From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/06/gvp-51-great-blue-heron-at-blackwater.html.
This Great Blue Heron at Blackwater Refuge caught this big fish, and was cooperative and let me watch him at work.
This guy was located along the Wildlife Drive at the start of the 3rd/last section. There is a spot where water drains out of the embankment area there, and heron will wait patiently for fish to come through it. This morning I drove up to the spot, hoping a bird would be there.
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To pull off an encounter like this at Blackwater the trick is to move slowly and NOT get out of the car. The heron was aware of my presence for sure, and I just managed to stay on the side of not bothering him. I watched for about 20 minutes right at sunrise. Earlier he caught a much smaller fish and gulped it down quickly. Then a short time later he got this large fish. He brought it to land and tried to kill it by poking at it while it was on the rocks. That process took more than 5 minutes. Then it spent another couple of minutes getting the fish in to position to attempt to swallow it. All the while I took lots of images, and made every attempt to not get excited or move too quickly - and scare him away. It worked out pretty well and the heron was comfortable enough to work on his meal right in front of me from start to end. The above photo was towards that end, and he seemed to almost face me show off his prize, it was cool.
Here is a photo from right after the catch where the fish was still kicking. The slow shutter speed shows some of the fight - since the sun was not over the horizon and trees enough to provide proper lighting.
I go to Blackwater Refuge often, and almost every visit begins around sunrise for me. I've never been disappointed with a visit, and would recommend an early-in-the-day visit to all...
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
GVP #51 - Great Blue Heron at Blackwater Refuge
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Maybe more than the photos
From: http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/maybe-more-than-photos.html
Having taken a lot of images where the reward is the image itself, a nice shot, and not much else I've thought about trying to do some good. I've toyed with the idea of helping out at a rehab center, or volunteering here or there. But, I know that's not my calling, at least not right now.
My passion is taking photos. It gets me up at 3am, it makes me drive hundreds of miles. Over the last few years I've had requests for images sent to me via flickr. They have fallen in to three main categories:
#1) for profit groups that want free images.
#2) for profit groups that want images but have a few bucks to spend. And finally
#3) non-profit groups that want images for free and are working on a good causes, be it conservation, preservation, or something like that. Helping animals, the environment, habitat restoration or preservation...
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Of those 3 types of requests I ignore #1 requests. #2 requests I've only pursued a few, usually it is not worth the hassle to me, I'd rather be shooting, editing, etc. One in particular I put in a bunch of hours working on it and it didn't pan out, so I felt like I had wasted time. #3 requests are my favorite. I can do what I like (take photos) and provide them for free to a good cause so they can do their thing. I've given images to the Fish and Wild Service, National Parks Service, The Nature Conservancy, a singing zoo act / guy, a group trying to study the impact of something or other in Greenbelt Maryland... And probably a bunch of others that slip my mind.
Today I went out shooting with a couple of people that help with rehabilitating raptors. Linda and Kurt are good folks that care and put in the time doing the work with the animals. Today was a day where their hard work, and the work of others, paid off. They released 6 birds back in to the wild.
My part today was to watch and learn, and to take photos.
They released 3 Red-Shouldered Hawk, 2 Red-Tailed Hawks, and 1 Broad-Winged Hawk. It was pretty cool.
Here are some shots. I plan to give them to the folks involved so they can promote their work, and get support, funding, etc. I guess what I realized in regards to their work (before and again today) is that I'm a photographer - that's what I do... I've wanted to help with the birds, rehabing or volunteering. It is just not what I am motivated to do. And probably not what I am good at. So,, I'm going to spend my time becoming a better photographer, and as I find the way to - helping good causes.
If you are like me, but not a photographer, and not someone that can volunteer with the raptors - there's one thing you can do to make a difference. While driving don't litter. Don't toss any type of food items from your car. Many if not most injured raptors are struck by cars. The way I've heard it recounted to me - prey animals feed on these items, and raptors lock in on the prey (squirells, etc) and will fly to catch them with no regard for the cars or trucks on the roads. So, don't toss any food type items from your car.
