bs kite wrote:
By frequency of occurrence, the crayfish is the #1 food item that Common Loons feed their young in the region I am in (personal observation). That is the advantage of the camera as a tool.
*We have a visual record of what we observe*.
I hope the color is correct on this image. If not, someone please tell me.
Colors are spot on looking at them on my NEC monitor.
I misclicked something and wound up at the first post of this thread...had to laugh at Geoff's "I'm not sure how I feel about this lens" quote...if only he knew it would end up being one of the best wildlife lenses ever made
I hope I have the color correct on these. Not sure. Is it ok?
The male parent of the two chicks, keeping an eye on me.
The mother passing along a crayfish. This is the first family of loons I've photographed in which one parent did all the hunting and feeding. But it was my first time on this basin, so maybe he will help her next time.
It is the same loon that I posted in the "200-500" thread about a week ago taking to flight. On that day it was flying to and fro because it was excited that there was one other loon on the basin.
At first, after watching them interact for several minutes, I thought they were adversaries. But it didn't escalate. I gradually came to believe that this loon was simply enjoying having another of its species around.
These days it is alone again and does not like it, occasionally letting out a forlorn wail. The other day it wailed continually, hoping to attract another loon to this basin. Loons have terrific hearing and eyesight. The basins in the area are close enough that loons are within earshot of each other (at least very early in the morn).
This basin should have had reproduction by now, but it never had much quality nesting habitat and they keep building the damned camps close to the shoreline. When I was a boy there was an occasional Northern Water Snake along the immediate shoreline (in the remnant bushes) and a Snapping Turtle would occasionally pop its head up about 50 feet out on the pond.
But people are afraid of such things and so they've killed them. I have not seen a NWS or snapper here for decades. They also recently trapped out the beaver for fear of giardiasis, even though there have been no cases.
By and large, people are ignorant to wildlife, and ignorance is a choice.
We are now in the 6th mass extinction of species. Actually, we have been in it for decades, but most people do not even know it. And we are the cause, but I would guess that most would reject that fact.
The lonely loon. This loon will likely stay on this basin until autumn and then winter directly east in the North Atlantic
I feel confident that the lonely loon (1st image) is this same loon that was flying to and fro on the basin about a week ago (2nd image). I could be wrong and time will tell.
It was a big surf day, but while I was scouting the surfing, I realised the barrels were nicely side lit and showed off the green beautifully. These were about 3-4m waves
Pixel Perfect wrote:
It was a big surf day, but while I was scouting the surfing, I realised the barrels were nicely side lit and showed off the green beautifully. These were about 3-4m waves
A couple of shots of the gorgeous little fairy wrens that we are so lucky to have in great numbers in Australia. Quite friendly and I've had them hop on my shoes when just sitting and watching them.
NissanPatrol wrote:
The D500 and D850 some of the best cameras produced ever
Some times I ask my self why did I had to buy the Z9
I float this question in my head all of the time. While I love using the Z9 for its silence and high tech AF, I often wonder if I should have passed on the Z-system and kept my D500/D850 kit.
Having paid $5500 for the Z9 and $2700 for the 100-400S, I could have rolled less money into a 600mm f/4G to shoot from a tripod and continue to pursue fast flitty subjects w/ the 500PF.
Buying the new stuff is seductive and is protection from being left behind by gear that will lose its warranty, but it may not necessarily do anything to improve your photography.
