RETROSPECTS 2023 - #3

Great Blue Heron, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, California

In March I had a chance to go back to one of my favorite wildlife shooting locations, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, the well known laguna next to the Pacific Ocean in Southern California near Huntington Beach. I have been there numerous times before over the years and every visit holds another surprise. It is not difficult to find and photograph the Great-Blue Heron here in the Mississippi Valley or its side valleys. Well, we can’t offer a shot of breeding herons in a palm tree here, but for the first time I was able to watch Great Blue Herons building nests in these palms that grow at the edge of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. While one bird was out to find sticks and other material to built a nest, the other one watched the nest site and made sure the neighbors from the next palm tree didn’t claim any of their possessions. Fascinating and worth to mention in this year’s RETROSPECTS…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,…@600 mm, 1/800s, f/6.3, ISO 2000, image slightly cropped

NATURE CLICKS #551 - CALIFORNIA THRASHER (FIRST SIGHTING)

California Thrasher, San Joaquin Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California

I saw this bird twice during the recent visit at the Pacific coast and it was my first encounter. Their range is limited to western and central California. Before you see the California Thrasher you may hear it, a series of musical warbled phrases. They are also known to mimic the songs of other birds, like Northern Flickers, American Robins, or Red-tailed Hawks. This thrasher was hiding most of the time in the chaparral and riparian thickets of the San Joaquin Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, but when he left its cover and flew up into the tree I had a brief chance to make a few clicks. I ”zoomed” with my feet and moved the tripod around several times to get at least a picture without a branch or the shadow of a branch covering the thrasher’s face. Well, happy to add the California Thrasher to the photo library and to share this encounter with you!

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, CALUMET CK8156 tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,

INGREDIENTS

Black-necked Stilt, Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve, California, 2017

Light, gesture, and color are still the main ingredients for a photo that may not even get more than just one second of attention span these days on social media. Ok, nothing new here, but if a picture doesn’t even have at least one of the above mentioned, it goes down the digital drain without any notice. A good photo hardly ever needs all three ingredients, one just can make the difference.

2017 RETROSPECT / 3

Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra, California

March held many good photo opportunities for me, especially with migrating birds, but the highlight was a visit at Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra in California. The tufa formations around the lake are a fascinating subject and with the snow covered mountains in the background you can’t go wrong, even if circumstances allowed me to be there for only a very short time around the noon hour.

GOING BACK TO THE VAULT

Black-necked Stilt, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, California

Live stood in the way for any new photography during the last few days. I like to keep my blog up to date in regards of the season, but if I can’t find the time to shoot new pictures I have no reason to panic. It doesn’t hurt to dig out some images from the vault that are a few weeks or even months old.

Back in April I was in one of my favorite locations to photograph birds, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve near Huntington Beach, California. By the way, a good photography friend of mine from Germany might be there in the next few days (Hi Maren!) and I wish her nothing but the best light for her time in this great location!

As I was about to call it a day, a pair of Black-necked Stilts did everything to attract my attention, just next to the parking lot. The wind from the Pacific swayed the bushes in front of the lens and almost all pictures I made have this green disturbance left and right. My favorite shot, the one you see above, was cropped to “portrait orientation” in post. This leaves all the green, left and right, out of the frame but I had to sacrifice a lot of pixels. So is this all bad? Not really, at least not for this photo in my blog today… 

NATURE CLICKS #373 - WILLET

Willet, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ---------

Last week I read on the website of the Iowa-Bird google group that people had spotted a number of Willets at several locations in eastern Iowa. I tried to find this medium to large sandpiper at the Deere Marsh here in Dubuque last Saturday morning but I had no luck.

Two weeks ago in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in California I still saw a few that hadn’t migrated to their breeding grounds in the interior of the western US and Canada.

The Willet in the image was in company with several Marbled Godwits but I tried to isolate it from the rest of the bunch for my picture. The warm natural light of this evening made it an easy click with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports lens mounted on tripod with gimbal head. 

PREENING - OFTEN A GOOD GESTURE

Snowy Egret, San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California ---------

No visit in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve or the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Southern California is complete without a photo of a Snowy Egret. I have photographed this beautiful bird many times before and the question at another visit is always, how can the previous results be improved? The answer lies first in a review of older images. Do I need improvement on the technical side (i.e. sharpness)? What was missing? What kind of shot would I like to make? For the Snowy Egret I found out that I have plenty of images showing the bird standing in the water or walking along the shore and looking out for little fish to catch. This is how we see the egret the most and I can tell you, I added some more photos to the library that show the bird just doing this. What I didn’t shoot before was an egret preening its feathers. This is a great gesture that tells a story about this bird.

In harsh light exposing strictly for the highlights on the white egret darkens the background but I used it too my advantage because it also hides some mud and clutter that would otherwise distract from the subject of the photo. Sure, this can be done in post process at home on the computer but getting it right in camera is the real deal for me.

