Adventures from the Deer Blind - Day 2

[terrib]

Second afternoon. These were on Shutter Priority at 1/1600, spot metering and no exposure compensation. The first shot is handheld from my ATV. The rest are from the blind with the camera set loosely on a tripod.


#1 Ducks once again leaving as I arrived to set up.



#2 I believe this is a Greater Yellowlegs but some of your real birders might correct me.



#3 Red Tailed Hawk sittin on the same cedar tree as the hawk from the day before. I got this one a little sharper, though. And the sun was down just far enough to provide some golden light.



#4 Another shot of the same Red Tailed Hawk.

[revi]

Just an idea:
You said about the ducks "once again leaving as I arrived to set up".

Does that mean you are setting up the blind at every sitting?
You might get better results leaving it in place a few days (and arrive before the birds, if you can)

[Mike Buckley]

No comparison between Day 1 and Day 2. Huge improvement during Day 2. Hard to imagine that Day 3 will get that much better.

[tbob]

Seems to be a great spot for bird photography. Must be nice to have access to a place where they congregate. I am interested to see what you can get over time. Are you keeping a tally of what you see?

[terrib]

Thanks Remco. We have talked about that and may try something else but I think if we left it overnight we would have to be willing to lose the blind, either to theft or damage by wildlife as it is a pretty flimsy tent-like structure. But the main thing is that it is not the setting up that scares them off - it's the actual arrival. I can stop the ATV a ways back but no matter how stealthily I try to sneak in, as soon as I walk to a point where I can see through the shrubbery, they scatter and fly to a part of the water which is out of sight. I think if I sat there long enough, they might return but I've no idea how long a time that would be.

[terrib]

Thanks, Mike! It may be a bit before we find out. It's been raining for two days so even with the ATV, getting back there will be a challenge until it dries some.

[terrib]

Trevor, thank you for suggesting the tally! I hadn't thought of that great idea. There are many things I see that I don't get pictures of. I bet there's a phone app for that.

It is a good spot and I'm thinking about trying to contact the other two property owners for permission to shoot from their property because theirs is more the main part of the lake. I think I'd get closer to the action that way.

[jprzybyla]

Hi Terri, nice sharp images. Looking at them on my monitor the colors appear over saturated. I have a new monitor that I have color profiled using Spyder 4, I wondered if you have profiled your monitor for color and brightness.

The second thing I wanted to comment on is birds returning after they have flushed. The answer is yes but how long to wait is the question. Birds are in an area for a reason, it is normally either food or shelter. The more they see your blind the more they will become accustomed to it and then will not pay attention to it. Maybe you could build something from tree branches that you could leave without worry. Another suggestion I might offer is to find places where the birds are accustomed to seeing humans. The nature reserves in Florida have walking and driving trails, so the birds see humans and cars and in many instances do not pay any attention to them.

[jeeperman]

Hi Terri, I am a little late to the party an have nothing new to add. I would agree with Joe that the colors seem slightly on the saturated side. You have certainly improved on this outing over day one. These are nice crisp and clean images. I look forwrd to seeing what comes of this. One of the main trick to birds/wildlife is to be out there as much as possible. You don't always see great stuff going on and when you do....you can't always capture it. Being out there a lot improves these odds.

I have a hard time sitting in a blind and like to stalk my prey, so I look forward to seeing how you get on in this area both with and without the blind.

[terrib]

Thanks Joe for pointing out the oversaturation. Even thought my monitor is not calibrated (other than it's internal calibration) I can see that it's probably my fault. I got so carried away with solving other issues in post that I failed to notice.

[terrib]

Thanks Paul, for your time and comments. I would rather be walking around too. In this particular situation I have limited access to the lake until I get permission from the other property owners. But I'm not sure I could stalk these ducks. I guess with hunting season, they are particularly skittish.

[NorthernFocus]

Definately sharper than Day 1, Terri. Yeah if the ducks have been hunted it could be tough getting anywhere close to them. Much better on the hawk.

[jamn4ex]

Very nice Terri . I would have to slip down there for the dawn and see if those ducks are flying in, in the morning. Be careful birds are tough and addictive.

[Plumcrak]

Terri, like everybody else has stated, great improvement. Maybe on day 3 in the deer blind you might see a deer??? Looking forward to the next in the series.

Cheers