Posts in Category: p&s 4 wildlife
12/3/2011: Long-billed Thrasher, Edinburg Wetlands
Long-billed Thrashers are not elusive birds, but they are quick and spend a lot of time deep in brush, so they can be difficult to photograph. This is my best shot to date, taken at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands and World Birding Center in Edinburg Texas. In the past I have always tried to digiscope them…using a Point and Shoot behind the eyepiece of a spotting scope, and that is particularly difficult with this active bird. Now that I am carrying the Canon SX40HS with its long zoom and useful digital tel-converter, I have a better chance of grabbing a quick shot. This bird sat long enough for a few frames…and then was gone.
Canon SX40HS at full 840mm equivalent zoom, plus 1.5x digital converter, for 1260mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 200. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And another from the same sequence.
12/2/2011: White-faced Ibis, Estero Llano Grande, TX
The small lake right off the observation deck of the Visitor Center at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center near Weslaco TX is always good for dabbling ducks, grebes, herons, and ibii. Often you do not even need a super-long telephoto, but, of course, more reach makes for more intimate images. This shot of a White-faced Ibis was taken with the Canon SD100HS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope for an 1250mm equivalent. The light was marginal, and there was a bit of mist in the air, but it is still a good portrait of an interesting bird.
1/100th @ ISO 100, f4 effective. Program.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
12/1/2011: Black Saddlebags Mating Wheel, Sabal Palms TX
I have really gotten into dragonflies this year, for some unknown reason. I am always looking for them, and, since it is new, I can generally find a new bug on most trips. The difference between this and birding is that I am photographing every dragonfly I see…or at least every dragonfly I can catch perched. I saw many Black Saddlebags this summer in Maine…they are so distinctive they are easy to identify on the wing…but it was several months before I found one sitting where I could photograph it.
On my recent trip to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Black Saddlebags were everywhere but, again, perched Black Saddlebags were scarce. I was delighted to find this mating wheel within a step or two of the upland trail at Sabal Palms Sanctuary near Brownsville. This shot is at 840mm equivalent from about 4.5 feet (closest focus).
Engaging the 1.5x digital converter provided this more macro view of the head grip the male has on the female.
Or there is this view showing the male’s wings to good advantage, taken at 840mm equivalent plus 2x digital converter.
1) Exposure Time:0.0015s (1/640) Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200 2) Exposure Time:0.002s (1/500)Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200 3) Exposure Time:0.0025s (1/400) Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And I did see several Red Saddlebags at Santa Anna NWR…but no photo yet!
11/30/2011: Snow Storm, Bosque del Apache
It does not matter how many times you stand below 20,000 Snow Geese as they circle in a panic above and around you…the sound of their voices and their wings filling your ears, and the swirling dance of bodies filling your eyes…rising and falling, darting in and out, swooping and soaring…it is always awe inspiring. No words can capture it, or even get close enough to hint at the experience. No photograph can do more than give you the slightest nudge toward the feeling of being there. Even video does not capture the energy.
But still, any photographer has to try.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
1) Exposure Time: 0.0008s (1/1250 Aperture: f/5.8 ISO: 125 Equivalent Focal Length: 840mm
2) Exposure Time:0.0008s (1/1250) Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:125 Equivalent Focal Length:840mm
3) Exposure Time:0.0008s (1/1250) Aperture:f/6.3 ISO:160 Equivalent Focal Length:840mm
4) Exposure Time: 0.0008s (1/1250) Aperture: f/4 ISO: 100 Equivalent Focal Length: 75mm
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
11/29/2011: Evil (?) Grebe, Sabal Palms TX
The Least Grebe is either very cute or very evil depending on your point of view…your mood…or maybe your disposition. These shots are at Sabal Palm Sanctuary near Brownsville Texas, and are typical of the Least Grebe look. I think, for me, the yellow eye with the dark overhanging brow and that dagger beak always over-ride the fluffy behind parts to tip the scale to the evil side. Besides I have seen a Least Grebe come its body length up out of the water to take a dragonfly out of the air. It had the killer instinct! Once you have seen that you can never look at a Least Grebe quite the same again.
Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent (840mm optical zoom plus 2x digital converter). f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200. Program with iContrast and -1/3rd EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
11/28/2011: Cryptic Coloration, Common Pauraque
There is a Common Pauraque at Estero Llano Grande World Birding Center that roost right beside one of the main trails, and has done so for at least three years. It roost so close to the foot traffic that the park has added a long thin pile of thorny brush right there to keep people from walking on the bird. Of course the brush pile actually makes birders’ lives easier. You used the have to have someone who already knew show you the bird. Now you just look behind the brush pile until you see it. If you see it. It is generally there alright but many a birder (not to mention regular citizen) has looked right at this bird for any number of moments and come away without seeing the bird. It is the epitome of cryptic coloration. To say it blends with its habitat is an understatement. It disappears in its habitat.
I am pretty certain I have posted this bird in the past, from other visits to Texas, but it amazes me every year.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/60th @ ISO 800. Programed auto with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And here is a view from the other side.
