Catbird Sings
I thought I'd missed my chance this morning. With the sun not quite clear of the trees on the far side of the lake, what sunlight there was on the opposite bank (where I was) was streaming through the gaps between the trees in shafts of golden light. A fallen tree trunk lay across the warm glow of one shaft and on it, landed a catbird, beautifully lit. This was the perfect opportunity. I raised my camera, took aim and turned the dial to focus on... the dead tree trunk. The catbird was long gone and I was left with the thought of what might have been a beautiful photo.
The most distinctive thing about the catbird is not its appearance, which is grey with a smudge of black on its head, but its song which is glorious. It was the following of that song which led me to this photo. I then felt that I had, in some part, been gifted the photo which I'd missed out on earlier. In the light of the morning sun, that mundane catbird looked stunning:
It is simply impossible not to take a photo of the great blue heron when the opportunity arises. It doesn't matter how many photos I have, I always have to take one more. Here is the heron doing what it loves to do in the mornings, held high in the branches of its favorite willow tree, preening its feathers and warming up in the light of the morning sun:
Leaving Lakeside Park can be troublesome, as I do at some point need to go home, but I am often prevented from doing so by seeing or hearing something unexpected. Unexpected in this case was the alarm calls of the neighborhood birds which caused me to pause my bike ride home. Unlike the catbird who could not wait for me, this coopers hawk gave me all the time that I needed. Back lit with the sun also behind the trees, I was very happy to have my bigger Pentax camera with its light gathering capabilities. I felt lucky to capture such a distinctive photo, with the coopers hawk's tail feathers all fanned out:
Copyright © wildlakeside.blogpot.com 2019 Scott Atkinson All Rights Reserved.
The most distinctive thing about the catbird is not its appearance, which is grey with a smudge of black on its head, but its song which is glorious. It was the following of that song which led me to this photo. I then felt that I had, in some part, been gifted the photo which I'd missed out on earlier. In the light of the morning sun, that mundane catbird looked stunning:
It is simply impossible not to take a photo of the great blue heron when the opportunity arises. It doesn't matter how many photos I have, I always have to take one more. Here is the heron doing what it loves to do in the mornings, held high in the branches of its favorite willow tree, preening its feathers and warming up in the light of the morning sun:
Leaving Lakeside Park can be troublesome, as I do at some point need to go home, but I am often prevented from doing so by seeing or hearing something unexpected. Unexpected in this case was the alarm calls of the neighborhood birds which caused me to pause my bike ride home. Unlike the catbird who could not wait for me, this coopers hawk gave me all the time that I needed. Back lit with the sun also behind the trees, I was very happy to have my bigger Pentax camera with its light gathering capabilities. I felt lucky to capture such a distinctive photo, with the coopers hawk's tail feathers all fanned out:
Copyright © wildlakeside.blogpot.com 2019 Scott Atkinson All Rights Reserved.
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