Over the past week, I got a chance to visit Great Meadows a couple of times. The ducks certainly are liking the flooded impoundments (especially the Upper). Among those I saw with my camera included.

Male Mallard in flight

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Mallard stretching

There's a reason it's called breeding plumage

One morning I was photographing this Goldfinch that was feasting down on the Evening Primrose toward the river end of the Cross Dike trail. He was more interested in eating than worrying about me, so I was able to get much closer than normal.

I happened to look up an noticed the harrier cruising along the woods near the river. It turned and started heading parallel to the path directly towards me. This allowed me to get some photos of the harrier looking straight at me.



Take a good look at the last photo. Can you notice anything different with it?
I must confess that in the last photo the harrier was getting close to me and rapidly made that "wing-over turn" that harriers do. It was so close that my camera cut off the tip of his right wing. So with the wonder of modern science and the magic of Photoshop I cloned and transplanted a copy of the other wingtip. Could you tell if I hadn't confessed?
The usuual suspect abound. I am often bored by the Canada Geese unless they are landing, taking off, or doing something different. These two did catch my eye due their nearly identical pose.

One morning I caught this Downy Woodpecker on a tree near the start of the Cross Dike trail. It was all in shade, except for this small shaft of light that light it up.

Down near the Timber Trail I surprised this squirrel. He made such an unusual sound that I immediately turned to see what was making such a noise. All it could think to do was freeze in place. I took a few photes in the wonderful side light, before moving away to allow it to relax and resume its foraging.

Another pretty regular visitor to the refuge is an Osprey. Every day I've been there it has make a pass up the channel and over the bay in the lower impoundment scouting for fish.

I've been focusing on trying to photograph birds in flight. (The pun was unintentional). I was pleased to quickly get a shot of this Male Belted Kingfisher as it went tearing across the refuge.

For the novices, Belted Kingfishers are one of the few birds where the male is drabber than the female. A female would have an additional reddish / brown stripe across her chest.
So that's it until next time. Hope to see you around the refuge.

I tried to save half of this for tomorrow morning but just couldn't stop reading.
ReplyDeleteI didn't save half, but I did go back over coffee this morning to study the amputated Northern Harrier's Photoshop'd wing.
ReplyDeletegreat pictures! I recently found your blog and have been enjoying. Do you mind if I ask what lens you are using?
ReplyDeleteMatt,
DeleteMost of these are with my Nikon 500 f4 lens, sometimes with a 1.4 teleconverter.
Across the blog I use a variety of lenses. In addition to the 500f4 I often use my Nikon 70-300. A lot of the landscapes are with my Tokina 12-24.
When I'm not being lazy most of my macro shots are with a Sigma 105. When I'm being lazy, I have been know to take macro shots with whatever lens is on the camera, including my 500. (I do carry a set of extension tubes in my bag to allow me to get closer with the longer lenses.)