Tuesday, April 8, 2014

April 7 - Fontenelle Forest



The Barred Owls were out in force this morning at the Fontenelle Forest Wetlands.  I photographed two of them high in a tree.   Unfortunately, they were too distant and high in the trees for decent photographs.

 American Coots are fairly common on the lake.  I've found them difficult to photograph. If I expose for their black feathers, the white bill is overexposed.  If I expose for the bill, I lose detail in the black feathers.  Their eye often disappears  when their visible side is in shadows.

Today, a solitary Coot was extremely cooperative.  It was very overcast day and just starting to sprinkle.  The resulting light was very soft. My photos captured the Coot's red eye along with details in both the feathers and bill.

A Wood Duck couple was high up in a dead tree.  They were well out of the range of my lens and silhouetted against the sky.  This image is a crop from a fraction of the image.  The ducks are so small in the image that I would normally throw it away.  As you can see, Photoshop was able to rescue this image.


Some of the Red-winged Blackbirds have arrived and are establishing territories.  They tend to perch on the highest perches in the area.  This one is resting on an upturned log that still is covered with debris from the 2012 flood.

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