A Bird's Story

Ok, the move is officially over.  We had the final walk-through at the old place today and were praised for our cleaning efforts.  A Marine Inspector General would have found no dust on his white gloves had he checked it out. The owner was very pleased.  Later, the leasing agent, who was there, too, made a comment that it really only had to be “swept clean” for them to give us back the full deposit.  I did not want to hear it, LOL!  Back to life as I once knew it.

 

Many commented on my last post that they would like to see pictures of the new house and I promise to post them.  Next time!  Tonight I want to share some pictures that I am quite proud of taken with my new camera that I got for Christmas.

 

I did nothing on Christmas day except to charge the battery that it came with and read the manual cover to cover.  The next day I turned it on and experimented in the house with it. 

 

The camera is a Kodak P712.  You could not buy these in stores before Christmas and it was ordered online for me.  This camera is not an SLR, but has all the features of an SLR and comes with a 12X optical zoom lens.

 

I took it with me to work my first day back after the holiday and found an excuse to launch one of the Marina boats.  I had a mission and I wanted to see if the new camera was up to the task.

 

There is an island nearby that hosts a huge nest high up in an old dead tree. The tree is on the back side of the island away from the boating traffic on the river and is very hard to see if you do not know it is there.  Even on the back side of the island, it is a great distance inland from the bank.

 

 

This nest has hosted osprey families as well as a family of eagles over the years.  This year’s resident is an osprey and I was dying to get a good shot of the nest.  I did not dare think I would be lucky enough to even see the bird on this trip.

 

 

I had tried to get a shot of the nest from the back side of the island, but the sun was in the wrong position, so I motored to the front of the island on the main river.  After I shot the above picture, I looked to my right down the shoreline and something in a tree on the bank caught my eye. 

 

 

I could not tell what was in the tree, but I shot this picture and then tried to get closer at a better angle to check it out.  Applying the great zoom feature, I was able to make out that is was, indeed, the osprey.

 

 

I had to try and get a better shot of the bird.  I wanted a solid background behind it and I wanted to be as close as I could.  I would start the motor and get a little speed, then shut it off and drift towards the bird’s position.  Then I would take a shot and repeat the process. 

 

The osprey kept its eye on me but let me approach much closer than I had any right to expect and that is when I snapped this picture.  I was in a rocking boat and had no tripod with me.  There is no editing except for sizing on any of the pictures shown here… no cropping or anything.

 

 

Shortly after I shot this picture the osprey decided that I had gotten a little too close and flew away.  I sat there in the boat with my heart pounding from the excitement of the experience.  I thought I had taken a good shot but did not realize until later just how good it really would turn out to be.

 

Looking around while I sat there and composed myself, I saw two interesting features on the shoreline that I captured as well.  The first was a fallen tree that caught my eye.

 

 

<FONTFACE=ARIAL size="4" color="#0000a0">The second was a system of roots from a tree long ago fallen and not apparent anymore.

 

 

I just thought it looked interesting and shot it.  Next time I’m back at this location, I’ll try and get into a position where I can shoot the root system without the houses in the background.  The houses, by the way, are a lot farther away than they appear to be in this photo and are not on the island at all.

 

It was a fun little excursion for me and exciting, too.  I’ve had occasion to shoot a few more things on the river since then that I’ll share some of those in future posts.  I’ll also throw in some pictures of the new house next time.  I hope you enjoyed some of these pictures, because I had a blast getting them.  Until next time, take care and be safe!