OBNWR

The warmth of Spring is finally settling in. I've shed the jackets and now my bird walks attire is thin long sleeves and long pants to keep sunburns and bugs away. The blooming trees are. The ospreys are actively building and occupying nests. The eagles are clearly guarding nests, with eaglets probably there by now.

This osprey flew by me at full speed and snapped a branch off of a tree, apparently never intending to actually land when it grabbed the branch.

Osprey With Stick for Nest

Here's an osprey that built a nest with its mate on top of a duck blind. It's a short distance from the shore and easy to view. That's the Occoquan marina in the background.

Osprey Leaves Nest

Unfortunately there wasn't much action at either eagle nest, no hunting. At the shoreline nest, one eagle perched on a dead tree limb and occasionally chased crows away. I had trouble getting clear shots through the trees so there are no in-flight chase shots.

Bald Eagle Hangs on in Wind

Launch

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle on Perch

The warmer weather and sunny skies are definitely bringing people out too. It seems there's always a group out now, cleaning trash that washes up on shore, birding, banding, or just out for a walk in the park. I know when I see an army of people carrying spotting scopes on tripods that they will flush the birds deeper into the woods and it's time for me to go.

Cherry Blossoms

The cherry blossoms were in bloom at the tidal basin last week. I wasn't able to take off from work to visit at dawn as I did last year, and I didn't bother trying on the weekend because of the crowds. I did make it Tuesday evening under a gloomy, overcast, drizzly sky. The weather drove most people away, and it was clearly past peak bloom with many petals on the soggy ground or in the water. In some places it was like getting rained on by petals as the wind and rain dislodged them from the trees. I shot anyway, and here are a few of them. Hopefully next year I can get there during better weather.

Cherry Blossoms and Jefferson Memorial

Cherry Blossoms

Tidal Basin

Cherry Blossoms and Washington Monuument

Cherry Blossoms and Jefferson Memorial

Cherry Blossoms in the Rain

Tidal Basin

Cherry Blossoms

Tidal Basin

Tidal Basin

It's Raining Cherry Blossom Petals

 

Tidal Basin

Ospreys Everywhere

Another nice morning, another walk in the refuge. A family of deer crossed the road in front of me on my way to the shore, but it was too dark for usable shots. I heard the typical osprey calls all morning. They were flying all over the place, but not really fishing. The wind was pretty stiff; maybe that had something to do with it.

I got a few glimpses of eagles, but nothing noteworthy. Both nests were occupied, each with a parent in the nest and a mate nearby.

Bald Eagle Deep in the Woods

Ospreys flew by me on several occasions, circling me, checking me out.

Osprey in Flight

 This one and its mate had a few sticks and I think they were planning to nest, but the tree looked like a poor choice.

Osprey Hanging on in Stiff Wind

And here's the result of one more encounter.

Osprey Stares at Me

The bird watchers were out in force, walking around with scopes on tripods. The team of bird banders gave up early because of too much wind.

Botched It

The forecast for this morning was cold and clear. I grabbed the camera and headed to the refuge. The parking lot was still in sight behind me when I saw a pair of immature bald eagles circling overhead. They were aggressively tormenting one another. I had set the ISO for the dark early light but neglected to open the aperture up and didn't notice until nearly the end of the encounter that my shutter speed was way too slow. I botched one of the best eagle encounters I've ever seen. I was able to salvage a few shots, and this is probably the best among them.

Immature Bald Eagles Harassing Each Other

  I lost sight of them and kept walking. I had noticed how slow the shutter speed sounded and selected a more sane f-stop. A few hundred yards later, I saw an immature eagle approaching. I prepared to shoot, and was stunned by the fact that it circled me, twice. It was checking me out.

Immature Bald Eagle

It seems to have some fluffy material on its forehead.

Immature Bald Eagle

After that eagle flew off, I kept walking my usual route. The ospreys were active, but not close. I didn't get much usable material from them. I like this one even though the eyes are looking away; this is a good look at its talons and wings.

Osprey Takes Flight

 I'm usually not interested in herons. I find them boring. They usually fly away as soon as they see me, but this one just stood there, and I liked the way the sun was lighting it.

Great Blue Heron

Small birds, especially the common ones, don't interest me either. Most of the other photographers I see at this refuge seem to seek them though. This cardinal just sat there in great light as I approached, so I took the shot.

Northern Cardinal

 As I walked the shoreline road, I saw several eagles hunting and harassing each other.

Immature Bald Eagle

Immature Bald Eagle

Unfortunately the trees near the shore obstructed my view and I was unable to get any more shots of eagles behaving badly. It was cold, the wind was biting, and more people were showing up. I knew their presence would virtually eliminate the likelihood of more action shots, so I headed out. I usually pass up Canada Goose shots because they are so common here. But this one just stood there looking at me and honking, so I grabbed one shot.

Irate Canada Goose

The eagle nests had no birds obviously there. I presume the parents were down in the nests, out of sight. Often there's one in the nest with a mate nearby, but I saw no mature eagles on this visit. I can't believe I messed the best opportunity up so badly. I think I'm going to have to read up on how to use one of the new camera's presets so I can be sure to get everything ready in one step.

A Nice Walk

I had a nice walk in the park, with a few bird sightings. This was mostly to get some exercise and work with the new camera. The bald eagles are still tending their eggs or hatchlings.

