alexanderwoodruffphotography.com

O Canada!

alexgwoodruff — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:47:48 +0000

A trip out to Gilbert last week revealed that the Avocet mating season is almost at an end – next will be the Stilts.

Gilbert seems to be full of Canada Geese right now – loud, boisterous and very inquisitive (I caught one looking for nibbles in my camera bag!). These birds are always fun to shoot – whether they are beating their wings with their chest pushed out or in flight. In fact, these birds are almost perfect for me to practice my flight shots. Other people use Gulls, but I do not see too many of those around here.

Here are some of the images.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AFS and 1.4 x teleconverter. 1/1250″, f5.6, ISO 200, EV +1.67, 420mm Pattern Metered, Manual Mode, TTL Flash.

Site Maintenance

alexgwoodruff — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:22:15 +0000

I am in the process of transferring my website to a different hosting company…. so I am expecting some glitches to show themselves. I will have a fully functional site very shortly… I hope!

Cornell Lab of Ornithology Nest Cam

alexgwoodruff — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:14:53 +0000

Great Blue Herons have returned to the same nest at Cornell’s HQ, something they have done for the last 4 years. The staff there are able to watch these amazing birds from their offices, but to share them with us they have installed a streaming cam that can be viewed 24 hours a day.

Last night at around 7:30 p.m., the heron laid her first egg! Tune in to keep watching for the next eggs. Great Blue Herons typically lay eggs every two days, sometimes three, until the clutch is complete. After that it will be 25–30 days before the chicks hatch, and they will spend another 7–8 weeks in the nest before they fledge.

Watch live streaming video from cornellherons at livestream.com

A Quick Trip Out in the Car

alexgwoodruff — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:18:09 +0000

This morning I decided to take a run around the neighbourhood to see what was around. I was not expecting very much, it was late (around 10 am) and getting hot – and I was proved right. I saw very little, got close to even less and photographed practically nothing!

My big treat today was when I was trying to locate a kestrel that I had seen land in a tree and looking out of the passenger window of the car to see a Burrowing Owl less than 10 ft from me. He seemed totally unafraid and let me get several shots off.

Other than that it was a very uneventful morning.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AFS and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/1600″, f5.6, ISO 200, 420mm, +0EV, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Love is in the air….

alexgwoodruff — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 02:00:40 +0000

This weekend I had a wonderful opportunity and met up with Maxis Gamez, who has been an inspiration since I started this hobby (in fact he has graced my useful link page for some time). Maxis flew in from Florida and with a small group went searching for American Avocets which are resident at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve. We were presented with some awesome courtship and mating behaviour to photograph and despite my small lens (especially compared to the monster lens that Maxis brought with him) I came away with some really nice images. Maxis showed his expertise and demonstrated his approach, always making sure that we had as much opportunity to shoot as he did. A truly nice guy – I wish I could have spent more time with him… maybe I will make it to one of his workshopsin the near future. So, on to the images – a courting pair of American Avocets:

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 afs and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/2500″, f5.6, ISO 400, 420mm, +0EV, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 afs with 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/1600″, f5.6, ISO 400, 420mm, +0EV, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode

EXIF for 4 images above: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 afs and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/1600″, f5.6, ISO 400, 420mm, +0EV, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode. Fill flash used.

One from the beginning of the month.

alexgwoodruff — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:25:53 +0000

This is an image I captured at the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch earlier this month. I followed this Anna’s Hummingbird for about 30 minutes as it flitted between 3 perches. He eventually settled on these flowers long enough for me to get 5 shots off. This behaviour seems typical of these birds, and once I can identify the perches a bird uses I can set up my gear to my best advantage and simply wait for him to come to me.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AFS and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/1250″, f9, ISO 400, +0EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode

What a Wonderful World.

alexgwoodruff — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:56:18 +0000

I haven’t been out for a few weeks, so do not have much to write about. But, I was told about this video today and thought I would share it on this blog.

Sir David Attenborough narrates “What a Wonderful World” to a collection of clips from the BBC Wildlife department, which is based in my home town of Bristol.

Birding during the festive season.

alexgwoodruff — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:24:11 +0000

I have had some family visiting for the Christmas holiday and I took advantage of their interest in photography and took them birding… lots! We tried all the local haunts and some new ones and managed 7 new lifers to add to my list.

