Birding and Bird Photography

My bad, I should have completed the sentence with of the year. Although winter has been long enough this year that it feels like my first bat LOL. Living in the land of 10,000 lakes plus bogs and muskegs instead of the Loon I feel the state bird should be the mosquito. The more bats and swallows the better here!

Yesterday I went to the top of a bluff 500 feet above the river, much like Polymerhead picture. Was going to take a pano of the flooded valley below and as soon as I took my 300 off an eagle flew by less than 50 feet away carrying a bunch of sticks for a nest. And I had my lens in one hand and the body in the other. Too many trees in the way for a decent pano shot anyhow so put it back on. Didn't have another Eagle fly by but a few Turkey Vultures were riding the thermals.


Down in the river bottom the Eagles are nesting. I try not to bother nesting birds and have started to really consider a longer lens. Really want to get a pic of one fishing someday.


Trying to get closer now for every shot. Sometimes you can, others you can't. Was able to get pretty close to this Sandhill Crane in a flooded field yesterday.


Saw a flock of Pelicans circling and landing in a feeding area on the river. They are very shy and when spooked on a nest will sometimes abandon it. I worked my way in along the trees and field on the edge. They have a wingspan of almost 9 feet and sometimes I couldn't get the whole bird in the frame. Hard to get that much bird all in focus when they are that close.


It was the damn coots that spooked them off in the end, not me.


On the way out had a Red Tail Hawk fly by and he turned around to take a closer look at me, strange.


Then he flew right over me...

 

Do any of you carry binoculars, if so what are you using? I've been wanting to get a good set to have for all around, ones not too big or heavy.

 

I have some Japanese made Leupold 8x42s (Cascades) that have been great for several years. I'm thinking about upgrading to Vortex Viper HD 10x 50s - supposed to be amazing glass for the money and fairly light. I'm a hunter before a birder though, so my uses are mixed and for dedicated birding glass there are probably other considerations.

 

I used to use binoculars but then i got my telephoto lens so i kinda use that as my binocs, plus is focuses faster. But the binoculars i do have are just some bushnells from the local sporting goods store.

Nice pics Mike of that hawkand the sandhill

 

Awesome shots Mike!
That's not a red-tail, by the way, it's a juvie Bald Eagle.
I got some pretty good shots of some raptors yesterday morning. They were all flocking around a field that was being cut. Lots of Swainson's, a few red-tails, and two harriers. I'll post those up when I finish making my panorama for the photo challenge.
I carry binocs as well as my telephoto 'cause I can focus through branches better than with my camera and the binocs let in a bit more light and I can make a better ID in the field with them than with the camera. I used to take photos to ID them later, but now I can ID them in the field and just take photos for the photography

 

I own the Vortex Viper 10x42 and love them. The 50's were a bit heavier but of course better in low light. For glassing elk and mulies in Co. you have to have good glass and they fit the bill well. And archery hunting in the bluffs, I stillhunt not a fan of sitting in trees, and the Binos are handy to say the least. But I am at the stage that I am thinking of trading in some of my guns for a longer lens.

The pictures I took yesterday were in Buffalo County Wi. If you whitetail hunt then you likely knows what that means, although Pope and Young moved from Ca. to 20 miles South of me for good reason. I didn't really know what Gene and Barry Wensel were talking about when they kept saying river bottom bucks until I moved here and saw their names in the local archery club. They both have moved down to Iowa which has better game management. When Dr. Gary Alt was pushed to retire from Pa. GC and moved to Ca. the Blufflands Whitetail Association (this corner of Mn. Wi. and Iowa) hired him for consultation and most of his recommendations have been put in place.

I do like Mark most of the time and shoot first then try to ID. If I take time to try and ID with binos they are usually gone then, hope to get to that point though!

Yeah I spent half an hour last night trying to figure out Red Tail or juvi BE. Kept thinking back to when I saw him and how small he was, maybe half the size of a juvi BE. It just hit me though that after half an hour of playing with the Pelicans any other bird is just going to small LOL. Thanks!

 

Haha, for sure. Those pelicans are huge! If you look at the beak on that juvie BE, it's so massive and extends out a ways before it hooks down, classic eagle beak.

 

Definitely some bruisers up that way. The northern MO corridor up through Iowa to Wisconsin is no joke. I do whitetail hunt, but for food and not for antler. I'm more of a bird hunter than anything - turkeys, dove and ducks mainly.

 

As far as binos, I have a older pair of Nikon Monarchs 8x42, that I absolutely love. Compact and fairly light. I also suggest a bino-buddy type retention system, keep your glass at the ready and takes the weight off your neck and spreads the load over your shoulders. Roof prism are the way to go IMO.

 

I have a compact pair of REI branded binos and a pair of high end Fujinon waterproofs. I don't remember who built the REIs but consumer reports rated them highly at the time.

The Fujinon's are massive. Never hiked with them but the REI's usually have a spot in my bag. Just handy to have along.

 

I got to go out 3 days in a row last week and the weather was amazing...i know its an overload of pics again but i saw lots of good species. Shorebirds are starting to get the summer plummage. Our warblers are starting to move back north so im sure yall will be seeing some good stuff soon. The caracara, roadrunner, and quail are from earlier this morning. I drove down some backass county roads and was able to spot them off the side of the road. The caracara was munching on a dead cat, go figure...darn scavengers.

 

Damn Mark, Outstanding!! That just isn't fair LOL...

Yeah next week is the peak of the warbler migration here. I have only seen yellow rumped though and no vireos at all yet.

A while back I asked you to send 3 species up here, well they all showed up at once starting yesterday evening and this morning. And I appreciate you adding in the Indigo Bunting too My feeders were covered with about a dozen rose breasted grosbeaks and baltimore orioles this morning. What a great show of color! Sky was black and had a wicked thunderstorm hit soon after, think they were all stocking up. Lowest I could get ISO was 6400 it was so dark and early so not sure any of the pictures will turn out. But should have a week or 2 to take some more. Trying to catch a tiny hummingbird in focus is a whole new trick I need to learn too.

 

Ya i know i know, i have a slight advandage being in the flyway, and living on the coast, i get the best of the shorebirds and the migrators.
Lets see some pics of all those birds your getting.. theres no such thing as a bad pic of an indigo or grosbeak. I guess my technique for the hummers is to try to catch em while their sitting or get really close to em.. and of course the more light the better. I just put my camera on the sports setting and let it do its thing.

 

Cool stuff.
That caracara looks similar to some South American fish eagle I saw recently on TV. Nothing like that hangs around here. Closest we get are Cooper's and red-shouldered hawks, and some Swainson's hawks out in the fields.

So I've got a male Anna's hummingbird frequenting the back yard for what I think I have just identified as Texas sage.
http://www.gardencrossings.com/plantname/Salvia-Furmans-Red

 

Hot damn those are some awesome birds, and phenomenal shots, too! That Pied-billed grebe is just... So crisp, I love the water sheen!

We actually did have a Crested Caracara randomly come up here for like a week or two in the fields just south of Davis about two years ago. That was weird! Then of course the day I try to go find it is the day AFTER it left...

 

No shit? I did not look up their range. This would seem to be nearly 1000 miles north of that (from mid Baja).

 

Yup! Everyone on the Central Valley Birds yahoo group list went crazy over it.

 

I would have gone crazy too! That's a great sighting!