Adult Red-tailed Hawk

My girlfriend and I visited Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA on Monday afternoon. I want to thank Eric Smith for letting me know the location of the resident Great Horned Owls, which was a first time for me and there were three of them in a section of white pines! I was unable to get any images worth processing, and only one of them was in good view. It was a bit high and tough to focus on with my 400 and 1.4x, but it is great to know of a reliable GHO location within a 90 minute drive. I will sure be back for another chance soon enough, but this beautiful hawk was extremely approachable and encountered him in two different settings during the time visiting. I was able to walk up and great ridiculously close head shots of this bird with my 1.4x attached. Below are a few of my favorites.

Thanks for looking!

Sora!!!

This morning I made a quick trip up to Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. My goal was to photograph some of the hundreds of American Coot that have been frequenting the impoundments the past month. Unfortunately, they were all out in the middle of the pools too far out for decent photographs. I continued walking down the dike trail and about 100 feet past the observation deck I spotted a Sora within the cattails! I was so excited to just be able to view this bird, as it was my first time and I know they are very difficult to spot. It was very calm and approachable, and began working the edge of the vegetation along the path. I positioned myself down the trail in the direction it was heading, and setup in the very few open areas that were not completely obstructed with branches and reeds. The bird was incredibly cooperative and posed for a few moments out in the complete open a good distance out of the cattails. I still cannot believe my luck! Such a fantastic morning with a new species, despite striking out again on the coots. Hope you enjoy these two images. Both taken with the 400 f/5.6, small cropping and no cloning. :)

Cape Cod Birds

Yesterday I made a day trip to the outer cape in hopes of photographing some wintering waterfowl and seabirds. It turned out to be a pretty good day, despite the extreme windy conditions. I was able to add four new species of birds to my collection, which is pretty good for one day. These include Red-throated Loon, Bonaparte's Gull, Razorbill, and a somewhat lame photo of a Thick-billed Murre. I stopped at Wellfleet Harbor and Provincetown Harbor, which had the most action by far. Many of the birds were extremely approachable, and I had very close encounters with both the loons and razorbills. At one point two Razorbills surfaced no more than 8 feet away, but the light was rather harsh and the focus was off. Below are a few of my favorites.

Bonaparte's Gull taking off, Wellfleet Harbor

This Razorbill was photographed just feet away from one of the floating docks off the Macmillan Wharf in Provincetown. Sure is awesome being so close to a bird I've never seen before!

 Red-throated Loon, Wellfleet Harbor. These guys were also extremely close, sometimes so much that I couldn't even focus on them! This was on the top of my want list.

I will definitely need to get back out to the outer cape again this winter, hopefully early next month as I am off from school. Check back for more images from the trip. I've been going on bird hunts nearly once a week lately in hopes of expanding my bird variety. I've made two trips in the past month for Snowy Owl with no success. This winter in Massachusetts has several areas where these awesome birds are staying, and photographing a snowy would make my winter! Hopefully I will succeed soon.......