Great Egret

Waterford, CT  2021

 My bird photography leaves much to be desired.  I think this is a great egret.  One can never get close enough or have a longer lens available.

Woodpecker

Niantic, CT  2011

This little guy (or  gal) frequently visits my bird feeders.  It's either a Downy or Hairy Woodpecker.  I have a hard time telling them apart.

 

Seagull

Niantic, 2010

I've been looking through the archives for some gems I might have missed.  I don't do a lot of bird photography, but I liked the way this one turned out.  

Gull

Niantic, CT  2020

 

Egret

Mystic Seaport

It's a good thing I never tried to make a living photographing birds.  

Gull

Niantic, CT  2019

Crane

Costa Mesa, CA  2018

Seagull

New London, CT  2016

They are not the prettiest of birds, but they're so used to man, that you can get  pretty close, and they won't fly off.  I think he was looking for a handout.  

Gulls in a Row

Norwich, CT  2014

Do you know how hard it was to get all these guys lined up for this group portrait?   

Canada Goose

Mystic, CT

I ran across this fellow on a recent  trip to the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic, CT.  He seemed to like posing for the camera.

Pigeons

Freeport, ME

Sea Gull

New London, CT

Gulls are pretty easy to photograph.  I wish they were a little prettier

Canada Geese

Waterford, CT

Sharing the pond with the great egret I found were a number of Canada geese.  These birds are everywhere these days.  I grew up in New Jersey and I don't remember seeing too many geese as a kid.  They certainly have proliferated along the east coast in the last 40 years or so.  

Great Egret

This past weekend I was out and about running some errands, and looking for photo opportunities, when I noticed this great egret sitting in a pond, not too far from where I live.  I pulled over and by the time I got my camera out and put on my 70-300mm lens, he had flown from the pond to the trees across the way from where I was.  I figure I must have been about 100 yds if not farther away.  I'm not very good at estimating distances.  I took a number of pictures hoping to get something that would look decent.  I think this turned out ok.  It is cropped quite a bit, but still looks pretty sharp to me.  One never has a lens long enough!

Seagull

New London, CT

I don't think seagulls are particularly pretty as far as birds go.  However, they are easy to photograph.  They perch for long periods of time on just about anything, and don't spook easily.  Why is it that the "ugly" birds are so easy to photograph?  Another one of life's little mysteries.......

Hawk

I was out for a hike this past weekend with my camera and was able to catch this hawk perched on some wires.  I'm pretty sure this is a red-tailed hawk.  As usual, one never has the right lens and I wish I had taken my 70-300mm along.  This was taken with the AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED and was hand-held.  The picture was also heavily cropped.  I know it's not perfect technically, but it's not that often I can get reasonably close to a hawk.  He posed pretty well for me. 

Backyard Birds II

Tufted titmouse

Backyard Birds

House Finch

I spent some time this past summer trying to photograph the birds that frequent my backyard bird feeders.  I got lucky with a few shots.  One really needs a lot of patience to do bird photography.  They don't sit still for very long and I find that my lenses are neither long enough or fast enough. 

A Belated Happy Thanksgiving

My Backyard, Niantic, CT

I should've posted this yesterday in honor of Thanksgiving, but I was doing a good part of preparing my own Thanksgiving turkey for a family dinner.  So this is a belated Thanksgiving wish to everyone.  These guys visited my backyard a couple of weeks ago.  They're very skittish and hard to photograph, but I was able to get a few acceptable shots.  This is only about half of the rafter. For some reason, they did not visit here yesterday.  I'm sure they are thankful for that.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.