Blackwater NWR Osprey Moon

There were 2 Ospreys, flying around the first observation platform along the Wildlife Drive, fishing off in the distance at about 9:30 in the morning. I was waiting for one of them to cross over the  moon, but they never did.

Osprey’s Big Splash

This Osprey was circling and fishing on the far side of the lake. The first attempt she did not catch anything. On the second attempt she caught a small fish and flew off. She hit the water hard and made quite a large splash. The following is the sequence of hitting the water, then exiting flying off with her meal. The whole sequence was under 5 seconds.

_43G7855-2

_43G7859 cf osprey v2

_43G7860 cf osprey v2

_43G7863 cf osprey v2

_43G7865 cf osprey v2

_43G7866-2 v2

_43G7867  cf osprey v2

_43G7868  cf osprey v3

_43G7869 cf osprey v1

_43G7870 cf osprey v2

_43G7871

BIF – Osprey

Here is another BIF – Bird in Flight. This time it is an Osprey that was circling over the water then came in closer. Ospreys are a little harder to get good shots because their heads are always turning side to side, looking below, so you might get a nice wing position, but the head is at an odd angle or looking away. I also add some positive exposure compensation for the darker feathers under the wings. You still have to be careful not to go to far and blow out the whites. You have the same problems with Eagles. I then open up the shadows under the wings a little in Photoshop. I usually do not like to use fill flash when photographing flying birds, I prefer to work on my raw files to open up some of the darker areas.

_43G6076

Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm IS DO f/4, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11, 1/640 sec, +0.67 Exposure Compensation, ISO 400

_43G5930 v2

Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm IS DO f/4, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11, 1/800 sec, +0.33 Exposure Compensation, ISO 400

_43G6080b

Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm IS DO f/4, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11, 1/640 sec, +0.67 Exposure Compensation, ISO 400

_43G6079a

Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm IS DO f/4, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11, 1/640 sec, +0.67 Exposure Compensation, ISO 400

_43G5863

Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm IS DO f/4, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11, 1/500 sec, ISO 400

_43G6092

Osprey Fly-By

This Osprey was roosting in the trees nearby and then flew off to look for its meal. This time the Osprey flew towards me which gave me an opportunity to get a few shots before it got out of range to photograph. After it went “fishing”, it came back and landed back in the trees to have its meal.

_43G4493 v2

Going Out for Lunch
Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO f/4 IS, Canon 1.4X Teleconverter, Handheld, f/10, 1/2000 sec, ISO 1250, +1 Exposure Compensation

_43G4515 v4

Lunch Served
Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO f/4 IS, Canon 1.4X Teleconverter, Handheld, f/10, 1/2500 sec, ISO 1250, +0.67 Exposure Compensation

Osprey Getting Nest Building Materials

We saw a lot of Ospreys flying through the refuge throughout our visit. When you did not see them, quite often you could hear them shrieking in the distance or hear them in trees along the Wildlife Drive. We often saw them carrying sticks or other nest building materials, bringing them to the nest.

_43G1279 v3

Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon 1.4X Series III Teleconverter @ f/7.1, 1/1600 sec, ISO 1250

_43G1278 v4

_43G1294 v3

_43G1510

_43G1509

_43G1506

800mm Fly By

Again from the archives, This Osprey had just hit the water, missed his catch and flew across in front of me. I was tracking him hoping he would come up with a fish, but I liked the small water droplets in his wake and the wing position even without his catch. I was using a Sigma 300-800mm zoom at 800mm, with a Canon EOS 1Ds MkII on a Wimberly Gimbel head. The Sigma is a non stabilized lens so you have to be careful and use long lens techniques, especially at 800mm, to get sharp images. I have a series of images, but was my favorite.

Ospreys at J.N. Ding Darling NWR

Because of my busy work schedule, I usually do not get to work on some of my personal files as soon as I would like. Going through my Ding Darling files I found quite a few that I wanted to work on. Here are some Ospreys from that trip. It is fun to photograph them fishing an area for their meal, diving into the water to catch a fish. Ding Darling is so large that it is hard to get Ospreys fishing. Usually you see them here flying by to another area or in a tree eating what they have caught. All images here were taken with a Canon 7D with the 400mm f/4 DO with a Canon 1.4X teleconverter giving a effective combined focal length of 896mm at f/5.6. This combination works well when you are photographing in a large open area plus it is extremely hand holdable for fast moving subjects. With the 7D it is important to shoot Raw images and use Adobe Camera Raw or the Canon Software that comes with your camera to process your files to control your image noise for cleaner images. If you ever get to Ding Darling look for them flying through the refuge or sitting in trees along the Wildlife Drive, either resting or eating their catch. Also note that J. N. Ding Darling’s Wildlife Drive is closed on Fridays. Hope you enjoy them.

Black and White at Brigantine NWR

Here is a brief selection of birds from the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division in Oceanville, NJ. Some are Summer visitors and the Snow Geese are Fall and Winter Visitors. Brigantine has a huge variety of birds & wildlife. Eagles, Ospreys, Egrets, Herons, shorebirds, gulls, terns, skimmers, rails, down to smaller birds. The birds here are White with Black (or Dark Brown). In bright light these can be a challenge to photograph and not blow out the whites and still retain detail in the dark areas. If they have black or dark brown coloring on them or a dark bird next to them, I capture in raw formats, depending on the make of the cameras. I usually underexpose slightly for the whites to retain details and open up the dark or shadow areas in the processing software.  I use Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop or Lightroom.  Sometimes I will do additional processing for sharpening in Photoshop and I use NIK Color Effects to bring out some additional details in the whites. You have to be careful not to add too much and bring out noise. Brigantine looks like it is coming back after Hurricane Sandy hit last year. We like Brigantine because of the wide variety of Birds & Wildlife photography, Landscapes, Sunsets, Sunrises, Macro – Bugs & Flora, the list is endless.

_43G3513c

_43G6408 crp copy

_MA_0320a copy

_Y9F8662a

_Y9F1240a

_43G8174a

_Y9F0719aa

_MG_5286a_1

_MG_4861

IMG_1746

Eagles and Raptors at Blackwater NWR

We enjoy going to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge outside of Cambridge, Maryland. You never know what you will find, so it is like going on a treasure hunt. It is a large refuge, so even though there are large numbers of birds & wildlife, some might be far out in the distance for photography. Long lenses are good to bring here, but if you are patient & observant you can find a lot of photo opportunities. Blackwater has a Wildlife Drive plus walking trails. It is known for its large population of Bald Eagles and also has some Golden Eagles. It has one of the largest populations of Bald Eagles on the East Coast, which nearly doubles in the Winter months. In the Summer months Ospreys return and quite often you see them interacting with the Bald Eagles. Also look for a variety of Harriers, Herons, Egrets, Swans, Ducks, Pelicans, Snow Geese, etc. Here are a few Eagles, Osprey and a Harrier.

Eagle BWR 09_MA_8909cc1

eagle bwr 09_MA_1100 hs

BE bwr 10 IMG_3011 v3

a_MG_7700 v4

_Y9F9056

_MG_6246

_MA_1087b

_43G2558 v2

_43G0300