Great Blue Heron

[davev]

I went to Lock and Dam # 1 on the Mississippi today.

I walked by this guy 3 times before I saw him.

Tamron 18-200 DI

http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45187764.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45188892.jpg

There is a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons with 4 young living there also.
I'm going to go back tomorrow with the 80-400os, or the 200L with a 2X TC.

http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45187767.jpg


Thanks for looking.

dave.

[bfjr]

Excellent find :thumb
Look forward to seeing more, especially that falcon, how cool :clap

[jwear]

nice set of shots and your lay out is cool -we be waiting for the Falcon 'nice shot :thumb

[Harryb]

Excellent Dave. I like the falcon shot. :thumb Have you considered a tighter crop?

[davev]

Thanks guys. 95 and sunny is the forecast, so it should be a good day for shooting.

Harry, I cropped it about as far as I could without total disintegration of the photo.
I do that a lot because most of my subjects are quite a ways away.
But I'll get em today with the 400mm.

The full frame, resize only


http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45201736.jpg

I did a pretty good job making the crop look good didn't I.

Thanks for looking.

dave.

[Harryb]

I see you point and you did a good job with the crop.

[ginger_55]

Davey, I love the way you show where that first shot was taken, etc. I saw it last night, but I did not want to be the first to post. I love your graphics.

It made me realize how difficult it would be to find, say a lost person. Also, I wondered, I know I miss birds now, but before I was "looking" and as aware as I am now, I wonder how much I missed. I do not do close ups, I don't have the means for one thing. I must miss many of those things.

I use my ears to find birds, or to be aware, I ask my "hearing" husband where the bird is, as I cannot tell direction of sound, he hasn't heard the bird call.

I just love your graphics, the things that go on in this world that we "see", but do not see.................... "hear" but do not hear, they boggle my mind.

And, of course, a falcon, well that is special. Good luck hunting the falcon.

Am looking fwd to yours and Harry's shots this evening, in the next few days, whenever.

ginger

[davev]

Hi Ginger.
I know what you mean about walking by stuff and never seeing it.
When I go to the nature center, I can hear all kinds of thing moving in the
tall grass, but I never get a glimpse of what was there.

Here are the shots from today.

Canon D Reb 300, Sigma 80-400os, with one shot using the Tamron 1.4 TC.

My buddy the Heron was there again. Different spot, but close by.

http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45209549.jpg

I only saw the 4 young ones today. Maybe sometime when it's a bit cooler
I'll go back and spend a little more time there. This is the pic that I used the TC on.

http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45209552.jpg

An older gentleman that I talked to yesterday, and has been watching the birds for
some time said that the young ones have only been out of the nest for 4 or 5 days.
It looks like they fly OK.

http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45209550.jpg

But have a little trouble sticking their landings.

http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45209551.jpg

A final shot, I went up onto the bluff, it's were the Vet's hospital is in Minneapolis, and got this shot through the fence.
Just think if this bird would grow into his feet, he'd be huge.

http://www.pbase.com/davev/image/45209553.jpg

These were the best of about 100 pics. I tried to get some BIF's but they just
didn't turn out. Either I was to slow, could got a focus lock, or the background was hideous.

Thanks for looking.

dave.

[MuskyDude]

Beautiful series Dave, I'm in total awe of you falcon shots. But that last one, that one is exceptional. I really hope you can get out and get more... :thumb

Thanks for sharing these,

AJ

[davev]

Beautiful series Dave, I'm in total awe of you falcon shots. But that last one, that one is exceptional. I really hope you can get out and get more... :thumb
Thanks for sharing these,
AJThanks AJ.
I won't be getting back there for a couple of weeks, hopefully, they'll still be around.

dave.

[jeff lapoint]

Thanks AJ.
I won't be getting back there for a couple of weeks, hopefully, they'll still be around.

dave.
last shot is wonderfulhttp://dgrin.com/images/smilies/thumb.gifhttp://dgrin.com/images/smilies/thumb.gifhttp://dgrin.com/images/smilies/clap.gif

[davev]

last shot is wonderfulhttp://dgrin.com/images/smilies/thumb.gifhttp://dgrin.com/images/smilies/thumb.gifhttp://dgrin.com/images/smilies/clap.gif
Thanks Jeff.

dave.

[ginger_55]

Really like those shots, Dave, but that last one is a humdinger, or something else.

Love those feet. I think I like bird's feet almost as much as some people like the heads. I have tried taking just feet shots, but they never work out as anything.

Cool photos, and those babies really do grow fast don't they!

ginger

[davev]

Thanks Ginger.

I don't know why, but I shot all day long at F8, and for some reason I switched
the aperture to F5.6 for that shot. I think the feet would have been in the DOF
if I wouldn't have done that.

I do things sometimes for no apparent reason.

Thanks for looking.

dave.

[bfjr]

The second series of the Falcon are excellent :thumb
wish all the manmade stuff wasn't there but hey I should talk never seen one in the wild.
and what a wonderful Falcon butt shot ya got there :D

[davev]

The second series of the Falcon are excellent :thumb
wish all the manmade stuff wasn't there but hey I should talk never seen one in the wild.
and what a wonderful Falcon butt shot ya got there :D

Thanks Ben.

I know what you mean about the manmade stuff.
Hopefully the next time I go there, I can get some BIFs with nothing in the
background but trees and/or sky.

dave.