Florida birds with Sandra's new camera
After Thomas returned home, Sandra began to try to use her new camera for bird pictures (rather than people pictures) - trying different locations and settings. She is now up to chapter 5 (of 10) in how to use her new camera and she tries to get out every day to experiment with the settings as she reads her way through the camera manual.
First, we went to the new bird watching park to try to get birds in flight. Spotting the ospreys through the viewfinder was hard at first because the field of vision is so small. So, I spotted them soaring and told Sandra where they were so she could focus in on them using "sports mode" high speed setting to stop them in flight.
Amazingly, both these pictures of ospreys are so in focus that the yellow eyes can be seen clearly.
She also took many pictures of pelicans searching for schools of fish.
Last Tuesday morning, Sandra went back to the bird park to have a guided tour. Here are a tri-colored heron and an egret side by side next to the mangroves. She found that morning shots at the intercoastal were best to capture the reflections of the birds in the water.
Just a few feet away, was the little blue heron.
Similarly, we found that late afternoon was best for getting reflections of birds in the shallow water beachside. Here are two black skimmers from a flock on the beach.
Black skimmers are very skittish and rarely allow a photographer to get closer than 15 feet. So, Sandra focused in on this bird while I took a loop on my bicycle that invaded the 15 foot ring. The bird took off low along the water while Sandra locked her focus on it.
This is one of the largest breed of gulls on the beach. It is definitely "king of the gulls". Unfortunately, our bird books don't identify the species.
The willet is not a common bird on the beach. While most birds seem to shuffle, it raises its feet as it steps through the shallow water.
Finally, here is a picture of the sea oats and beach at the end of one of our late afternoon walks (taken from the high elevation walkway from Sea Woods).
First, we went to the new bird watching park to try to get birds in flight. Spotting the ospreys through the viewfinder was hard at first because the field of vision is so small. So, I spotted them soaring and told Sandra where they were so she could focus in on them using "sports mode" high speed setting to stop them in flight.
Amazingly, both these pictures of ospreys are so in focus that the yellow eyes can be seen clearly.
She also took many pictures of pelicans searching for schools of fish.
Last Tuesday morning, Sandra went back to the bird park to have a guided tour. Here are a tri-colored heron and an egret side by side next to the mangroves. She found that morning shots at the intercoastal were best to capture the reflections of the birds in the water.
Just a few feet away, was the little blue heron.
Similarly, we found that late afternoon was best for getting reflections of birds in the shallow water beachside. Here are two black skimmers from a flock on the beach.
Black skimmers are very skittish and rarely allow a photographer to get closer than 15 feet. So, Sandra focused in on this bird while I took a loop on my bicycle that invaded the 15 foot ring. The bird took off low along the water while Sandra locked her focus on it.
This is one of the largest breed of gulls on the beach. It is definitely "king of the gulls". Unfortunately, our bird books don't identify the species.
The willet is not a common bird on the beach. While most birds seem to shuffle, it raises its feet as it steps through the shallow water.
Finally, here is a picture of the sea oats and beach at the end of one of our late afternoon walks (taken from the high elevation walkway from Sea Woods).
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