So the same night I was out looking for the ducklings, I heard this odd crunching noise... turns out that two of the beavers were snacking on the stems of the spatterdock we have growing on the edge of our pond. Honestly, I'd rather they eat that than taking trees down.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 260mm, 1/200th sec at f/8. ISO 1250. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/80th sec at f/8. ISO 1250. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 190mm, 1/120th sec at f/8. ISO 1250. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

We did have some problems with them gnawing on the bark of some of the larger trees, making us worry they might try to cut them down... and they did cut down some smaller stuff (nothing bigger than about six inches in diameter), but they seem to have stopped doing that at least for now.

- Bill

So far this spring, we've had far too many geese on the pond, but we've also had visits from mergansers with their ducklings, and a wood duck and her young (I didn't get to see them, but Anya did), and this mallard mother and her nine offspring. I've tried to get photos of the others, but these are the only ones I got, and even these were pretty lucky and in poor conditions.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/320th sec at f/8. ISO 400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/500th sec at f/8. ISO 400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/250th sec at f/8. ISO 400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Maybe next year...

- Bill

So this was a bit of a treat. I've only ever seen Red-headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) twice - once back in our old house in Pittsburgh and I managed to get just enough of a blurry shot to prove to Anya that I'd seen it, and this second time just the other day. I debated waiting till another day to try and get photos, but I decided against that and went and got the camera and sat and took photos for almost an hour while the woodpecker hopped around in several trees in our backyard. I'm glad I did too, because we haven't seen it again since!

I couldn't get super close, but I think for such a rare bird (they're nearing threatened status), that these are pretty good. I really hope it comes back more frequently and I can get some more shots and hopefully a bit closer, but this is definitely a reminder of seizing the moment and not letting opportunities pass you by.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/200th sec at f/11. ISO 800. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Oftentimes, folks confuse the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) with the Red-headed Woodpecker because the Red-bellied also has red feathers on its head, but once you see the Red-headed, you definitely realize why this one got the name it did!

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/500th sec at f/8. ISO 800. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Bill

Ok - so much for posting on a regular basis... work has been absolutely insane recently, and by the time I get home I am completely exhausted; add to that the need to mow the grass every five days and that we had one night with strong storms and that we went away this past weekend, and you've got a recipe for me not getting to post all the cool stuff I'd wanted to.

Anyway, that just means you get one big post today. So after getting the cool encounter with the owl on Friday evening, we then went to Jennings Environmental Center Saturday morning. Jennings is one of those places that really wasn't convenient to get to on a regular basis when we lived in the city, but now it is only fifteen minutes away, so we can pop on over there whenever we like.

This particular morning, we were looking for birds and flowers, and we found some of both.

First, we noticed this pair of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor)...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/640th sec at f/11. ISO 800. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Both the male and the female were making repeated trips to and from the nest box with bits of sticks and grass to line their nest to get ready to lay some eggs...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/1250th sec at f/11. ISO 1600. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/1250th sec at f/11. ISO 1600. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

We looked for pink lady-slipper flowers, but couldn't find any... but we did find a couple patches of trillium - one of my favorite flowers.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/640th sec at f/11. ISO 800. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

We also saw a pair of Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) feeding on the nectar in some tree blossoms (unfortunately I never got a good shot of the male).

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/2000th sec at f/8. ISO 800. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Finally, we had seen a couple of these Common Yellow-throats (Geothlypis trichas) at the beginning of the day, but this one we managed to get in pretty close to and get some nicer shots of. He liked to sing to mark the boundaries of his territory, so I tried to wait until just the right moment to catch him mid-song.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/400th sec at f/8. ISO 400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

At this point, I have a nice back-log of stuff to process and share, so stay tuned... hopefully I can post more frequently than once a week!

- Bill

As much as I like the Barred Owl photo with the branches and leaves partially obscuring the owl, there is definitely something to be said for crisp clean close-ups. I was amazed with how cooperative this owl was, and though the six minutes went by really fast, I also felt that it lasted forever at the same time.

The lighting was a bit odd as it was getting on towards sunset, and the camera picked up the color temperature in an odd way. When I got home, I wanted to process the photos to look like how I remembered it - a bit warm due to the orange-ish setting sun. However, the camera had picked up a cooler 4300K color temp that just looked a bit too cool for my tastes. I tried several different settings, and personally I liked the 5200K the best, but I intentionally processed some extras to share here to show the difference.

Mouse-over the thumbnails to compare how the different color temperatures affect the photo...

