hermit Thrush I think

A few days ago while #1 Grandson was in the backyard playing and I was sitting in the middle of the lawn hoping the Chick-a-Dee would stop making such a fuss about us being out there and fly down to the feeder so I could take its picture the Hermit Thrush flew up to the top of the fence to see what all the fuss was about.

What luck! I got two frames of it before it jumped down into the safety of the Oleander.

I thought it was Fox Sparrow, but now that I have decent image to compare with the birds in my bird books I now think this little bird is a Hermit Thrush.

If I’m wrong please let me know!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm | Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

 

Blue Heron

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

Blue Heron
It was pretty windy Saturday morning in Sacramento Valley while on the refuge birding. I loved the way its breast feathers/hair looked all fanned out, and don’t you just love that log/perch he chose to stand on? I did! 🙂

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm VR:hired lens| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

A Single Drop

© 2016 Deborah M. Zajac
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

“I have left my bed and walked upon the grass and the night dew has wet my feet and the hem of my garment. Here I stand under the blossoms of the almond tree, heeding the call of your spirit. ”
~Kahlil Gibran, Communion of Spirits, The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran

Went I laid in the grass to photograph the dew and rain drops in the grass yesterday morning I thought of these lines from Kahlil Gibran’s prose Communion of Spirits.

 

Dew Drop

I hope you all have a sunny Friday and week-end  both in your spirits and weather!

Nikon Df| Nikkor 105mm macro lens| Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2015| Hand-held

More to come…

Harbinger of Spring

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Lupines!

Harbinger of Spring

They are one of the first wildflowers to show up in Spring.  There were still good fields of them on Table Mountain the day I was there. The Goldfields were largely spent already.

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro II w/Soft Focus Optic| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film|developed in Adobe Photoshop CS6

More to come…

Eastern Sierras Day 2- 21 minutes in Nirvana

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

We scouted a few areas for Moon-set/Sunrise and we all fell in love with Intake Lake 2. We were planning to camp on Night 2 and instead of camping a little further north we change plans and camped at Intake Lake 2, and we all agreed it would be a great location for the morning’s shoot. We could sleep a few minutes longer, and be in our chosen spots well before the fishermen arrived.  We set up our camp, made dinner, and shortly after dark I crawled into my tent and bag and fell into a deep sleep. My alarm was set to 4:30AM again.  I didn’t even take pictures of the campground!

I slept pretty well. I only stirred when my hip started to ache. My pad wasn’t as full as it should have been. When my alarm went off I turned it off and dozed in my warm bag, dreading getting out of it, and facing the cold morning, and dressing, before making the trek up the bathroom.  I should have dug out my slip-on pair of shoes the night before, but forgot to do that.  Jonathan was out of his tent first and came by mine and rattled it, asking if we were up. Rainey had bunked with me since I have a two person tent. We both murmured, “yes, I’m up.” Next, I heard Rene unzip his tent, and then Jonathan’s car alarm went off, no doubt waking the whole campground! Nik was sleeping in the car and when he got up to exit he set off the alarm.

Someone set the alarm after Nik got in to go to bed. 🙂 As if the alarm going off once wasn’t bad enough somehow it got triggered a second time! I got up and out of my bag and tent after that. I’m sure the whole campground was ready to stone us to death! Hopefully they all were able to get back to sleep.

We dressed, grabbed our bags and headed for the lake for the Moon-set/ Sunrise as quietly as we could.

I found the spot I had chosen the day before, but I was so far from everyone else so I moved to the beach with Rene, and Rainey.

I was very glad to have the company. Daylight was coming fast, and for  21 minutes I was in Nirvana!

Moon-glow on the Eastern Sierra Peaks

Moonset over Intake Lake 2

Pink clouds and Moon-glow on the Eastern Sierra Peaks

Moonset over Intake Lake 2

Alpine Glow on the Eastern Sierra Peaks

Alpine Glow over Intake Lake 2

It’s not often one gets Moon-glow, Color, and Alpine Glow all in one morning! I couldn’t have ordered a more perfect morning shoot. There were even Trout jumping high out of the water to catch breakfast. I wish I timed my images better to have caught just one, alas…I didn’t.

Shortly after the color faded we were packing up when a group of fishermen came to fish where we were. We welcomed them with open arms, and wished them well with their endeavors, and went on our way to find other photographic jewels around the lake.

Rainey, Rene, and I hung out together while Nik,and Jonathan went their own way. Rainey, Rene, and I went around the lake to try and find a Grebe that was swimming around the lake. We weren’t able to get the second inlet to find it, but we did find a lovely little cascade of water we stopped to photograph, and along the way we found a memorial.

Memorial at Intake Lake 2

Intake Lake 2 hike

I used my Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Soft Focus Optic to try some landscapes. I like the dreamy, painterly

feel the images have.

Fallen tree on Intake 2

Fallen Tree on Intake 2 Lake_5384

Fishing

Fishing

The color of the morning was gold

Autumn Gold

Intake 2 was my favorite location this trip.  It’s a great place to camp, and there is plenty to photograph

here.

Cameras: Nikon Df, Nikon D700

Lenses: Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8,  Nikkor 180mm f/2.8d, LensBaby Composer Pro II w/Soft Focus Optic

More to come…

6/52 Raspberry and Cream

Via Flickr:

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

This was a challenging exercise in timing, but fun! I am planning to try this again with two speedlights soon.

Nikon D700| AF Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D @ f20| 1/160sec| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Matrix Met| Tripod

Strobist- SB910 @ 1/25th pwr, camera right low front 75º angle

Golden Crowned Sparrow-Winter

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

I have to double-check, but I think this is my first Golden Crowned Sparrow!
So, far this has been a fantastic birding year for me, and it’s still early in the season.
If I see Eagles this winter it will be icing on the cake. 🙂

Photographing birds in Manual Focusing mode is tough. My finger is always on the focusing ring and I’m adjusting all the time since the birds are so fast and moving all the time. It’s a miracle I got this in focus at all. My friend Dali shoots with a Legacy Nikon lens the 400mm f/3.5 which is a manual focus lens and he gets the most beautiful bird and wildlife photographs. I want to be as good as that if I have to manual focus.

See his work here.

Nikon D700| Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 @ f/5.6 + 14E II TC= 420mm| 1/400s| ISO 500| Manual Priority| Cnt Metering| Monopod