Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Patience Pays


This afternoon I once again visited the "Lower Peconic Fishing Station" in Riverhead across from Snowflake Ice Cream on Main St.  I thought I'd try and focus on getting shots of Eastern Kingbirds landing because they routinely use the same perch and I had an access point that allowed for good lighting.  I was in the same spot for about an hour and it afforded me two opportunities to photograph warblers that stopped nearby.  While the Yellow Warbler was nice - it didn't have the same thrill that the Black and White Warbler who landed 20 feet from me did as this is a species I've never photographed (or seen) before.  Check out the image below:


Photographing the Kingbirds was fun if not a little frustrating.  Since the birds use basically the same perch (there was a little variation but 90% of the time it was the same spot) I was able to manually focus at a set distance (about 50 feet) and when the bird took off I waited a few seconds then started shooting (my camera is capable of 8 frames per second) knowing that the bird would be returning soon.  Well, either said than done but the best (ok, only successful shots) are on this blog post.


Getting back to that Yellow Warbler that was so kind to perch about 25 feet from me - here it is:


And to round things out - a Baltimore Oriole:


If you're looking to learn more about the types of migratory birds you can find on Long Island (and can't get enough of my photos!) pick up a copy of this book by John Turner: Exploring the Other Island: A seasonal guide to nature on Long Island


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