One of my first shots with my new lens, a Nikon 300mm f/4. I’m going to be struggling in the beginning to get use to not zooming in. My old lens was a 80mm – 400mm lens but I used the 400mm end of it most of the time. I added a 1.4 teleconverter to the new lens which gives me more length. I’m excited about using this for birds in flight but have to get use to the distance thing. As I walked out on the pier the first thing I see is a pelican coming right at me. It took me a few seconds to focus and by then he was right above me. I cropped his wing but his face is pretty sharp.
I saw an osprey flying by far away thinking he had a fish but after I took the picture and cropped it up I realized it was nesting material he was getting. It’s that time of the year. I saw a few osprey hanging out on nests on this day.
Royal tern flying by.
These guys were hanging around the pier getting bait fish with a net. The gulls were terrorizing them.
Tricolored heron looking for food.
Another shot where I couldn’t zoom in and I couldn’t back up any farther. This juvenile ring-billed herring gull was cleaning up the trash. He practically handed it to me with his beak. I stuck it in the garbage can on the way out.
I stopped by the owl nest before I left. She was half asleep this morning. It’s still a little early for the egg to hatch. I don’t know if anyone has seen how many is there yet. Last year two were born and one died early after a bad storm came through. The park has the area fenced off much farther out than last year so people don’t walk close by the tree. You probably won’t even notice her if you didn’t know she was there. – Update on the baby: I was there this past Saturday and a little white fuzzy cotton ball looking thing was peeking out. I’ll post pictures later.
Tiny fiddler crabs on the beach.
Just a handful of stuff on the beach in early January. Today is the last day of January. Where did the month go??? We’ve had fairly warm weather for the winter down here in central Florida. Some days it between 70 and 80 degrees and then some days it’s in the low 60′s. I haven’t heard of many manatees landing in the manatee hospital from cold stress so I guess it will be a mild one this year. Nesting season is up and running with many birds on time or early. I’m just going to tell hubby to play a lot of golf on the weekends so I can get in as much hiking and birding as possible until it gets too hot. I’m sure he won’t mind. I mean, what wife says to the hubby “Honey, play golf every weekend for a few months. I don’t mind.”
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that brown pelican shot is beautiful! congrats on a new lens!
Amazing shots with your new lens. When using the 1.4 teleconverter did you notice loss of clarity or slow focus? Just curious as I’ve been wanting one. Thanks!
Oh like your shots with your new lens…especially that first one…wowza!!
Once you get used to the new lens, Dina, you’ll have some fantabulous shots, because we can already see all the feathers on that pelican.
I love the young gull bringing you the garbage. Smart kid.
And a white ball of fluff in the owl’s nest. But you tease us with it!! I can hardly wait.
K
Congratulations on the lens, it seems to work very well! Of course, with your talent on the other end, it’s no surprise! Great images today from the Fort!
These are terrific! Sure looks like the new lens combo is working out great.
I use a Canon 300 f4 with a 1.4 every day. Pretty much every photo you see on my blog was taken with that set up. I’m OK with shorter zooms and I have a 70-200 2.8, but I’m not a super zoom fan.
Awesome photos!
Happy SkyWatcFriday to you!
Dina, these are all a WOW! Love all the flight shots and the birds. Well done! Happy Skywatching!
I love that pelican!! They might be common for you, but they are never seen here, so a real treat for me!!
Very beautiful nature photos for SWF!
Thank you for sharing and have a nice weekend!
My SWF: http://mausbearsnaehkiste.blogspot.com
Awesome shots!
excellent clicks
Beautiful pictures and for once my ToBeVisited list doesn’t grow. But I would go again in a heartbeat. (My pix weren’t as good of course.) Plastic bags are a horror….glad that bird handed it to you. He was smarter than the average gull.
That’s actually a Herring Gull (3rd cycle)…the pink legs help give it away.
I love the fiddler crab pic…they make me wish I had a macro lens.