343/365 - Jim - Canadian Goose

( f/5.6 400mm 1/640 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

This goose was out on the lake and since I was in Canada, I assumed it was Canadian :) I used my 70-200mm lens with the 2x teleconverter zoomed all the way in to 400mm. We couldn't get very close to this thing or it would fly away. I cropped it into a bookmark because I thought it looked cool that way.

339/365 - Tim - OBX Bird

( No EXIF Info Nikon D60 )

No, OBX does not stand for obnoxious. It stands for the Outer Banks in North Carolina. My uncle Tim was there on vacation and got this awesome shot. Here is his description of it:

When we were at the Outer Banks NC this year I got up early to shoot the sunrise over the water. I set the camera on a tripod and would snap a picture every minute as the sun rose. As this bird flew by I couldn't resist snapping a photo.

328/365 - Jim - American Bald Eagle

( f/3.2 70mm 1/40 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

While on my way home from a birthday party, I stopped when I saw this eagle coming in for a landing. I couldn't believe my eyes, so I got my camera and took a photo of this statue. Did you think it was real? Maybe I fooled some of you... I've only seen one bald eagle in the wild before and it was so far up in the sky that I had to take a photo at 200mm and then zoom into that to be able to tell it was a bald eagle.

314/365 - Jim - Soaring Buzzards

( f/8 400mm 1/800 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

It was an extremely hot and humid day today. My wife and I took a walk through a cemetery for photos and saw these turkey buzzards flying over us. I put my 70-200mm lens along with the 2x teleconverter on my camera. I used Picasa to crop down the bird on the left and then placed it back on the same uncropped image as a collage. Then added another bird on the right to make it a little more interesting.

215/365 - Jim - Cohabitant

( f/7.1 400mm 1/200 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

This robin made itself a nest under my deck. Every year there is a nest there. I don't know if it is the same bird or just a great place for a nest. I'm sure there is probably eggs in it already. Every year we don't catch it in time, so I would feel bad knocking it out of there with eggs already in it. What the bird doesn't know, is that we plan on building an addition, so she better raise those little ones before demolition begins.

165/365 - Jim - Robin

( f/5.6 200mm 1/800 sec ISO 800 Nikon D300 )

I saw a bunch of birds outside after work, so I decided to put my sneakers on and see how stealthy I could be. I went into the front yard and hid behind a tree until they flew into it. Seeing the Robins makes me feel like Spring is almost here, which... it is. So birding was kind of fun. I'd like to get the Nikon 2x Teleconverter though so I could get double the reach and not have to be as stealthy. I didn't realize I was at ISO 800 and wondered why I was getting some incredible shutter speeds at f/8. Then I realized, but it was a little too late. Thankfully the D300 does alright with slightly higher ISO, so the noise isn't that bad.