Monthly Archives: June 2012
6/20/2012: Second Helping of Yellow-headed Blackbird
As I mentioned, one of my goals for this trip to North Dakota, was to get a good shot of a Yellow-headed Blackbird. I did not know that when I left home. I only discovered it after seeing the first YHBB of the trip and realizing that, despite several attempts in the past, I still did not have a good image of a YHBB. North Dakota was obliging!
I now have my fill of YHBB (for now…YHBB is like Chinese…you are hungry again soon 🙂 )
And for the video fans in the house, here is a snippet.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical zoom plus 2x digital tel-converter). f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
The video is at 1240mm equivalent, hand-held, with the Canon SX40HS.
6/19/2012: Arrowwood Panorama
The James River flows from the northern boarder of North Dakota through the center of the state, down to the southern boarder. Flows is being generous. There is a total of 3 feet of drop in elevation from the north to the south. Three feet of drop! That means that the James river is essentially a long thin lake in North Dakota. It has the slowest current of any river in the US. This is a bend in the James at Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge near Carrington…a panorama of two shots stitched in PhotoMerge in PhotoShop Elements 10. You can view it full width by clicking the image.
And yes, the water was that color blue!
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. Two 24mm equivalent shots. f4 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100. Stitched, as above, in PhotoShop Elements. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
6/18/2012: Bluets on the Prairie
There were Bluets pretty much everywhere I went among the Potholes and Prairies of central North Dakota. I am not advanced enough (and may never be) to distinguish Boreal from Northern from Prairie from Familiar, etc. etc. as nine species occur around the wetlands of the high prairie, and they all look pretty much like the image above. This shot is from the edge of Mud Lake, on Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
The second image is a mating wheel from another small lake at Chase Lake NWR.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. Both shots at 1680mm equivalent field of view from about 5 feet (that is 840mm optical zoom plus 2x digital tel-converter). f5.8 @ 1/500th and 1/400th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
6/17/2012: Prairie Birding Dawn. Happy Sunday!
Birding the high prairie in North Dakota this week has been a real blessing! Such an amazingly diverse area, with all shapes and sizes of watery (and wildlifey) gems hidden in the folds of the landscape, and that prairie sky with all its drama overhead. This is birders at dawn, out towards Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge. We piled off the bus to walk this prairie track and look for Grasshopper Sparrow and Upland Sandpiper. Marbled Godwits circled over head. A muskrat floated like a log in a small pothole watching us. Black-crowned Night Herons and White Pelicans did fly-bys at hill top on their way from one small lake to another.
It was miraculous. Miraculously alive and miraculously beautiful. The image just maybe catches a bit of the miracle. Canon SX40HS in program with – 1 /3EV exposure compensation. 24mm equivalent field of view. I exposed for the sky and counted on being able to bring the foreground up in Lightroom. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness, as well as exposure balance.
And for the Sunday thought: we are always tempted to call such moments “magical”.. I suppose we mean that they awake a sense of mystery and wonder in us… and we are aware of that the are things going on that defeat the rational mind. But of course there is another word that attempts to catch that sense of wonder and mystery. ” Miraculous.” Miraculous includes the awareness of a specific power for good in action, an attempt, not to mystifying and impress, but to enlighten and uplift. And it is certainly the sense of miracle that fills me in the prairie dawn!
6/16/2012: Ambition has a Yellow Head. Chase Lake NWR
It was one of my ambitions for this trip to capture one really satisfying image of a Yellow-headed Blackbird, I did not know that leaving home of course. The it was not until I got out here to North Dakota and saw YHBBs again that I realized that I have no good images, despite several tries in the past. So an ambition was born. Yesterday we pulled up beside a little pothole on our way to Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge and there they were… Close to the road and in good light. Ambition realized! Canon SX40HS in program with – 1 /3EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
6/15/2012: Avocets in Love. Arrowwood NWR
From our fieldtrip to Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge yesterday, American Avocets in various courtship displays. Not perfect captures but interesting behavior.
Canon SX40HS in program with – 1/3EV exposure compensation. 840mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
6/14/2012: The Chieftain! Carrington ND
I am at the Potholes and Prairies Birding Festival in Carrington ND. Headquarters are at the famous Chieftain Hotel in beautiful downtown Carrington. As you read this chances are I am touring Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge talking birding optics and hopefully taking lots of images. This image is taken with my Xoom Android Tablet and processed on the tablet in the new Aivery Image Processor.
6/13/2012: I See You!
While out hunting dragonflies the other day, I heard the unmistakable chatter of a chipmunk and looked up to see this fellow looking down at me through the leaves. As I angled for a shot he followed my every move but he did not seem too upset to be under observation. I found a few different lines of sight and caught him looking back at me.
Just a brief encounter, but it certainly enriched my photo-prowl.
Canon SX40HS in program with – 1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 1240mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/125 @ ISO 100. 2) 1680mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/125 @ ISO 125.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
6/12/2012: Eastern Screech Owl, Magee Marsh OH
There are a pair of Eastern Screech Owls who nest along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh, and generally provide a show for the birders at The Biggest Week in American Birding. The male, shown here, is a gray phase, and the female is a red phase. Odd couple.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-converter). f5.8 @ 1/160th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
6/11/2012: Northern Waterthrush, Magee Marsh OH
There are a couple of spots on the Magee Marsh boardwalk that are ideal for Waterthrush. They have just the right moist, but not flooded, edge of the marsh in deep trees nature to attract the birds. If you stand in one of those spots long enough, in May, it is very likely you will find a Waterthursh. Though there are likely lots of Northern Waterthrushes at Magee Marsh at any given time, the one to see this year was working the edge of the wet were the little spur boardwalk with the benches branches off. I am sure it was seen by thousands and photographed by hundreds.
It was, admittedly, easier to see than to photograph. The thick tangle of brush and branches, and the low light down in the muck there, made it hard to catch a good shot.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. All at 840mm equivalent field of view. 1) and 2) f5.8 @ 1/100th @ ISO 800. 3) and 4) f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 640. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.