More Eagles and New Technique

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 300 f2.8, f4 1/2500 ISO 640

We spent the weekend along the Delaware River with friends Chris White and Lee Cordner from Vermont and Bob and Rosamaria Adamowicz from Massachusetts.  We met an individual that is a very good Eagle Photographer.  I have followed his work on eagle photo sites for quite some time and was glad I could finally meet him in person.  It was a pleasure meeting him and he helped with added techniques for our eagle photography.  I have struggled with exposure on eagles to get a good balance between the dark feathers and the white head.  He suggested the use of our flash units with the better beamer installed.  I had used on small birds for quite a while but had hesitated on eagles due to fear of blowing out the whites.  He taught how to use effectively. 

We had the good fortune of experiencing fishing sequences five times so we could get some good practice in.  All shots were with manual exposure setting.

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 300 f2.8, f4 1/2500 ISO 640, fill flash +1 ec

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 300 f2.8, f4 1/2500 ISO 640, fill flash +1 ec

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 300 f2.8, f4 1/2500 ISO 640, fill flash +1 ec

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 300 f2.8, f4 1/2500 ISO 640, fill flash +1ec

Until next time

Jim Borden

Joan and I spent Friday February 3 along the Delaware River and lower New York State looking for Eagles. Normally this time of year is prime to see 50 to 75 eagles a day in that area.  However the warm weather this year has resulted in eagles not migrating and congregating in normal spots.  The rivers, lakes and ponds north of us have been open and eagles still have plenty of food source.  We did see 5 different eagles on Friday-all eagles that are nesting along the Delaware River.  We were teated to quite a show at the end of the day at Zane Gray Boat Launch.  Both of the resident eagles did a fishing pass for us three different times. 

Until next Time

Jim Borden

Joan's squirrel

Winter time blahs tend to get us out and about to see what we can find. Joan has been practicing her long lens Techniques and it seems she has it pretty well nailed!  This young squirrel posed for her for a while.

Until next Time

Jim Borden

Short Ear Owls and Harriers

Northern Harrier-Female

Each year in January the Short Ear Owls, Northern Harriers and Rough Leg Hawks show up at a farm near us to feed for a couple of weeks.  During mid day it is fun to watch the Rough Leg Hawks and Harriers cruise the fields for food.  Then, about an hour before dark, the Short Ear Owls make their appearance and chase the Hawks and Harriers from the fields.  The owls dart and dive and catch mice and perch on fenceposts, telephone poles and roofs of houses and barns.  I always look forward to visiting there this time of year to observe and capture the action. I have worked hard to get a good image of a harrier in flight.  Yesterday, was a great day!  The owls chased one of the harriers right over my head and I was able to get a good image of the female. 

The owls are somewhat elusive-but I was able to get more shots of them last evening sitting and in flight.  Most of the shots were high ISO so the detail is not as good as I would like.

Short Ear Owl sitting on Telephone pole.  Taken off bean bag laying over car window.

Short Ear Owl in flight taken from Wimberley II mount.

Until Next Time.

Jim Borden

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2011 in Images

2011 was a year of expanding my boundaries with photography.  I have historically focused on wildlife and birds and once in a while fit in people, scenics and landscapes.  This past year I branched out into doing more scenics and landscapes and added photographing from a kayak as a means to find more interesting subject matter. The time in the outdoors is peaceful and enjoyable and I am looking forward to another enjoyable year in 2012.

A sampling of the 2011 images are shown here.  For a gallery of some of my memorable images from 2011  click here.

Enjoy

Until next time

Jim Borden

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Eagle Season

Late December through January is usually an awesome time to find many Bald Eagles along the northern portion of the Delaware River and along some of the reservoir inlets in southern New York State. This year is truly an anomaly.  The weather has been extremely warm for this time of year for the past two months and it has drastically impacted on the eagle behavior.  Normally by now the northern part of the Delaware River and the lakes and reservoirs north of there have frozen over forcing Bald Eagles to fly to areas of open water to feed.  Joan and I spent two days with friends in the upper Delaware area to find and photograph Bald Eagles.  We saw about 15 eagles on Thursday and a half dozen on Friday.  This is to be compared with normally seeing about 50 per day this time of year.  The other thing is that other years we have been able to see and photograph up close as they are forced to open water areas to feed.  This year they can be seen but are at greater distance from good viewing areas.  

As we were leaving the area to come home-one perched on a tree across the Lackawaxen River and I was able to get some good photos with good filtered light (lightly overcast skies).

Until next time!

Jim Borden

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Merry Christmas

Went out this day before Christmas to find owls, hawks, eagles and song birds.  Saw many birds, but most did not want to cooperate today.  This Northern Cardinal decided he liked me and gave me a number of poses all with a cluttered background and foreground. But,  alas he is the color of Christmas and he was so cooperative, I just had to use him for the blog to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Until Next Time!

Jim Borden

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