Sunday, 19 August
With a nice weekend in the forecast, we decided to take a break from chores and whatnot and enjoy a bit of fresh air both yesterday and today.
Saturday, we took the Gekkos and drove 30 minutes into DC. Parking the car at the East Potomac Park, we did a 3-hour trike ride along the Potomac River. Good exercise; and fun too.
Scenes from along the Potomac in Washington, DC.
Today, I had a different agenda. We plan to visit a lot of wildlife refuges when we get on the road. That means more opportunities for BIF (birds-in-flight) photography. So, I finally bought a Wimberley gimbal head for my tripod. This specialized head is designed to rotate a telephoto lens around it’s center of gravity. The movement is very fluid and I can move the camera sideways as well as up and down very smoothly. All the better to track BIF and other wildlife in motion.
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Wimberley WH-200 Gimbal Head II — I love it!
So, we headed to Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia this morning to practice with the Wimberley. I can’t believe I waited this long to get this tripod head. So smooth; so easy. So much better than the ball head I’ve been using. Even a really long (and heavy) prime lens would be a piece of cake to maneuver with this gimbal head. Hmmmmmm :-)
While the Wimberley performed beautifully, the birdlife didn’t necessarily cooperate. Just one flock of Canada geese flew overhead, and that was before I was set up for photography. I heard a lot of chirping in the trees, but the birds were hidden by the leaves. The small birds that were flitting about were too far for my 70-200 mm lens; even had I not forgotten the 2x extender, I still wouldn’t have been able to capture photos of them.
But I didn’t return empty handed … here’s a selection of photos I decided to keep from this morning’s outing.
The beavers were busy as … well … beavers.
This one showed up before I had a chance to get the camera on the tripod …
… but I was ready for this one and was able to track it beautifully.
The following photos are heavily cropped … darn, where’s my extender when I need it.
Green Heron
This great blue heron is fishing; if you look really close you’ll see it has a fish in its beak.
(I kept this photo because of how it fits into the storyline that follows.)
A white-tailed deer shows up with her fawn at the only water in the park …
… and the twosome promptly joins the great blue heron …
… which turns around and …
… leads them to a trail.
OK, so that’s my interpretation of the interaction between the deer and the great blue heron. But honest, it really did look like the great blue heron was leading the deer to this hidden trail.
The park is an oasis in the middle of a busy urban area. These pockets of green amidst concrete jungles never fail to amaze me. Unfortunately, the effects of the drought are quite visible at Huntley Meadows. Except for the pond created by beaver dams and the pond pictured above, the wetlands are little more than mud flats parched and cracked by the sun. We need rain; not the drenching downpours that pass through, but the steady kind that can soak into the land and do some good.
Flowers at Huntley Meadows: Cardinal Flower (left); Swamp Milkweed (top right);
Swamp Mallow [aka Hibiscus] (bottom right).
Today’s short visit to Huntley Meadows has exacerbated the travel itch … I wonder if we can get away next weekend?
Do I see bigger, more powerful lenses in the future? Your photos are already fantastic!
ReplyDeleteIt's a dilemma ... trying to simplify the camera bag on the one hand, and not being satisfied with the reach of existing lenses when they don't quite give me the results I want :-)))
DeleteGüle güle kullanın!
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat device. Looks like you are getting dangerously close to becoming… dare I say it?
A “Birder” !?
And I could not be more tickled at the prospect.
As long as you'll be my 'birding encyclopedia' I'll be a birder :-)))
DeleteYou sure do have the equipment. And I think your photographs are already spectacular. I can't imagine what you'll do in a NWR. They were my motivation to full time as well. But I thought I could camp there. Not so unless you are a volunteer and as we've traveled, I've found that there are quite a few of them which are not near any campgrounds. But I still love them and visit all I can.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of the heron with the deer. They look so peaceful and not a care in the world.
ReplyDeleteyour photos are always lovely Erin!..never a bad one in the bunch..congrats on your new purchase, I am sure it will give you many hours of photography bliss!
ReplyDeleteYou realy are going high tech! I'd have trouble just trying to put all the pieces together... :cO
ReplyDeleteBoy are you going to have fun with that. I don't know how your photos could get any better but am looking forward to watching! Loved how the deer and the heron interacted.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have all that equipment and use it so well. That way, I can just look at your exquisite photos and not have to learn how to do it myself :)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your thinking behind making Florida your state of residency instead of South Dakota... seems SD has more advantages for the full-timers...
ReplyDeleteI get more equipment ideas from you than what is good for me! I was wondering how the pros were getting all those great shots!
ReplyDelete