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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

World Bird Wednesday XLV


White-Headed Warblers?
I was encouraged by "those in the know" to visit three Warbler hot-spots last week. The migration, according to Saginaw Bay Birding, is in full swing and the tantalizing lists of warbler species recently sighted by reputable birders are lengthy. My mind was full of a fervent ambition to scramble though the thickets, click away at a wide variety of warblers, I.D.ing them in the field guide, and joyously adding bird after bird to my life list. So why, you might ask, are there eagle pictures on my WBW post? In this weeks considerable wanderings I saw only one bird that even remotely resembled the hotly expected warblers and it fluttered away long before I could raise camera to eye. Is it any wonder then, my imagination boiling with anticipation, that when I first observed these eagles through a long and murky distance I mistook them for white headed warblers? Had I been correct it would have caused delirium in the birding world since out of the 119 species there is no such thing as a White-headed warbler. I thought I had number 120. Never one to let the facts get in the way of a good story, (my children will confirm my favorite dinosaur as the Thesaurus,) I did not feel confident in perpetuating a hoax. However; I wasn't altogether disappointed when I expertly deduced I had Bald eagles in my sights especially when, through the alabaster skies, a second bird joined the first.





These eagles were waiting for me at the entrance to the Shiawassee Wildlife Refuge. I stayed far away until my camera was primed for shooting a bird in the cloudy light. Is the light ever right? Isn't it always to cloudy or to sunny? In the year since owning a Dslr I've complained way to much about the trials and tribulations of natural lighting. Maturity is coming and rather than thinking about the deficits of difficult conditions I am trying to maximise the advantages. The challenge with these eagles was primarily not blowing the opportunity, to get something. We expect the pounding heart beat and the manic twisting of lenses, knobs and dials but there is no picture if in your enthusiasm you scare away the object of your desire! I rolled up very slowly and smoothly in my little car making my way to a point about 150 feet away from the dead tree the first eagle was perched on. I slipped my tripod out the car window and set the camera on it. Stupid me, the remote shutter release was in the trunk and might just as well have been on the moon as I could not risk getting out of the car. The work around was to put the camera shutter on a two second delay to insure the camera was rock steady when pictures were taken. Great! The bird was calm and in a few minutes the jumble of ISO, shutter speed, and F stop came together to produce detailed pictures of the stationary eagle. Just then I heard a ruckus and the second eagle swooped in. Though I managed some pictures they were horribly blurred because my camera was honed for a still setting. The eagles settled on the two stumps and I was back in business again. There was a little hole in the cloud cover I prayed would cast some bright light on the the scene but it never materialised. At the entrance to the refuge a car pulled up and I knew would have to share this blissful scene. I was pretty sure the birds would take flight so I quickly bumped my shutter speed up to 1/2000, the ISO to 800, and the F stop down to it's lowest setting of 5.6 and fired off a couple test shots. I held my breath as the car drove up. The birds flustered and one rose off its perch. Their cries pierced the air. It was a magnificent experience photography aside. Even better when you can share the moment!
    
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                              
Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday!

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most beautiful treasurers, the birds.

World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.

CLICK THIS PICTURE!

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry, it contains a link for your readers to share in the fun. Or, you can copy this link on to your blog page to share WBW. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/
#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

Come on it's your turn!

35 comments:

  1. Um...awesome! Those are killer shots, excellent!! perfect choice for the new banner too. Sweeeet!

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  2. Amazing shots of these "white headed warblers". We are just starting to get some eagles back here for the winter. I can't believe it's eagle season again.

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  3. Wow! You got some great Bald Eagle shots perfectly exposed. Why care about warblers when you can get Eagles?! - I remember how thrilled I was when I saw my first Eagle - that was at a time when they were coming from the DDT induced brink.

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  4. Oh my gosh -- I am not at all sorry that you missed the warblers. Those are fantastic pictures. And I appreciate your work in making them perfect --and your talent.

    I loved the first part of the post and am still laughing about the "white-headed warblers" and -- especially -- at the thesaurus. Which I wish I'd thought of.

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  5. Outstanding, Springman! WOW! Definitely some of your best shots.

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  6. A brilliant moment...I would love to capture images of Eagles.