Even a banana peel.
Updated
Here's a Broad-Winged Hawk being released also...
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Keep Exploring & More Vertical
GVP #40 to #48 - From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/keep-exploring-more-vertical.html
A couple weeks ago I went to the Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base. This was my 5th year going, and I'm starting to get my fill of it all. The highlights of past years have been the F-15 which is awesome and so fast when they kick on the afterburners. The F-22 Raptor is amazing too. It can basically defy normal laws of physics, and hover, flip, flop, slide, go backwards, sort of crazy.
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The part that has gotten pretty old this time is the crowds. My basic routine for the past few years is to be on one of the very first buses from Fedex field so I can get a front row spot near the middle. Doing it this way makes it a very long day but there's not a better place to shoot from really. With no one in front of you, you can have an unblocked view of just about all of the show. They have restrictions on what you can bring to the base/show, but you're allowed to bring a chair, a tripod, and whatever camera gear you might want to carry (but bag sizes are limited to 1 cubic foot). The problem is that even if things go smooth it is a stressful day. Carrying around a couple cameras, a few lenses, a chair, a tripod, and being out in the hot sun on the tarmac takes a toll. Add to this the fact that the crowds are usually around 100,000 people, and being up front makes your space a target. Every one that was home sleeping at 7am now wants to stand in front of you. So it turns in to a defensive struggle to not get ousted from the front row, or just stepped on and bullied.
The other thing that I found some this year is that it is somewhat hard to get unique photos when you and 99,999 other folks are there too. I guess it is not impossible, but it is hard. My vertical project helped a little to keep me trying new stuff, but, more and more I want to keep advancing my photography and being where lots of other people are shooting isn't part of the plan.
Maybe next year I will take a different approach to it to keep it fresh - like sleeping in, or not bringing a big lens and tripod or chair, etc. Doing it completely the opposite way, and shooting the static display stuff more, or maybe the people of the air show.
(I realize that I am posting this to my nature&wildlife photography blog, but to me all photography is part of the same continuum - the learning, exploring, and processes involved.)
The sad news of the zoo's lions loosing their new born cub was a real downer. But the work involved in the zoo's effort to build a lion pride has been going on for around 5 years! The fact that they have a male, 2 females, they've settle in to the zoo well, and now are a pride of 3 - and there's been mating and a single birth (this recent one) is a success. And this setback is temporary, and I am still hopeful and proud of the hard work the zoo has done to come this far.
And now on to some WILDLIFE! Last year I went to Cape May New Jersey for the first few times ever. I stayed over night both times, and had a real blast. During Fall Cape May is a major hot spot for migratory birds. I saw hawks, and a variety of other birds but the Black Skimmers were my absolute favorites.
In October (2009) there had to have been 500 birds (black skimmers) along the beach - in just one or two groups. By November (2009) the group was down to roughly 50, and of those only a handful for adults. For reference as to how much I enjoyed watching and shooting them - I probably spent 50% of my time just with them on the beach, and maybe took 3000 shots. The hawks, raptors, etc which motivated me to go in the first place weren't my favorites or even a big highlight. Just this one image stands out - and the close encounter I had with a Cooper's that flew by me at around a distance of 5 feet and plunged in to a bush to try to catch a meal.
This weekend I went again but didn't find any Skimmers. There were some on the other side of the Delaware Bay in DE. The highlight of this trip was probably the Piping Plovers and Laughing Gulls. Much like the Skimmers, the Laughing Gulls are pretty common but they have some character and aren't too skittish.
I was keeping Cape May a "secret". Lol. The thing is that people do follow where I go, and I wanted to keep the spot to myself. But in actuality the spot is probably the most famous and known birding spots of all the east coast north of Florida. I realized this (obvious fact) and also that I should be able to get my unique images regardless of who knows I shoot there. I am still going to try to keep my smaller spots off of my publicly shared spots (just going to share the images themselves) - but a spot like CM, it's like Blackwater or Bombay Hook - the locations are very well known already.
