American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) in breeding plumage, Lakewood, Colorado.
I photographed these American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana) at a small wildlife preserve in the middle of urban Lakewood, Colorado. I’ve photographed these birds many times, but I always take pleasure in finding such beautiful animals thriving in the middle of an otherwise desolate urban environment. The managers of the preserve have done a nice job maintaining quality habitat for wading birds like avocets.
An American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) feeding in shallow water, Lakewood, Colorado.
Like many successful wildlife images, the background, as much as the subject, is the crucial factor in the success of these images. The strongly colored backgrounds compliment the colors of the bird and its reflection. There are two keys to the clean backgrounds in these images: a low angle of view, and luck. The low angle of view causes the camera to “see” background that is further away from the subject. The further away the background, the less in focus it is. Luck, of course, needs little explanation. Let’s just say that avocets like marshy, weedy areas, not the type of environment that lends itself to a clean background.
A juvenile Barn Swallow forages in the grass
Denver is locked in the depths of winter; the high today was -1° F. Consider these juvenile Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) images a reminder that spring is just around the corner. (Do not consider them a reminder that I’m still editing images from July. Jay, I’m looking at you!)
I captured these images while lying in the muddy grass at City Park. Getting down as low as possible is one of my favorite techniques for finding a clean background, and works particularly well for birds foraging in green grass, like this guy. By changing lens position just a foot or two, one can go from a crappy, busy background to a background of pure color. It is also a very effective way to get goose poop on your shirt and to earn quizzical glances from passerby, but such is wildlife photography in the city. Click on the images for a larger view.
A juvenile Barn Swallow forages in the grass
Snowy Egret (Img# 100529_1002490)
I captured this slightly dreamy image of a Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) at one of the rookeries Denver’s City Park. This is a quiet image, but I like the slight blur and the soft blue background.
As an aide, this photo is something of a lesson about not overlooking opportunities that are close to home. I’m constantly getting up before dawn to drive to some far-off photo location. I drive by this rookery five or six days a week, but it took me several years to actually photograph it. I finally made several rewarding trips this summer; this image is from my first visit.
Cooper's Hawk in the Snow
I was feeling a little lazy this morning, and so didn’t make it into the field for photography. Happily, the Christmas night snow brought a Cooper’s hawk to my bird feeders, looking for a songbird meal. (This one eats a lot of house sparrows, which is fine with me). In what are surely the easiest wildlife images I’ve made, I captured these photos standing in my kitchen (in my robe), shooting out the door. I used my neighbors’ garages as the backgrounds in both images. The green garage makes a nice background for the head shot, while the white garage made for a nice, high key background for the second image below. As always, click on the images for a larger view.
Cooper's Hawk on Snowy Branch
I can’t quite decide whether I like the stick at the upper left — I alternate between thinking that it gives the image a touch more context and thinking that it is distracting. Have a though? Post a comment.
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