David's Images of the Day Photoblog
I spent much of the day using the new Fujinon 200 mm f/2 lens with the included 1.4x teleconverter shooting the birds (house finch, blue jay, red-bellied woodpecker, common grackle, black-crested tufted titmouse, and junco) and other critters (cat, grey squirrel, and deer). in my backyard.
I woke up early, and could see some interesting dawn colors developing. I set up a Fuji X-T3 camera and a brand new Fujion 8-16 mm f/2.8 lens to take a series of images for a time-lapse video. I also brought out a Leica T camera with a 11-23 mm lens for some dawn panorama images. I had forgotten how ornery the Leica T camera is in cold weather. It was a little below freezing (26°F, -3°C). I had a hard time changing the camera settings, so did the best I could. I’ve said this before, it is difficult to believe that a German designed and built camera doesn’t work well at temperatures below freezing. When I asked Leica about this their response was the working temperature specifications for the camera only went down to 0°C. Doesn’t it ever get colder than that in Germany??? In addition to the dawn panorama images, I’ve included some showing a swarm of Turkey Vultures starting to soar just before sunrise.
Turkey Vultures Soaring at Dawn. As soon as the sun rises, the committee (group of vultures in trees) that spent the night in the neighborhood (conifer trees and some roofs) take off to hunt for food. Recently, the number of vultures in the neighborhood has increased to several dozen. The kettle (group of vultures soaring together) start looking for thermals to carry them on their daily hunt for carrion (mainly road-killed deer).