Piggyback Bird

Leaving work one day, I noticed some birds hanging around the perimeter fencing that I didn't immediately recognize.  Driving away, I phoned my wife and described the birds as she searched her bird identification app.  Back and forth we went, me trying to describe them and her asking questions as she narrowed her search.  Apparently I'm not too good at describing birds because we were unable to settle on an answer.

When I arrived home, I sat down with one of our bird books and began searching.  Not long into my search I found what I was looking for.  I called my wife over and showed her the picture on the page - Western Kingbird.

During lunch the next day, I moseyed out onto our nature walk with my camera hoping the birds I saw previously were still around.  I wanted a closeup photo to verify their identification.  I was pretty certain they were Western Kingbirds, but the Western Kingbird looks very similar to a couple other Kingbirds, specifically the Cassin's and Couch's Kingbirds.

As luck would have it, I managed to walk about 20 feet before seeing two of the birds sitting on some of the power lines coming into the plant.  I quickly snapped a few photos and then began waiting to see if they would provide me a closeup opportunity.  As I waited, I was able to identify six Kingbirds buzzing around, which I thought was pretty cool considering I'd never seen one until the day before.

I watched closely as one of the Kingbirds finally landed close to where I was standing.  I slowly brought my camera up and began snapping photos while walking very slowly toward it.  I was surprised to see the  Kingbird remain perched as I crept closer and closer.  Then I got another surprise as I noticed a spider (at least it looked like a spider) sitting on the bird's back.  Yes, you read that correctly, a spider getting a piggyback ride on the back of a Western Kingbird.  Nature never fails to amaze!

Enjoy!

Birds at Home

It's been quite a while since I was able to dedicate a full morning/evening to a local photo trek.  But, my camera is never too far from my side.  The weather has been fantastic and we've still been spoiling some of the local birds with black oil sunflower seeds.  We all enjoy sitting in the living room or on the front patio and watching the birds come and go and I often grab the camera to capture their activity.

On this particular day, I was growing tired of getting photos of birds perched directly on the feeders and patio railing.  I started thinking of ways to break things up a bit so that I could get pictures of birds in a more natural setting.  I finally walked down to our willow tree and picked out a good sized branch that was already lying on the ground.  Using some black zip ties, I was able to mount the branch between a couple shepherd's hooks that were positioned close to the main feeder.  I was counting on the branch becoming a staging area for the birds as they came and went.  Normally, the main staging area is within our ornamental plum tree that sits about 20 feet from our patio.  It provides good photos, if you can get a bird to land on an open branch unobstructed by leaves, but the new branch, if the birds would use it, would provide me a much closer view.

Little by little the birds began warming up to the additional branch, landing on it as they came to feed.  All I had to do was sit and wait for them to land in a position on the branch that offered a pleasing composition.  The two photos here of the House Sparrow and the Downy Woodpecker are a couple of my rewards.

Not to forget about the plum tree, I captured this photo of a Common Grackle as it came to harass some of  the other birds and grab some seeds.  I don't really care for the Grackle (as a bird they're pretty annoying), but I couldn't pass up the beauty of it's iridescent blue head and yellow eyes against the red leaves of the plum tree.

Enjoy!

Blackbirds and Chicken Feet

The weather has been absolutely amazing we've spent a lot of time enjoying it outdoors.  We haven't been the only ones enjoying the weather.  The purple martins have returned from their winter migration and meadowlarks have been filling the pasture air with their songs.  Turkeys have even been spotted in the hay field.

A couple weekends ago we were invaded by a very large flock of red winged blackbirds.  The first hint of their presence was from their non-stop racket as they grouped together in the trees around the property.  Now, I'm no  expert on red winged blackbirds, but it's fairly easy to distinguish the males from the females - and there were lots of them!  And, guessing by their noises, they are likely in the heat of their mating season.

We watched them throughout the day as they roosted in large groups and then, without notice, would take to the air.  I've always enjoyed watching large groups of small birds as they zig and zag through the sky, turning on a dime and these blackbirds put on quite a show.  Often, they landed in the hayfield, completely disappearing into the knee high grass.  You wouldn't even know they were there if you hadn't just seen them.  Then, they'd reappear as if the hayfield was spitting them out into the sky.  It was really cool to see.