Later in the weekend I checked in on one of the osprey nests I visit, and the female appeared to be sleeping when I got there. She woke up when some other birds chirped to alert the neighborhood to my approach. But she didn't fly off the nest, and just watched me for a few. There's gotta be chicks already or maybe by this weekend. I didn't see any feeding last weekend, and have high hopes for this nest this year.
I've been shooting video on and off, trying to keep at that. Here's a short clip of the osprey from above, sitting on the nest and yelling to the skies!
Those are some of my recent travels. My goal of late is to see and shoot differently as much as possible. The vertical thing has opened some doors. Going to new places like Cape May, and oh yeah, I took the ferry there this time. That was interesting.
Other ways I changed it up this year was in February when I took a day trip to Assateague State Park. That's around a 150 mile trip ONE WAY! I got there within 10 minutes of sunrise! I shot there for a few hours and had some fun/success. I went to Blackwater Refuge also that day. And to show just how crazy/motivated I can be - I went to Great Falls for sunset too - all in the same day. Was about a 15 hour day door to door. And I got some great shots. And because that day was so good at Blackwater, I went again the next day and probably got my best / most different Snow Goose shots to date. That weekend I drove around 500+ miles and "worked at it" around 25 hours.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Be Thoughtful - GVP #39
From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/be-thoughtful.html
I like to think I am a weekend warrior that would make a weekday warrior proud.
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When I go out shooting I try my hardest to have real, natural, genuine encounters. I try my best to do this without disturbing others' encounters, and without bothering nature itself.
This weekend I was out and shooting along the coast of New Jersey. Lots of birders were out, you know the type, out for the experience, to see stuff, share spottings, and maybe take a photo. That's a relative of the way I shoot, but not a match really. Usually I like to shoot alone, find and record things on my own, and then share the results of those times.
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While on the beach I saw someone checking something out via a scope, I looked - but didn't see the prize. So, I chatted briefly with that group as I was wandering around, and they pointed out the piping plover. I chatted some more, and to myself acknowledged how much they seemed to buy in to the upside of birding - seeing, sharing, and being out in it all - having a good time.
I moved on a bit, wandered some more down the beach trying to follow but not follow the oyster-catcher and the photographer following them. I wanted to get some shots myself, but didn't want to creep up on either of them and make it end. I'd rather miss my own shots than influence the bird and make it fly away / be uncomfortable and leave. So, I put my head down a bit, and walked by- and then sat down on the beach and hoped that the two of them, the bird, the photographer, would wind up coming to me. It has worked before, but not this day. 
On my way back up the beach, someone was watching the plover, and looked up and wanted to share the info / bird with me. Again, that sort of contrasts a bit with how I have learned to operate lately. If I see something, some endangered, something that's skittish, I will very often tend to hide the fact that I see it when other folks approach.
Maybe it is a touch of selfishness. Maybe it is a desire to not ruin the experience / moment / encounter. Maybe it is the result of a few encounters / sharing moments gone wrong. I don't know. But these birders just seemed to be open minded and defaulted to sharing info and encounters.
It makes me question some of why I think the way I do.
I know I can be wrong, and have been over the years. I don't think that just because someone's a birder that they are thoughtful in a superior way or walk the path without possibly doing harm - but, it seems quite the contrast to where I'm at right now.
Here's the PLOVER:
Thursday, May 20, 2010
GVP Round-Up - #33 to #38
From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/gvp-round-up-33-to-38.html
While at Chincoteague NWR in Virginia I saw a number of Oystercatchers, and this pair mated for a few moments north of Tom's Cove. I wish the laughing gull wasn't in the way, but what can you do.
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This Great Blue Heron is a vertical of a similar one I'd posted already. Sunrise at Blackwater is basically a lock for something cool, something photogenic, and something that says 'wild' or 'the bay'...
Here's another of the Robin Chick(s) which were still blind and ready to be fed.
