A Bit of December Bird Photography
On Friday afternoon, I managed to get out with my camera to the Delany Wildlife Management Area which is a couple of miles from our home in Harvard. On Sunday morning, I drove out to Plum Island arriving at sunrise. Between the two outings, I took a handful of photos that I like, so I thought I would write a quick blog post.
When looking at this Mute Swan, I noticed that the background behind it was largely shaded. By underexposing the photo, I was able to make that effect even more dramatic. Underexposing the photo also deepened the reflected sky blue in the water. Lying flat with my camera lens on the ground created the dreamy water effect and tends to oversaturate the color in the water.
I photographed this juvenile Mute Swan just a couple of minutes after the first photo. Here the far shore is not in the shade and I have properly exposed the shot, so the trees on the far shore create a soft warm background for the bird complementing the browns on the swan.
I photographed this final set of Mute Swans just after sunrise Sunday morning on Plum Island. These two swans were sitting on the frozen pond when I accidentally flushed them as I came around some trees. While I generally dislike photos of birds flying away, this photo is an exception to my rule.
Besides swans, I photographed quite a few raptors between the two outings. Above is a juvenile Bald Eagle. While I have never seen any, there are very occasional Golden Eagles in Massachusetts. A Golden Eagle would look very similar to this bird but with some subtle differences. A Golden Eagle would have white at the base of the tail, its beak would be much less pronounced, and the wings would not be quite as broad. Given the similarities, whenever I photograph an immature Bald Eagle, I always take a careful look hoping that I might find that I have actually photographed one of the rare Golden Eagles.
This is a Cooper’s Hawk, a bird that is difficult to identify because it is extremely similar to a Sharp-shinned Hawk. The Sharp-shinned Hawk is smaller at 10-14” compared with 14-20” for the Cooper’s Hawk. However, size is impossible to tell in a photo like this. The Sharp-shinned Hawk has shorter head that does not project out from the body quite as far as on this Cooper’s Hawk. While this photo does not show it that clearly, the tail is slightly rounded in length while the Sharp-shinned has a more square tail. However, given how similar these birds look, I typically post pictures like this to the Facebook “What’s this Bird” group to get feedback from the many highly experienced birders who regularly provide identifications. In this case, there was quick agreement of a Cooper’s Hawk by four top commenters all noting specific field marks for their assessments. Without good photos, there are many birds that I absolutely would not be able to identify.
Sunday morning, I photographed both a Peregrine Falcon and a Red-tailed Hawk, but the photos were of poor quality. However, I did capture several nice shots of this Northern Harrier. This raptor is identifiable by the bright white stripe at the base of its tail feathers.
At one point, the Northern Harrier flew relatively low and almost directly over me allowing me to snap this photo.
Not all of the birds that I photographed were large birds. Here is a Swamp Sparrow. I find sparrows rather challenging to tell apart. There are so many that seem quite similar, and I constantly forget the distinguishing characteristics for many of them. The yellow around the eye is a distinctive feature of the Swamp Sparrow.
Here is an American Tree Sparrow. It is rather similar to a Chipping Sparrow, but the rufous stripe through its eye is a good field mark as is the two toned beak.
This is a Song Sparrow, one of the most common sparrows around here. I tend to identify the Song Sparrow by its lack of distinguishing features. Its color is not particularly bold and its pattern is generally uniform.
Keeping things small, I thought I would end with this Black-capped Chickadee.
Happy Holiday’s Everyone!