I tried several times to capture an image of a large group as they flew together, but I never caught an image that really gave justice to what it was like in real time.  I finally saw a group land on the the fence, framed a shot, and snapped the shutter before they were back in the air.

This other picture is a simple click that I have to credit my wife for bringing to my attention.  She had let our chickens out to roam the yard and they made their way to the front flower bed.  They LOVE the flower beds and will spend as much time as possible digging dusting "bowls" and then laying in them throwing dirt on themselves.  I really wish I could have witnessed the scene leading to this photograph.  The sidewalk leading to our front door shares a boundary with the flower bed, so apparently one chicken was standing on the sidewalk while another tossed some dirt.  What was left were these perfect chicken tracks.

Enjoy!

More Spring

Still enjoying a wonderful Spring, although we have slipped back into some chillier temperatures.  Can't complain too much, especially when this weather makes carrying my camera extremely enjoyable!

Enjoy!

Spring has Sprung

We've been enjoying an early spring here in Northeast Kansas.  We went through a couple weeks of some of the most beautiful springtime tree blooms that I've seen!

Enjoy!

Lost...But Found!

Another example of how things can easily get lost in the shuffle.  When I download new photos from my camera, I have the fullest intent of going through them as quickly as possible to weed out those that don't make my initial cut.  Then I go through them again to determine my favorites.  Finally, I'll spend a bit more time editing as needed, although I really like to keep my editing to a minimum.  At last, I can share them with the world...or, at least the handful of people who might follow this blog every now and then.

I stumbled upon this photo of a Gerbera Daisy (one of my wife's favorite flowers) while skimming through old photos from way back in 2009.  Yes, it's been hiding for 3 years!  I really like this photo and am kicking myself for "misplacing" it for this long.

Enjoy!

Old Barn

I've always been on the fence when it came to the argument of using RAW capture vs. in-camera JPEG for my images.  99% of my images have been JPEG straight from the camera with minor adjustments made using some flavor of photo editing software (first GIMP then iPhoto and more recently, Aperture) to arrive at my final images.  I've tried to adhere to the philosophy of capturing my images in camera as close as possible to my final visions for those pictures.  Basically, I'd rather be outdoors capturing images than sitting in front of my computer for hours on end editing pictures to get them looking good.

Up to now, my "in-camera JPEG" strategy has worked well for me.  But, lately I've ran into a couple situations where my attempt at an image using in-camera JPEG failed, mostly due to my cameras inability to capture the necessary dynamic range for some lighting situations.  I know I'm not alone in this arena, since all cameras have limited dynamic range.  Struggling with those images made me think that using RAW capture could help in being able to pull detail from both shadows and highlights better than I can using an in-camera JPEG. I know that HDR photography is an option, but I've yet to jump on that bandwagon, simply because too many HDR images I see are processed "over the top" and look fake.  Plus, I do not have the necessary software to pull off HDR the way I would like if I ever decided to try.  Another option is to use a graduated ND filter, but that's something that's still on my "wish list" to purchase.

With that, my last few outings into the field I've forced myself to switch from JPEG to RAW capture.  Fortunately, it hasn't been as big of a change as I thought it might be.  Also, it hasn't changed my workflow all that much and, so far, processing and editing RAW files in Aperture is pretty darn close to editing JPEG images.

The image above is an example where I don't think I could have arrived at the same final image if I used in-camera JPEG.  The dynamic range was quite large and editing the RAW image, I was easily able to pull some detail from the foreground shadows (corn field, trees, and barn).  I also played around with adjusting the highlights and am quite pleased with the results I came up with in the sky/cloud area.  I also noticed an advantage with RAW concerning the overall sharpness and detail of the image.  I was probably 200 feet or more from the barn and trees, yet the detail and sharpness in the tree branches is pretty good.  This barn is less than 1/2 mile from my house and I've taken many pictures of it.  But, this is the first image I've captured that I've been very pleased with.

Enjoy!