{"id":250,"date":"2020-05-14T12:35:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T12:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/?p=250"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:03:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:03:29","slug":"2020-5-12-a-labor-day-in-nature-9219","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/?p=250","title":{"rendered":"Labor Day- 9\/2\/19"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The morning of September 2nd, a holiday in the US, I woke up and since I didn\u2019t have to work I grabbed my photo gear and went out. I decided to walk to a place I had been going. Not too far from where I live, about 2 miles. For some reason I decided the exercise would be good. Which wasn\u2019t too bad, but keep in mind I had been working a desk job since the beginning of that year. Although I still would walk on my lunch break so I wouldn\u2019t get stale, really the only time I would get out and about was doing photography. So 4 miles in a day was not a regular thing. <\/p>\n

First birds I spotted were on the way there.<\/p>\n

A Northern Cardinal in a tree of red.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @400 – 1\/100 Sec – F8 – ISO 3200<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I also spotted an American Goldfinch at the top of a tree. The images were too far away for any good detail, but because I was able to take quite a few while it scratched an itch, I put them in a collage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Four merged photos – all with Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @375 – 1\/500 Sec – F8 – ISO 160<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Once I arrived, and rested for a few minutes. Likely playing Pokemon, I set out for the slow walk along the trails. Likely I was using the tripod with the legs extended so it was at eye level for me at a given notice. Like how you would use a monopod. Giving me easy access when I was on the move, but the ability to flip the legs out and get in a more steady position when needed. I spotted another Cardinal or two that were in the molting process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @400 – 1\/500 Sec – F8 – ISO 2500<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @400 – 1\/640 Sec – F8 – ISO 640<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The males were up in the branches, while females were on the ground.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @256 – 1\/500 Sec – F8 – ISO 250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @428 – 1\/640 Sec – F8 – ISO 200<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I believe this one was a bluebird, as you\u2019ll see why in the next photo when it turned and fly away from me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @428 – 1\/800 Sec – F8 – ISO 250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And then, a new one for the collection. I believe to be the Olive-Sided Flycatcher. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @329 – 1\/2000 Sec – F5.6 – ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Without a doubt the next one that I attempted to catch mid flight was an Eastern Bluebird.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @400 – 1\/500 Sec – F8 – ISO 200<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I also managed to spot another American Goldfinch, this time much better images as I was closer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @600 – 1\/800 Sec – F8 – ISO 250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And then we have this next series of images. I believe it was a Northern Mockingbird that flew up into a tree right in front of me. I managed to get a good number of photos off, and for a second in the middle I switched to a very fast shutter speed. Amazingly I managed to get a shot off while it was\u2026 blinking? According to Wikipedia it isn\u2019t a blink, but the nictitating membrane that moves across the eye horizontally to keep it lubricated. Also used when they dive underwater. How cool is that?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @400 – 1\/640 Sec- F8 – ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @400 – 1\/2000 Sec – F5.6 – ISO 640<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @400 – 1\/640 Sec – F8 – ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Finally we have the shot I saved for last. Although it was shot early on in the day, I like to save my favorite for the end. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not entirely sure what kind of bird it is, most likely as the area I went to has a large population of Northern Mockingbirds, that\u2019s what I believe it to be. But I haven\u2019t seen one with an eye quite as striking colors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D w\/Tamron 150-600mm @450 – 1\/800 Sec – F8 – ISO 640<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This was the kind of photo I was wanting to take. Clear, detailed, up close. More or less macro photography, but with wildlife. So at a respectable distance. Such things are as it turns out, very very difficult and require some expensive gear. Nailing a shot like this keeps pushing me forward to try more, different and better approaches, learning as I go. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The morning of September 2nd, a holiday in the US, I woke up and since I didn\u2019t have to work I grabbed my photo gear and went out. I decided to walk to a place I had been going. Not too far from where I live, about 2 miles. For some reason I decided the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-old-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1821,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/1821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}