September 25 2010 - Such a Perfect Day

(cue the Lou Reed song...)

Decided to live this weekend like it might be my last on planet earth, and it was a very fine time.

Saturday was endless great music in the car, too many cappuccinos, and 2 beautiful coastal sites that we drank in until sunset.  First up was our favorite park, Point Lobos, south of Carmel.  The lot was full, but strangely the paths did not seem crowded.  We wondered where all the people had gone.  Saw two distant otters and several of this year's harbor seals. Spent a lot of time in the grove with the old lichen covered twisted trees and enjoyed the views inland and out to sea.  Such an amazing place!

Tom spotted a Townsend's Warbler and I got two mediocre shots of it before it flew and hid.  Nice little bird, and the first time we have seen one, but I was pretty sure of what it was anyway.

From there we traveled north to Sunset Beach and had a great long walk.  Virtually noone ventures beyond maybe 300 feet of the picnic area at this beach, so again it was like we were on our own completely.  However a large crowd did show up to watch and photograph the sunset , which was gorgeous.

More photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157624916258161/

September 19 2010 - I am a hunter

It has occurred to me more than once, as I step carefully through the woods, that I am a hunter.  Not the kind of hunter that actually kills, but in all other ways almost identical.  I dress to camouflage myself.  I walk quietly.  I "shoot", and my equipment needs to be light enough to walk for miles. I listen carefully, watch carefully, and know where to look for my "prey".  I capture trophies, even display them.

Last weekend it occurred to me that photographers who shoot wildlife are typically hunters or fishermen.  The hunters, as described above, need lighter weight equipment as they stalk the wildlife.  Fishermen find a good spot, settle in, and wait for their fish to show up.  They frequently put out bait (backyard feeders, say), or find areas that attract fauna in good numbers.  These photographers can bring out the big glass, balanced on tripods, like sports photographers can.  They can sit comfortably like fishermen, hang out, and maybe even have a quiet chat or two.

I do an occasional bit of fishing in my own backyard, but I have the soul of a hunter....

August 29 2010 - A day by the bay

As previously stated, during these late summer days the best chances for any kind of "fauna" action are at the coast, by the bay, or in the backyard. These are the places where food is still abundant.

Last post covered the coast so today it is the bay.  Yesterday we visited Mountain View Shoreline Park.  It is truly one of the best places to walk in the bay area.   Shoreline Lake, the various sloughs, the power towers, various little islands, the shoreline brush and trees and the bay itself all become host to an enormous diversity of creatures large and small.  You can take a different path every time you visit, walk for miles, and still come up with a completely different experience. Yesterday we walked to and past the Shoreline Lake area, crossing over Permanente Creek and then onto the Stevens Creek trail.

Tide was out, and the forebay area was mainly filled with dowitchers and a handful of avocets, snowy egrets, and great egrets, all with bills deep in mud.

Surprisingly, did not see a single black crowned night heron.  There have been dozens in the marshy areas at this San Antonio entrance area every visit for the past year.  Hiding well at least for today.

At the lake we saw a few female plumaged surf scoters - likely immature birds. Also saw several cormorants, great and snowy egrets, pied billed grebes, coots, and of course a lawn filled with canadian geese.  Some of these were just so fat that they lay on the lawn splayed on their bellies while snarfing up bills full of fresh grass.

Along the Stevens Creek trail the bay shore was a heavy slick of green and pink brine.  There were clearly hordes of bugs there and lots of birds getting in on that action, especially egrets, forster's terns and gulls.  The smell was not delicious for us, but enjoyed the chance to see and shoot these birds in their feeding action poses.

I had been hoping to see and shoot some harriers or hawks, so was delighted when we started seeing a collection of turkey vultures and a few hawks milling around in the sky.  One juvenile red tailed hawk descended to one of the small hills inland and was closely followed and watched by two vultures.  He had something that they wanted to get in on and were edging in on him.  The hawk  flew off by himself to a second small hill area and we followed him to see what he had.  At first there seemed to be nothing there, but the hawk continued to strike very odd poses.  Then there was a small hop followed by several more small hops.  We thought then that it must be a frog.  These were all hops pretty much straight up in the air, maybe 4-6 inches.  But eventually we moved in close enough to see that it was a small mouse.  No idea why it moved in such a strange way, but it must have already been injured by the hawk in transit.  The hawk poked at the mouse with it's beak, just to make it jump, and then walked around or hopped around after it.  It was exactly what you would expect from a cat, but certainly had never seen a hawk exhibit this kind of behavior.
The hawk was so completely pre-occupied with his catch that he allowed me to get very close to him and shoot endless photos.  I have seen that behavior before from a juvie red tailed hawk with prey.

