Bird - David Mathre Photography

Four-Years Ago (17-November-2007) — Colorado

Colorado Wildlife — Migrating Tundra Swans and Big Horn Sheep.

I drove to Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge near Walden Colorado. It is a long drive, but the pass through Rocky Mountain National Park was still open. I knew it was late in the year and didn’t expect to see many migrating birds, but hoped to see some Pronghorn Elk or Moose. While driving through the refuge on the Auto Tour route, I saw eight large white birds across one of the lakes. I took some images, first with a 80-400 mm VR lens, and then with 200-400 f/4 VR lens. It was rather windy, so used the car to block the wind to minimize motion with the big lenses. Even on a tripod this was hard. It looks like these are Tundra Swans which the bird list for the wildlife refuge list as being rare (once every 2-5 years). I guess I was lucky. I also didn’t see anyone else while visiting the reserve.

Tundra Swans. Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Image taken with a Nikon D2XS and 200-400 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Photoshop CS5, Nik Define, Nik Color Efex Pro 2. (David J Mathre)

Tundra Swans. Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Image taken with a Nikon D2XS and 200-400 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/8, 1/2000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Photoshop CS5, Nik Define, Nik Color Efex Pro 2. (David J Mathre)

Tundra Swans. Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Image taken with a Nikon D2XS and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Photoshop CS5, Nik Define, Nik Color Efex Pro 2. (David J Mathre)

Tundra Swans. Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Image taken with a Nikon D2XS and 200-400 mm f/4 VR lens + TCE-II 20 teleconverter (ISO 400, 800 mm, f/8, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Photoshop CS5, Nik Define, Nik Color Efex Pro 2. (David J Mathre)

While returning from the reserve I came upon several Big Horn Sheep along Colorado Highway 14.

Big Horn Ram Huddle. Along Colorado 14 near Sheridan in Roosevelt National Forest. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 200-400 mm lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)

27-October-2011

Day 10 and Counting

My Drobo disk-array is rebuilding after adding a new drive. Don’t know how long it will take. New images to follow. The down side to large storage solutions such as Drobo is the time required for backup and restore. Not sure how many days this will take!!!!

Check out an image of a Steller’s Jay taken in Rocky Mountain National Park four years ago today: 27-October-2007.

Sunday (09-October-2011) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

I saw this flock of Turkey Vultures warming themselves in the early morning sun. The local Turkey Vulture population has increased over the past several years. I think their major food source is deer killed by automobiles.

Turkey Vultures Morning Sun Perch. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/13, 1/640). (David J Mathre) — Turkey Vultures Morning Sun Perch.Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/13, 1/640). (David J Mathre)

Turkey Vulture Morning Sun Perch. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/4.5, 1/320). (David J Mathre) — Turkey Vulture Morning Sun Perch. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/4.5, 1/320). (David J Mathre)

Turkey Vulture Soaring. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/4.5, 1/320). (David J Mathre) — Turkey Vulture Soaring. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/4.5, 1/320). (David J Mathre)

Friday (02-September-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Wildlife in New Jersey.

Some images of a white moth feeding on wildflowers and a young catbird checking out the wild grapes.

White Moth. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/8, 1/160 sec). (David J Mathre)

White Moth. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)

Young Grey Catbird with Wild Grapes. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR ens (ISO 560, 300 mm, f/8, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

Friday (12-August-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Soaring Turkey Vulture. This week Thom Hogan has been publishing reviews of Nikon “Exotic” lenses. By Exotic, he is referring to the big telephoto lenses: 200 mm f/2, 300 mm f/2.8, 400 mm f/2.8, 500 mm f/4, and 600 mm f/4. In the reviews, he really likes the 400 mm f/2.8. I have an earlier version of the 400 mm f/2.8 D II (before VR or VR II). I decided to take it out this afternoon. Rather than showing some more images of the local deer, I’ll share an image of a soaring turkey vulture. The image was taken hand-held (yes this is a heavy lens (4620 g, nearly 10 lbs) — and even heavier when you add-on the camera body). The image is cropped significantly as the vulture was soaring well above the house.

Turkey Vulture Soaring. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 400 mm f/2.8 D II lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/2.8, 1/2500). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Turkey Vulture Soaring. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 400 mm f/2.8 D II lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/2.8, 1/2500). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

If the sky stays clear tonight, I will try some full moon images with this lens (alone and with the TC-E III 20 teleconverter), and some star-trails looking for Perseid meteor trails.