Another sunny day...can't help but go digiscoping.... In my part of the country I always label this as a nuclear dead zone in terms of birds and migration etc... A terrible part of Washington State. But I do have one small water area to take shots of...a local river that has long ago been diverted by the Corps of Engineers into a spillway. At least it is overgrown in and around so various species of waterfoul are present although not overly diverse...the usual herons, mallards, today was a hooded merganser, kingfishers etc...
Usually around here herons are pretty spooky and they are difficult to get a shot of. I noticed today that ducks...seem to have a sense of when 'you have them in their site" ...has anyone else noticed that? Talk about a sixth sense. The minute I get one in focus, it knows it and scoots away too. I really feel birds do have a sense ...they know when we are onto them.
Now for the heron...it is a large bird and I find it hard to really capture the bird digiscoping when upclose, for obvious reasons. But this shot attached was one of it preening itself and the right leg was drawn up. Such awkward looking birds and not overly graceful looking in flight either but the kicker is, they are!
I am getting more comfortable with my new method of digiscoping...+ on the exposure, low ISO....and no more than 20 zoom. I always always always use the timer with a second delay and 4 shots. Even though the focus is preset as I scope in on the bird, the secret I feel is fine tuning focus when you have the camera in place. This is not always easy due to sun light on camera. It works well with my camera and set up. When the sun shines in the NW, in the morning...shots come out well. The long shadows come out during the afternoon making for tough shots, especially in this creek where the sun is perfectly set in the morning.
I also try to get as close to eye level as I can. This is not easy as when doing so, you scare away most birds as you move from above ground thru bush...to get even with the water. My tri-pod doesn't take 'upside down' scoping, so I can get about as low as 1 1/2 feet from ground to scope. Perhaps 2 feet at eyepiece. But usually that is low enough to give the feel of ground level or in this case ---water level.
Scoped a few more waterfoul...wigeons and mergansers and tried to capture a junco but they were in high grass and shade... next time... I have another place in mind not far from here where I can take some shots...I think the next sunny day I will venture out there and see what it is their pond....
Usually around here herons are pretty spooky and they are difficult to get a shot of. I noticed today that ducks...seem to have a sense of when 'you have them in their site" ...has anyone else noticed that? Talk about a sixth sense. The minute I get one in focus, it knows it and scoots away too. I really feel birds do have a sense ...they know when we are onto them.
Now for the heron...it is a large bird and I find it hard to really capture the bird digiscoping when upclose, for obvious reasons. But this shot attached was one of it preening itself and the right leg was drawn up. Such awkward looking birds and not overly graceful looking in flight either but the kicker is, they are!
I am getting more comfortable with my new method of digiscoping...+ on the exposure, low ISO....and no more than 20 zoom. I always always always use the timer with a second delay and 4 shots. Even though the focus is preset as I scope in on the bird, the secret I feel is fine tuning focus when you have the camera in place. This is not always easy due to sun light on camera. It works well with my camera and set up. When the sun shines in the NW, in the morning...shots come out well. The long shadows come out during the afternoon making for tough shots, especially in this creek where the sun is perfectly set in the morning.
I also try to get as close to eye level as I can. This is not easy as when doing so, you scare away most birds as you move from above ground thru bush...to get even with the water. My tri-pod doesn't take 'upside down' scoping, so I can get about as low as 1 1/2 feet from ground to scope. Perhaps 2 feet at eyepiece. But usually that is low enough to give the feel of ground level or in this case ---water level.
Scoped a few more waterfoul...wigeons and mergansers and tried to capture a junco but they were in high grass and shade... next time... I have another place in mind not far from here where I can take some shots...I think the next sunny day I will venture out there and see what it is their pond....
