Day 003: First Bird of the Day

My photograph assignment for today was to take pictures of the first bird I saw this morning. While in the Summer, one would see huge numbers of birds immediately, in the dead of Winter I actually drove 12.5 miles before any feathered friend was willing to oblige. The idea behind my assignment was to force me to photograph in what may be a less than desirable situation, and try to optimize the picture.

Well, I got what I asked for. Today’s photo is of a fishing merganser, I think! This bird was way off shore, and there was not much I could do to make the photo more intriguing! Bird #2 was more interested, but it did not count! I just wish the bald eagle had flown by before the duck! Obviously, a HUGE difficulty with photographing birds is they move around a lot, and as the eagle demonstrated, often partially hide behind branches. I spent 20 minutes chasing each bird trying to get a better photo opportunity. One gets cold when it is -2F with a 15 mph wind. After a while it’s time to run back to the car to get warmed up.

First Bird of the Morning (official project photo)
003A-Birds-365-Merganser

 

Second Bird of the Morning (second photo, and does not count!)

003B-Birds-365-Bald-Eagle

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