2/4/2011: Anhinga, round two, Merritt Is NWR

The little pond by the restrooms at the head of the Cruikshank trail off Black Point Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is always worth a good long look. I almost always find something to photograph there…over the years: lizards, alligators, Green Heron, Snowy Egret, or, in this case, an elegant Anhinga in the final stages of his sun bath. There are very few birds that have the feather texture of the Anhinga, and these shots show it off to good advantage.

This bird was so close that to get anything like a full body shot, I had to zoom all the way out so the bird just filled a round circle in the middle of a black lcd screen…and then crop. And then I could not fit the full tail in.

And these are full frame views, showing off the stuff the neck gets up to and the feathering on the head…

 

All with the Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece of the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL. Working at the 600 to 1200mm field of view range. Processed very lightly in Lightroom for clarity and sharpness.

2/3/2011: Wood Storks, Merritt Island NWR

Wood Storks are both beautiful and ugly. The plumage is elegant, and in flight they are majestic, but that head!

Of course even in the head there is a kind of grotesque beauty…kind of beautiful ugliness. Yes I know, contradictions…but that is Wood Stork for you.

By the way, with these storks we move from Viera Wetlands to Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Merritt Island is another favorite birding and digiscoping place in my yearly round of festivals. I always try to do the Blackpoint loop at least twice, at two different times of day, on every visit to Titusville, and I am rarely disappointed. Even if the birds are less abundant than usual (as was the case with ducks this year), there is generally at least one really cooperative bird that sits for a series of really satisfying images…and generally several.

Canons SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for equivalent fields of view between 1000mm and 2500mm. 1) 1/500th @ ISO 125, 2) 1/640th @ ISO 125, and 3) 1/800th @ ISO 125. Programmed auto.

Lightly processed in Lightroom for Recovery (highlight control), and image clarity and sharpness.

2/2/2011: Anhingas, Viera Wetlands

Wings on Wednesday. And such wings…though this male Anhinga evidently just got out to dry as the feathers are still in somewhat of a disarray. There is so much to look at in an Anhinga’s wings, so many different patterns. I don’t think I have ever noticed the horizontal banding on the innermost long wing feather.

And a close up of the head (different bird).

And finally, a female striking a different pose.

Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of 1) an 850mm lens, 1/1250th @ ISO 160, effective aperture f4, 2) 2000mm, 1/500th @ ISO 125, effective aperture f5.7, 3) 3000mm, 1/1000 @ ISO 200, effective aperture f8. Programmed auto.

Lightly processed in Lightroom for clarity and sharpness.

1/2/2011: GBH on a palm, viera Wetlands

I could not resist this Great Blue Heron on the palm top, among the fronds of neighboring palms…even though I knew it would be a soft image at best…the wind was blowing so hard and the magnification needed to fill the frame was so high that despite my best efforts there was going to be some softening due to camera motion. It was just such a classic composition. You can see what I was dealing with in the video below. I had to put the video through the heaviest level of image stabilization in Sony Vegas at that.

Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of a 4700mm lens, 1/1000th sec. @ ISO 125. Effective aperture f13.

Here it is pulled back to about a 3000mm equivalent.

And here is the video. I left the sound in, just for effect.

GBH on a Palm and in the Wind.

1/31/2011: Ring-necked Duck, Viera Wetlands

I have trouble remembering that this is not the Ring billed Duck, for somewhat obvious reasons. I have yet to see the neck ring, though I have no doubt it is there. Duck plumage has a will of its own, of course, especially what appears to be “black” most of the time. It can be green or purple, in various shades, depending on the angle of the light…as here on the head and back.

Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of approximately a 3000mm lens, 1/400th @ ISO 125. Effective aperture of f9. Programmed auto.

And, from the same sequence.

1/30/2011: Limpkin, Viera Wetlands

Happy Sunday!

I can still remember my excitement in seeing my first Limpkin, a wader, strangely unrelated to the herons and egrets that share its habitat. It is the only species in its family, thought to be somewhat related to the rails and cranes, and has a very restricted range…only occurring in Florida, where it feeds on the declining population of Florida Apple Snails. It is listed as a “species of special concern”.

Viera Wetlands is an easy place to see and photograph Limpkins. Several individuals were feeding there the day I visited. This shot was late in the day when the lowering sun brought out the copper in the feathers.

Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of a 3000mm lens, 1/500th at ISO 125. Effective aperture of f8. Programmed auto.

Being Sunday, I will express my sense of gratitude to the folks who preserved our National Wildlife Refuges as habitat for the amazing birds of Florida…or, in the case of Viera Wetlands, who created new habit. I know things could be better, and that we could do better as stewards of this creation, but I am always reminded at places like Merritt Island NWR and Viera Wetlands (not to mention Bosque del Apache and Estero Lano Grande and Brigantine) that things could be a lot worse, and would be without the efforts of concerned humans, knowingly or unknowingly fulfilling the task the creator gave them.

One more Limpkin…from earlier in the day.

And the video:

 

Limpkin, Viera Wetlands, FL

1/29/2011: Green Heron, Viera Wetlands

When I started birding I learned this bird as the Green-backed Heron. Somewhere in there it lost the backed and became just the Green Heron…not even the Little Green Heron, or the Common Green Heron, or the Lessor Green Heron, or the American Green Heron…just the plain Green Heron.  Either way it is a striking bird, and especially so in the kind of close-ups you can get among the duck-weed at Viera Wetlands in Florida. 

Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56 Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of a 3000mm lens. Effective aperture of f8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 125, Programmed auto.

Processed lightly in Lightroom for clarity and sharpness.

And this shot, backed off to about 1500mm equivalent.

And here is the video.

Green Heron: Viera Wetlands, FL

1/28/2011: Tricolor, Viera Wetlands

Tricolored Heron is among the most striking of the herons…more colorful by far than a GBH…but much harder to photograph. Unlike a GBH, the Tricolor rarely stands still, sits still, or is otherwise other than in rapid motion. Or so it seems most of the time. This bird was racing up and down the little band of open water next to the dyke at Viera, catching fish as it went. Getting it in frame was a challenge. Keeping it there more-so. Still, gotta try with a bird like this.

Canon SD4000IS behind the eyepiece of the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the field of view of a 1000mm lens, 1/1250th @ ISO 200. Effective aperture of f5 (set by camera). Programmed auto.

Lightly processed in Lighroom for clarity and sharpness.

1/27/2011: Little Blue Heron, Viera Wetlands

I really like the range of colors in the plumage of the “little blue” heron. The purples shading into blues and blue-grays. They show to really good effect in the Florida sun of Viera Wetlands.

Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of a 1600mm lens, 1/500th @ ISO 125. Effective aperture of f5.0.

Lightly processed in Lightroom for clarity and sharpness.

1/26/2011: GBh, the portrait, Viera Wetlands

One of the clear advantages of Viera Wetlands for photography is the fact that you can get ridiculously close to the birds. So close that your average 600mm lens can fill the frame most of the time, and a digiscoping rig will give you intimate portraits like this one. The birds are used cars on the dyke and pay not the least attention. They will even, most of the time, let you get out and set up your tripod within 50 feet without flushing. Especially Great Blue Herons.

Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece of the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of something like a 4000mm lens, 1/1250th @ ISO 160, effective aperture f11. Programmed auto.

Processed lightly in Lightroom for Clarity and sharpness.

And one more for varieties sake.