What kind of bird is this?

Allen wrote:

And--the pictures on your site are wonderful. How about sharing some
information about your tools and methods? I, and I'm sure many others,
would like to know. As I'm sure you know from experience, birds aren't
exactly the easiest things to photograph.

Here are some other pictures of Great Blue Herons to throw
into the mix (and tools used are given):

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...149.f-700.html

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...ons.c-600.html

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...925.b-600.html

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...506.b-600.html

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries....head-600.html

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...876.b-600.html

In general, I use a winberly head on a carbon fiber tripod
for maximum stability and smoothest tracking ability.

Roger

John Sheehy wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
:

Around my area many have become accustomed to having people close
and
tend to allow people a lot closer.

My experience has been that the GBH is *very* sensitive to attention.

Whether an animal is skittish or not depends more on environment,
and history. Location, location, location; situation, situation,
situation.

Some examples:
Bosque del Apache, New Mexico is a great place to observe
up close sandhill cranes. The flock moves north into Colorado
in March each year. In Bosque, you can get very close to them,
a few meters. I've photographed them at less than 2 meters away.
In Colorado, your lucky to get within a hundred yards.

In Florida, try stopping along side a road to photograph
a bird, and it will typically fly off before you fully stop.

But then go to a location known for birds and where birds
are used to people watching them, like Anhinga Trail in the
Everglades, or the Venice Rookery, and you can get up close
and photograph them all day. See my other post in this thread;
the great blue herons were all done at the Venice rookery
(a little public park behind a police station), These birds are
wild, but used to people staring at them and go on with their
business because they do not feel threatened. And that is the key:
threatened.

It is the same with other animals. Try meeting a grizzly bear
in the mountains--scary for both you and the bear. Then go to
Katmai National Park in Alaska, and the bears are used to people
watching them. In 2004 one portion of Katmai had some
bear poaching, and the bears became afraid of people
(I had to cancel a back country trip to photograph them--I don't
know if they are back to normal yet).

Want to photograph lions and cheetahs? Go to the Serengeti
National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation areas. Since hunting
has been banned, the animals have become used to people in
safari vehicles not being a threat. But get out of a vehicle
wearing red and the lions think you are a Masai. Masai must kill
a lion to become a warrior; I think this is now banned too, but
may still happen in remote areas. I have seen the effect of
people wearing red on the lions--quite impressive response
by the lions.

John, aren't you in Florida? Have you ever been to Venice?
If not, it's a great place: the island where the birds are
is at a perfect distance for a 500 mm lens.

Roger
Photos at: http://www.clarkvision.com

"Doug Payne" wrote in message
...
Ed Ruf (REPLY to E-MAIL IN SIG!) wrote:

Hmm, wasn't aware there is a Little Blue Heron, though I guess I should
have.

It's pretty specific to the southern US, while the Great Blue is
widespread across N. America (and possibly elsewhere).

There is a smaller heron native to the north as well. Unfortunately, I'm no
expert. I've heard it referred to as a short-legged heron, and they look
very much like a blue heron, only smaller (mostly shorter, but the wing span
is smaller, too). Saw one yesterday morning. They make the weirdest noise,
so that one tends to hear it and say, yup, dinosaur descendents, alright!

--
www.mattclara.com

"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote
in :

John Sheehy wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
:

Around my area many have become accustomed to having people close
and
tend to allow people a lot closer.

My experience has been that the GBH is *very* sensitive to attention.

Whether an animal is skittish or not depends more on environment,
and history. Location, location, location; situation, situation,
situation.

Yes, but my point is that the GBH is generally one of the more skittish
birds. Each species has its own typical characteristic within the same
environment and experience. Tame GBHes are pretty rare. Kinglets have
landed on my clothing to pick off insects, and sudden, dramatic motion
generally won't cause it to do any more than jump to the next branch 1/4
second sooner (and even that may be an illusion). I've never seen a
Kinglet flee the area because a human or another animal approached. Many
warbler species are similar; I've spent several minutes, many times,
backing up to keep Black and White Warblers at the 5' minimum focus of my
100-400. Part of the issue is that the animals' personal safety space is
relative to their own body size.

John, aren't you in Florida? Have you ever been to Venice?
If not, it's a great place: the island where the birds are
is at a perfect distance for a 500 mm lens.

I am not much of a traveller. I tend to look at the negative aspects of
travelling, and I take most of my vacation time one day at a time, on a
whim. I don't like making plans that can be ruined by weather, etc. I
like to keep every day as an open book, until that day arrives. I do all
my photography within 50 miles of NYC (well, I did take my 10D to
Philadelphia a few years ago).

If I do ever go to Florida, though, the places you mention will be among
my main interests.

--


John P Sheehy

On 10 Apr 2007 11:49:01 -0700, Annika1980 wrote:

The other day I was over there at my usual haunt looking for Spike.
An elderly gentleman walked up and saw me photographing another
heron. He asked, "Does that heron have a nail in his neck?" I said,
"No, sir."
The old man says, "Well then it isn't Spike."

