Blog Archives
THE Garganey- A Rare Duck
Friends, Crex Meadows was full of birders this weekend and this duck was the object of their affection. This is a garganey that has never been reported in Wisconsin or Minnesota. He sure is handsome but moves constantly, today was our first sunny day since he arrived about a week ago. I guess he wants to stay awhile enjoy while you can til Tomorrow MJ
Bluebills and Redheads
Friends, while watching a huge flock of bluebills (greater scaup) another small flock of redheads landed in the middle of the bunch then they all continued on their merry way. They (redheads) acted like they were scared to death and hiding among the bluebills. My new header shows the combined flock, although just a small sampling of all the birds together. til Tomorrow MJ
Spring is for the Ducks
Friends, this duck is called the shoveler because his bill is shaped in a shovel, very broad and black. He is a dabbler and his head is wet from trying to eat water plants, i was going to clone out the weed hanging from his bill, but it is part of him, he is what he eats. hope you like til Tomorrow
Spring Ducks
Friends, these friendly ducks are a very tiny pair of buffleheads, lots of white on the male makes him difficult to photograph while keeping the dark details intact. They were very close to shore thanks to a fish kill and melting icepack so i made the most of a great opportunity. hope you like til Tomorrow MJ
The Moon Also Rises
Friends, while taking this time lapse of clouds drifting through crex, i noticed that the moon was rising in this series of shots, i am exploring a time-stacking technique and got a lovely surprise. This image is a result of stacking 12 images taken 1-2 minutes apart into a single image, i like this effect and will be doing more stacking in the near future, as soon as our 15 inches of new snow gets melted away. ugh! til Tomorrow MJ
Sharptails
Friends, tomorrow morning we are going grouse hunting, with our cameras of course, this image was taken last year in the Namekagon Barrens of Northwestern Wisconsin. He is moving but that is the best i was able to get, but this year is another chance to fix the problems and come up with a winning image, it is spring, time to get to work til Tomorrow MJ
Red Moon
Friends, was up early this morning (2AM) to photograph a total lunar eclipse, it is called the blood moon, but i prefer the red moon. I love that on this shot you can see the ice cap, pretty good for a 400 mm lens on a camera. This was a 3 second exposure on a tripod and a night with only a few clouds wisping through at times. til Tomorrow MJ
Owlets have flown
Friends, the dilemma, two images, one with open eyes on mama bird and the other with open eyes on the owlet, solution: combine two images into one for an official portrait of both birds, hope you like my artistic treatment, as of yesterday, both owlets have left the nest and are roosting in nearby sites, til Tomorrow MJ
No April Foolin
Friends, on April 1st we saw some Sandhill Cranes in Crex and they look great after being absent for the last four months. But this morning, we had 14 inches of new snow on the ground, hope they can find enough to eat. This boy was turning to see if he could see what was making that strange clicking noise (my camera) so his eye was very sharp and although i have thousands of images of cranes, i always thrill at seeing them for the first time in the spring, til Tomorrow MJ
One more Owl
Friends, this is a little better image of mama owl and the baby is out of the nest hole and sitting on the ledge with her on Friday when i again visited the city owl. Above is a portrait of the baby owl, as he discovers that there are people and cameras looking at him, til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 