It’s another mostly sunny day at the Ridgefield NWR in southwest Washington state. I decided to shoot from around noon until sunset today instead of catching the sunrise. Temperatures were in the upper 20’s to lower 30’s, so there was some ice around.
Speaking of ice, here’s an American Coot wondering what happened to his favorite spot to eat lunch. I titled this one, “Water Walker.” This was taken between markers 11 and 12. (12:21 p.m.) ISO 500
[Please click once on the thumbnails to see a larger view of the images].
Some Sandhill Cranes fly over near Rest Lake. (12:40) ISO 500
Looking out over Rest Lake, the water was beautiful when this Tundra Swan began its take off. I liked the way the wingtip was just about to touch the water. (12:48) ISO 500
Here’s a Northern Harrier flying overhead near the Kiwa Trail entrance. (1:12) ISO 500
A Yellow-rumped Warbler makes an appearance in the reeds between markers 11 & 12. I wasn’t sure the back lighting would work here but I think it came out okay. (1:42) ISO 500
This Great Blue Heron was guarding the gate just past marker 2. (2:40) ISO 800
A female Ring-necked Duck in the water near marker 3. (2:43) ISO 800
A post near marker 11 provided this portrait of a Song Sparrow. I went a little outside of the box on the composition here. (3:06) ISO 800
A pair of Northern Shovelers were doing their favorite activity–shoveling– between markers 11 & 12. (4:11) ISO 1250
It’s getting close to sunset now, when a Northern Harrier lands on a post across the water, also between markers 11 & 12. (4:28) ISO 1600
And as I was taking shots of the harrier, a Pintail drake lands in the water. Here he is slowing down. (4:31) ISO 2500
From just past marker 14, I took this sunset shot facing south. Can you spot the Kestrel in flight? (4:45) ISO 800 24 mm
And, as I’m on my way out of the refuge, I cross the bridge, stop, and get out of the truck for this shot looking across the access bridge at the refuge. (4:51) ISO 800 24 mm
A short and sweet look at the refuge today and I enjoyed shooting in some bright light. This kind of day is pretty rare around here during the winter. Be sure to come back for my next photo shoot blog posting where I traveled a whole 20 minutes to a backyard in Portland to get a look at the Ovenbird (a lifer) and a bunch of other songbirds, several of which are lifers for me. Take care all and we’ll see you next time!
I think the backlit warbler is wonderful… as is the Pintail shot. No, I can’t see the Kestrel. Is the last shot HDR or Color Efex treatment?
As always, nice job Dennis.
Thanks, Bruce! The Kestrel is flying low over the grass area at the near end of the left-most sun ray. Either just landing or taking off. The last image was mostly done in Lightroom, with decreasing exposure adjustments done on the sky and increasing exposure on the bridge. Bumping up the exposure and slight clarity, shadows, and highlights adj’s on the lower half of the shot did give it the HDR look, which I decided to keep. I then took it into Viveza 2 and lightened the shady sides of the bridge posts on the right a bit. If I used CEP4, it was likely only for a slight Pro Contrast adjustment.
Nice series of photos, as always. I especially like that last shot.
Thank you, Scott! I’ve kind of grown to like that bridge shot, too.