Photos and Projects

  Below are unedited photos from this week's trip to Jasper-Pulaski Observation area.  Ewa and I had a great time and the weather was perfect.  There were times that the sunny conditions casted a shadow upon our amazing subjects but with the combined unpredictability of mother nature and wild-life, I feel lucky to get anything resembling a good picture.  There were 4-5x more Sandhill Crane's than there was two weeks ago.  Good to see so many at once.  They were in 5-6 main clusters spread over the near 200 acre observation field.  They will continue to accumulate and rest until they are ready to head South to Georgia and Florida.   Need to run down how long it takes them to migrate, how high they fly, how often they need to stop, etc.  Fascinating bird to watch.  The Sandhill Crane always seems active doing something. From Observation Deck Love this group shot Fishing Area #1 Fishing Area #2 Beautiful Nearby Prairie

  Below are the best photos from today with the Nikon D70 at the Jasper-Pulaski Sandhill Crane Observation Area.

  Below are the best in-flight photos from of the Sandhill Crane near the Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife reserve.  Photographing the Sandhill Crane in the air proved to be much more difficult due to the approach the birds took and their ability to elevate quickly into a bright backlit sky.  Having the focal length of the Panasonic FZ80 would have been nice but the Nikon D70 with the 70-300 mm was the best tool I had to attempt to track, follow and focus in-flight.  With a little cropping the images still show the graceful form they take in the air.  They are a beautiful bird to watch in flight.   The photo of the crane landing below brings out some of their unique visual characteristics.  The Sandhill Crane is evidently a very old species of bird which has not changed over time.  The birds are probably one of the best examples of what a dinosaur might have looked like and their behavior is very charismatic at times.  They do a very good job staying together as a group.  The one cr

  Below are a few of my favorite straight out of the camera, unedited JPG photos from today's trip to the Sandhill Crane Observation Tower near the Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife reserve.  Captured all of these with the Panasonic Lumix Z80 and needed to zoom to 1200-2400 mm on most.  Shutter speed was between 1/200 to 1/1000 but majority were taken at 1/250. f6.3, 1/250, ISO 80 f5.9, 1/800, ISO 200 f5.9, 1/800, ISO 200 f5.9, 1/1000, ISO 320 f5.9, 1/1000, ISO 250 f5.8, 1/1000, ISO 250 f5.9, 1/1000, ISO 320 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 125 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 125 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 100 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 125 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 200 f6.3, 1/200, ISO 160 f6.3, 1/200, ISO 200 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 250 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 320 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 250 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 250 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 250 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 500 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 400 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 320 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 500 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 640 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 800 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 800 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 800 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 800 f6.3, 1/250, ISO 80