I got the prime spot today!

After missing the best spot earlier this week I got up at 3.30 am to get to the Riparian Preserve nice and early and managed to get an excellent place to catch the bird-life. The highlight for me was seeing some Snowy Egrets challenging eachother and a Great Blue Heron trying, unsuccessfully, to eat a baby turtle! One of the challenges I faced (with mixed success) was the changing light. As the sun broke above the tree line some very harsh shadows were cast across the pond, meaning that I had to constantly watch my exposure - changing ISO, shutter speed and aperture with almost every shot. I think that I will experiment with one of the automatic settings and see if there is any benefit to letting the camera make some of the decisions! Even though there were plenty of shots lost, I was very happy with the shots I did get, I had to rescue some of them using Adobe Camera Raw (my workflow can be seen in the 'Tutorials and Lessons Learned' page). Here is a small selection:

Snowy Egret (click to enlarge)





















Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge)





















Great Blue Heron and Baby Pond Slider Turtle (click to enlarge)

Riparian Preserve 6.28.10

I had a sleepless night on my 'turnaround day' - the first day off when I try to convert from nights to days. This meant that I was awake at 4am with no plans for the day. I took a trip out to Gilbert hoping to have some of the success of last week. When I got there I noticed that one of he ponds was being drained - forcing all of the birds into a small area of remaining water. There was already a photographer in place about 9 feet from the closest birds. I set up further down the bank so I would not disturb him or the birds.

Here are a selection of shots from today:

Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge)




















Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge)





















Killdeer (click to enlarge)


American Avocet (click to enlarge)


Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge)


Broad-tailed Grackle (click to enlarge)


Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge)




















Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge)

Another Early Start!

Oh my God... I don't think I can get up at 4am again this week. It is getting harder and harder! Today I was back at the Riparian Preserve for a short visit. Got a few pictures, but was yawning constantly and could not keep my concentration - that is what 3 hours sleep does for you!
Here are today's images:

Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge).

Little Egret (click to enlarge).

American Avocet (click to enlarge).

Tomorrow I am going to have a long-overdue sleep in!

Riparian Institute 5.13.10

It seems like ages since I went out on a shoot! Today I decided to go somewhere new and a little farther away. About 60 miles from Buckeye is the Gilbert Riparian Preserve - maintained by the Riparian Institute (see their web page here), so at 5am this morning I was on the road for the 1 hour drive to this designated Arizona Important Bird Area. What a great experience!! The site comprises of an angling lake and 7 recharge ponds (which are specifically for wildlife) with some good walking paths linking them. I got to the ponds at 6.15 am (after taking a couple of wrong turns - bloody SatNav!!!) and was surprised to see quite a number of cars already in the parking lot. Walking into the preserve I could see the tell-tale signs of photographers already in place - lots of big lenses dotted around the banks of the water. Immediately on arrival I practically stepped on a Canada Goose... and the rest of the morning was just as fruitful. I was very careful not to disturb the other photographers who had set up before me, so I was happy to walk the trails and explore - noting the positions I will set up at on my next visit. I am sure that my next trip will yield some amazing results, but here is a selection from today:

Canada Goose (click to enlarge).





















Mallard Ducks (click to enlarge).

Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge).





















Great Egret (click to enlarge).





















Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge).