Heron in Flight

Capturing birds in flight is a fun and exciting activity for a wildlife photographer. At a local pond I was "tracking" a blue heron near the water's edge. (Not really tracking - just sneaking up on it - but "tracking" sounds much more impressive) As I approached it, hidden by some weeds, I was ready with my 150-500mm lens. As expected my footsteps roused it and it flew away, but I was able to capture this image with water still dripping from its foot.

Happy New Year

As a gift to myself this year I upgraded from the Nikon D80 to a D90. This is not a significant upgrade but the features that I am gaining will be very useful to me. This includes more pixels, faster multiple frame shooting, and better noise performance. This means I will get better resolution, better selection of action shots (especially birds), and faster shutter speeds in many situations which allows for sharper images.

As I often do I purchased this camera secondhand, from a seller on craigslist. I find this a very useful way to buy and sell camera equipment, since it gives the buyer the ability to check out the equipment and the seller a chance to get cash in hand and/or a quick sale (assuming the item is priced right). There are other sites which are also specialize in camera equipment sales (such as fredmiranda.com) and I have used these as well. This time I just happened to find a lightly-used D90 listed at a very good price, so I wasted no time.

Here is a bird photo I took last fall. It has an ideal background - fully blurred, and a nice color as well.


"Tufted Titmouse"

Main Site: Photography by Matt Schrier

A Very Nice Morning

Now that I have some more reach in my lens "arsenal" I'm on the lookout for good bird photography opportunities. Now is a good time for this since we are in the fall migration season. Birds are on the move, and/or loading up on some good food.

This morning I spent the morning at the Conowingo Dam in Maryland. Here there are a large number of bald eagles that feast on the fish that make their way through the dam. The water of the Susquehanna River is fast moving and relatively shallow on the downstream side of the dam, and the fishing (for both birds and humans) is relatively easy.

I came away with a few good shots, and since this was my first time shooting birds of this type I missed a few due to lack of technique and experience with the equipment. That will all come in good time.