The nicest surprise was a Vermillion Flycatcher at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve who shared his perch with a Say’s Phoebe and a Black Phoebe for about an hour – each one taking his turn to pose for us. After that encounter we watched a Northern Harrier defend his territory from a coyote – the action was too far away from us, but several of the Preserve regulars got some nice shots.

Vermillion Flycatcher.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/500, f5.6, ISO 250, +1.33 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Say’s Phoebe.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/500, f5.6, ISO 250, +1.33 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Black Phoebe.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/500, f5.6, ISO 250, +1.33 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Verdin.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/500, f5.6, ISO 250, 0 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Black-necked Stilt.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/640, f5.6, ISO 250, +1.33 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

American Avocet.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/1600, f5.6, ISO 200, 0EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

I had a really lucky break when I crept up on one of the recharge ponds an almost disturbed another photographer. I headed down the bank slightly to find a Green Heron who was intently watching a fish. The next thing I knew was that a couple of other photographers made the same mistake I did… except they pushed the Green Heron right into my area. The heron them promptly speared a fish and gave me a great opportunity for a shoot.

Green Heron.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/640, f5.6, ISO 250, +1.33 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

A trip to Tucson was the next event. Arranged at short notice, and with advice from the members of the Arizona/New Mexico birding listserv , we made a trip out to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum (a lot like the Desert Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix). Again, we found lots of subjects to photograph.

Northern Cardinal.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s. 1/200, f4, ISO 200, +1.33 EV, 300mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Phainopepla.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/500, f5.6, ISO 250, +1.33 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Anna’s Hummingbirds.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s. 1/320, f5.6, ISO 250, 0 EV, 300mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s. 1/320, f5.6, ISO 250, 0EV, 300mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/640, f5.6, ISO 250, 0EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/640, f5.6, ISO 250, +1.33 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s with 1.4 x Nikkor Teleconverter. 1/640, f5.6, ISO 200, +1.33 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Broad-billed Hummingbird.

EXIF: Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f4 af-s. 1/320, f4, ISO 200, +1.33 EV, 300mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

After the Desert Museum we made the 20 minute journey to Sweetwater Wetlands, though because of the traffic and road works it took us nearly an hour. Unfortunately we were disappointed by the wetlands… I think that we chose the wrong time of day to visit because all we saw were Northern Shovelers (by the thousand), Northern Pintails, American Wigeons and a Cinnamon Teal. It wasn’t until we had walked the area and were back at the parking lot that we caught a flash of a Common Yellowthroat and found a tree full of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Unfortunately the lighting was awful and the spirit was weak and I came away with nothing.

I have been editing the shots from these trips over the last few days and I consider this a good start to my 2012 shooting. Let’s hope it continues.

I almost couldn’t make this post.

alexgwoodruff — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:44:38 +0000

Towards the end of last month I headed out for a couple of mornings, shooting from the car again. They were successful outings with some nice shots and another couple of lifers.
You can imagine my frustration when I had finished editing them to have my computer become disabled by a virus. It is not as if I was unprotected – firewall, realtime spyware protection, Microsoft security essentials, windows defender, malware removal all in place and running. The first I was aware was when all my security started displaying alerts, then icons started disappearing from my desktop and program list. Eventually I was left with an empty desktop and an empty c: drive. It has taken since the 24th November to put things right. I have everything backed up, except for the last 2 outings… so I thought I had lost those images. Now I have them back again and I am finally able to post them.

Killdeer.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AF-s and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/1600″, f5.6, ISO 320, +1 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Western Meadowlark.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AF-s and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/4000″, f5.6, ISO 320, +1 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Gambels Quail.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AF-s and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/1250″, f5.6, ISO 320, +1 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Red-tailed Hawk.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AF-s and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/1000″, f5.6, ISO 320, +1 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Mourning Dove.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AF-s and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/800″, f5.6, ISO 320, +0 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

Brewer’s Sparrow.

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AF-s and 1.4 x Teleconverter. 1/2500″, f5.6, ISO 500, +1 EV, 420mm, Pattern Metered, Manual Mode.

As the year draws to a close…

alexgwoodruff — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:47:35 +0000

… I thought it might be a nice idea to put some of my favourite images into a little slideshow. This is the first one I have made and it incorporates 2010 and 2011.

EDIT: I have now revamped the original, pixelated version and although I lost the music I think that this one has a much better image quality to it. If you want to view with a soundtrack simply find a track in your music collection that is 5 minutes and 8 seconds long and listen as you watch! It should open in a separate window and display a little animation to show it is opening. Happy 2012 everyone!!

Digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox