Getting three takeoff shots in a series like this is pretty unusual for me, especially since I didn’t clip any body parts. Yesterday was mostly a good day at Bear River MBR but I saw some very disturbing conditions while I was there.
Grebes eat feathers. Lots of feathers. In fact grebes are the only birds known to regularly and deliberately eat their own feathers.
Yesterday was a pretty good day at Bear River MBR but any day I photograph a weasel is a good one.
I took a huge chance and used the dreaded Shadows/Highlights tool in Photoshop on this image in an effort to save it.
Personally I think the male of this pair got exactly what he deserved. Tit for tat.
Another reason I tend to shoot at higher shutter speeds than most bird photographers and this time it still wasn’t enough.
Familiarity with bird behaviors gives photographers a much better chance of capturing the shot we’re after.
The American Bittern is solitary and cryptically colored. Throw in its secretive nature and inaccessible habitats and you have a species that I rarely see so getting photos of one taking off and in flight made my day yesterday.
As simple as it is this photo from two days ago may become one of my favorite shots of an American Avocet for a variety of reasons.
On average I photograph Merlins less often than once per year so to get two of them in my viewfinder on the same morning was a momentous occasion.
Sometimes I think I focus on raptors too much and don’t give the songbirds their due. This little bundle of energy is my attempt at beginning to make amends.
Until my encounter with this hawk I was beginning to seriously doubt that bird photography was for me.
I like bird photography that includes significant hints at habitat. That goal is typically more difficult to achieve with flight shots than static shots but it can be done and this image is an example.
