A Blue Jay bothering a young Red-tailed Hawk in Central Park photographed in March 2015.
Red-tail and Blue Jay
Birds
Blue Jays CP
It was a gray and damp day. The blue of the Jays was lovely.
Panama – Digital Art
Yellowish Flycatcher, Boquete, Panama 5/29/2014
This wistful Yellowish Flycatcher had a plain bright green background of out of focus jungle. I wanted to show the location, so I added an image of the jungle taken a few days before to the background and used my blur and outline technique in Photoshop.
Composite created in Photoshop with 20140519_Boquete_14.jpg for background. NIKON D600, f-stop 5.6, exposure time 1/1600 sec., ISO 4000, focal length 400mm, and max aperture 5.
Black Vulture on Gold, Boquete, Panama 5/24/2014
The original background was gray. By this Black Vulture a gold leaf background I mad it look like an Asian screen.
Created in Photoshop and onOne. NIKON D600, f-stop 5.6, exposure time 1/800 sec., ISO speed IS0 -720, focal length 400mm, and max aperture 5.
Cecropia and Blue-grey Tanager, Boquete, Panama 5/28/2014
Adding a blurs, selective highlights and edges to the leaves creates how I imagined the scene. Boquete is a magical place.
Created in Photoshop. NIKON D600, f-stop 5.6, exposure time 1/800 sec., ISO 2000, focal length 400mm, and max aperture 5.
Putting the focus where I want it and gives the image a hand painted look. I adding a blurs, selective highlights, color enhancement and edges to emphasize some parts and deemphasize others.
Created in Photoshop. NIKON D600, f-stop 5.6, exposure time 1/800 sec., ISO speed IS0-1800, focal length 400mm. and max aperture 5.
See my Photographic Art page for more
Birds of London Winter 2015
This large post includes a list of the 61 birds including 7 life birds seen on this trip; bringing my UK list up to 261 since I started the list in 1987. I saw while in London late December 2015 and first week of January 2016. Captions provide the names, locations and dates of each siting. I posted the best ones but decided to include a few not so good photos as they are all I have of certain species.
My one serious trip was to the WWT London Wildlife Refuge on 1/4/2016. The WWT (Wildlife and Wetlands Trust has 8 other refuges around Great Britain. They cater to families, provide education and the wetlands have blinds for serious birders. I may not have found some of them, like the bittern and snipe, if other birders hadn’t pointed them out to me. My one disappointment was not having more days to do this. It was really a trip to visit family. Cemeteries are the best for birding. I enjoyed St James Park which is well stocked with ducks and pelicans.; and winter birds and ducks in and Clissold Park. Walthamstow Marshes might have produced some good birds but I didn’t get the time to investigate it.
Land Birds
Jay, Abney Park, London 12/20/15
Rose-ringed Parakeet, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Robin, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Blackbird, Abney Park, London 12/20/15
Robin, Abney Park, London 12/28/15
Goldcrest, Abney Park, London 12/28/15
Great Spotted Woodpecker, Abney Park, London 12/20/15
Siskin, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
European Stonechat, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
European Stonechat, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Common Chaffinch, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Jay, Abney Park, London 12/20/15
Jackdaw, Deer Park, Greenwich 1/2/16
Wood Pigeon, Abney Park, London 12/20/15
Carrion Crow, Deer Park, Greenwich 1/2/16
Water Birds
St James Park 12/31/15
White Pelican, Regents Park 12/31/15
White Pelican, Regents Park 12/31/15
White Pelican, Regents Park 12/31/15
Black-headed Gull, St James Park 12/31/15
Black-headed Gull, St James Park 12/31/15
Eurasian Bittern, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Snipe, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Great Crested Grebe, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Great Crested Grebe, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Cormorant, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Shag, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Shag, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Grey Heron, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Gery Heron, St James Park 12/31/15
Trumpeter Swan, St James Park
Mute Swan, Clissold Park 12/23/15
Bewick’s Swan, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Greylag Goose, St James Park 12/31/15
Egyptian Goose. WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Egyptian Goos, Clissold Park 12/21/15
Egyptian Goos, Clissold Park 12/21/15
Red-breasted Goose and Brant, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Barnacle Goose, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Smew, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Smew, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Smew, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Tufted Duck, Clissold Park 12/21/15
Tufted Duck, Clissold Park 12/21/15
Pochard, Clissold Park 12/21/15
Red-breasted Goose, St James Park 12/31/15
Ferruginous Duck, Deer Park, Greenwich 1/2/16
Pochard, Deer Park, Greenwich 1/2/16
Red-crested Pochard, Deer Park, Greenwich 1/2/16
Ruddy Shellduck, St James Park 12/31/15
WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Nene, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Bufflehead, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Eurasian Widgeon, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Canvasback, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Green-winged Teal, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Wood Duck, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Northern Pintail, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Northern Pintail, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Northern Shoveler, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Black Swan, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Magpie Goose and Plumed Whistling Duck, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Plumed Whistling Duck, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Magpie Goose, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
White-winged Duck, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Radjah Shelduck, WWT London Wetland 1/4/16
Great Horned Owl – Central Park
I photographed this Horned Owl in Central Park on November 24, 2015. There was lots of people and construction going on. The owl was unfazed. It groomed and slept like it was deep in the woods all alone. It is amazing how well some wildlife has adapted.
Northern Shovelers
Central Park Lake had a flock of Northern Shovelers swimming in circles – a dance they perform while sifting the water for food. I made a little video; pardon the jerkiness because I was using a long lens without a tripod. Park rules say no tripods.
I made a composite with leaves and a Northern Shoveler. First adjusted basic sliders and, lens correction and detail in Lightroom. Added a graduated filter, erasing where it touched the duck. Then in Photoshop set the blending mode to soft light. Duplicated the duck layer and masked out the duck making it the top layer. The water at the bottom needed a few more ripples. Duplicated the duck layer, stretched it, made it quite transparent and did some light brush work. I brought the raw file into Photoshop. Inserted the leaf image. Moved the duck layer a little. Added vibrance and brightness/contrast adjustment layers clipped to the leaf layer.
Buffleheads in the Sky
I photographed these two ducks in the Central Park reservoir on November 18, 2015. I added another dimension to this set of ordinary images by adding an overlay of clouds making them into digital art.
Little Bufflehead ducks suddenly vanish and resurfaces as they feed. Buffleheads bob around in bays, estuaries, reservoirs, and lakes during winters in North America. Males are a striking black-and white and their heads show iridescent green and purple. Females are gray-brown with a white cheek patch. Buffleheads nest in old woodpecker holes, particularly those made by Northern Flickers, in the forests of northern North America (source All About Birds.org – Bufflehead).
Birds in Autumn
I photographed these in my favorite place, Central Park, this September and October, 2015. I have been trying out the new Sigma 150-600 mm lens on my Nikon D750 — not bad at all. Then I processed them in Lightroom, Photoshop. And in some, using onOne, I added textures, shading and other tricks to create the mood I wanted. This is my creative outlet.
Doing these things to my photos means I will never be able to sell them as stock images. I hope someone will like one of my photographs well enough to want to buy one or two.
Ruby-throated Humminbird, Central Park 9/5/15
American Redstart Warbler, Central Park 9/11/15
Gray Catbird, Central Park 9/12/15
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Central Park 9/11/15
Northern Cardinal, Central Park 9/12/15
House Sparrow, Central Park 9/12/15
Red-eyed Vireo, Central Park 9/12/15
Carolina Wren, Central Park 10/10/15