This week I heard the awesome news that Naba gave birth to a Lion Cub! I was looking back on some old images and was surprised at just how long Luke and the 2 female lions have been at the zoo. Luke was in January 2007 I think, and the girls were here in December 2006. There was the talk of getting the 3 new cats for a while, and it seemed like one thing or another was delaying it. Now so much time has passed in a flash. Regular zoo goers were hoping to have them all out together "as a pride" for literally years. Then this year it all came together. The cats were introduced, and grouped up and then Luke mated with one of them and now a Cub! I hear that Luke has also now mated with Shera, the other female, too. So! Who knows there could be ANOTHER cub or two on the way.
Finally here's a Red Fox from Bombay Hook in 2009 pouncing in to the grass trying to catch something.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
GVP Catch-Up - #24 to #32
From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/gvp-catch-up-24-to-32.html
I took a little break from posting my GVP shots on the blog, and this is my chance to catch up.
Here are the first few:
Shooting birds where they are low in the frame, and water or sky fill the background, I think that works quite well for a vertical.
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GVP #26 was one of those that stands out. I've been to Great Falls a ton and a half of times and seeing something special, the light, the subject, trying for something (slow shutter) and having it all come together - I love that.
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I dug the next one up from a few months ago. I did indeed shoot it vertically to start, around sunrise - the heron was on the ice and the light was just *so*....
Finally there's GVP #32 and the Air Show today at Andrews Air Force Base. With some weeks of vertical on the brain I shot more than ever vertical, and this setup was an obvious one (helicopter and troops being extracted via the rope). It was slightly strained to try to shoot the planes vertically - but it did work a number of times. The Heritage flight would have probably work best on the pass I didn't go vertical, and it did work ok on the pass that I did go vertical.... Lol. The Blue Angels went by all stacked up for a couple passes and that worked fairly well vertically.
One of the things that shooting vertically adds is that it removes the lost pixels from just cropping vertically from a horizontal shot. Some things just are vertical. It makes basic sense to match up the pixels and orientation to the subject.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Great Horned Owls - GVP 22, 23
From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/great-horned-owls-gvp-22-23.html
I have a new outlook on life and photography. Trying to manage people, contacts, friends and share "secret" info is too hard.
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Secrets are a commodity. Secrets are things no one can really keep. You tell me your golden nuggets and I will tell you mine, right? When I first got in to photography I wondered why it was hard to find detailed and exact information on nesting locations. But there's good reason, thoughtful people want to protect the animals and nests in question.
It is hard enough to be careful all by yourself. Then add the internet and if you broadcast (post publicly) the info there's no way to know who is reading it and what they might do. It is reasonable to assume people won't be outright destructive, but it is not really that reasonable to assume a stranger will know how to best act to do as little as possible to not impact a nest, egg(s), or chicks.
Three or 4 years ago I didn't know what I didn't know. I was just starting out, and I was hungry to find and see things and take photos.
Since then I've learned a lot, seen things, had my own little impacts and wondered how I could have done this or that better. And people have proven to not be able to keep a secret themselves, and I've seen people I would have judged worthy act in ways that don't seem right to me these days. (For example flushing a bird on purpose, to get a 'flight shot', seems rude and uninformed, and is not helpful to wildlife.)
One of the hard parts of this position I now find myself in is that I've learned so much from other photographers, and the internet in general. Open sharing has enabled a lot of this for me, to find things, pursue things, etc.
The way I balance it now is that I share the location info for places that are well known, and publicized by me already, but I might not sharing the info in real time. That's not to say I will risk a spot, a nest, to conform to this. Most widely known spots don't have easily accessible eagle/owl/osprey nests.
For places I've not shared the location info before I maintain that, and I do my best to not draw attention to things like Owl nests. And when someone else shares secret location info on nesting birds with me I don't share it even when someone asks directly.
There's a lot of hard work that goes in to doing the right thing. "Just" wanting to get images of something is not an indication of anything but raw desire. And knowing someone first hand, having met in person (not just on the internet) provides some much needed context and insight in to who someone is...
All that said, I feel lucky to have been trusted with a spot a couple years ago. I added it to my list, and have gone a couple dozen times. I now have a real appreciation for the wildlife I want to photograph, more so that was possible when I started out.
I waited to post this Owlet. It has only recently fledged and made it past the 'perch close to the nest phase'. On a recent visit it saw me coming and took off after a minute or two. That's a success in my eyes - from egg to fledged and ready to move along as needed to keep safe. And now I can post these images confident that I did my part to appreciate and not hinder these owls' chances at success.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Going Vertical #19 #20 #21
From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/going-vertical-19-20-21.html
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In years past I've only been to Chincoteague during the Fall, and I've only been there on 2 trips (which both included nearby overnight stays and repeat visits). Going in Spring was exciting to me. I was hoping that I'd see new stuff, new species, and it worked out well.
I've never seen an oystercatcher before. Other new species I saw included: Cattle Egret, Piping Plover, Clapper Rail, and some other yet identified sandpiper (I think).
The weather along the coast was a bit uncooperative after the elk sunrise. The cloud cover moved in and it got gray and seemed like it was going to rain soon. That last a few hours. I thought about giving up and moving on, but luckily I hung around and the weather improved.
I took almost 3,000 shots in 2 days. This vertical project kept me thinking about framing and shooting vertically. Again I shot more vertical than ever before. It's got me being more purposeful in my shooting, taking less for granted, and taking more control.
Friday, April 30, 2010
GVP #16, #17, #18
From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/gvp-16-17-18.html
Continuing on my Vertical project here are 3 more photos. I've managed to post nearly 20 now, without too much trouble.
I might just be able to keep this up for a while.
Magazines are vertical right? Covers are vertical, right? Hmmmm. I want to grow past the guiding hand that flickr is. I wonder how far this will go, how long I can keep shoot for and posting just vertical images?
It looks like some fox kits have started to show themselves at Bombay Hook Refuge. And quite a variety of birds are now at the refuge.
A week ago at Blackwater Refuge quite a few yellow legs were there. I also spotted a couple of great egrets.
May starts tomorrow. Here are my "most interesting shots tagged with May". I am planning to make new plans. :D
Thursday, April 29, 2010
GBH and MD Osprey - GVP #14 #15
From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/gbh-and-md-osprey-gvp-14-15.html
10 days in and about 15 vertical shots posted so far...
I've been shooting vertically more for sure. Yesterday I went to shoot some birds and actually tried some in flight shots vertically! It was weird and a little awkward, but it was good.
Vertical flight shots worked best for the part of their flight where they'd bank in front of me to the left or right.
Focus
Keeping the manual focus ring locked down seems to avoid the problem where the camera stops trying to auto-focus if it moves.
Last night I experimented with intentionally setting the focus fine tune to -6. Very often I've shot an osprey for example and gotten the wings in focus and the head (which is slightly closer to the camera) is not in focus. The test seemed to work, and I will try again with something like -10 or -12. Flight shots with the subject closing in on the camera seem to be when this problem happens most.
I hedged my bet and shot with that setting for only a portion of my time out. The results seem to indicate it helped. My only fear for this is I will forget I had it set and then shoot something not moving and my focus will all be off slightly.
-50-
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Osprey Perch GVP #13
posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/osprey-perch-gvp-13.html
It's pretty cool how adaptable osprey are. They can nest on power poles, man made nest platforms, channel markers, in actual trees some times. Although in the Maryland area osprey don't seem to nest in trees all that much.
One of my favorite odd locations for an osprey nest is this one on Route 50:
Preched Osprey - vertical shot for my GVP project.
One of my other favorite osprey platforms is near Reagan National Airport. Over there osprey use the channel markers as nest platforms, and then add all kinds of materials to build the nest. Here the monument in the background (and plane) provides the clue(s) for where it is located.
I've been searching all over the place for new spots and found quite a few. There are so many places that they nest - be it on private property, in refuges, above ball fields or even just in a parking lot on a light pole. Not all are accessible, still others are awkwardly located and not very photogenic. I managed to find a pretty good one recently and don't want to jinx myself so I am holding off on even going until there are chicks, which should be in about a month. A second spot is equally as good and I posted something the other day from that spot (but not the nest yet).
-50-
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