[Leica] Bird Watching and Bird Pictures

[Doug Herr <71247.3542@compuserve.com>]

On Mon, 30 Nov 1998, Marc James Small wrote:

>As Roy Zartarian, Epic Lugger, will tell you, birds are quite elusive and
>hard to locate.  When you find them, they seem to shy away from having
>Large Tubular Objects such as camera lenses -- and rifles! -- pointed at
>them.  This is what makes bird watching a real feast as well as a royal
pain.
>
>I visited the tidal flatlands of Virginia over Thanksgiving.  The weather
>APO-Televid, foolish me.  But I did have a couple of Zeiss binoculars and
>my trusted M6 set and, of course, the 2.8GX Rolleiflex.  
>
>On Thursday, I was driving along the Colonial Parkway towards Yorktown
when
>I came upon a couple of Trumpeter Swans parked at one of the inlets -- the
>one just north of King's Creek, and I cannot recall the name.  It is a
>broad, barely briney estuary.  Two Swans, two Canadian Geese, one of the
>Geese perched on a log and the others swimming about.  The Goose in the
>water was defensive towards all comers -- and then my escort, the charming
>Cyndi, noted that the Goose on the log had an oil-soaked wing and the
other
>was protecting it from both the Swans and Yrs. Trly.  
>
>The Swans were playful -- they are not uncommon in the York and James
>estuaries, but are normally quite skitterish about Outsiders, and only let
>Humans, and other such folks, approach to within a hundred yards (yeah,
>yeah, a hundred meters for the Imperially Challenged among our number,
Ted)
>or so.  These two were of a different bent.  They splashed, and preened,
>and swam about, dove for food, and showed off some more.  They were
>strutting their stuff.  
>
>I had Kodachrome.  I had a Leica.  I had lenses, 1.4/35 to 4.8/280 (DAMN!
>Why didn't I bring that 5/400!).  I shot a roll.  The Swans liked the
>binoculars.  They loved the camera.  They showed off.  These guys were
>Hollywood Hams if ever such existed.  It was warm, and sunny, and clear,
>and they were in fine form.

<SNIP>

Marc,

Great story.  Ya never know when the @#%& birds will cooperate like this. 
I've developed the habit of carrying at least one Telyt with me at all
times; usually the 280 (f/4.8).  I wish the 400 & 560 would fit in my fanny
pack.  My SO thinks I carry this to extreme like on trips to the grocery
store but she indulges my eccentricity.  I suggest that the swans were
actually Tundra swans, not Trumpeter.  The Trumpeter swan is extremely rare
east of the great plains, while Tundra Swan is common in winter in the
tidal areas of Virginia.  Mute Swan is also possible on the east coast but
they're more likely north of Virginia.

Doug Herr
Sacramento