I laughed and introduced myself. It seems that he had seen my pics of
Spike online.
It's Spike's world and we're all just living in it.

From the "if Spike could speak" file :

Der spring is sprung
Der grass is riz
I wonder where dem boidies is?

Der little boids is on der wing.
Ain’t dat absoid?
Der little wings is on der boid!

Anonymous (New York). “The Budding Bronx,� quoted in
Arnold Silcock, Verse and Worse (1952).

"Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" wrote:

[re http://www.posted-online.com/NWC/ and
http://www.posted-online.com/ArizonaBirds/ ]

And--the pictures on your site are wonderful. How about sharing some
information about your tools and methods? I, and I'm sure many others,
would like to know. As I'm sure you know from experience, birds aren't
exactly the easiest things to photograph.

You're very kind. The pictures in Westchester are mostly a matter of
luck, I have to say. I usually have a Canon S70 with me, and when I
see animals --- which I love --- I generally set the camera to full
optical zoom and hope for the best.

One thing I will say is that my most important technique is patience.
I'll frequently sit watching an animal through the viewfinder for
10-15 minutes, waiting for the right shot.

And yes, I use the viewfinder, not the LCD.

The pictures from Arizona are much more dramatic, and they're the
result of a completely different technique. They were taken during a
live raptor show, with a Canon 30D. There I just took oodles of
pictures (3 and sometimes 5 per second), and chose the best ones.


Hello, Joel:

Don't flatter yourself, please. Allen was referring to Ed Ruf's photos,
not yours. g


Cordially,
John Turco

bob crownfield wrote:

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:

A bit off topic, but I'll be grateful if someone can help me identify
the bird in the first shot on this page:

http://posted-online.com/NWC/

I think it's an Igret, but I'd like to know for sure. (It's hiding in
the bottom right-hand corner.


Egrets are white. Probably a Heron.

I think this must be an Egret (white):
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=California/Bay-Area/Marin/2007-04-19-west-marin/full-set&PG=5&PIC=25
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=California/Bay-Area/Marin/2007-04-19-west-marin/full-set&PG=3&PIC=15

--
Paul Furman Photography
http://www.edgehill.net/1
Bay Natives Nursery
http://www.baynatives.com

Paul Furman wrote:

bob crownfield wrote:

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:

A bit off topic, but I'll be grateful if someone can help me identify
the bird in the first shot on this page:

http://posted-online.com/NWC/

I think it's an Igret, but I'd like to know for sure. (It's hiding in
the bottom right-hand corner.

Egrets are white. Probably a Heron.

I think this must be an Egret (white):
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php...a/Marin/2007-0
4-19-west-marin/full-set&PG=5&PIC=25
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php...a/Marin/2007-0
4-19-west-marin/full-set&PG=3&PIC=15

Yah, those are snowy egrets. 'Snowy' because of the lacy plumage.

The original picture could be of a great blue heron, except that it
looks too small. Maybe the composition of the image makes it look
smaller than it really is.

--
http://www.xoverboard.com/cartoons/2..._argument.html

On 2007-04-10 13:12:23 -0700, "Ed Ruf (REPLY to E-MAIL IN SIG!)"
said:

On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 08:45:00 -0700, in rec.photo.digital C J Campbell
wrote:

Egrets are white. Some heron species also have white phases or they are
white when immature, but in general herons are dark birds and egrets
are white. Sometimes the only way to tell the difference between an
egret and a white heron is by the color of the legs, bill and eyes.

It would seem there is a white heron variant as well even in the adult
stage in the extreme SE US. See the bottom of
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAbou...lue_Heron.html

Yeah, the "White Heron" of Florida is actually a white phase of the
Great Blue Heron. 'Phase' is used as a synonym for 'race' in Audubon
guides, as opposed to 'stage,' which implies a temporary change in
plumage. Neither is it an albino heron. You see this sort of thing in
deer, where there will be local populations of white, but not albino
deer. The White Heron is found only in Florida as far as I know,
although the article also says Yucatan and the Caribbean, which is news
to me.

The White Heron is what I was thinking of when I mentioned herons
having white phases.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

Blue Heron...Pretty noisy when annoyed, huh?

Paul Furman wrote:
bob crownfield wrote:

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:

A bit off topic, but I'll be grateful if someone can help me identify
the bird in the first shot on this page:

http://posted-online.com/NWC/

I think it's an Igret, but I'd like to know for sure. (It's hiding in
the bottom right-hand corner.


Egrets are white. Probably a Heron.

I think this must be an Egret (white):
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=California/Bay-Area/Marin/2007-04-19-west-marin/full-set&PG=5&PIC=25

http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=California/Bay-Area/Marin/2007-04-19-west-marin/full-set&PG=3&PIC=15