A flock of Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) takes flight into backlit ground fog. Dawn. Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico.
Sometimes, nature photography is just about being in the right place at the right time. As I’ve posted before, I had the great pleasure of shooting in backlit ground fog (“fire in the mist”) conditions at Bosque del Apache for four days this winter. I made more great images in a few morning hours at Bosque than I’ve made in the prior year.
This flock of Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) kept lifting off into the mist (probably scared by the resident bald eagle) wheeling around, landing, and then doing it again. Spectacular. To capture this image I carefully checked the exposure, composed for a strong line at the bottom of the frame to ground the image, and tried to give the birds a bit of space to fly into.
Check out the ducks in the water at right — I love the rows of roosting ducks receding into the mist. (Click on the image for a larger view.)
American Wideon in Flight, Socorro, New Mexico.
This American Wigeon (Anas americana) is an early favorite from my recent photograph expedition to Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico. A flock of wigeons gathered in a small pond in a town near the refuge. Though the birds were wild, they were obviously well fed. Whenever I walked up to the pond, a number of the birds would fly right at me, hoping for a treat. After carefully selecting a spot with a good light angle, it was relatively easy to pick up a duck as it flew toward me. Good photographs are usually not about the gear. However, this image would not be possible without the speedy autofocus on my 7D and 500mm lens. Hungry wigeons are fast.
Conditions this year were fantastic, and I came home with several thousand images. Stay tuned for additional images as I make my selects. I am determined to process the images more quickly than last year.
Mallard drake in flight, Broomfield, Colorado
This Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) flew by while I was photographing a blue heron rookery. (I made some very nice blue heron images, which I’ll post shortly.) It’s easy to forget just how fast these birds are until they fly by. Note that even with a fast shutter speed (1/1000th of a second) the wingtips are still slightly blurred.
American Wigeon drake landing
I photographed this American Wigeon (Anas americana) in the same pond as the ring-necked duck in the previous post. When I captured the image, I was concerned that the duck was not front-lit. But on further reflection, the back light nicely highlights the feathers in the bird’s wings. Be sure to click on the image for a full-size version; the small version looks a little dark.
Sorry for the long hiatus from posting new work. I’m making lots of progress behind the scenes editing many images from this year, but I have a couple of big image collections that are stuck in the processing que. In the meantime, here’s a lovely image of a female American Wigeon (Anas americana) that I photographed in Longmont, Colorado last weekend. I went hoping to catch a glimpse of the very uncommon Tufted Duck that was reported near my parent’s house in Longmont, but no dice. Still good to get into the field during the winter photographic doldrums. As always, click on the image for a larger version.
Cinnamon Teal foraging on a mudflat
This Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera) is another image from my very productive local marsh. I’ve never seen so many of these beautiful ducks in one spot. Be sure to click on the image for a larger view — this looks much better big.
Northern Shoveler (Image# 100131_1002041)
Went back for another crack at the many ducks wintering on the Platte. The ducks were very skittish (and the gunfire from adjacent hunting areas didn’t help matters). Still, I’m pleased to come away with this image for Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata). Hopefully I can improve my stalking technique and put a lens on some other ducks.
Pintail Takeoff (Image# 100124_1001614)
I went looking for ducks on the Platte River this morning. I found a great many ducks but they were remarkably skittish. I plan to try again with a bind, but even without one I still came away with a couple of reasonably good images, including this photo of a Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) taking flight. Light levels were too low for sharp images of birds in flight, so I went for a slightly blurred look instead. As always, click on the image for a larger/sharper version.
When I migrated my old site over to the current one, I left out a number of photos that do not represent my best work. This mallard image didn’t make the cut. My brother likes this one enough, however, to complain that he could no longer find it. By request (and after more carefully evaluating the image) I’ve added it back to the bird portfolio.
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Denver (finally) had its first appreciable snowfall of the year on Friday night, which meant that Saturday was a very good day for fox photography. As you will see, the foxes really “pop” against a snowy background, and the snow makes it much easier to simplify the fox images and minimize the visual clutter of their brushy habitat. Here are a few of the best images from this morning, plus a duck photo for good measure:
More Images after the jump
Continue reading Red Foxes and the First Snow of the Season
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