Twin Lakes Park II
Yellow warbler Nikon Z8 with Z 100-400 @400mm 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1400
I was still a bit frustrated about hearing and seeing the Yellow warblers and American redstarts at Twin Lakes Park when I hiked around the park earlier this week but not being able to photograph them well. The breeze and the thick canopy as well as the birds being in constant motion resulted in an exercise in exasperation as every time I had the bird in the viewfinder, it took flight before I could hit the trigger.
And so, I decided to make one more brief trip to the park and to concentrate on the permeter of the woodlands rather than immerse myself in the deeper forest. The weather was less than ideal as it was overcast with a light rain and a strong breeze. So, should I shoot with a slow shutter speed to compensate for the dark lighting or shoot faster to negate the strong breeze moving all the foliage (perches). Combining faster shutter and higher film speed was my only real choice.
Fortunately, the birds were very active picking off the insects on the knotweed leaves. Unlike the previous experience in the forest, this Yellow warbler was more than willing to sit in place for an extended period of time. I was able to grab a few shots and then set up for a potential flight shot. When all was said and done, i trained the Z8 on the bird and waited for him to launch. Off he went and away I shot….got him!
Although I had some nice shots of the Carolina wren on Tuesday, I couldn’t pass up one more of a little drenched wren perched nearby. With plenty of cover in the adjacent forest, he decided to simply sit in the drizzle and just fluff up a bit to keep warmer and drier.
And last but not least, the final bird I was able to capture from the comfort of the front seat of my SUV was the American redstart that had taunted me earlier in the week. I admit that I do a lot of my photography from the car as it serves as a great blind. Birds do not react to the presence of a vehicle nearly as much as seeing a human form walking in their vicinity. Such was the case here with several Redstarts flying in close me and waiting for a tasty bug to fly by. First the shot of the bird perched…..
American redstart - Pretty well soaked, but photogenic all the same.
And after waiting him out, a decent flight shot as he decided to move on.
In spite of the birds being a bit haggard looking due to the wind and rain, I was happy to be able to get up close and shoot some shots of the birds in their natural element. Twin Lakes Park has proven to be a nice place to visit when in the Eastchester area where by Brother-in-law and his wife live. We’ve visited down here many times, but I never bothered to take the very short drive over to the park. The past several days have changed all that. I will definitely be stopping by here far more often in the future.
