By Mia McPherson, on May 16th, 2012 This is another image that reminds me of the day I photographed it and the great memories of that photo session. Ron and I sat with this Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) for several minutes on the auto tour loop of Bear River National Wildlife Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah.
My Nikon D300 is giving me the fits, I’ve had it checked out locally and they can’t replicate the issues I am having of the exposure going wonky intermittently, my shutter speed will go from 1/1000 or higher and then drop to 1/4 to 1/60 resulting in pure snowy white images. Yuck. At any rate right now I am using my backup D200′s until I can get the D300 sent to Nikon.
 Black-crowned Night Heron lift off - Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light The day didn’t start off looking great, it looked like it might be cloudy but the light stayed over the refuge while to the south it didn’t look great. There were birds, birds and more birds on the auto tour loop and we were able to catch some wonderful action.
This heron was standing on a little spit of dry land at the edge of a marshy pond, for a bit it just stood there, then it preened a while. Before too long Ron and I could see the bird was going to lift off and fly away. We were ready!
I took a nice series of images as the Black-crowned lifted off and flew past us, I really liked the position of the wings, the look at the intensely red eye and those big, dangling yellow feet in this frame.
After leaving the refuge we stopped at the Maddox Drive In for great Hamburgers and fries.
Birthday Boy Ron appeared to have an awesome day but why wouldn’t we? Great light. Plenty of birds. Super company. I was a happy camper!
Mia
*I pre-scheduled this post because I am away, please feel free to share this with your friends & family!
More Black-crowned Night Heron images
By Mia McPherson, on May 15th, 2012 I was photographing one evening in Florida while laying in the mudflat of a tidal lagoon, there were Dunlins, Black-bellied Plovers and Greater Yellowlegs in front of me where the evening light was great.
 Sidelit Piping Plover - Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light Out of the corner of my eye I caught a bit of movement and turned my head towards what I could see was a Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) looking for prey in the mudflats. The light was not what most photographers would call “great“, the plover was below a dune and the angle of the sun in the west caused the bird to be sidelit.
Some photographers would pass on the shot because of the “tough”, “harsh” or “contrasty” light, but I simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Even though the sun wasn’t behind my shoulder and the light wasn’t golden this image has a great mood to it. I know I could have used flash to brighten up the bird and the setting but if I had it certainly would not be this moody, besides; I very rarely use flash.
This Piping Plover image reminds me to try to photograph birds in other than perfect light. Sidelit and backlit images can be spectacular so I don’t like passing up taking the chance that I might just get a great shot despite what some photographers think of as bad light.
Mia
More Piping Plover images
*I pre-scheduled this post because I am away, please feel free to share this with your friends & family!
By Mia McPherson, on May 14th, 2012 Some images remind me of the wonderful day I had when I created a certain image, this photo of a Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) in breeding plumage photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto, Florida is one of those files.
 Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage - Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 220mm, natural light On the day I photographed this heron there was a sea fog that burned off very rapidly once the warmth of the sun’s rays touched it. I was in great company, Adrian Burke and I had met at the north beach parking lot and there were birds, birds and more birds that day. Even though I have culled any bad images from the folder for that date it is still brimming with images I haven’t yet processed.
I was sitting in water up to my bum in the middle of a small tidal lagoon when the Tricolored walked by, it was stalking prey on the shoreline and not paying much attention to me at all. I like how it looks like the heron is trying to sneak past me in this frame even though I know it could have cared less about the sopping wet person with one big eye watching it walk by.
This was taken right at the end of the photo session and it was a great feeling to have filled almost all of my memory cards… and the memories in my mind of that morning too.
Good light. Good Birds. Great company, what more could this woman ask for?
Mia
PS: If you look on the right sidebar you can see an image of me photographing this same Tricolored Heron.
More Tricolored Heron images
By Mia McPherson, on May 13th, 2012  Male Brewer's Blackbird displaying - Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light While out on Antelope Island State Park on Friday I spotted a male Brewer’s Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) on top of a bush, the light was just great for viewing and photographing the iridescent teals, blues, greens and purples that can show up on these “black” birds. I was even more tickled when the blackbird started to display because that really made the iridescence even more delightful. I have a lovely series of photos of this male now.
I can’t say that the call of the male while displaying is enchanting or melodious but I am almost certain the female Brewer’s Blackbirds must think so.
 Female Brewer's Blackbird with nesting material - Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light This female Brewer’s Blackbird is the mate of the male above, she flew up from the other side of the road with nesting material in her bill and perched for a few moments before flying into another bush with the twig. When the female left the male followed her across the road, she went down onto the ground and he perched high watching over her and when she flew back to the nest with more nesting material he followed her and stayed close. That behavior happened several times. I wish the female had perched a bit closer with her nesting material than she did. but I am still pleased to get a series of images of her with this twig.
Mia
More Brewer’s Blackbird images
By Mia McPherson, on May 12th, 2012 A little over a week ago I was photographing a perched Loggerhead Shrike on Antelope Island when I noticed a California Gull (Larus californicus) flying towards me with a bill full of something that didn’t look like food.
 California Gull with nesting material - Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/4000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light As the gull came closer to me I could see that it was some type of vegetation and I knew then it had a bill full of nesting material. California Gulls nest nearby on Egg Island and that is the direction that the gull was flying towards. It was the first time I have been able to photograph a California Gull with nesting material so I was quite pleased. though I wish I had backed up my zoom all the way, I might have been able to fit the whole bird in the frame.
 Perched California Gull - Nikon D200, f8, 1/1250, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light I photographed this California Gull along the causeway to the island last year, it looks like it is in the middle of a molt because some of the feather on the wing are a touch ragged.
Mia
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Photographing a Tricolored Heron from a tidal lagoon
Focusing on Wildlife Contributor
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