It rained, then poured. The king and I, we waited.
Tag Archives: rain
Off Color
I met this gadwall drake feeding in the shallows of Long Lake in May, right as he was transitioning into his nonbreeding plumage. Different duck species transition at different times, a fact it took me way too many years to realize.
Even in his plainest dress he’s still a beautiful creature, don’t you think?
The Littlest Falcon
Kestrels are the smallest falcon in North America and I think the most beautiful. I spent a lot of time with this male on the day after Christmas as it hunted in the rain, it usually had its back to me but I was fortunate to get one of its yawns in profile and a direct look as well.
Worth the Wet
December 26th was lovely, filled with heavy wind and rain. You can guess how I spent the day.
The wind complicated matters a bit, even shooting from the car as I was, as it kept blowing rain onto the front element of the lens and I had to stop to clean it every few minutes (or even seconds). I had towels draped over the entire section around the drivers seat, I was wearing a rain coat, and had another coat draped over my legs to keep them from getting soaked. Everything on the passenger’s seat was either in bags or covered up.
But oh was it worth it!
Kestrels are commonly seen at Ridgefield in the winter but they are skittish and always take off before you can get close. Nearly always that is, for this male and another halfway round the refuge let me photograph them up close. Once I learned their favorite haunts, I kept an eye out for them and was blessed to be able to watch them up close like this several different times, sometimes hunting and eating, sometimes just waiting in the rain.
Swallowing
I’ve been making an effort for head shots in my wildlife photography the past year or two, so when the barn swallow came to an even closer perch, I took some full-body portraits then threw on the tele-converter and a bunch of extension tubes for some tight close-ups. It didn’t stay still for long, and the rain had eased off, so I didn’t get a chance to photograph it with a heavy buildup of raindrops on its feathers. But I was thankful for my only opportunity this spring for such a close view of a remarkable little bird.
