A Rainy Day Turns Beautiful

All day long Thursday I was hoping that the rain would go away and the sun would come out. The forecast acted like that was a possibility. I went out to the Celery Bog as the sun started to peek out a little. When it was out the birds and the water looked amazing. It is spring and everything seems to be moving with a purpose out on the bog. That is a good thing for me as the wildlife does not notice you as much when they are busy. On this excursion I was also able to try out the new Sony A1 for a couple of minutes. The auto focus was so fast and so sticky that I immediately gave it back to my friend because I should not have touched it. That couple of minutes will end up costing me a lot of money.

A Year In The Making

Last year I made a photo of the red bellied woodpeckers in this hole. I made the photo from straight on, and I realized that if I can moved to the side it would have been better. I saw the window in the trees that I could have used that day, but the birds were done for a while. It took almost a year before I saw the birds in the hole again. I luckily remembered the angle that I found and I was able to make this photo. That is part of the fun of visiting the same place over and over. You can make your photos better over time by finding new and better angles. I am not a fan of all of the branches still in the photo, but at least they all sort of guide you right to the bird. At some point in the near future the male will be bringing food to this next as the female stays with the chicks. Those could be very interesting photos.

A Grebe On The Hunt

I saw this pied billed grebe eating so much during my stay at the bog. I made a couple of photos early on in bad light of it with a catch, but I was most happy with this one in the good light.

The Ring-necked Duck

Right now this is the bird that is most prevalent on the water. I have had people come up and see them and then walk away. They have become commonplace. Soon though they will be gone so I will not pass up an opportunity to make photos of them. It is fun to try and come up with new ways to show them. This was my favorite on the day.

Up Close With The Turkey Vulture

This is a bird that is not the most photogenic. It has been around lately though, and on Thursday it gave me a couple of close passes and nice looks. At some point though when a vulture is circling you it makes you wonder if you are in some sort of danger.

Diving For Dinner

This great blue heron is the only one that I have seen so far this year at the bog. I hope that we get a few more so that my chances of a close encounter are a little better. This is one of the herons that seemed to learn from the ospreys last year. It would hover over the water and look for a meal. Then it dives in to make the catch. Here it grabbed a nice koi. I liked this little series as it shows how it goes about its business. It was especially fun to hear the students not too far down the shore from me gasp as they watched this happen.

Keeping It In Perspective

On Tuesday I spent a little over twenty minutes at the bog and made some amazing photos. I went back on Wednesday with high expectations and really didn’t come away with anything. I edited photos and uploaded them, but at the end of the day I really had nothing to blog about. Thursday I went to the bog hoping for an amazing northern shoveler photo. It didn’t happen so I left thinking that I didn’t do well on the day. In reality I saw a lot and some of it very close to me. I need to get back into the mindset of just going out to be out there and any photo is a bonus. Below are a few other photos that I liked from the day.