I went down to the park today for some new bird photos. I only had an hour and then I had to be somewhere else. Fortunately, this park is totally full of birds. All these shots were taken this morning.
1/4000, f/4.8, ISO 640, 200mm
The great blue herons are busy gathering sticks to build their nests. The photo above is my entry for the contest by @nelinoeva. I picked this shot because I liked how ungainly and awkward the bird seemed as it carried a large stick.
The males have the job of gathering the material for the nest. The female handles the actual construction work and she waits in the tree for the male to show up with the lumber.
I managed to fire off a long burst of shots as the male heron flew past... I'll show you a few of the better shots. These large birds somehow manage to be graceful and comical at the same time!
This bird was quite far away and I had to crop the photos a lot. I hope there is enough detail left to see.
At this point, I could hear peacocks calling and a bald eagle whistling. Where should I go next?
The peacocks sounded closer. I rushed over and found three of them. This guy was in the best position for me to photograph.
The peacock seemed to think I had food for him so he ran towards me to see... Sorry buddy, I gotta go look for the eagle!
When I got to the eagle's nest I found I just missed the action. One bird had returned to the nest and the other was leaving. There was a flurry of activity and I only managed to get one shot that was in focus... here you see one of the pair heading out. "You mind the eggs, dear. I gotta hunt!" It flew behind some trees and quickly disappeared into the distance heading towards the ocean.
A large flight of Canada Geese flew in and landed on the pond, honking away like crazy. I really wanted to watch them landing in a V formation but again I missed the moment.
I noticed a lot of the seagulls have paired off. These two were resting beside the pond taking in all the action.
Finally, here are some shots of a male mallard duck flapping his wings.
...and that's all the time I had today. I hope you enjoyed these photos!
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