4300K	4700K	5200K	5500K

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/400th sec at f/6.3. ISO 1600. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

While I was processing the photos, Anya came in and said she thought this photo would also look nice processed as a black & white. When I fired up Silver Efex Pro to see what it would look like in B&W, I found that I was just as happy with multiple versions of the photo that way too. I processed a couple in a "high key" (brighter with more whites) style and a couple in a "high structure" (darker with more contrast and sharper lines) style.

Same thing applies, mouseover the thumbnails to see the different versions...

High Key 2 Preset	Fine Art Preset	Fully Dynamic (Harsh) Preset	High Structure Preset

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/400th sec at f/6.3. ISO 1600. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Now comes the fun part (as if looking at a bunch of cool photos of an awesome bird wasn't fun enough)! Pick the versions you like best and vote for them below. I've opened up the voting so that you can vote for as many versions as you like, but ideally, I'd suggest picking one color and one B&W... but honestly, if you can't narrow your choice down to just one of each, feel free to vote for as many as you like!

So this encounter with this owl was just the beginning to a very productive photography weekend, so be sure to check back frequently as I'll hopefully be posting daily for a bit to get through all this rush of new material I have (and hopefully I'll also be out collecting more as well)!

- Bill

Ok - as promised. A photo of something that has eight eyes and eight legs... ;)

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/500th sec at f/8. ISO 400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Happy Mother's Day!

- Bill

Ok - this isn't the promised Mother's Day post with eight eyes and eight legs. That'll come tomorrow, so be sure to stop back for that.

Hopefully Mom doesn't take the title of this post the wrong way, but it does indeed tie directly to today's subject. This evening as Anya and I were driving up to the compost heap, Anya spotted an owl sitting in the trees just off the side of the road. The kicker was that I had debated bringing my camera and didn't (shame on me!). Anya got a few snaps with her iPhone, we then dropped off our grass clippings and saw the owl was still in the same spot on our way out. So we decided to run home, grab the DSLR and head back up in the hopes that it would still be there.

Sure enough, it was! I managed to get just a handful of shots in the six minutes that the owl tolerated us being there (ok, and me being nosy and trying to sneak in closer and closer).

Oh - and the subject of the post? The Barred Owls have a very distinctive call, and it sounds just like someone saying "Who, who cooks for you?" - and seriously, on Mother's Day I guess we could all show a little appreciation for Mom's cooking!

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/400th sec at f/6.3. ISO 1600. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for another special Mother's Day post!

- Bill

We were just about to leave to walk the dogs when Anya noticed a commotion out on our pond. As it turns out, it was a pair of snapping turtles mating. I moved in as close as I could and took some photos as well as some video...

These things were absolutely massive - if I had to guess, I'd say at least 60 lbs each - and they definitely weren't very graceful bobbing around in the water. They did make some grunting noises that I tried to capture in the video, but they either weren't making the noises or the camera didn't pick it up well enough. I waited around until they finished and split up, and I was hoping to catch the female hauling herself out of the pond to go lay the eggs, but after some quick research, it appears that she won't lay the eggs right away (and in fact can carry the viable sperm for several years, so they can even lay viable eggs in years during which they do not mate). How's that for a fascinating bit of info?

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/640th sec at f/8. ISO 800. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/640th sec at f/8. ISO 400. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

And be sure to check back this weekend for a special Mother's Day post... I don't want to ruin any surprises but it includes eight eyes and eight legs!!!

- Bill

I've heard and read in multiple places how it is important to get low - preferably eye-level or lower - when shooting wildlife photography. I've seen and taken plenty of examples where this is definitely true, but this set of photos really seems to drive the argument home (at least for me).

So here are two photos - taken only a few seconds apart from each other, of the same subject, just from a slightly different vertical angle. Honestly, I like both photos. As stand-alone images, they both work well for me, but there is a definite clear winner when I compare them side-by-side. Take a look and then cast your vote for which angle you like better...

High Angle	Low Angle

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/500th sec & 1/1250th sec at f/8. ISO 400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Cast your vote below!

- Bill

Ok - I'm getting better and better results with my bird photography every time I head out. Normally I'd try to spread these out, but I'm just going to do a nice long post today with the top results from my last outting. I am still cropping, but as you'll see, it is less dramatic (mouseover the images for the original uncropped versions).

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/200th sec at f/8. ISO 500. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/250th sec at f/8. ISO 500. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/800th sec at f/8. ISO 500. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Nashville Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla)

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM (borrowed) at 400mm, 1/1600th sec at f/8. ISO 800. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Hope you're enjoying the bird photographs. Eventually here it will warm up and we'll start getting back into the bugs and spiders... and hopefully a dive trip is in the not too distant future and we can get some underwater fun too! But for now, the improved results with the bird photography is really fun!

- Bill