I made the rounds in southern Orange County on this gray, drizzly, Sunday morning. I was a little cranky due to the poor weather and not sleeping well, so I was pretty happy to find a single Cackling Goose among approximately 500 Canada Geese at the Camel Farm in Orange County, NY. I put the word out, and luckily both Linda Scrima and Maria Loukeris were close by and ran for the bird. It was a lifer for both of them, so that was exciting. Another highlight was 8 Snow Buntings in with a large flock of Horned Larks in the Black Dirt Region. Aside from that, I had 34 species for the morning, all birds you would expect to see.
I was eating my lunch, contemplating my next move, when I I received a text from Maria -She had located a Barred Owl in Vernon NJ! I hustled down and got super looks at the bird and some photos too (in spite of large number of branches in the way). I have no idea how she located this bird, the pics don’t do justice to how well it was hidden. Huge thanks to Maria for the heads up.
Matt,
These shots are fantastic. Are you hand holding? They are sooooooo crisp! And for a dreary day, too.
The merganzer shot is so great. Do you remember what settings you used?
I am so addicted to shooting birds…….and landscapes, too, though.
Wilma
Wilma,
I’m so happy for you getting a new lens! Yes, I hand hold. I tried a monopod for a short time, but it never felt comfortable. I always shoot on Aperture Priority and then adjust the exposure compensation and ISO as needed. Today everything was shot at a pretty high ISO (for me), the owl and the merganser were both at ISO 2000, so I was pretty happy with how they came out, based on that. Good luck with the lens, enjoy! Matt