David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Shadow Boxing. While waiting for the vehicles to get ready for the workshop location I saw this pair of male House Finches fighting. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-200 mm lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/8, 1/640 sec).
Turkey Vulture Soaring Under a Spring Moon. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 140, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec).
For an earlier version of a Turkey Vulture flying past the moon check out (24-February-2007)
Another sign that spring is here. There were hundreds of robin in my backyard today. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec).
I grew up in Minnesota, and the return of Robins was always a sign of spring. Here in New Jersey we have a few that stay for the winter, but with the large number that showed up today I think these are from the group that migrate (maybe some of the ones that I saw down in Florida back in February at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge). When I was in the 6th grade, we moved from Minnesota to Florida. In Florida, the Robins would arrive in the late Fall and leave in the late Winter. Before they left, they would all get drunk on fermented China Berries (couldn’t even perch or stand up and walk straight). I don’t know how they found their way back home as they migrated north. The reason I bring up seasons and migrations is that there was a SAT question where you had to relate Robins to Seasons. If you grew up in the North, Robins related to Spring — but if you grew up in the South then Robins related to Fall or Winter. What was the right answer?
Dark-eyed “Slate-colored” Junco Hiding in the Bushes. Backyard Spring Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera, FT1 adapter, and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec).
Before joining up with the Winter in Iceland Photography Workshop group, I went for a walkabout in Reykjavik. Actually, I arrived in Reykjavik a couple of days early not trusting the weather for traveling in either New Jersey or Iceland. It was a grey Monday morning; overcast, rainy, and cold. Capturing the day in B&W captured the mood.
