jgrussell – my world

I went over to Branchbrook Park in Newark after today’s mock trial practice. Just wanted to scope the place out as a possible venue for photos in the future. Shot a couple of landscape-type shots with the 17-55mm lens, and then realized there was something verrrrrry interesting out on the ice.

I walked back to the car, swapped out the 17-55 for the 100-400 telephoto, grabbed the tripod, got as close as I could, set things up and started shooting — my very first shots of a red tail hawk — with prey even!!

Not sure at the moment just what the prey was — the experts tell me it was a gull of some kind — but it was a BIG bird no matter what it was.

(Click on any image for a larger one in a second window!)

At first he didn’t seem to be doing much, but I think he’d eaten quite a bit before I got there.

Then he started in again.

Searching for a bite

Tasty morsel

Very rare please

I kept watching while he seemed to be finishing up and then he (she? could be — large bird!) started to flap his wings.

"Pilot to tower..."

I knew I didn’t have the camera set up, in that light (or, for that matter, the skill), for real in-flight shots. (I’m a beginner!) But I decided to keep shooting anyway, and ended up with some interesting shots of the way the bird’s wings work.

"Liftoff! We have liftoff!"

Flaps down...

Flaps up...

He perched behind me on a tree with very bad light, but was kind enough to stay in place, staring down at me, long enough for me to grab just one shot. I can’t tell who was more interested — him or me!

"You lookin' at me?"

All in all, a very very satisfying outing!

I took a step or two closer to the sparrow this morning and he (or she!) stayed put:

White-throated sparrow

This time the male cardinal was on the tree branch:

Northern cardinal (male)

Finally! After the earlier fiasco, I managed to capture the male cardinal near the feeder today:

Northern cardinal (male)

It’s mock trial season, and I’ll be spending a lot of time at the law school, where this atrium is a key feature:

The atrium

These guys are going to end up making me verrrrrrry angry if they don’t stop chasing away my cardinals!

Grey squirrel

Not too many birds at the backyard feeder, but beneath it…

Treerat!

Money money money!

Dollars...

...and cents

Two shots in / from the car driving home tonight:

Standing still

City Hall corner

I tried to do some macro stuff with soap bubbles tonight and it was (you’ll forgive the pun) a complete bust. I’ll have to work on that idea some more. So what else to shoot? Hmmm… Controls!

Power to the people!