Enjoying a nice warm, (35 F) sunny day today, and the animals were taking advantage of the break from the cold. Happy the Dog and I hiked down to the mouth of Minnehaha Creek where it enters the Mississippi, and there we witnessed a virtual aerial extravaganza going on. First, about 200 ducks came quacking, honking, and flying with much alacrity down the river. Next, and even louder came the crows and ravens, and their reason for rousing the rabble flew in ever-increasing circles: an American bald eagle, a juvenile bald eagle and two red-tailed hawks.
Magestic, what else can one say. Not troubled in the least by the noisy crows flying at their wingtips. And if the crows were loud, the piercing shriek of the eagles was like the Queen Mary taking on a VW Bug.
Magestic, what else can one say. Not troubled in the least by the noisy crows flying at their wingtips. And if the crows were loud, the piercing shriek of the eagles was like the Queen Mary taking on a VW Bug.
Young pup Eagle. 
Red-tailed hawk and crow having a "domestic."
Red-tail, sans crow.
Don't do it young Mr. Robin! It looks tasty but it's buckthorn!Your pooper will not be happy!
Hey look, I see somethin' stinky to roll in! Bonus.
2 comments:
Oh, all the questions of an enquiring mind, if you don't mind:
What's your birding lens?
On a tripod?
My birding and general telephoto lens is a Nikon ED AF Nikkor 70 - 300 1:4 - 5.6 that I got used for $239. It's minimal. It likes to spend a lot of time focusing on objects that I'm not trying to photograph, the ether, and it is kind of clunky, but at least it gives you an idea of what you really want.
Someday I will have a serious 4 figure lens that will be the franchise player...
This particular set was on a tripod. I mounted the camera on a quick-cleat and ended up just leaving it attached to the tripod and carrying around the whole rig. Some of the pics I shot holding the whole thing on my lap while I squatted down. That's one good thing about this lens is it can be shot without a tripod pretty well if you have a light touch. One disadvantage is it has a fairly noisy AF motor and the outside element rotates with the focus so if you want to use a rotating UV filter or similar it messes up the positioning for you. I've been lusting for the plain old 50mm lately.
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