photoartflightImmature Little Blue Heron
Posted on November 13, 2014
I was photographing a Great Egret by some sticks in the water. Then I noticed the other white bird was an Immature Little Blue Heron. It was fun to see there because you do not see too many in New Jersey, especially in Northern NJ..
Cormorant’s Disappointing Meal
Posted on November 9, 2014
I was at the Celery Farm this morning and a Cormorant was working the area for a meal. He kept diving and then coming up with nothing. He was fairly far out when he dove down to try again. Right after he dove a Gull landed nearby. When he surfaced with a large fish, it was right under the Gull. The startled Cormorant dropped his fish and then went after the gull. It happened so quickly I did not get a sharp shot. Then both went on their separate ways. The cormorant came closer as he was diving and fishing. Closeup, he surfaced with his new meal. Unfortunately it was a leaf.
Cormorant surfacing and dropping fish
Cormorant’s Tasty Meal
Osprey Flyby
Posted on October 6, 2014
I thought Ospreys had left our area because of the colder weather, but I was surprised to see this female Osprey fly in. It circled for quite a few passes, looking for a meal, but eventually moved on. They are always fun to watch fly and glide by.
Female Osprey circling looking for meal. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO, f/7.1, 1/1000 sec, +0.67 exposure compensation, ISO 320.
Great Blue Heron In Morning Light
Posted on October 5, 2014
I was leaving the Celery Farm Natural Area when I saw this Great Blue Heron on a fallen tree in the water. He had interesting backlight from the sun rising behind him, highlighting his head and beak, so I tried a few shots.
Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon 1.4X Series III Teleconverter, f/8, 1/80 sec, -0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400, handheld.
Great Egret In Morning Light
Posted on September 28, 2014
I found this Great Egret preening in the early morning light this morning at The Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, NJ. I like how the light was shining through the feathers giving dimension and textures from the side/backlighting. The Egret stayed for quite a while on this pile of sticks giving many photo opportunities. When time permits, if the subject is staying for a while, I try different compositions using horizontal or vertical panoramas, and/or focus blending. In time this Great Blue Heron came closer, but was too far behind to get both in focus. I shot 4 shots to create a focus stacked panorama of the two birds. I manually combined them with masks to keep the out of focus background with the bird images in focus.
Great Egret Preening. Four Shot Panorama w/ focus blending. 2 across, 2 down. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11, 1/400 sec, -1.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Great Egret Preening. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11, 1/640 sec, -1.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Great Egret. 4 shot vertical panorama. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11, 1/500 sec, -1.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Tired of Posing. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/800 sec, -1.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Sunrise at The Celery Farm Natural Area
Posted on September 14, 2014
I got up early to see if there would be an interesting sunrise at The Celery Farm Natural Area. Years ago we used to get some really colorful sunrises with thousands of small birds taking off into the sky. Times have changed with a much smaller amounts of birds filling the sky above the trees, hardly noticeable above the trees in this wide shot. The sun rose to the right of the main view of Lake Appert, but the trees hide the actual sunrise. There were a handful of Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets fishing and flying laps around the Lake. Also there were many raptors flying around the Lake pre-sunrise, some being chased by the small birds.
Great Blue Heron’s Sunrise Breakfast – Cropped In
Great Blue Heron’s Sunrise Breakfast @ 896mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO 800
Raptor sunrise Silo @ 896mm, f/10, 1/400 sec, ISO 400
Sunrise Raptor Landing in Tree after being chased by small birds, 896mm, f/10, 1/320 sec, -1.33, ISO 400
Cloud Formations on the Far Shore.
Canada Geese Sunrise Flyby
Small Birds Taking Off Into Sunrise on Far Shore
Suns Up – From Camera Platform
Great Egret FlyBy – Sun lighting through the wings. Canon 7D, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon 1.4X Series III Teleconverter, f/8, 1/1000 sec, -0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 320. Effective focal length, 896mm. Handheld.
Wings Not of a Feather Flock Together
Posted on September 14, 2014
While this Great Egret was fishing on this pile of sticks, I noticed a large amount of Dragonflies buzzing around the Egret. Before this I have seen Little Green Herons standing in the same spot picking off the Dragonflies out of the air. I recognized Common Whitetail Dragonflies, but there were many other types buzzing around, especially quite a few really large ones.
Ospreys at the Celery Farm
Posted on September 7, 2014
It was a busy day for Ospreys at The Celery Farm Natural Area. Lately there has not been a lot of activity with the birds here, but the last few days the Ospreys have been very busy. Multiple sightings during the morning and late afternoon. Multiple dives further out in the Lake. Usually only getting small fish. Here are a few of the hundreds of images I captured today.
Splashdown
Coming Out of the Lake
Starting to Hover Before the Dive.
Hovering
Scanning the Lake
Still Looking Below
Keeping an Eye on the Photographers
Great Blue Heron’s Breakfast
Posted on September 1, 2014
I went this morning to the Celery Farm Natural Area to see if I could find anything going on. It was a very dull overcast morning with low light. There were a few Great Egrets going back & forth, a Kingfisher off in the distance and a few Great Blue Herons, along with some ducks. We saw this Great Blue Heron off to the left, in the water. He caught a fish, but got it speared on the end of his beak, and started to go off down the channel. This is one of the few times I have seen a Great Blue do this. Usually they catch and swallow their meal fairly quickly, unless it is really large. This Great Blue looked like it was heading to shore to deal with his meal.
Mr Cormorant Has A Bad Day
Posted on August 24, 2014
I was at the Celery Farm Natural Area this morning expecting a usual slow day. But to my surprise there was a lot going on. Some activity close, some far away, but still was fun to see. We have not had many Cormorants in the last couple of years but there were 2 there. It was early morning and the Cormorant was in the dark shadows from the trees. It was fishing close by and then took off making a few laps around the small lake. The usual places they used to roost on the lake have disappeared and it ended up landing in a tree right above the observation platform we were at. After a while it took off to go fishing again. I was watching as he was far out on the lake. After a while I did not see him fishing anymore but went on to photographing Great Egrets. Then we noticed a strange sight of something going through the water and could not tell what it was. As it got closer we saw it was a Snapping Turtle dragging the body of the Cormorant by the throat. Usually we see the Cormorants catching and eating fish. Not being the meal themselves. It was a sad end to a good day of photographing wildlife. But I guess it demonstrates the life cycle in the wild.
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