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DSC_6121 great blue heron at Clove lake
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DSC_6121 great blue heron at Clove lake

fallStaten IslandClove LakesGreat blue heronbirdsnatureheronsNYC

  • From my seat on the beach I watched a gull drag something large onto the shore. Temporarily taking my wide angle zoom off my camera and attaching my telephoto zoom in its' place, I saw it was a large fish head. Not inclined to chase after live fish that swim away, grabbing a free meal that floats by is the way to go, and I watched as this guy had to fight off another gull or two that figured the same thing.
  • DSC_2920 grabing a free meal
  • DSC_ 2947 grabbing a free meal
  • The people I photographed today turning over the rocks here, weren't the only ones searching for these tiny crabs, (they were collecting them because they knew the fish they were going to try and catch the next day, loved them as bait). The gulls round here found them good eating too.
  • DSC_ 3012 another crab hunter
  • Even this late in the year this small section of Battery Park City that I have frequented many times before, provided me with still another photographic opportunity.
  • Looking like a B-52 gracefully banking low and slow in order to dip in undetected under a radar net, I wonder if looking at one of these guys gave Boeing's engineers the idea for the massive bomber in the first place.
  • As I was taking pictures of people looking at the colorful koi in this, the most famous pond of Brooklyn's Botanical Gardens, I noticed several metal statues of turtles. Having seen one or two of them before I didn't pay much attention to them - until that is that I spotted one of the statues tilting it's head. Then I realized only the 2 turtles on the far right (out of the picture) were statues, the 4 to the left were all real. And the one closest to me was the most convincing. It's shell (absolutely caked with mud) looked for all the world like a statue, until you looked a little closer and then said to yourself - man that's the most realistic statue I'd ever seen.
  • Actually I was aiming my autofocus point on the leaf, but I missed. So later I decided to recompose the shot accordingly. As the saying goes, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
  • DSC_5255 searching for nectar
  • Since 2007 (of which the colors were simply spectacular) each fall since has been a bit flat by comparison, and this year possibly the least colorful of the three. After taking those black and white shots in the morning fog at Battery Park City, I traveled back to Snug Harbor here in Staten Island, hoping that it somehow had managed to escape the color malaise, (no it did not). However this small Lilly pond, contained at least enough fall spender to make for an nice image. And for the first time in quite a while I found a scene that my razor sharp 105mm micro could really sink its' teeth into.
  • After taking the previous shot of that yellow leaf on the lily pad, I grabbed my equipment and tossed them into my wheeled camera luggage bag (think of a wheeled travel suitcase except for camera equipment), and walked down the stone path to the next lily pond in this charming waterlily garden at Snug Harbor. This one too was filled with lilies, goldfish, lily pads, and one exceptionally pretty waterlily. Then after choosing the most pleasing camera angle to capture the lavender beauty, I set up camp and waited for some nectar seeking bees to visit it.<br /> <br /> As always whenever I have my camera on a tripod I draw people to me. And with this unusual set up, with my large odd shaped micro "tilt and shift" lens, and right angle viewfinder to help ease focusing at such a low angle, I was sure to attract what few onlookers there were on this beautiful warm fall weekday afternoon, as they passed thru the garden.<br /> <br /> One woman was curious as she saw me sitting there patiently, not taking pictures even though it was clear that I had everything set up to do so and perfect lighting conditions to boot. So not surprisingly she stopped and asked "What are you waiting for?" and I responded, "A bee to try and land on the lily". And as if on cue, here this one came and I pressed the button on my cable release. "Great timing" we both laughed out loud. Now if I only owned a "view camera" to really do true justice to closeup shots like this.
  • Looking at this rotund little fellow with his positively circular shape and small stubby wings, one might not be surprised if someone told you he barely had the wing power to flutter from branch to branch. And how way off base that would be. This feathered bubble can really motor. I thought it was some kind of nuthatch, but after much time past I found out from one of my nature guides that this rotund speed demon is a winter wren.
  • DSC_5868 sitting pretty
  • With my final vacation for the year winding down I traveled out to Clove Lake this morning to see how the fall weather was treating it. As I suspected it too had poor looking autumn colors, and with that likelihood in mind I packed plenty of extra lenses to cover whatever else I might come across, like this shockingly mellow blue heron that eventually let me get less than 50 feet from it.
  • DSC_6057 great blue heron at Clove lake
  • DSC_6121 great blue heron at Clove lake
  • DSC_6149 great blue heron at Clove lake
  • DSC_6175 great blue heron at Clove lake
  • When I got this close (within 15 yards of it) I had been stalking it for a little over 20 minutes and my constant devotion to it started to attract a few people to my location, as they stopped to see what I was photographing.
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