These wetlands are a great place. A good bit of wildlife comes here for feeding on a regular basis.
This trip was early in the morning, and I did go to the viewing shack as I mentioned in my previous posts.
Canon 5D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/200 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 100
This is a such a nice shot. The water was clear enough to get a good reflection and the way this tree has bent over made for an interesting subject. There was still a good bit of frost on the ground behind in the grass. It was very early, and cold on this February day.
Soon I would turn my attention out to the water, and this time I would have two of my new favorite waterfowl. The Hooded Merganser.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 100
What happened next really took me for surprise. A chittering kind of call that I hadn’t heard before, and a flash across the water of small and blue.
It took me a try or two to get a view of it, these little guys are fast.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/2000 Sec - F4 - ISO 250
A belted Kingfisher! I love kingfishers and this was the first time I had seen one in real life. Only images on the internet from other photographers, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to capture a moment with one of these.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/2000 Sec - F4 - ISO 250
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 125
I tried to crop in as much as I could without too much degrading to the image to see the details. Unfortunately you do loss a bit when you crop is so close. But the distance between myself and the bird was a lot, this wetlands is great for the wildlife you can see but the drawback is definitely the distance that you see it from. Several hundred feet away, this entire swampy area spans quite a good bit.
But I was determined to keep getting as many shots as I could, as my back cramped up from bending over awkwardly in this child designed wood bench viewing hole I persisted for a while until finally…
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 125
It took off again. Beautiful creature to watch. Really this spawned a whole new avenue of interest that I’ll talk about in another post soon. I knew the best of the best would be a shot of them diving into water when they fish. But nailing that is top of the charts difficult. Knowing where they are going to dive and being ready with the camera takes years of practice. A goal to work towards.
Eventually I did leave the wetlands and go for a walk through the forest. Not nearly as many birds, but I did manage to get this great photo of a Carolina Wren.