HIGH HOPES

American Avocet, San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California ---------

Every local birder I met in the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Orange County, California a few days ago was excited to talk about the possibility that the American Avocets may breed this year at the ponds of the bird sanctuary. Someone must had posted something on social media because several people asked me where to find the avocets. That wasn’t really difficult to answer, since they were present right at the pond next to one of the parking lots. In the morning I saw only three, but later in the day I counted five birds. They bend down and sweep their bills from side to side in a scything motion along the bottom to stir up aquatic insects. Their diet also consists crustaceans and aquatic plants.

I started to understand the excitement of other bird lovers while watching a pair of avocets preparing a nest side or at least pretending to. Remember, this sanctuary is next to an airport and between extremely busy freeways and residential areas.

NATURE CLICKS #371 - BLACK-NECKED STILT

Black-necked Stilt, San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California ----------

Hard to believe that it was already a week ago when I visited the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, California. It was very exciting to see and watch many birds that we don’t see here in Iowa. One of them is the Black-necked Stilt, who feeds in salt and fresh water. I first saw them a few years ago in the Great Salt Lake, Utah, than last week again in the salty water of the Pacific Ocean at the Bolsa Chica laguna, and finally in the fresh water ponds at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. Their legs are extremely long in proportion to their body, only exceeded by flamingos. This stilt feeds on tadpoles, mollusks, aquatic insects, snails, flying insects, seeds, and even small fish (source: iBird Pro App).

The photo was made with the Sigma 1.4 tele extender attached to the Sigma 150-600 lens and camera was set to DX crop mode. This is the equivalent to an angle of view of a 1275 mm lens. This shows the bird a lot closer but handling this focal length, even on a tripod with gimbal head, is not an easy task. This combination is unforgiving when you make the slightest mistake while focussing on a moving subject. The Black-necked Stilt has some good contrast in its feathers and therefor it is a great shore bird to practice with a long lens.

BLUE SHOW OFF

Male Western Fence Lizard, San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California -------

I don’t know if this male Western Fence Lizard displayed to attract a female or maybe tried to keep an intruder at distance. I saw only him between the rocks at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, California. Commonly called the blue-belly, it was showing off his blue patches on throat and belly right in front of me. I was actually focussing on the birds in the shallow water behind the lizard and therefor had the 1.4 tele extender added to the Sigma 150-600. This was the right combination to make this click without sacrificing any pixels because of the distance.

NATURE CLICKS #369 - ALLEN’S HUMMINGBIRD

Male Allen's Hummingbird, San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Orange County, California ----

Last Saturday in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve I met a German pilot from Lufthansa, who did exactly the same like me, shooting pictures and enjoying it. He recommended another location that I wasn’t familiar with, the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. This unique freshwater marsh is only a few blocks away from John Wayne Airport and as you can imagine not the quietest place on the planet. I changed my plans for Easter Sunday and decided to give it a try. All what I can say is that it was a great tip from the pilot. The checklist from the Audubon Society tells that over 282 bird species have been documented in the sanctuary. Before I even pointed my lens at any of the shore birds, I saw this Allen’s Hummingbird. This is a first sighting for me and I was eager to make a photo of it, perching high up in a tree.

NATURE CLICKS #367 - WHIMBREL

Whimbrel, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, California --------   

Greetings from Southern California. One evening and a whole Sunday of bird photography lie behind me. I shot at two locations. About the first one, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, I have talked in the blog before. As always, great bird watching and fun to make some good clicks around the laguna between Huntington Beach and Seal Beach.

This Whimbrel was a first one for me. I followed this long-legged sandpiper for quite some time. They are in constant search for marine invertebrates, worms, and mollusks. The Whimbrel probes deeply into the mud and moves as it feeds but I also saw them picking up food on the ground. The Whimbrel breeds up in Alaska and the arctic regions of Canada and Greenland.

Because of the intensive low sitting sun it looks almost like a speed light was used for the photo, but because of this light quality the flash stayed actually in the bag the whole evening.

STITCHING A PANO TOGETHER

Click for larger image! --------

We had a dull, dreary, and rainy day and as a result no new pixels made it onto the memory card today. Not a big deal and it was a perfect time to browse through older images and clean up the photo library this evening.

During my recent visit at Mono Lake on the east side of the Sierra Nevada I made a few attempts to shoot some panorama images. As mentioned in an earlier post, it was extremely windy that day and so I shot handhold the whole time. I remember my first attempts to make a digital panorama, about 8 - 9 years ago, were a nightmare in post process. Thanks to the amazing software capabilities of Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop (I used Lightroom for this photo) it is really a breeze to stitch several photos together for a panorama these days.

So why even doing it? On a website, like this blog, a panorama looks most of the time tiny, depending how big your computer screen or mobile device is. It is the printing that makes all the difference. This picture was made from four photos. The content needs to overlap a little but at the end it led to an image with over 12,000 pixels on the long side. This allows to make a print 40 inch wide (~ 1 meter) or even larger without any loss of detail.