I took my camera to Homer Lake today

[tigertoy]

I was feeling logy this afternoon, and it was looking like it might rain, so I didn't get out until late in the afternoon, but I did manage to get my fat butt out of the house and spent some time at Homer Lake, taking pictures mostly of birds.

The Great Blue Heron is probably my favorite bird to take pictures of. For one thing, they're magnificent, and for another, they're large enough that I can often get a fair-sized image. I didn't actually get any great pictures today, but several that are good enough to look at at the resolution that I'll upload and put in my blog. At left is a typical pose, wading through the lake looking for something to eat.


Here we have a couple of shots of a heron coming in for a landing on a log, showing off his wings.

Probably the high point of the day was that the Northern Oriole (once called the Baltimore Oriole, but ornithologists make their living by changing the names of birds) was much in evidence.


Another high point of the day for me was recognizing the song of the Rose Breasted Grosbeak.  There were a few of them around.  I heard one first, and I thought I recognized it, and then I saw (and photographed) him.


I also took a few pictures of robins -- common enough to be boring, but they're still nice birds.


There weren't any goslings in evidence where I was in the park, but toward the end of the day some adults came by.  This pair posed rather nicely for me.

The honeysuckles were blooming all over the place.  I wanted to get a nice picture of the flowers; I sort of managed.

Finally, I'll leave you with this shot of new oak leaves just opening.

Comments

nice pictures

[birder2.livejournal.com]

As usual, your pictures leave me green with envy. OK, I know you have a longer lens than I do but still.... FYI, the "Northern Oriole" is back to being the Baltimore Oriole--presumably until the NEXT meeting of the AOU.
Too bad that the honeysuckle is such a horribly invasive alien. It does smell good and look pretty, but between it and the autumn olive there is essentially nothing else in much of the area.

Re: nice pictures

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize the honeysuckle was an exotic. I know there are some honeysuckle species that are but I thought the stuff at Homer Lake and in my yard was a native.

[ntrlstgrl.livejournal.com]

What kind of camera do you use? I'm happily stuck in the dark ages of film and using a Pentax K-1000 35mm that I've had for 18 years.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I'm strictly a digital guy. My main camara is a Canon 20D. The herons above were shot with a Tamron 200-500 zoom lens and a 1.4x teleconverter; the others with a Tamron 28-300. (I use Tamron lenses because I can afford them; the roughly equivalent Canon lenses may be a little better but they cost a whole lot more.)

hello

[(Anonymous)]

Hello! Nice resource. Thanx.