I came out to shoot today but the weather didn’t quite cooperate as I had hoped. This time it wasn’t fog that was the problem, but more of a problem with dark gray clouds and rain. It was raining when I got here at 7:20 a.m. and raining even harder when I left before noon. A day cut much shorter than usual by the weather. I was having to use ISO 1600 to get a decent shutter speed and without brighter conditions, colors were very drab.
But here I am at Ridgefield–an awesome place no matter what the weather. I made only 3 loops around the tour today and decent shots were few and far between. As I start out, heading north in the parking lot to start the tour, there are three deer walking along the road facing toward post #2. I stop and take a shot from afar then drive around the first turn heading west, and take another shot. You can see posts 2 & 3 in the second shot and the hunter’s gate in the distance.
These first 2 deer shots are at ISO800 and the rest at ISO1600.
A little further up the road, about where post #2 is, off to the right in the canal is a Ring-necked Duck pair. I am surprised they didn’t fly which is what they usually do. Here’s one of the shots of the male.
I drive around the loop to post #11 and see two mature Bald Eagles in a tree at least 400 yards away. I waited to see if they would fly toward me but no luck. This is a gigantic crop but it was fun watching these beauties.
As I’m waiting for the eagles to fly, a formation of Tundra Swans fly overhead. I cheated a little here and added a tinge of blue to the sky to make it less drab.
On one of the next trips around I spot a Red-tailed Hawk which had just made a kill and had brought its meal up to a branch just off the road. Here are a couple of frames.
That’s about it friends! This is the best I could muster from this dreary day. Hopefully, things will improve on the next outing. Thanks for stopping by!
