A Case of the Blues

Harryb

Hi Y'all,

On Sunday my friend,Gale, and I made the last run of the year to the rookery in St. Augustine. It was kind of sad because the place is slowing down. This is also a fairly slow time of the year at the Wetlands.

Today our cleaning lady came over and as is my practice I vacate the house in the face of two women manically cleaning the mess I worked so hard to make.

I went over to the Wetlands and they were dead. I did get a green heron



but pretty soon I was reduced to shooting morehens and water lillies :puke




I decided to try the click ponds. The first one was dead and then .... and then........

I went to the second pond and

:jawdrop

:clap : :bow :lol3 :lynnma :lol4 :beer

Osprey Whisperer

So that's where all MY BIRDS went. It's been really dead down here. I went to the beach and intracoastal waterway early this morning...and saw 2 snowies, 1 great and a GBH..that was it. No seagulls, no pelicans, no mermaids. I did hear the osprey from far off..but didn't chase them. It was getting really hot...so I went home to work. ahhhh

Looks like you found some photo ops H.

kdog

All extremely cool, Harry. One big mess o' birds.

That last one is a real eye popper! thumb

-joel

jerrydoughnut

Fantastic! That`s really amazing to see all those birds together.

Harryb

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

So that's where all MY BIRDS went. It's been really dead down here. I went to the beach and intracoastal waterway early this morning...and saw 2 snowies, 1 great and a GBH..that was it. No seagulls, no pelicans, no mermaids. I did hear the osprey from far off..but didn't chase them. It was getting really hot...so I went home to work. ahhhh

Looks like you found some photo ops H.

I think we got all the birds. I know for sure that Ginger's wood storks are here.

They should be gone in a day or two because there's no way the ponds will have enough fish for all of them.

livinginoz

harry, i love that last one. with the crystal clear reflections it's almost surreal....hard to tell the bird from the reflection.

gluwater

Harry, now you are just showing off. That is ridiculous. So now that you found all the birds, your next assignment is to isolate one of them in that mass of birds. Now that should be challenging. How about a close up of one of those stilts?

Harryb

kdog wrote:

All extremely cool, Harry. One big mess o' birds.

That last one is a real eye popper! thumb

-joel

Thanks Joel, There were a fair amount of birds out and about.

ivar

talk about a bunch of birds :jawdrop Those are some great shots Harry, i love that last one

jwear

SO many birds SO little time :cry :cry how far are they off from you very nice shoots Harry

Brooks P

The last one took a moment before I realized what I was looking at. That is a really nice photo.

My first reaction to the green heron was wow . . . but, isn't there always a but? But . . . as I looked at it something bothered me, and then I realized what it was, the throat and breast of the bird seem to be a bit soft while the rest of the bird is sharp. I'm not sure why that is unless it has to do with angle on the bird and it is a DOF problem. Sorry to rain on your parade, but (there it is again) the more I look at the picture the more it bothers me, it's like having a grease smear on my glasses. Otherwise it's a great shot, I'll give you a A- for it.

Harryb

gluwater wrote:

Harry, now you are just showing off. That is ridiculous. So now that you found all the birds, your next assignment is to isolate one of them in that mass of birds. Now that should be challenging. How about a close up of one of those stilts?

Now if I was demonstrating my new dive into my solar heated pool I would be showing off. Don't blame me if a few birds drop by for a social call.

You want a stilt you got a stilt. Any other requests?

Harryb

Brooks P wrote:

The last one took a moment before I realized what I was looking at. That is a really nice photo.

My first reaction to the green heron was wow . . . but, isn't there always a but? But . . . as I looked at it something bothered me, and then I realized what it was, the throat and breast of the bird seem to be a bit soft while the rest of the bird is sharp. I'm not sure why that is unless it has to do with angle on the bird and it is a DOF problem. Sorry to rain on your parade, but (there it is again) the more I look at the picture the more it bothers me, it's like having a grease smear on my glasses. Otherwise it's a great shot, I'll give you a A- for it.

I took a look at the shot and it appears to be slightly softer than the rest of he bird. Now the original raw shot of the bird show this


The red reticule is where the camera was focused on which is just below the "soft" area. As the rest of the bird is sharp it doesn't appear to be a focus or DOF issue. I blew up the shot to 100% and it doesn't appear to be soft visually but that area of the bird has softer less defined feathers than other areas of the bird. This would probably be that softness you were noticing.

gluwater

Harryb wrote:

Now if I was demonstrating my new dive into my solar heated pool I would be showing off. Don't blame me if a few birds drop by for a social call.