Bald Eagle in Nest

This parent hides in the nest, with only the occasional head shot possible. I can hardly see it in the viewfinder because the Fish and Wildlife Service blocked the road to establish a buffer zone and I had to keep my distance. It's so tiny in the picture that I can't tell that the bird is there except for the way the yellow beak stands out against the bark or sky background. This is an aggressive crop. The ospreys were also out, building nests (with really long sticks) and hunting. This one stared at me.

Osprey Stares at Me

And this one flew right over. The sky was overcast and the light was poor, but I was able to recover a lot of detail in post processing. I'm always a sucker for light shining through feathers, and this shot has a lot of that in the bird's tail.

Osprey

I like the new camera, a lot. The high ISO performance is sweet and the higher pixel count lets me crop a lot before getting unacceptably soft.

Eagles and Ospreys

Again eager to use the new camera, I went out first thing this morning after a dreary day of rain yesterday. I had the place to myself. Initially it was pretty dull, with the exception of a pair of beavers swimming along the shore who made the slap/splash. Then there were some eagle passes, obstructed by trees. Then I saw a group of eagles approaching over the water and I was able to capture this one.

Immature Bald Eagle

Immature Bald Eagle

Then this one came along.

Bald Eagle

The flights were out over the water and the sun back-lit them, but I was able to bring some details out. There's an island visible from shore where I frequently see eagles and ospreys perched in the trees. There were several eagles in one tree, and while I watched one of them took off and hunted over the water. Then the other eagles attacked the hunter.

Eagle Drops Fish

This was at the far end of my lens' reach and the detail is poor, but I like the composition with the two birds and the falling fish. I was shooting just hoping to get something useful. I couldn't tell much about what was happening in the frame because it was just so far away. Aggressive zooming and cropping showed the falling fish, and the fight continued.

Fighting Eagles

Again, very far away. One eagle is upside down, talons up, and I can make out water drops in the air along with what I think is a fish in the air between the eagles and the branches of that dead tree. While this was going on, I kept hearing two eagles loudly screeching at one another near me. I couldn't see them, but I knew they had to be close. When the eagle fighting was over, I walked toward the sound, and there were two mature eagles in a tree, obscured by branches, and they both flew away before I could photograph them. Walking on, I spotted this osprey eating its breakfast.

Osprey with Bloody Fish

When the osprey flew away, it was because an eagle approached.

Bald Eagle

There were several more osprey overflights, and I think this shot is my favorite.

Osprey with Fish

This bird just flew around looking at me, with one talon grasping the fish and the other streamlined back below its tail, and that big yellow eye looking at me.

I like the new camera.

Trying the New Camera

UPS delivered my new camera on Wednesday and I've been anxiously waiting for a chance to use it. The sky was overcast Friday after work, but I decided to go shooting anyway. What better test than dull skies to see what the camera can do?

The first thing I noticed was that the ospreys are back. I saw several pairs on platforms, and there were several overflights with ospreys carrying sticks as they are busy building nests. Wandering along the shore, there was little to shoot: no eagles at the shore-side eagle nest, no eagles camped on the tree with the osprey nest where I've had so much good luck before, no hunting events over the water.

I'm usually not interested in herons, but I wanted to shoot something, so I got a few photos of herons to at least have something to inspect when I got home.

Heron

When I reached the other eagle nest, there was clearly a parent sitting on eggs, but it was barely visible and its mate was nowhere to be seen.

Bald Eagle in Nest

This is a very aggressive crop, with only a modest bit of clarity dialed in. Eventually I started seeing more ospreys and I had a chance to get some shots of them.

Osprey in Flight

Bad light, distant bird: Just the kind of test I wanted. I had cranked the ISO up to 800, which let me shoot at f5.6 and 1/1000. That would be noisy on my old camera. I brought the shadows up, turned the blacks down, used noise reduction, and cropped to get the photo above. Not a keeper, but I'm pleased with the wing feather detail I was able to get and the sharpness, even after a pretty severe crop.

I heard a helicopter coming closer, and I got this shot.

VH-3 Sea King (sometimes called Marine One)

The marines were on a training flight. Again, not a great photo, but it gave me a chance to practice. It looks like 1/1000 is a good shutter speed for photographing a helicopter: The fuselage is sharp; the rotor tips are blurred.

I was getting tired, so I decided to go home after a disappointing outing. I turned a corner and this eagle was perched ahead. I approached slowly, trying not to flush it, maneuvering to get a clear shot through branches.

Bald Eagle

This is a moderate crop, with the shadows (dark feathers) turned up and noise reduction. It just sat there gripping the branch with one talon. The other talon is just barely visible above.

Not great photos, but I can experiment with them. I wanted to see how far I could go with the cropping before reaching unacceptable quality.

Bald Eagle

This is a pretty severe crop, with modest noise reduction and shadow lightening. I like the feather detail in its white head and dark body. Here's one more aggressive crop.

Bald Eagle

When it flew away, I botched the capture. I clearly need more practice with this camera. The lessons for this camera: it crops well, it's quiet (the old one sounds like a machine gun in comparison), and the noise level in low light is much more acceptable than with my old camera.

Rain today. Bummer. I'll try again tomorrow when the forecast is much better.