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DSC_9664 Heron on a winter morning at Clove lake
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DSC_9664 Heron on a winter morning at Clove lake

winterStaten IslandClove LakesGreat blue heronheronsbirdsnaturesnow

  • Walking through Silver Lakes park this fall morning, most of the plants along its' shoreline were barren of flowers and leaves, thus provided little color. Naturally that made this group of plants stick out as buds just starting to open are the exception not the rule this time of year. Hardly uncommon, these ubiquitous berries, are probably what separates survival and starving to the local birds that choose to stay here rather than fly south. And sure enough when I looked down a few inches at a nook created by a cluster of branches on this plant, you could see lots of chewed up berry parts, the remnants of a hearty meal for some bird.<br /> <br /> Of all these berry bearing plants strung all over the lake, this was the only one that provided a somewhat interesting compositional opportunity - though the composition is subtle to be sure. With my 105mm micro left home to save space in my tiniest camera bag (I wanted to travel light as I knew I would be walking for hours), in the past I would have had forgo a shot like this, with no way to get magnification this high. But now with my new 17-70mm Sigma DC macro lens finally providing me a optic that was as good at capturing distance shots as it was at capturing macro ones, I finally had a general purpose lens in my arsenal for days just like this.
  • DSC_8600 daisy's in the fall
  • DSC_9071 fall breeze serenity
  • Chance encounter
  • DSC_9663 Heron on a winter morning at Clove lake
  • DSC_9664 Heron on a winter morning at Clove lake
  • This morning, two weeks after taking the three shots to the left, again I left my house well before dawn to try and capture a sunrise winter scene of the bridge and bay. Again I was unable to get the kind of shot I wanted. Again I got on a bus headed to Clove Lake instead of one headed to my house and a nice hot breakfast. Again I walked the length of the park knee deep in fresh snow, with nothing to show for it. Again I trudged through the hip high snowdrift by the brook looking for a picturesque scenic shot. Again I ended up frozen to my waste in snow while the same blue heron and I starred surprisingly at the sight of each other.<br /> <br /> This time I was father away from him. So I had to slowly walk closer, stopping every few feet. When I got close as I dared, I started clicking off shots. Then after standing in that snow drift for 20 minutes my slowly freezing fingers and toes told me it was time to leave this familiar icy dance with this bird until I come better equipped to deal with the cold. As I watched the early morning sunlight shine off the frozen water I thought of my potential next encounters with him in the upcoming winter as he walked away from me again and admitted, yes he won this battle of the cold with me again this day, but next winter, I'm going to be the winner.
  • DSC_9809 sparrow hiding in the bushes
  • DSC_9865 sparrow pearching on a pine branch
  • DSC_9872 sparrow pearching on a pine branch
  • DSC_0031 well hidden
  • DSC_0042 white throated sparrow
  • I'm a lot better at photographing birds than identifying them afterwards. Can't tell you what type of bird this is.
  • DSC_0049 Cardinal on a winter morning at Clove lake
  • DSC_0080 white throated sparrow at Clove lake
  • I had the good fortune of being off today, and with snow still covering the branches I thought it would be a good chance to add a few nice shots of our local feathered inhabitants in a pleasing winter setting. I was right.
  • DSC_0127 white throated sparrow
  • In the spring of 08', the first place I came to to put my brand new DSLR through its' paces was the Central Park zoo. That day I got a nice shot of an pair of Panamanian golden frogs. But still, I always wanted a better photo of them, but never found a better composed shot, or if I did the crowds around their display were too numerous to even attempt it. After almost 3 years I FINALLY got that second chance.
  • DSC_0187 parrots at the Central Park zoo
  • WOW did this guy make a lot of racket!
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