photoartflightGreat Egret Flying At You
Posted on April 22, 2015
There were lots of Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets around the Refuge. On most you could see their breeding plumage. This Great Egret was flying in right at me and I liked the angle and head on approach coming at me, so I got a few quick shots. This one is my favorite.
Red-winged Blackbird Singing Before Sunrise.
Posted on April 22, 2015
When waiting for a Sunrise at one of the Wildlife Refuges I go to, I like looking around in the grasses and plants to see if I can find some birds that are early risers, waiting to be photographed. They do not seem to be as skiddish as they are later in the day. Sometimes you can get quite close. It also seems they are singing or chirping more early in the morning so they are easier to find. The only problem is lack of light. I do not want to use a flash and blast them with light, rather get a natural early morning look. So I have to use a fairly high ISO to get sharp images and deal with some noise in the image later. Usually in Adobe Camera Raw, I can clean up most of the noise. It is fun to get some images with a different look to show their behavior.
All images captured with a Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO MkI, with a Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, Handheld.
And a couple of others.
Start Of The Day
Posted on April 20, 2015
When the Sun starts to rise, you see flocks of birds flying out into the sunrise to start the day, feeding and moving around the refuge. Some days you see Egrets fly out 1 by 1, or if you are lucky you might see large flocks of Egrets or Cormorants going out in waves. Even with a high ISO, you still get a slight movement blur because of the lack of light. But it adds to the sense of the darkness of early morning and the movement of the birds.
Cormorants crossing over before sunrise.
Cormorant Flock flying out across the horizon.
Early Morning Fly-out, before the sun came up.
Lone Egret heading out across the refuge before the sun came up.
Osprey Fighting Over Nest
Posted on April 18, 2015
I found 4 Ospreys fighting over this nest on an Osprey Platform along the Wildlife Drive. 2 Males & 2 Females. I assume it was about the nest, but maybe a territorial dispute. Thy were fun to watch as it went on for over 10 minutes. Most of the action was either very high in the sky or far away over the water. Even if I could not get a lot of close shots, it was fun to watch the action.
Brigantine Sunrise
Posted on April 17, 2015
We got up early last weekend to try to get an interesting sunrise at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. There was a heavy cloud cover, but still looked interesting, even though it was not as colorful as we had hoped. The featured image is a 6 shot 12mm panorama combined in Photoshop. The other images are from 12mm to 24mm,
One Fish Two Birds
Posted on April 14, 2015
I was watching this female Osprey with a fish she had just caught. She was eating the meal on the ground when a Gull also got interested in her meal and decided that was a meal he wanted also. The Osprey took off, flying back towards her nest along the Wildlife Drive. The Gull kept trying to get a piece of the meal along the way and did not give up until she got near her nest.
Ospreys At Brigantine
Posted on April 11, 2015
We went to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division, in Oceanville, NJ this morning to see the sunrise and what wildlife was starting to return to the Refuge after the long Winter. There were lots of Great Egrets & Ospreys around the refuge. Here are a few photos of a female Osprey that had a close flyby. This is one of the first years we saw nests on all the Osprey platforms plus some even in small trees along the drive. This is the most Ospreys I have ever seen at Brigantine.
Osprey With Meal
Posted on April 10, 2015
From the archives, this Osprey caught a fish then landed in the grasses along the water at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. It stayed there quite a while before it flew off with the fish returning to one of the Osprey platforms in the Refuge. They are returning now to this area after the long hard Winter in the Northeast. Already saw some at the local small refuge close to home. Going down to this Wildlife Refuge across from Atlantic City to see if they are there already.
Rudy Ducks
Posted on January 29, 2015
I photographed these Rudy Ducks back in late December at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. There were large groups of them swimming and feeding. The Rudies are one of the ducks that over Winter at the refuge. They are one of my favorite ducks to photograph. Rudy Ducks are quite active and dive underwater for their meals giving you more photo opportunities. These were swimming ahead of a large group, rapidly down one of the channels going by larger groups.
Rudy with an Itch
Trailing Rudy Duck
Small Section of a Large Group of Sleeping Rudy Ducks
Rapidly Moving Through the Larger Group
Ring-billed Gull Finding Breakfast
Posted on January 3, 2015
We found this Ring-billed Gull moving around on this small island. I liked the bird’s reflection in the water. All of a sudden it pulled up this crab for breakfast.
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