Clovis' 2025 images

[clovishound]

Things have been rather slow here due to weather and everyone coming down with a nasty head cold. Finally managed to make it out to Magnolia Plantation this week. I'm a little rusty, but managed to get a few.

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[CT_Shooter]

Beautiful. Thanks.

[Hatchdog]

Silhouette shots are wonderful.

[clovishound]

I'm thinking about writing an illustrated children's book. I think I'll call it:

Freddie the Frog Has a Bad Day

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And a few more from today's outing.

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[Hickok]

Fantastic1

[Hatchdog]

My wife and I just howled at your book title. What a perfect shot!

[clovishound]

I was standing on the bank of the swamp and was hearing a small squeaking noise coming from below my feet. I looked around in the vegetation and discovered the tail of a small garter snake in the grass. I stepped to one side to get a better look under the grass, and saw the snake struggling to get this good sized frog down. I took the time to swap over to my macro lens and closed in for some close up shots. The snake wasn't happy about me taking pictures, but I managed to grab a few from different angles.

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Turns out the frog wasn't the only one having a bad day. However, the heron had an easier time of swallowing his tasty little crustacean.

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[clovishound]

Headed back over to Magnolia today. Things seemed a little quiet compared to last week. Tried a few birds in flight pictures. Did better than I expected, but I really need some time practicing. The great blue herons were nesting, with dad ferrying sticks to the nest, and mom carefully incorporating them into a space for the coming little ones.

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[daytime dave]

Outstanding!

[CT_Shooter]

I agree with Dave.

Outstanding... in - on - or above ... a pool of dark water.

I'm a sucker for reflections. That Painted Turtle, with its right fist ready and its head held high, is so good. And the nest building set is perfect. Love it.

[Hatchdog]

Excellent teamwork from Mr and Mrs Blue Heron.

[brm4450]

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[clovishound]

Went to a new spot at one of the Wildlife Management Areas south of here. It was upper 20s when we got there at sunup. A little chilly for southern SC. And yes, it was another get up at 3:45 in the morning. Anyway, there were hundreds of birds there resting on the lake surface. As the sun came up, they started becoming active. Lots and lots of tundra swans, and avocets. Even a few mergansers and northern shovelers. I made some changes last week to my camera settings and got a much better percentage of birds in flight pictures this go around. Lighting was challenging, but got a few decent ones.

Tundra swans on the wing. Fortunately, ATC instructed them to circle the field once prior to heading downrange.

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These two avocets had a disagreement about something.

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More avocets.

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Open this one in a new tab to see it properly. It's a panorama style aspect ratio.

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[Hatchdog]

Good job with the reflections.

[clovishound]

Missed it by that much!

Was at Cypress Gardens this morning, and was taking pictures of a male wood duck in breeding plumage.

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Without warning this duck exploded!!!!!!!
Unfortunately, I had the wrong settings for this much motion. All I could do was to hit the shutter button and hang on. Just a little higher shutter speed, and continuous servo AF and I'd have nailed this.

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[Hatchdog]

Well I have to say that as great as these pics are I can only imagine how they would be with the proper equipment. In the first flight pic I love how you captured the watch churning. That’s a nice series of pics.

[rickhem]

Great pics. I'm guessing you're a birder.
On a suggestion from a friend, I downloaded the Merlin Bird ID, and the eBird apps for my iPhone. Both are free. That Merlin app is pretty amazing in walking me right to the bird I'm trying to ID. Both from Cornell University, which is only an hour or so west of me, and it's like every bird book all in your phone.
Sat in my treestand last October and spotted something white way out across a beaver swamp to my left. It was bow season and my binocs are only 5x. This was easily 150 yards through trees, so I couldn't really figure it out until it opened it's wings and folded them again. Whipped out my phone and followed the prompts until it showed me a Great Egret, just like the one you show with the crawfish.
We get woodies on our pond and down in the beaver swamps too, but they don't stay. I want to put a nesting box in and see if anything uses it.

Thanks for posting the pics you take, helps make this cabin fever a little easier to bear.

[CT_Shooter]

That Merlin app is pretty amazing ... it's like every bird book all in your phone.

I regularly use Merlin on my Android. It has a great recording feature that IDs birds by their vocal sounds. It is incredibly sensitive and accurate. Their database is a treasure.

[clovishound]

Well, I'm not really a birder, but I do like to take pictures of them. It gives me something photography related to do when the insects aren't out to photograph.

I agree that Merlin is a great resource. I do like to be able to identify the critters I take pictures of.

[clovishound]

It was a slow day at Magnolia today.

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