Spring Migration Starting

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1250, f/6.3 @ 1/1250s Manual exposure

Since the last post it has seemed like the world has changed. Covid 19 has taken hold and since I am working from home and basically self-quarantining for the time being I decided I would try and catch up and post some of my recent images. I know during my last post I had talked about wanted to make YouTube videos and I still do. After filming some test runs I realized how much work goes into editing the film. So I need to work on getting better footage, so I don't have to edit as much. With due time I am hoping to start producing good quality videos on my channel.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 800, f/6.3 @ 1/1000s Manual exposure

Since my last post I have spent a lot of time out filming and photographing. Eagle season here is really coming to an end and with this pandemic I am not sure I am going to be able to travel to Maryland to go to the Conowingo Dam again. So, for now I will turn my focus to other waterfowl during the migration months here. Over the last month or so I have seen plenty of eagles due to them being on their nests. But I have not managed many good photos. However, I have been able to get some photos of many other species.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1000, f/6.3 @ 1/1000s Manual exposure

The first photo that I liked from my trips was a photo of a goose standing on the edge of the ice and reflecting nicely in the open water. I was quite happy with the image. I know that it is just a Canadian goose, so not the most thrilling subject but I just liked the way the image turned out.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1600, f/8 @ 1/1250s Manual exposure

While spending many hours waiting in eagle blinds for an opportunity that rarely came I did get some opportunities to photograph ducks and seagulls. The one day a common merganser came close to the blind and was fishing along the edge of the ice. I wish I could have gotten a little closer, but I will take what I can get. The seagull image was of the bird taking off the ice. I love the contrast of the image and the outstretched wings. I was also lucky enough to get an image of two seagulls flying together. They were circling together for some time, and I was happy to have gotten a decent photo.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 320, f/6.3 @ 1/1250s Manual exposure

One of the days I got to the Bashakill Wetlands before the sun came up. I was lucky enough to spot the Mute Swan very early so I was able to photograph it during the golden hour while the sun was coming up. It turned out to be a weird morning because after the sun came up it quickly went behind clouds and started snowing. I probably spent about an hour photographing the swan and was happy with the way some of the images turned out. I always love the winter grass turning a gold color due to the early morning sun. Also, the swan was more of a soft yellow instead of the typical bright white.
I am looking forward to taking more trips soon.

Hopefully, the Covid 19 situation will end soon, and life will return to normal. Until next time, please be safe. 

Happy New Year

Last break was very disappointing.  I really didn’t see anything I could photograph.  But this winter break has been much better.  So far I have seen many bald eagles, and an assortment of ducks, including common mergansers, black ducks, and hooded mergansers.  It has been a very good start to break and I am hoping it continues.

It started slowly this break but since the temperatures have dropped and the amount of open water has diminished the bald eagle population is contained in a smaller section of the reservoirs that I frequent.  I have plans to update some of my pages because they are getting outdated.  I plan to change some of the reviews to more relevant cameras and some other updates. 

 

 

I uploaded a few of the bald eagle photographs that I have gotten recently and I am also uploading a photograph of a common merganser that I took.  I was a little upset with myself that I overexposed many of the bald eagle photographs but it wasn’t so bad.

 

 I also will now be uploading full resolution photographs on flickr because they now offer 1TB of space.  So I will upload the full shots to flickr.  Hope you enjoy the photographs.  Until next time.        

Last Week

I spent most of my week home at the Bashakill Wetlands.  It was pretty nice out but most mornings there was a fog that made it hard to photograph.  I still took thousands of photographs and I am narrowing it down to my best images now.  Within the next few days I will hopefully get a chance to post some of the photographs that I took.  Over the period of the week I saw many different duck species including, mergansers, mallards, and wood ducks.  Plus plenty of Canadian Geese.  I also saw some Swan's but was unable to get a photo.  Near the end of the week I saw a couple of Great Blue Heron's but was unable to get a good photograph.  Also I took many pictures of Red winged black birds and tree swallows.  Plus there was an abundance of turtles.  Also I saw my first snake of the year, which I believe was a ribbon snake.  Scared me when it brushed passed my feet.  Can't forget that I saw a couple eagles on my trips, but the number has drastically dropped since January.  I guess I was going to see a couple since there is a nest there, but I also saw a couple immature bald eagles that aren't nesting there.   It was a really odd sight to see some of these species so early, but it was extremely warm for this time of year. 

Abundance of Wildlife

Yesterday was full of excitement, from the time I got to the lake to the time I left.  When I first arrived I spotted a couple of eagles.  Plus there were many types of waterfowl including common mergansers, American black ducks, and Red-breasted mergansers.  The lake was also teeming with seagulls.  After about a half an hour more eagles started to show up.  I could not even count how many I saw during the day.  They were very active fishing, but I did not capture a good shot of any while fishing.  I did get a good shot of an eagle while it was taking off.  Out of all the photographs I took it seemed like the only good one.  I not only got to see eagles chasing ducks and one eagle attack a seagull that had caught a fish, but I also saw eagles locking claws and fighting each other.  It was absolutely incredible.  I hope when the snow stops, that I can get another chance at the lake this afternoon.