After a long week at work, it was time for some birding on Friday to unwind a little as birding seems close in impossible tomorrow unless I want to hang out with the ducks and I think even they will be seeking shelter from the rain. Alan and I decided to head over to All Faiths Cemetery in Worcester to see if we could find the reported Pied-billed Grebes, Northern Pintail and American Wigeons that John Shea posted about on the Central Mass Bird sighting web site.
When we got there we saw a couple of American Wigeon's including the one above. Picture is lousy which seems to be a common theme of mine lately. Need to get a better camera with more zoom capacity as 15 just doesn't seem to cut it for me anymore as it appears as if my photographic subjects lately are getting further and further away.
Not to mention the lighting was terrible. I decided to see what the shots would look like with my flash on and while they didn't come out over exposed, they did come out kind of funky as you can see. The poor bird looks half wigeon and half zombie! So pretty though, love the color of the bill and the small white triangle that we were able to see a few times on the secondaries.
We also saw a Northern Pintail while there who was hanging out with the Mallards. Many of the drake Mallards are starting to come out of their eclipse plumage and back into that lovely color of theirs. It was interesting to see them mixed in with the other drakes that are still not quite there yet.
Again, the pictures didn't come out all that grand, but I wasn't complaining as it was nice to see them with my own two eyes and binoculars as I didn't have this bird on my Central Mass list.
We never did see the Pied-billed Grebes which was a disappointment as it was the bird I was most looking forward to seeing. This juvenile Eastern Phoebe made up for it somewhat though as it serves as a gentle reminder that while the air has a certain "crisp" to it, the Phoebe still remains. I will miss this bird terribly once it decides to head a little further south as I scrape ice from my windshield.No birding tomorrow obviously, but will be heading to Barre Falls on Sunday for a little hawkwatching. Hoping the Sharpies and Kestrels decide to grace us with their presence.
Take care all!
3 comments:
A better camera for you is a must but digital zoom is not the answer. When you use digital zoom the normally tight pixels are just spread apart for a larger picture. This results in the fuzzy pictures that you are getting.
great post. I might recommend a tripod - that helped my zoom pics be a bit better - and i added a zoom lens to my camera , thus saving the expense of a whole new camera
dan
I never thought of that Richard. Do I need a camera w/ better pixels?
Thanks forestal I may get a monopod as a tripod would be too much for me as I am very much a "hands on" photographer and like to move around a lot while taking my pictures so need the flexibility. I do see the difference in picture quality when folks use one though so have been thinking about it.
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