A certain group of birds that can be real difficult to photograph are sanderling’s. They seem to see you coming a mile away no matter how quiet or how well you play James Bond. You can crawl on your knees, break up your human image or dress up using a blind and it never seems to work. The key is using your natural surroundings to your advantage.
Sanderlings are a circumpolar bird that makes its way from South America to the Arctic circle to breed. You can commonly find them along a sandy shore line or near mudflats. They tend to eat tiny crabs and prod through the sand/soil looking for crustaceans, annelids or other goodies to munch on. Their winter plumage as you can see is pale in color and not a brick-red face and throat in appearance such that of their summer plumage. They have distinct white wingbars as a helpful give away. A stouter gestault and thicker bill then a similar species the Dunlin.
This morning I headed out to a shore spot that has been shortened and sectioned off due to development. (Sad really, having your own habitat disappear slowly with every waking day.) A lot of shorebirds have a lot of room with the ebb and flow of the tide. A key to overcome this and bring yourself closer to the wildlife is the use of high tide. High tide as it implies rides higher along the shore pushing the birds closer to where most people view them from. My goal was to find a spot that was a tad disguised (blocking their view of me) and at an angle ahead of them. This way as they would run toward the tide and back out again it would bring them closer to me. As soon as they got close I would just shoot away and stay steady not to startle them. This technique gave rise to these images.
They take use of and frequently check the remnants of any bivalve (clams, mussels, scallops) or gastropod (snails for example) lying around. You’ll notice as soon as it seems one has found something they congregate and fight over it.
Sanderling’s tend to spend their time in flocks during the winter. If you find them solo, it is probably not a good thing.
This last guy was headed right for me and looked at me dead on. Reminds me of the hooded mocking bird from the Galapagos on Espanola Island.
One issue as you can tell is that I was dealing with some early morning directional light. I find with proper placement of highlights you can further drawn your viewer into the image. Just have to be careful of which images you keep as they can also draw you away. Our eyes and mind can’t help bright light. I guess those fish are onto something with shiny things, huh?
I hope everyone is having a happy and well fed Thanksgiving. I’m giving Tofurky a whirl this time, but boy does Neal’s smoked and deep fried turkeys smell good! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Sorry no gobble gobble, just American pride. Makes whatever I’m thankful for possible.
The day was spent sunrise to noon seeking wildlife near and along the shores. It began in hopes of finding brant and other species at millerfield, to hopes of snowy owls on the dunes of Gateway at Great Kills, to Wolfs Pond Park watching the mass array of different species sharing the pond. No snowys and no brant, but still had a great time. Particularly at Wolf’s Pond Park. There were all sorts of waterfowl and gulls hanging out there. Due to the water starting to freeze it also brought them closer together. Definitely a new favorite spot of mine. A highlight for me for the day was capturing some interesting biological behavior of two mallards. They looked to be challenging themselves over a female.
A patient mockingbird wondering why anyone would be in the blistering cold if it didn’t have to.
A sanderling scouting the left over bivalves for a bit to eat. Also prodding the sand in hope as well; all while avoiding the tide. I tried to use the flow and ebb of the tide to my advantage. I Found a spot that was rocky and a tad visually blocked and waited for the tide to encourage the sanderling to move my way to get the shot.
A quick check of the feeders at Blue Heron Park provided an eager white breasted nuthatch taking advantage of the free food.
The photograph I alluded to before. Two mallards staring down each other for a females attention; while another male looks on. I found the key here was making sure I was ready and paying attention to my subjects. Eliminating as many distractions as possible.
A very active female mallard that was seeking everyones attention.
A bit of an artistical piece. This was a close shot of many gulls taking flight in a soft image with blur to convey motion.
That’s right, you heard correctly. I am looking to consolidate some of my resorces and I have decided to sell my Epson R2400 Printer. It is one heck of a gorgeous printer, in mint condition! It has only seen two full ink sets run through it. I am currently selling it HERE. Please feel free to take a look. I have also included a few goodies to sweeten the pot. I had some great experiences shooting yesterday and will share them with you later in the day. So stay tuned and make sure to goodnight!
Just got a message the other day that a wood duck was spotted at a local park near my house. The wood duck is also not in its’ eclipse plumage which is a plus as it can be a bit unattractive. I headed down yesterday for an hour or so trying to get images of him and his partner while giving my just received lens a test run (got my Nikon 80-400mm back, took long enough I know. It isn’t over with them though unfortunately).
The whole time chasing him and his mate was spent in futility. I was combating a sky that did not want to be ungreyed (that’s not a word) and they were much more skittish then people had informed me of. They normally are, but I was told they were abnormally friendly. Which is sad in a way due to its change in normal biological behavior. No problem for them though as it wasn’t true! I will be out this weekend attempting to photograph them nice and early in hope of snagging the shot. However there was a silver lining. I was able to get up close and personal with your common domesticated duck. Aflac anyone? These can be kept as pets as I don’t believe there is anyone raising them here. He was hanging out with his buddy; a mallard duck. Which he just happens to be bred from. They are too large to fly properly (weight issue) and escape larger predators, which shouldn’t be too big a problem around here.
There was just a peek of gorgeous blue from the struggling sky. It pierced the cover of trees and added a touch of radiance to this often overlooked domestic duck. An often missed item in peoples photography is paying attention to those backgrounds. I Sought out patches of color on this cloud squeezed sky. This patch of blue rippled by the ducks presence adds a glow to the image.
This is the same same duck that appeared to be posing for me. Normally people keep the reflection, but I felt as it wasn’t a complete reflection due to the rock in the foreground I’d crop it (via my lens.) I also liked the use of the dark browns brought on from the fallen leaves behind.
This setup reminded me a bit of Moose Peterson’s’ cover of his BT Journal. This mallard was hanging out trying to keep warm from the blustering wind in this scenario. I used the golden reflection of a late fall foliage turner. I spruced the yellow just a tad to bring it up to what I had experienced. The auto white balance zapped the potency of the colors a bit.
This weekend I’m gonna be researching a few places to see what the weekend will hold!
