Raptors December 29 2012

Joan and I spent a wonderful weekend with friends Gary and Kim Amatrudo along the Delaware River. The eagle pair at Zane Grey were cooperative for photographing and the snow on Saturday 12/29 made for nice scenery viewing.  The storm also caused many of teh local eagles to congregate along the Rio Reservoir in feed stream.  We saw 14 eagles there on Saturday. I photographed 4 eagles in one tree and then a little later they decided to fly and it turned out there were six in the tree. 

On our way back to Zane Grey from Rio Joan spotted a Barred Owl perched in a tree close to the road.  It made for a nice image with the falling snow. 

Until Next time

Jim Borden

More Warblers

Chestnut Sided Warbler

We did more birding along the Pine Creek valley two weeks ago with friends from Connecticut.  We had a great time and the warblers were very active. The weather really cooperated. Our friends are fairly new to birding and they got to see a number of birds that they could add to their life lists.  The above Chestnut sided warbler was the best of that species I have ever gotten.  This image was almost full frame in the 600 lens. 

Magnolia Warbler

Once again the area that we often see Magnolia Warblers had a number of them calling and flitting around.  They are a very pretty bird and have a beautiful song. 

Black and White Warbler

One swamp area that we visit often has many Black and White warblers.  we were not disappointed on this trip as four of them entertained us. They creep up and down trees much like the brown creepers. 

Barred Owl

On our first evening of the trip-we went to one of my favorite spots for owls and Joan and Kim were both able to capture awesome shots of a Barred Owl.  there were three of them there and two of them were having a fit about the third one being there-it was fun to watch and listen to. 

Cedar Wax Wing

We had a half dozen Cedar Wax Wings flying round at one spot that we went to bird. They look like bandits.

Black Throated Green Warbler

On our last evening there we went back to see the owls but they were not there.  However, a Black Throated Green Warbler was there.  Since it was getting dark and we were under heavy evergreen cover, I borrowed Joan's Camera and Long Lens to get this image as my camera can not push the ISO as well as her's without getting digital noise that make s the image unusable.  This image was taken at 6400 ISO. 

Until next time.

Jim Borden

Click here for more camera critters

Click Here for more Borden Photography

Owls and Eagles

Great weekend.  Visited one of the eagle nests that we keep track of and two eaglets have hatched.  the nest is over two yards from road and in interest of not disturbing the eagles, I set up and take photos from the edge of the highway.  Because of the clutter of branches around the next I use live view with the screen magnified 10x and use manual focus and a cable release.  The photos are primarily used as documentation as they are severely cropped.  Look closely and you can see the two little eaglet heads watching the adult shred a fish for them.

After watching the eagles, I went to the top of the mountain to a dense area of evergreens where I can usually find barred owls this time of year.  Sure enough they were there and I captured better photos of them this year than last year due to the time I had taken to finely calibrate the af tuning on my camera bodies and lenses.

Spring must be coming!!!! The brown creepers are back!

Until next time!

Jim Borden