A Better Day for Photography – And Birding

Ah, the pleasure of it all.  The showery, foggy, drizzly weather finally left the building for a bit yesterday.  The temp reached 70 degrees, however it stayed cloudy, and that was perfect for me.  The better to make photographs.

Shortly after lunch, Ann and I decided we had enough cabin fever and decided to drive to Middle Concho park and see what was hanging out around there.  Here are two photos that I managed two capture. A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) and a Great Egret (Ardea alba).  Co-incidentally they were both high in a tree (separate) when I photographed them.  Actually we had counted 3 egrets and about 6 herons flying up and down the river as we drove through.

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

I photographed these in the RAW format and post editing was in Photoshop CS5.  I used my Canon 7D with 500mm lens and 1.4 converter.  Tripod mounted.  The cloudy skies made for excellent light, as there were no harsh shadows.  Both birds were across the river, about 100 yards away and about 20 feet above the ground.  Both images have been cropped.

As for our birding, we saw a total of 20 species during our two-hour stay of mostly doing photography.  We were surprised to see one lone Bufflehead swimming along in the river.  And of course, the place was over-run with American Coots.  But as they say, ’tis the season.  Here is our total list.

• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Cinnamon Teal
• American Coot
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Northern Shoveler
• White-winged Dove
• Black Vulture
• Grackles
• American Robin
• Northern Mockingbird
• House Finch
• Eastern Bluebird
• Western Meadowlark
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Bufflehead
• Golden-fronted Woodpecker
• Gadwall
• American Goldfinch

Hopefully, we can make it out again before the weather changes this weekend.