Outdoor Ontario

Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: Anonymous on April 05, 2009, 09:18:59 PM

Title: Water + Birds = Photos
Post by: Anonymous on April 05, 2009, 09:18:59 PM

Here's a few from today, hope you enjoy them.

(http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq326/WingsofFuryPhotography/RNG7.jpg)

(http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq326/WingsofFuryPhotography/HG6.jpg)

(http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq326/WingsofFuryPhotography/AW2.jpg)

(http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq326/WingsofFuryPhotography/RNGBacklit7.jpg)

(http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq326/WingsofFuryPhotography/Gadwalls.jpg)

Title: Birds
Post by: JTF on April 05, 2009, 09:30:56 PM

Very nice series, my fav is the second one.

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Post by: Kin Lau on April 05, 2009, 10:16:56 PM

Very nice... good job on the widgeon, they tend to be skittish.

Were these out at CSSP?

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Post by: Anonymous on April 05, 2009, 10:45:01 PM

Thanks for the comments gents.

It was a hit and miss kind of day out at CSSP.  When I arrived there it was about 1pm and the sun was shining right in the old mug - great for warm temps, lousy for shooting into even though the grebes were no more than 25 feet away at times.  The grebe in shot 4 was one of those backlit birds.

After snapping a few backlit shots, I decided to head over to the Eastern side of the marina where I saw some actively feeding grebes which kept circling the little bay.  After positioning myself in some bushes and aiming north, I waited.  And waited.  And then waited some more.  They never came back, but hey, at least the attempt was made.

From there I went out to the lake and buried myself in the rocks waiting for them to come inshore to feed, and sure enough that's where I found them as they passed.  Shot #2 came from that position.  

After a while of shooting, I then went to the western side of that same bay and hid in the grass, just observing the grebes go about their courtship rituals and calling - quite the thing to see.  It was then I spotted a pair of ducks flying towards my position and sure enough they landed and proceeded to swim towards me.  American wigeon drake and hen - bonus!  They stayed for a while and weren't too skittish at all as they spent a good 10 minutes swimming around right in front of me, no more than 20 feet away at times until they flew off in an eastern direction.  Picture #3 is one of the better ones from the series.

From there I decided to walk along the lake side path out to the point.  Along the way I found the Gadwalls in shot #5 out in the lake being escorted by a pair of red necked grebes.  Then I took a look down the rest of the lakeside shoreline and all I saw was grebe after grebe after grebe, of course all backlit because the sun had moved to the west.  I took a look over to my right at the marina and sure enough there was some calm water close to shore and that's where I got shot #1.

From there I decided to just head back to the car as the sun was setting.  There were more gadwalls in the marina area but with little light I thought I'd save those for another day.

Cheers, Attila

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Post by: tdong on April 07, 2009, 02:52:02 PM

very nice set attila.  I saw your first horned grebe very close to shore as well but when I went back to the car to grab the camera, it moved far away