What a Difference the Camera makes.....

Raystown Lake Huntingdon County

I recently bought the Sony DSC H9 and a 1.7x Tele Conversion Lens for it. Until then I had a Sony DSC H2 and a DSC H5. I was quite content with the first two cameras until I found out how close you can get with the lens on the H9. After my trip to Central Park I had to send the camera back for repairs and I have been crippled ever since. I'm always seeing things that I can not get and it is really frustrating...

The H2 and H5 are excellent for scenery and close up macros. A perfect example is the pink water lily I got over the week end at Black Moshannon State Park.

Or the close up of some Rhododendron (H5)

And it does an excellent job with bog, boat, trees and sky...

This was the cutest place where you could buy a bird house
from the shelf, and using the honor system put your
money or check in a drawer underneath the Eagle
at the far left.

I could even get in close enough to shoot this baby
E. Starling eating one of my oranges.

I thought he was kinda cute... He is right outside my window
so I didn't need the extra lens power.

This was a bit of a stretch for the H5... It was further out in
the yard and I had to crop it hence losing some of the clarity.
Mom Starlinig feeding baby.

But... pictures like the Eagles nest at Raystown Lake really
shows what a difference the camera and lens makes.

This was the H5... no crop.

Cropped it still isn't that great...

I borrowed my friends H9 to take this one...

It cropped much better than the H5...

By the way... we saw no babies only the one lone Eagle
guarding the nest. He kept looking down into the nest
but we saw no movement. Too far away.

Moving on to the Kestrels.... I took this one today with the H5

Last week with the H9

H5

Last week with the H9.

The camera and lens is very important. Good to know that
a 1.7 conversion lens makes such a difference added to the H9.

Kestrel~mania in the City

Hope is not a dream but a way of making dreams become reality.
L.J.Suenens

When I hoped I would find an American Kestrel to photograph I never suspected that I would see one so soon or so close. It not only became a reality but an ongoing adventure. If you did not read the first post then you can update by going to the Best day of my Life and bringing yourself up to speed. After identifying the bird in the tree at work as a Kestrel and seeing it's mate show up to copulate......it then became an everyday obsession to bring my camera to work and get as many pictures as I could, and to find the 'nest'.

The week end came and I invited my friend to help me find the nest. So now it becomes a another jane and barbie adventure.

The Kestrels would fly to this building and land on the rail and sit and look around.
This is what it looked like.

I was so happy to be getting such nice shots of the bird even though
the building itself is so ugly.

Finally ... we got a shot of them together
I would like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Kestrel

Tah Dah!! We called them Fred and Ethel.

Sunlight and shade presented two different colors to the
building. .. each equally as ugly as the other.

The hole directly behind them is where they would enter
and disappear. 'the nest'

He was always watching us.... from the top of the building
with his feathers ruffled by the wind.

On the rail .. always turning to see where we were with that incessant
clicking of the cameras.

We would see him or her gliding in and hovering..

Often times bringing home the 'bacon' in this case
the mouse.

She would come out and accept the offering.

Sometimes she would fly away with the catch in her mouth....

Or with it in her talons.

But as they got used to us he would eat in front of us and
then ....

When he had eaten some he would...

hand it off to her and
She would come out and puff up like an viper and accept the
offering and eat on the ledge also.

Sometimes she would mantle with her wings around the mouse.

it was exciting to see her tear the mouse apart to feed, which
we took as her acceptance of our presence there.

My hope of seeing a Kestrel had come to fruition and multiplied
by a thousand. I would have never thought I would see this in
the middle of town on top of an old building.

Fred is in 'the tree' watching which is what he does a lot.
I can get many pictures from my upstairs office window.

When Ethel is taking a break from the nest she will also sit perched in
the tippy top of the tree.

The leaves have started to fill in and is making
finding them a little more difficult. But they are still there.
We are hoping that they bring the 'babies' here so we can
get some shots of them too.

To God be the Glory.... Great things he hath done.

More to come....stay tuned to my blog.

Oh 'Deer'

My husband is home on vacation this week and we are trying to get some work done around the house and yard. So, I have not had time to take my camera and get any shots. I saved up some 'Deer' pictures for just such an occasion. I have several places that I look for deer and have been lucky to see a few here and there.

This herd is near my dad's house, and I don't miss a chance to search the fields.

A field not too far away from where I work provides me with another opportunity. In the evening the sun is shining on this field and makes for some pretty shots.

On this day the turkeys were sharing the field with the deer.

Love this lone deer with a lone tree.

And yet another field I pass by lets me get these shy girls.

They were curious about my car stopped along the road and the camera snapping away.

Does she think I can't see her behind that limb?

Soon they tire of me and want to leave.

Yet another place I can get in even closer to these beauties.

These fields are not hunted and they are not afraid, munching on the greens.

Time for them to go and also for me ....
Hope you enjoyed the 'deer' post.