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  7. the shots are really stunning. I would have been thrilled just seeing them I think. An experience to remember. :)

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  8. So, were those white headed warblers democrats or republicans ? Oh, and I'm sure you're wrong about there not being a species known as a white headed warbler. I can remember seeing some of them on the Lawrence Welk show at my grandparents house. As for seeing inexistant species, or survivors of extinct species, while visiting Reunion Island last year I'm quite sure we spotted a Dodo or two, though supposedly they've been extinct for many years. In fact, the last time I was in Washington DC, I spotted quite a few Dodo birds there, also. So, you never know. Good to see those white headed warblers are making a comeback...

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  9. PS If you would prefer that perfidious and pesky (some say pestilential) Parisian pigeons not pollute the WBW pages, just say the word, and I'll have him fly back to his roost with the gargoyles on Notre Dame... It was the only bird shot I had this week to toss your way. Some folks enjoy pigeon stew...

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  10. I posted some shots of an Eagle on Monday that I was very excited about- not even close to being as good as yours!

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  11. Great photos of the eagles and I like your description of trying to set the camera for the perfect photo!

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  12. Wow, they are wonderful shots of the eagles. Even with the bad lighting and sky, your shots are amazing.

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  13. Hi there - I know people say this a lot - but those shots are amazing! Good story as well.

    Like I think I said last time - I have no idea how you manage to photograph sp many birds of prey.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

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  14. Hello Everyone and welcome to WBWXLV!
    While I was making my way down into the city this evening for work tomorrow I did my usual stop at Shiawassee Refuge and loaded up the SD card with a few pretty good pictures. When I arrived at Suzanne's house I got out my laptop to download the shots and BLOTTO no windows. Yikes! Good thing I posted a few of these eagle pictures this week, lets hope they're not gone for good.
    Thank you for your wonderful comments! As bloggers yourselves you know how much they mean as we toil away in "virtual" anonymity.
    Suzanne has promised to let me take her laptop to work tomorrow so I won't be the missing link!
    Cheers! Dave

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  15. These images are simply awesome! Excellant Springman!!
    B.

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  16. That last shot is exceptional Dave! Oh, and I can totally identify with your photography experience with the camera and the other car coming up on you. And the shutter release in the trunk "might as well be on the moon." Love that line from Jimmy Buffet's song "Good Fight"

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  17. Springman, fabulous shots! Dont you love it when a plan comes to together!
    Haven't seen many eagles lately. The weather has been too nice to chase them back down here. I expect that won't last long"
    Cheers!

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  18. these are just awesome....what a thrill!! i would have wet my pants!!

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  19. Wow! I loved reading about your struggle on how you still got these amazing shots! Excellent!!! Wow again!:)

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  20. Life is so often not what we expect but you certainly made the best of what you could get. Fantastic captures, both the still and action shots.
    I have learnt to take my limitations on board and be grateful for what I still can get . . .

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  21. oh wow... what a great experience to see these.
    we saw some in yellowstone last week~ they were itty bitty dots in the landscape. i was excited about that :)

    but these are FABULOUS!

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  22. Breathtakingly beautiful captures! What magnificent birds!

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  23. Awesome shots! This past spring had tuned in daily to the Decorah (Iowa) Bald Eagles web cam and watched their eggs hatch and then throughout the next months until they fledged. It was truly remarkable to watch these parents care for their young.

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  24. What a bird, and your photos are simply marvellous!
    Thanks for sharing:)

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  25. Excellent shots and that's quite a story to boot! LOL at the idea of a "white-headed warbler!"

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  26. Great shots! Those eagles are a lot more wild than those I just blogged about :) Nice and clean shots of a very great looking bird.

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  27. Thank you for visiting, loved your comments.
    It's wonderful to see do many birds from around the world here.

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  28. You have outdone yourself.These are the best pictures,EVER!The expression on their faces,their body posed perfectly,these are awesome!phyllis

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  29. I wish I had a post with a bird photo to link up! I just had to visit to see what you had this week. the eagles are magnificent and your writing is, as in the past, just great. Thanks! BTW, we had a scarlet tanager in it's olive feathers which we found dead on the front porch, evidently it hit the glass! Makes me sick! I had never, ever seen one in any of the seasonal plumages, so all I could do was take a pic of a dead bird :(

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  30. You managed to have some nice photographs of birds I seldom see where I live.

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  31. Incredible shots! I haven't seen an eagle around here for a while. I'm actually ready for winter!

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