Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Herons, egrets and other Wildlife at Walkill NWR

Nikon D3s; 80-400 Nikon at 400mm f8 1/500 ISO250 (Joan Borden)

We traveled to Liberty Loop Trail at the North end of the Walkill NWR. The trail is part of the Appalachian Trail and a portion of the loop is in New York State and a portion is in New Jersey.  It is in the "Black Dirt" region of New York State.  We enjoy going there in the winter for Hawks and Bald Eagles and in the spring for the duck migration.  We decided to visit it during the summer to see what we could see.  We got there later than we wanted to and the lighting was very harsh for photography.  We saw about a dozen Great Blue Herons, two Great Egrets, 1 Green Heron, various warblers and various insects.  It was an enjoyable day.  The Green heron was very skittish and avoided being photographed three times.  Joan does not like the weight of big prime lenses and she has found the 80-400 Nikon lens is working well with the D3s body.  We spent time calibrating the focus system during the week and it paid off.


Great Blue Heron with Great Egret in background
 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f9 1/640 ISO 400 (Jim Borden)

We enjoyed watching the Blue Herons and Egrets argue over "turf". The blue herons would share spots and fish-but became agitated when one of the egrets would get near.  Lots of wing flapping and cackling would result until either the egret moved or the Great Blue Heron gave up the space.


Great Blue Heron Strutting
Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f9 1/640 ISO 400 (Jim Borden)

The wet areas of the trail had lots of dragonfly and skimmer activity.  Another set of subjects to photograph and then research to learn about them.  That is one thing we are immensely enjoying about the immersion into photography is that it is a way to stop and "smell the roses".

Dragonfly
Nikon D3s; 80-400 Nikon at 400mm f8 1/125 ISO320 (Joan Borden)

Common Whitetail
Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f9 1/640 ISO 400 (Jim Borden)


Until Next Time

Jim and Joan Borden



3 comments:

Altax said...

Awesome photography.
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Willard said...

Great encounters, Jim. You mention a facet of photography that I very much appreciate, which is that in search of different subjects one begins to notice and learn about things they had ignored before.

Ritchie said...

Hi friends,

The great blue heron is a large wading bird. The feathers on the lower neck are long and plume-like, it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. Thanks......

Wildlife Photographer