Third Times the Charm?

Three days in a row I have seen two different Bald Eagles in the trees down the road from my house.  The first two days it was a juvenile Bald Eagle and today it was a mature Bald Eagle. What I have missed three times now is capturing on my camera either eagle taking off from a its perching position, that is a picture that I have really wanted to get especially with how relatively close they were when I had a 500mm lens on my camera. Although I did not get the shot that I was looking for I did get some great images of the eagles a couple which I have already posted of the juvenile.

This was my favorite that I took today I had to follow this eagle for a while and miss the first 20 minutes of my class in order to get this shot.

I also got quite a few shots of the eagle in the tree before it took off I missed the shot I wanted this time by stepping out of my car it is always something else. Also something to note in the future for my self and anyone else about to get the shot of the day check the image size before you go out. I ended up shooting in JPG all day I am just glad it was on the large setting.

These are the a couple of the images that I got of the juvenile eagle yesterday. Boy if you could have seen it I had my camera down changing settings and looked up and this eagle spread his wings and took off. It was huge! And the color right now for this bird is amazing brown turning to black and white patterns scattered through the underside. I can not really tell how old this bird is but with the size and the color markings I would say that it was close to getting its permanent feathers in soon and 3 to 4 years old.

What is this bird?

I was on my way from church today with my family and we saw this huge bird in the tree it was just a couple hundred feet from our home. So I rushed home grabbed my camera and came back and got a couple of pictures. It was big enough that I was actually questioning whether it was a Juvenile Bald Eagle or not I thought maybe a Golden Eagle. Then I went home and looked at one of the last pictures I took as it was flying away, definitely a Bald Eagle. Although I must say this was the biggest Bald Eagle that I have ever seen.

Bald Eagle Juvy, 03-06-2011, Rexburg, ID. Canon T2i, f/5.6, 1/320 sec. 500mm.

Bald Eagle Juvy, 03-06-2011, Rexburg, ID. Canon T2i, f/5.6, 1/320 sec. 500mm.

The color in the tail feathers is what clued me into the fact of it being a Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle Juvy, 03-06-2011, Rexburg, ID. Canon T2i, f/5.6, 1/320 sec. 500mm.

As you can tell I was not ready for it to start flying away I did get a few more shots after this one but I was shooting into the sun so they did not come out.

Something else that I did to make sure that I was right on the identification of this bird and that I use on other birds is whatbird.com. In the forums you can post a picture of a bird and have it answered in just a couple of minutes. It is great resource when you are stuck on that bird.

Another bird that I used whatbird.com on is the Townsend’s Solitaire  pictured below. I am fairly new to birding so a lot of time when I come across a bird that I only see for seconds and am lucky enough to get a snap shot of I cant quite figure out what bird it is. This one I did have a clue on, was talking to one of my professors last week and he helped me identify a different Townsend’s Solitaire that I had seen by pointing out white the ring around the eye.

Townsend’s Solitaire, 03-05-2011, Rexburg, ID. Canon T2i, f/5.6, 1/125 sec. 500mm.

After looking closer again in another picture I also noticed the V in the tail. The V in the tail and the ring around the eye would have been two good indicators to help me identify this bird without a better look.

Technorati Tags: Bald Eagle,Townsend's Solitaire,Juvenile

A good day birding!

I spent a couple hours out looking for birds today and it turned out to be a good day for it.  Why I was out I also got to try out my new Sigma 170-500mm lens and it works pretty well. All the shots in this post are hand held at about 500mm except for the kestrels which I actually used my canon 250mm lens.

Bald Eagle, 03-05-2011, Saint Anthony, ID. Canon T2i, f/10, 1/200 sec. 500mm. (Exposure, contrast, Photo Shop)

I was taking some pictures of a flock of Common Goldeneye ducks that had just taken flight when I noticed this Bald Eagle flying over head. The shot did not come out as clear as I would like but for hand holding at 500mm with low light conditions it is not to bad.

Chickadee, 03-05-2011, Rexburg, ID. Canon T2i, f/5.6, 1/200 sec. 500mm.

Chickadee, 03-05-2011, Rexburg, ID. Canon T2i, f/5.6, 1/200 sec. 500mm.

These two Black Capped Chickadees amongst others have recently found the food that I have hung out for them. They also were the first subjects for trying out my new lens it may be a little soft at 500mm but I think the images turned out nice.