11/26/2011: House Wren, Edinburg Wetlands TX
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I have never had much luck photographing House Wrens (and if you remember the last “house wren” images I posted were actually a Winter Wren holding its tail funny). But every dog has its day, as the saying goes, and a Sunday visit to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands World Birding Center, in Edinburg TX was mine…or the wren’s…or something…call it a confluence of opportunity. There were House Wrens signing all through the butterfly gardens and along the ponds at ESWWBC that day. Photographically they were a problematic as ever, mostly, skulking in the deep bush, popping out of sight as soon a sighted, playing hard to get. This specimen however was at the head of the boardwalk to the observation platform on the back side of the pond across the road from the Visitor Center, and seem determined to hold his ground while I shot off a series of images. Still difficult, still buried in the bushy tree, still with no clear line of sight…but, amazingly, when I looked at the images on my laptop…in focus and by far the best shots I have gotten to date of the House Wren. (All the images open at a larger viewing sizes by clicking the image.)
Canon SX40HS at 1250mm equivalent (627mm optical plus 2x digital-converter). f5.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 800. Program with iContrast. –1/3EV exposure compensation. (This is very impressive performance for ISO 800 in a Point and Shoot camera!)
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And, yes, I probably should go in and clone out that strange little “bird foot shaped” twiggy thing in front of the bird…but these shots are SO how you see a House Wren that I am tempted (so far successfully) to leave it in. 🙂
11/25/2011: Kiskadee Corner, Edinburg Wetlands WBC
Kiskadees (technically Great Kiskadees) are hard to resist. They are very present and very vocal residents of the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, and I have already posted a set from Sabel Palms Sanctuary near Brownsville. This bird, who posed for a portrait through the spotting scope, was at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands World Birding Center in Edinburg Texas. This shot was taken at an equivalent focal length of almost 4000mm with a Canon SD100HS camera behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece of a ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. The extreme magnification yields fine feather details, but also creates a attractive bokah behind the bird. Indirect lighting also helps maintain detail. The catch light in the eye is a bonus!
1/100th second at ISO 500. f11 effective (limited by the 65mm aperture of the scope). Program with –1/3EV exposure compensation.
And, just for interest, a little googling shows that there is indeed a Lesser Kiskadee, resident in South America and the Caribbean islands. Who knew?
And a few bonus shots.
11/23/2011: Elk Encounter at Bosque del Apache
So we were leaving Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge after my first actual day in the ZEISS booth at the Festival of the Cranes when we saw 7 or 8 cars in various states of disarray pulled off the side of the road just past where the rail lines cross Route 1. What’s that all about? At Bosque you never can be sure.
Elk!
Bosque’s small herd of Elk were making a rare public appearance back across the tracks against the brushy woods at the far side of the field, maybe 300 yards (at a wild guess) away from the road. What I saw first was a group of females and young well out into the field. The stopped cars already had them alert and moving back toward the brush, but I popped out of the car with my Canon SX40HS and ran it out to full zoom (840mm equivalent) to get a few shots. As you see above, the largest of the females (apparently the dominant female) is wearing a radio collar so refuge management can tell where the herd is feeding each day (not information they share with the public). I used the 1.5x and 2x digital tel-converters to get a few closer shots.
I was concentrating on the very visible females until my wife pointed out a bull, with a fairly large rack, standing well back in the brush watching the proceedings. For him I got out the spotting scope and my smaller Point and Shoot for some digiscoped images. The males are taken at about 3400mm equivalent through the eyepiece of the ZEISS spotting scope.
Finally another, even larger bull appeared from the right, bugling. What a treat! He, however, was too old and wise to show himself completely so all I have are a few obscured shots as he wound in and out of the brush. Good enough to show the massive rack…but not very satisfying otherwise.
After a few more shots, I hopped back into the car and we went off happily back to Socorro and supper at Frank and Lupe’s El Sombrero. And a very good day that was!
I know, Elk are commonplace to some of you, but for us, it was a very special encounter.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm, 1260mm and 1680mm. Canon SD100HS behind the eyepiece of the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for 3400mm equivalent. Processed in Lightroom for Intensity, Sharpness, and Color Temperature (spotting scope shots).
11/22/2011: Peek-a-boo, Red-shouldered Hawk
We are back from our travels for the moment, having been, in the past two weeks, in both the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and New Mexico (Harlingen and Bosque del Apache near Socorro). I have large back-log of scenics and bird shots to post over the next while, so brace yourselves 🙂
This is an immature Red-Shouldered Hawk that apparently thought the few leaves between us hid him from view…as he was sitting no more than 30 feet from the main access trail at Santa Anna National Wildlife Refuge where at least our whole bus-load of birders got to admire him. This shot was taken with a Canon SD100HS point and shoot camera through the eyepiece of a ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. You can see the out of focus foliage in front of the bird, but, though I could find no clear line of sight, the highly selective focus on the spotting scope made focusing through the foliage possible. It was also a matter of timing as the brisk breeze was moving the leaves so that the head and eye of the bird were only sometimes clear and well lighted. I was shooting bursts of 4 frames per second shots and selected the best for final processing.
Canon SD100HS behind the eyepiece of the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of something like a 1200mm lens on a full frame DSLR. 1/100th @ ISO 100. f4 effective.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And another with the zoom on the camera run up to max at 4x.
And, just for fun, a comparison shot from the Canon SX40HS at full optical plus 2x digital tel-converter for an 1680mm equivalent field of view.
