World Bird Wednesday II

                                                  Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
So here's how it went down. I shot into Midland this morning from Mo-town on the promise of a sunny day and the warning that the next two days would bring a wintry mess. I wanted to get my new 400mm lens out and play National Geographic. It was still kind of cloudy when I reached Midland so I went home and tried to get a couple "small bird in flight" shots near the feeder to bide my time. Finally the sun started to burn through a bit and I pulled out the car, drove around, and hiked into the usual spots. Nothing. The shadows were already starting to get long so I changed strategy. The sun in the west is a good time to go by Overlook Park on the East side of town because the light is over your shoulder that time of day and it lights up the birds dramatically. I drove up the hill but the birds were a little to distant out on the lake for photo-ops even with the 400mm's long reach.

I left and drove around some more and spotted a big bird in a tree. It was way back in this guys yard. Fortunately he was out raking and agreed to let me wander back and get some chances at this Osprey. The bird flew off, I was satisfied I had photographed something but before I gave up and went grocery shopping I figured I'd make one more stop by the lake overlook. Suzanne called on the cell and I sat in the car talking to her for a few minutes. With the conversation finished I got out of the car and all over the lake birds were scattering, my camera was set up to shoot at 1/2000, lens cap off, and there s/he was swooping past me...I got twenty shots off and I was pumped!
What luck!

                                               Happy World Bird Wednesday!

                                                                                             Springman


          WorldBirdWednesdayWorldBirdWednesdayWorldBirdWednesdayWorldBirdWednesday

This is the home of "World Bird Wednesday." It is a place for bird lovers from around the world to share their photo-blogs. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. Our second World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through noon on Thursday. It would be most helpful, though not required, if you would identify your capture by it's common name and/or Latin name.


You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and beautiful of Earth's residents, the BIRDS!

Three easy steps!

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W.        http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.

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

The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts. 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!

Ducks In The House!

I can peak out my sliding glass door and look down the bank to the Pine River and see them feeding by the far side. They are my new neighbors, a family of Mallard ducks. You can tell though that these are not citified ducks such as the ones that live near my son. These Mallards are always on high alert and in order to sneak out the door and creep up to the edge of the high bank to get a picture of them it takes the height of stealth. Female Mallards are considered dull in comparison to the males but this is just human foolishness. Consider the variations in the coloring of these two buff beauties. It is fun to have them around but the season is moving along and just like the Canadian geese they will be flying off.

How to Blow Your Mind

Skywatch- Lake Michigan Shoreline

                 

I reached out this week to bird photographers and invited them to join a virtual party I called "World Bird Wednesday."
 So mightily impressed am I with online phenomena such as Skywatch Friday and Weekend Reflections that I thought I would like to contribute to a "Bird Photography" meme. Bird photography is a new craze for me brought on by the fact I live in a nature preserve and I recently bought a DSLR camera. I perused the web and alas, I could find no such meme. "So maybe," I thought," I should start one."  Understand that 99.9% of the time these kind of thoughts pass in and out of my mind very quickly. But this time I acted and God help us the world has a new meme!
     The reaction to my random invitations to participate in the inaugural World Bird Wednesday was mind blowing. Twenty high powered nature photographers from four continents contributed to this initial installment!  People speaking to people across the globe without political borders and the limitation of time and space appeals to a person of my ilk. I am so humbled to be apart of, and thankful for this joyous event.
   How do you blow your mind? Trust the quiet voice and act!  Who knew?

Courage in red

 In the round mirror you will see my Engine House. It's the famous 111 year old home of Engine 23 and Squad 3. You can see a wonderful view of it in the opening scenes of the new Karate Kid remake.


                                   

WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY

      

                         Day One, Let There Be Birds!

      As I have traveled the blogosphere it has been my pleasure to observe the work of fabulous photo-naturalist and in the process learning plenty about the various approaches to capturing these images of natures most intriguing, diverse and illusive of species, birds.  Wonderful meme's such as Skywatch Friday and Weekend Reflections have given me, a very amateur but enthusiastic bird photographer, the desire to contribute to a bird themed meme where I could post word and picture of my small adventures. Alas, I could not find one! In my colossal naivete I thought perhaps I should be the person to start one. So I have taken a deep breath and begun. Think of it, bird photographers from around the world, with a shared passion and excitement for this difficult and enchanting pastime, encouraging and surprising each other with the products of our quest, the ultimate pleasure of capturing the reflected light off a beautiful bird into the magic boxes we now call cameras.
      To my compatriots on every continent, let us share our appreciation for the feathered creatures that  fly above and around us with a freedom terrestrial creatures can only envy!
      It is our world, it is day one.

                                                                                                        Your Host,
                                                                                                                         Springman!


This is the home of "World Bird Wednesday." It is a place for bird lovers from around the world to post their favorite bird picture of the week. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. The inaugural World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at noon Tuesday 11-23-10 EST North America through noon on Thursday 11-25-10. It would be most helpful, though not required, if you would identify your capture by it's common name and/or Latin name. Example: White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)



You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and beautiful of Earth's residents, the BIRDS!

Three easy steps!
                                
#1. Simply post the above picture on your W.B.W. blog entry.

#2. Copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W.     http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#3. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.              

And remember to click on the thumbnails of our contributors and comment on each others blogs!
                                          
                                                      Come on, it's your turn!