I set out yesterday morning with the ultimate goal being to find some nesting Great Blue Herons. My father-in-law gave me the general location so I figured I could find it. I took the long way and stopped to hike around some gameland trails. I used only my new 50mm which my polarizer and all my neutral density filters fit happily upon, it was great to get back into some daytime long exposures. I let the wind ripple the waters around the beaver house while I stretched my exposures to 60+ sec. The whole time I was scolded loudly by a flock of Canada Geese, not a fan of the annoying honkers.
Spring is technically here but there was very little signs walking through the woods. I do love bright flowers and green leaves there's something so appealing about last years weeds and other annual growth after being ravaged by winter.
I did finally find the Heron rookery but only after driving past it at 70mph on the freeway. I doubled back and snapped approx 400 shots (gotta love digital). There has to be at least 25 nests in the tall sycamore trees above a waterway populated by, you guessed it, a flock of Canada Geese that also were very aware of my presence and not too comfortable with it. The nesting trees are situated perfectly in a ravine next to a bridge on the freeway. You can position yourself directly across from them and shoot on the same plane. It pushed my budget Sigma 300mm to it's limits but it performed satisfactorily. I'll go back in May to try to capture some little fuzzy heads popping out of those nests.