Perfect Flight, 03-05-2011, Saint Anthony, ID. Canon T2i, f/5.6, 1/320 sec. 500mm. (W/filter, exposure, Photo Shop)

This was 4th in a series of quick shots that I took as this swan came flying just above the river passing right in front of me.  This is one of the shots that I have been trying to get for awhile (a Trumpeter Swan in flight) and it turned out nice a little grainy up close but it looks nice.

Kestrels,  03-05-2011, Rexburg, ID. Canon T2i, F/5.6, 1/200 sec. 250mm. (Contrast, exposure, Photo Shop)

This was a first for me two American Kestrels side by side the one on the right is the male (the gray blue markings on the wing). This was a shot I was unprepared for so with a little help from photo shop I was able to make the kestrels really pop but at the same time they look like they are a cut out.

Technorati Tags: American Kestrel,Bald Eagle,Trumpeter Swan,Swan,Chickadee,Black Capped Chickadee

Catch up!

Wow it has been a long time since I have updated this blog this is mostly due to the fact that my last camera was stolen and I just updated to a Canon T2i. The canon T2i is a great camera and I really like using it it takes clear sharp pictures it is easy to use and the 1080 p video is great the one real down side that I am getting used to is the amount of noise the shutter makes every time I take a picture. I have been out a lot recently taking a lot of pictures for a couple of reasons including class assignments, I am in the photographic society on campus, and I love to take pictures.  Over the last year I have really started to enjoy birding (bird watching) and it helps that I have a class that requires me to bird and I am really learning a lot actually going out and looking for birds. I am going to try and keep the blog up to date weekly if not more as I take pictures this will be the place to come see them and read about them.

Natures Soul

Natures Soul

The soul of a man is a master piece, full of knowledge, experience, and desire, but it is not the only thing with a soul. The soul that I speak of is more than that of the heart of man or the soul that might be mentioned from behind a pulpit early on a Sunday morning. I am talking about what makes a man return to painting after years of other obligations, or what makes the wind tease the grass as it blows through the valley day after day and year after year, or what makes the moon listen to the cry of the wolf throughout the dark night.
Year after year I am pulled back to Yellowstone from a intangible force like that, that points a compass north. Every year as the snow fades away and the migration whistles over head I am pulled away first in my thoughts and then in my dreams until the day comes that my soul is awakened from it’s slumber and my wings spread and carry me away into my dream.  But alas, the dream soon fades away as gravity pulls me back to earth and I again wait for my wings to spread and carry me away.
Three months a go I came to Yellowstone as the seasons changed and my wings spread, this was nothing new it had happened before but this time it would be different. I do not know exactly what was different but it helped make the difference. The soul of a man may seem simple to understand, but it is something my wife will never understand. Like the Bighorns on a cliff, there are plenty of meadows to graze and valleys to live in so why do they choose to spend their time atop the mountains and on the edge of cliffs. For the same reason I want to, why limit your gaze to the grandeur in front of you and watch the birds soar from below when you can stand upon the majesty of the mountains, fly with birds, and see into the future. As I wandered the park on that trip I knew that Yellowstone is where I wanted to be. It has now been almost two months from the time that I moved my family into an apartment in the shadow of Electric Peak in the small community of Gardiner Montana. From the time that I first got here I have been entertained by ants, memorized by bears, and frightened by tourists and can now see that this land has it’s own soul.
Almost ten years ago when I was first put into a trance by Yellowstone National Park I came to seek after wolves and bears. I did not know or care about the splendor that surrounded me, the thermal features looked cool but smelt bad, Bison and Elk were a thing of the past, and if you have seen one Lodge Pole Pine you have seen every tree in Yellowstone. I came back year after year looking for the same thing sometimes I got lucky and sometimes I wasted my time. As I came each time I noticed that the people that I talked to were struck by Yellowstone the same way that I was, some had different passions or their soul desired other things but Yellowstone is what brought them here. How could Yellowstone have such a pull on so many people?

The Soul

I have changed and I think it is Yellowstone that has changed me, there is so much more to Yellowstone than that of wolves and bears. Over the last few weeks I have really started to recognize this, as I sat waiting to see a wolf pup emerge from it’s den I listened as the gossip of the frogs pulled me into their conversation and I started to realize that the wolves and bears were just part of Yellowstone’s soul that there was so much more, and if I listened and watched I could be filled with knowledge, experience, and a greater desire to be part of Yellowstone and what it has to offer. From the time that I listened to the gossip of the frogs my ears have been freed and my eyes open to the world around me. Understanding that Yellowstone like everything else in this world whether it is an individual, a family, a business or another national park has  a soul, a driving power or influence that molds it, has helped me and will help me go beyond sitting in the valley looking up at the peaks.