You want a stilt you got a stilt. Any other requests?

You the man Harry!

Harryb

livinginoz wrote:

harry, i love that last one. with the crystal clear reflections it's almost surreal....hard to tell the bird from the reflection.

Thanks Laurie, I have always been a fan of reflection shots.

Harryb

ivar wrote:

talk about a bunch of birds :jawdrop Those are some great shots Harry, i love that last one

Thanks Ivar. That was probably the largets number of birds thatI have seen gathered in oone place so far. Incredible scene.

Trish323

Hi Harry!!,

I am still busy on baby watch! Help me!!!! I am THRILLED you found those birds at Click#2! Someone told me one day I would be surprised by how many can be there. In over 2 years I never caught it right! That is very encouraging!!!

Hope to see you in a few more weeks!

Dee

A big mess of birds
That's a lot of birds there! Love the photos showing the environment!

Last week we had a feeding frenzy of pelicans and their attacking swarm of sea gulls. Cormorants and other birds were beside them frantically trying to lessen the fish population in our local ocean waters.

This week, not much of anything is around. Pigeons, starlings, the local resident Mallard ducks, the visiting cats, a skunk, squirrels, one or two sea gulls.

I have no idea where the other birds have gone -- probably following what fish are left, where ever they went.

And our summer fog is hunkering down for a nice long stay making photo taking tricky.

So while I may not always comment, I usually take the time to look at your photos and enjoy them from the cool comfort of my home office. In reality, it's probably hot and humid where you are and I'd be miserable with the heat and wishing I were back in the fog. So it's an "armchair" bird watcher I've become.

It's difficult to make sense out of a whole mess of birds... but you did good! I'm rambling a bit...

bfjr

Beautiful Work as it always is and should be

But Harry,

The Horror of all that bird POOP!!! :uhoh :uhoh

Harryb

jwear wrote:

SO many birds SO little time :cry :cry how far are they off from you very nice shoots Harry

Hey Jeff,

A local birder claimed there were 1400 birds in that pond (I think his count was a tad inflated). The birds are all over the pond so they ranged from a few yards away to a quarter of a mile away. Not too shabbby for a 15 minute drive from my house.

Dick on Aruba

Great captures Harry. According to me there was a good bye party going on.
Is that not nice of the birds?

By the way: Clean your sensor

Thanks for sharing.

Dick.

Harryb

Trish323 wrote:

Hi Harry!!,

I am still busy on baby watch! Help me!!!! I am THRILLED you found those birds at Click#2! Someone told me one day I would be surprised by how many can be there. In over 2 years I never caught it right! That is very encouraging!!!

Hope to see you in a few more weeks!

Hey Trish,

You are on your own. I got my eldest granddaughter staying with us for all of July. I won't be doing a lot of shooting for the next month.

I would keep an eye on the ponds during migratory periods. These guys looked like they just left their nesting areas. A local birder said that there were 1400 birds in the pond. Like all birders he's a bit crazy but there were a few hundred there.

Harryb

Hey Dee,

Always great to hear from you.

I've seen those feeding frenzies before, very impressive. Birds usually are governed by their two interests mating and feeding ( a lot like most men ). I expect to go back to the wetlands in a few days and to find that whole crowd gone.

Its very hot and humid down here. I just spent a few hours waiting for the aborted shuttle launch and it wasn't a picnic. I almost dread going back there tomorrow. My eldest granddaughter is spending July with us and she really wants to see the launch so I'll be heading back out into the sauna tomorrow.

John Desjarlais

Wow! All of those shots are wonderful, but the last one is a stunner!

Harryb

bfjr wrote:

Beautiful Work as it always is and should be

But Harry,

The Horror of all that bird POOP!!! :uhoh :uhoh

Thanks Ben. Not to worry about all that bird poop, it is a water treatment plant.

Harryb

Dick on Aruba wrote:

Great captures Harry. According to me there was a good bye party going on.
Is that not nice of the birds?

By the way: Clean your sensor

Thanks for sharing.

Dick.

Thanks Dick. Sensor cleaning is just about a daily event now that things are so dusty down here.

Harryb

John Desjarlais wrote:

Wow! All of those shots are wonderful, but the last one is a stunner!

thank you very much John.

Khaos

I really like the lilly flower. Your bird pics are always good.

Harryb

Khaos wrote:

I really like the lilly flower. Your bird pics are always good.

Thanks, it was kind of fun to shoot a few lily shots. Its nice to have a subject that's not moving around.