More complete series of photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157624711704839/

July already - where does the time go?

It's late July, and yet we have really not yet had a summer heat wave here.  Remarkable, and great, if you are a person that walks every day.  It is hot enough though that most animals are chilling it by hiding in the trees and brush.  My only photo opps are in the backyard, by the bay, or at the coast.  Have had some really fantastic walks by the sea - favorite places are Point Lobos and now Andrew Molera.

Point Lobos has stunning views of the coast, tons of wild life, and incredible rocks and trees.  Nature does not get better than this:

More of the beautiful Point Lobos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/collections/72157624544347748/

Nest Statistics - June 25 2010

It has been almost two months since my last entry.  TOO MUCH WORK!!! Oh well, it does pay the bills.

It's time to go back over the notes and pics and come up with some nest stats:

***red shouldered hawk nest #1:

first mating activity seen on March 6

first saw hawk sitting on the nest March 13

first saw chicks May 22, fuzzy white heads

2 chicks quite large on June 6

***red shouldered hawk nest #2 :

mating recorded on March 28

first chicks actually seen on June 2

two hawk chicks total.  One is developing far faster than the other and is getting large and dark while the smaller one is still quite downy and white. still not fledged as of June 25

***red tailed hawk nest #1 :

first saw hawk on nest March 15

first saw chicks May 2

saw 2 very large hawk chicks on the nest as late as June 20..these two fledged long after the first 2, but are finally gone

***red tailed hawk nest #2 :

first saw a hawk sitting on the nest on Feb 14, also prepping with materials

protective behavior March 13

first saw hawk sitting at edge of nest, probably hatch time frame  April 22

saw active chicks May 2

counted 5 chicks total by May 15

first saw a fledge fly on June 2

last saw 1 hawk sitting on the nest on June 16

***white tailed kite nest :

first saw brooding hawk April

small white heads Jun 2

first flying and 2 chicks fledged on June 18

all fledged by June 24

new mating for possible second clutch, June 13/ June 20

lots of nest pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157624133756771/

May 1 2010 - What do I shoot with?

So this is my photography journey so far....

I started shooting with a digital camera in 2004, with a 4 MP, 3x optical zoom Canon Elph.  Wow, at that time this was about $425!! I had played around with non digital photography in the past, but never went very far with it.  It was mainly something that I did on vacation, and I enjoyed it but found it cumbersome to send out film etc.  I never would have been a darkroom type person, because I would not be able to cope with the smell of that.

As soon as I went digital I was hooked.  I loved the ability to instantly see the results on my laptop, edit/crop/arrange and I fell in love with the new hobby.  I am clearly the outdoorsy type so this was more about nature photography than anything else, although grandchildren are a fine subject when they don't mind me taking their picture.

It wasn't long before I wanted to work with a better camera.  However, I just did not think I would be able to cope with a camera of any kind of weight at all.  I had injured my neck long ago, and had 2 disks removed in 2003 and replaced with cadaver bone, all laced together with titanium plates and screws.  My arms were not very strong, and I feared that they never would regain much of their strength.  I bought a better camera for Tom, an 8MP Canon with 12x zoom, and I was envious of the better results that he was getting for birds up in the trees.  But I kept with the Elph for quite a long time.  My next purchase was not until 2007.

So the next experiment was still a very small point and shoot, but by this time these were now much cheaper and had much more power.  I tried a Panasonic with 8 MP and 10x zoom.  I almost immediately missed the Canon color and image quality, but loved the 10x reach and got a few very nice and interesting shots with this camera.  It was very small and I still did not think I could work with anything larger.

When my quarter century of IBM rolled around, in early 2008, I picked out a camera as my gift.  It was a Sony 10 MP with 15x zoom.  Compared to my previous cameras this point and shoot was a big camera.  But I found that I really could handle it and was very excited by the reach.  I found an owl's nest at the lab and took some fairly outstanding pictures of the baby owls.  I went to Portland to visit a friend and loved what I captured at the zoo.  I would say that my hobby at this point became an obsession.  I added an extender lens to the Sony unit and started shooting with that.  Quite heavy now, I could still manage to hold it steady, but a monopod was a nice addition to my kit.

