Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2019/06/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Doug is a master of patience and investigation and fortitude It pays dividends! ric > On Jun 4, 2019, at 4:15 PM, Doug Herr via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> > wrote: > > It's been a while sine I've posted an update, but May turned ou to be > quite a productive month. I visited the Sierra Valley in Sierra and > Plumas Counties (Sierra Nevada mountains) where the spring nesting season > is well under way. > > Wilson's Snipe is ordinarily well-hidden in marsh veggies but I first > spotted this bird when a nearby rancher's dog flushed it from its hiding > spot: > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/scolopacidae/gallinago/wisnip08.html > > A few minutes later when the bird returned it called a couple of fuzzballs > out from their hiding spots: > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/scolopacidae/gallinago/wisnip07.html > > Meanwhile a female Yellow-headed Blackbird was preparing for the next > generation: > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/icteridae/xanthocephalus/yhblac06.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/icteridae/xanthocephalus/yhblac07.html > > while the male guarded the territory > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/icteridae/xanthocephalus/yhblac08.html > > On the way toward the Sierra Valley is a reliable spot for American > Dipper. I first learned of this spot a few years ago and after scouting > the location the last two springs I dedicated some time to photographing > the bird. This involved a quarter-mile hike with camera, tripod, > comfortable ground-level chair and a simple blind, and a morning > evaluating lighting, backgrounds and bird activity to get a few pictures: > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/cinclidae/cinclus/amdipp06.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/cinclidae/cinclus/amdipp07.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/cinclidae/cinclus/amdipp08.html > > > At the Sierra Valley marsh there were numerous water birds such as Gadwall > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/mareca/gadwal16.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/mareca/gadwal17.html > > Ruddy Duck > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/oxyura/ruduck06.html > > and Cinnamon Teal > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/spatula/citeal07.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/spatula/citeal06.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/spatula/citeal09.html > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/spatula/citeal05.html > > At a nearby flooded roadside I found a female Wilson's Phalarope > > http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/scolopacidae/phalaropus/wiphal05.html > > With the exception of the Dipper, these photos were made using the camper > as a blind. For the Cinnamon Teal I took the additional step of covering > the open window with camoflage-print bug netting (the same rudimentary > blind I used for the Dipper photos), which turned out to be surprisingly > effective. > > > As usual all comments are welcome and please feel free to share with > others who might be interested. > > > Doug Herr > Birdman of Sacramento > http://www.wildlightphoto.com > http://doug-herr.fineartamerica.com > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information