Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Birding Bass Ponds

It was not all just warblers that I photographed on my trip to the Bass Ponds.
There are probably more blue-winged teal in the area right now then any other type of duck. It seems as though there are even more teal then there are mallards, which is very unusual since we have a healthy mallard population all year long.
There are still some hoodies around but they will probably all move north soon.
Herons are a bird that we see often during the spring, summer, and fall. Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes but we also have about twice as many ponds and each one typically has one or two great blue heron or great egret fishing in it.
I have been having some fun lately shooting female redwing black birds. Even though they are much more drab looking then the males I enjoy shooting them more. That is probably because it is more of a challenge. The females are more secretive and do not usually hang out in the open like the males do.
Another type of bird that I see a lot of but have a difficult time photographing are swallows. Usually they are darting through the air chasing bugs around. They are so fast and maneuver so quickly that the autofocus can not home in on them. Of course the AF on my 100 - 400 never really works for small birds or insects so most of the photos that I take I use manual focus. Fortunately for me this tree swallow decided to perch and let me take his pic.

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