But despite the results that I was getting with the Sony and the Panasonic, I still yearned for the Canon color and image quality.  The next foray was with the Canon G9.  This is a very sweet little point and shoot camera.  12 MP and 6x zoom, and there are quite a few great attachments for this camera.  Extender lens, wide angle lens, etc.  I still have this camera and it is worth more today than it was when I bought it.  Canon has created a G10 and a G11 since, and I feel that the G9 was better than the subsequent editions.  I enjoyed using this camera so much that I sold back the Panasonic and the Sony.  The elph had long ago gone to live with my friend Doo.

I worked with the G9 for quite some time, and was still certain that I would never have the strength to get to a DSLR with a lens that had decent reach.  I believed that this would always be beyond MY reach.  But with a cool European trip on th horizon in 2009, I started getting very excited by the new "superzoom" point and shoots on the market, and ended up buying a Nikon P90 to take on the trip.  This camera had 12 MP and a zoom to 24x.  All in quite a lightweight camera.  I must say that this was an outstanding camera.  And all along the way something had been happening to me while using successively larger and larger cameras, and shooting more and more.  I was getting stronger.  This was, as it turns out, the best physical therapy that anyone could have ever suggested for my condition.

In 2009 I started doing a lot more studying.  I was reading more about photography, about birds, and about bird photography.  One thing that I realized was that a point and shoot camera was never going to get me what I most wanted to achieve.  Because of the nature of a point and shoot camera, it is nearly impossible to freeze birds in flight.  But having tried the impossible for so long, I was getting better at using a camera!  In the fall of 2009, I finally broke down and bought a lightweight DSLR, the Canon Rebel T1i, with a 70-300 lens.  I had test driven the lens briefly at the B and H mega store in NYC in August, and it is a great lens for the weight.  At first I had to use a monopod with this combination of camera and lens, which together weigh about 2 pounds.  I also grabbed a 400mm prime lens, and a 2x extender.  With the 2x extender on the prime there is only manual focus, the 400mm has no IS, and it is touchy as the devil at that length.  This requires a very heavy steady tripod to manage at that sensitive 800mm focal length, and with a remote shutter so the camera will not have any shake.

Within a few months though, I was shooting with the 70-300 handheld with very little shake problems.  This lens has pretty decent optic image stabilization and that helps a great deal at longer shutter times, but I can manage handheld up to about 1/80.  To wear the lens without destroying my neck, I wear a pack around my waist, such that the end of the lens barrel is sitting and propped by the pouch  which completely takes the weight off my neck.  OK, it puts the weight onto my lower back which is not always so great, but...

Now the latest.  We are planning a raptor expedition trip to Belize and Guatemala in December of this year.  In anticipation of the lower light jungle environment which will be filled with some of the most wonderful birds in the world, I want to be able to wear and shoot with a 400mm.  I have just recently purchased, and am now mainly shooting with, a 100-400mm Canon with image stabilization.  I am thrilled with the results.  I am amazed that I can shoot with this much weight, handheld.  (about 4.5 pounds now)  This would only be possible through this multi-year physical therapy program of increasingly larger and larger cameras.  Get a healthier neck and arms, the B and H way!!!

April 22 2010 - Earth Day Walk

Incredibly lovely late afternoon walk.  The previous day was so wet and windy that we cut our walk short and called it a day, but this afternoon was delicious.  Started with a nice distant view of a kingfisher, flying fairly high following the path of the creek.

We checked in on the many nests, and all were occupied.  Even the red shouldered hawk nest that we thought was abandoned, is again occupied.  The red tailed hawk that we call Yoko was sitting on the side of the nest - we are certain that her chicks have hatched. At that same nest it appears that some smaller birds, finches perhaps, have nested in the lower part of the nest.  No idea if that is really the case, but they are always there, and show nesting behaviors flying in and out.  Previously we thought that they might be stealing nesting materials, but now suspect that they are actually nesting there.  The white tailed kite was also sitting on the side of the nest and gave us a great show of gently climbing back down to sit.

There are loads of western kingbirds now, especially in the sycamores by the airfield.  They sound like a roomful of squeaky toys being stepped on repeatedly.

On our return, at the footbridge, we stopped to watch the tree sparrows flying about in the meadow with their nest boxes.  We then were treated to a troupe of cedar waxwings.  They were a bit far to get good photos, but they were great to observe.  The interesting thing about the waxwings is their troupe behavior.  They stick together as a unit and move almost in synchrony.  I caught some nice shots of them preening in unison.  There was also a beautiful yellow rumped warbler there, whose spring gray plumage was so brilliant that it read a shade of blue.  He matched the tree that he was hopping around on so perfectly that the lens consistently failed to read him properly with AF and he moves too fast for MF.  a shame to not get a good shot of such a nice bird.

Photo set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157623800004429/