I went out to Stumpy Lake Nature Area on Sunday morning to look for some birds to photograph. It’s been a bit slow this Fall. Actually, it’s been a bit slow for me since I’ve hardly done any bird photography. But the 40 days of no rain wasn’t helping either. Stumpy Lake was actually a puddle. But we did manage to finally get some rain last Friday. I brought along my Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens.
I started off my morning walking down to the kayak ramp and caught a flock of Canada Geese land in front of me. I don’t normally care about shooting Canada Geese, but I make exceptions when they are landing in the water.
I didn’t like shooting into the sun, so I walked over to the causeway and looked for some birds while the sun was behind me.
I found another flock of Canada geese and they took flight as well. So I grabbed some more images of them, with better lighting conditions this time.
The Great Egrets were flying as well so I made sure I captured some images of them. Tip: When shooting Great Egrets, or any white bird, on a bright day, set your metering to Highlight-Weighted Metering mode. This keeps the white from being blown out or overexposed.
I sat for a while on the causeway and a group of Hooded Mergansers made their way over to me. I really wanted to get one flapping it’s wings but I was unsuccessful. I still grabbed some pretty good images though.
I have a love-hate relationship with Belted Kingfishers. I love to watch them, but they are one of the hardest birds to get a good photograph of. I got lucky my first time ever shooting them and it’s been a failure ever since. But on this Sunday morning, it all came together. One was flying close enough for my Z9 to lock onto it. And I finally got some great images!
The Great Blue Heron’s were not super cooperative on this morning. They were mostly on the other side of the water, chasing each other over prime fishing spots. But I did grab an image of this one flying by me.
I finished my morning getting some more shots of a flock of Canada Geese again. They are actually a really pretty bird when the light hits them right.
All in all, it turned out to be a really great morning. About the only bird I failed to see was a Bald Eagle. Can’t wait to get out and find some birds again!
You can view all of my images: