I made a couple of trips to view the Bald Eagles on the Hudson River. They are magnificent to see but really hard for me to get a good close up picture. I took this picture from Stony Point, New York which is on the West Side of the Hudson River.
I have been exploring more of my local neighborhood for birds since it has been difficult to get around too far because of the snow. The two times this weekend I visited Thompkins Square Park, I was able to get pictures of this beautiful Red-tailed Hawk as he was perched on a snowy branch in the middle of Thompkins Square Park.
This Red-Tailed Hawk landed on the railing of my balcony in the East Village. Does not get much better than this when I can take a picture of a Red-tailed Hawk from the warmth of my livingroom.
I still cannot believe that this bird landed right on the rail of my balcony on the 12th floor in the East Village and I was there to see him at 8:30 in the morning. He was comfortably perched checking out the hood and of course the many little house sparrows, pigeons and starlings one can see from my balcony.
My camera was conveniently ready to go,including my tripod, which I really needed since I was shaking with excitement. More pictures to come.
This is a new composition decision for me to crop out some of the bird to create a more dynamic image. Or put another way – to try to salvage a good picture when the bird flew out of the picture frame. I had to add more blue sky on the bottom which of course for photoshop is a no brainer.
I took this picture while on a boat in midday – not my favorite options to take pictures. I guess the subject is too compelling for me (and probably others.)
I took two different boat trips through the 10,000 islands of the western portion of the Everglades National Park. My main reaction was that if New Orleans had kept all of the original barrier islands the way they were, the force of the hurricanes would have been abated. Nature has her ways.
I visited a beautiful Marsh in Lehigh Acres, Florida early in the morning when there was a heavy fog covering the area. This Black Vulture was sitting on a post and very willing to be photographed. It is such a thrill to have a gotten a closeup of this interesting face.
I was very fortunate to be able to share part of the most beautiful fall Sunday at the New York Botanical Gardens in full fall foliage with this very accommodating juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk. It felt like he would have even shared his squirrel lunch with me if that was to my liking.
What a thrill it is to see large birds seamlessly riding the thermals on a clear crisp fall day. And it is quite the challenge to capture them when they are usually flying very high and spend only seconds in close proximity.