Images from a perfect day…..

Saturday began as a beautiful day.  It’s hard to beat 70 degrees and almost no wind around here.  I decided to try to get some images of some more birds at Middle Concho Park.  We went back to that brushy area along the perimeter of the park.  I was rewarded with a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus).  It was the first I had seen this year.  But they have been around all winter, so they have evaded me, or I just wasn’t looking in the right places.  They will probably be gone by mid-April.  It was flitting in and out of the brush, and stopped momentarily on the barbed wire.

Hermit Thrush

Across the river, there were about 25 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, (Dendrocygna autumnalis).  They were pretty spread out along the shore and in the water so I could only include these two in the frame.  At the distance, I used my Canon EOS 7d with 500mm lens and 1.4 tele-converter.  It is also heavily cropped.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Finally, this Northern Mockingbird, the state bird of Texas, appeared alongside of the car.  Couldn’t resist taking the shot.  Almost full frame.  My 100-400mm hand-held lens was perfect for this image.

Northern Mockingbird

Neither of these last two images would qualify as some of my best, as they are just a little more than grab shots.  But it was just great to get into the great outdoors.  Actually, we saw about 34 different species of birds, but as it happens most of the time ,they are on the move in the trees or making a fast flyby.  Just spotting a bird, does not equate to getting an image.

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