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Welcome to the Pine River Review. Our sight is dedicated to our little homestead located along the Pine River tucked inside the Chippewa Nature Center's 1400 Acres of wild in Michigan's lower penninsula. We love to share our pictures, video, comment, and our own homespun music. Step inside our world as we celebrate this beautiful nook!


Saturday, March 12, 2011

Randomness



Here's a group of our fine feathered friends that I managed to focus my lens on this last week. These are driving around pictures, the product of randomness and having a ready camera laying on the front seat when opportunity knocked. 
  This wild turkey was in a group making their way across the road as Suzanne and I whizzed by in our little red Chevy. They were iridescent in the strong sun and quite spectacular. We stopped and I quickly ripped off a few shots trying hard to get between the sun and the turkeys to gain the light. Most of the pictures were out of sorts but this one caught a bit of the excitement before the rafter crossed Pine River Road and disappeared into the woods.
    The Red-tailed hawk below was spotted along the motorway on a ride to Detroit. I had seen several along the way but couldn't pull over safely to get pictures. Finally bird and traffic connected and this raptor held long enough for me to roll the window down and snap a few chances. The eyes, however, were dark on the images I manage. This one  had a slightly different mirrored sunglasses look to the eye, sort of a terminator bird and so caught my fancy.
  




     Over by Eagle pond a young Bald eagle left his perch to peruse the area for dinner. An aggressive gull didn't appreciate his airborne presence and rode him ragged until he fled.

     Below we see the Kestrel I have been chasing. I know of three places he hunts and I stay sharp when I'm cruising those haunts just in case the gods smile!



16 comments:

  1. Nice capture, especially the eagle in flight:)

    Kah Wai
    http://kwbirding.blogspot.com/

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  2. Excellent 'drive-by' images. I like the fact that you captured the metallic sheen on the Turkey.

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  3. A very nice set of images. Bravo!
    Have a nice day.

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  4. Lovely - all of them! That turkey is spectacular!

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  5. For 'randoms' and chance shots, these are great.

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  6. Gorgeous shots - again!
    That Turkey looks just amazing. And the hawk's eyes are spooky! :)

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  7. Thank you for sharing your random shots (which are better than any I do "on purpose". I always think it's funny when a smaller bird harries a bigger more powerful one. (Even tho I'd rather see the eagle than the gull anytime.)

    The kestrel is great -- we used to see them in Oregon pretty often.

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  8. The photogods were certainly smiling down on you for this road trip!

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  9. WOW rip roaring fantastic shots--Each one a stand alone Gem!!

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  10. OMG...Where do I begin? Tom Turkey looks fabulous in the light, love the detail of the feathers on the Red-tail, the young Bald Eagle shot with the Gull is an outstanding flight shot, and the Kestrel just plain rocks! Wow!

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  11. I have to agree with Jean! These photos, and the ones from earlier posts are simply gorgeous! I think I would have to say that my favourite is the first one of the egret, with the ripples reflecting the light onto the underside of his wing! Although the turkey in this post is incredible, too... and then there are the herons...

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  12. Brilliant photos Springman. Really shows the benefit of always having a camera close to hand.

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  13. Thank you for the kind comments. It is an honor to have my photographs viewed and commented on. I pause to reflect how amazing a thing it is to share stuff like this with wonderful people around the world on the web. I'm still getting used to the marvel of it.
    Spring is just around the bend, two sure sign are the Pine River sports a 300 foot opening in the ice and the birds are crazy with love. We have turned the corner!

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  14. Every one of these shots are absolutely gorgeous Dave. The "sunglasses" look in the Red-tailed Hawk photo is its nictitating membrane that can be drawn over the eye to moisten and protect it. Many birds engage these inner eyelids when feeding their young.

    Your American Kestrel in flight is priceless!

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  15. Awesome shots, I love the last one of the Kestrel and the closeup of the hawk.

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  16. Stunning photos! The Turkey and the Kestrel are gorgeous!

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