Nikon 1 V3 Hodgepodge | Eastern Kingbird Male

Nikon 1 V3 Hodgepodge | Eastern Kingbird Male

Nikon 1 V3 Hodgepodge | Eastern Kingbird Male   This male Kingbird is six to seven feet above the water and to the right of the nest; standing guard.  If you get too close to the nest, he will start screeching and dive bombing you.  This female Eastern Kingbird is nesting on a branch just a couple feet over the water.  For more kayaking images, see Pleasant Lake Kayaking | a 7 Image Story.

Nikon 1 V3 Hodgepodge | Eastern Kingbird Nesting Pair

The Back Story  These images took several kayak passes before capturing decent shots.  While kayaking toward the nest, you must stop paddling long before you get close to the nest.  Then, let the kayak float toward the nest.  But, it you get too close, the male stat dive bombing you.  So, you must stop a god distance away, if you do not want to disturb the birds.  Obviously, a long lens is called for.   Note: I post an image everyday at hankconrad.com.

Details…

EventKayaking Pleasant Like
LocationPleasant Lake Michigan
Date/Time6/28/2019  5:33pm Local Time
WeatherMostly Cloudy | 75°F | Light Winds
MethodSlowly kayaking toward the nest with a long lens.
GearNikon 1 V3 with a Nikon FT-1 Adapter & Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR lens
Exposure
300mm (810mm)  f/5.6  1/2500s  -0.33ev  1000iso

(70mm (189mm)  f/5.6  1/2500s  -0.33ev  1250iso)

PostBackground smoothing and a little definition.

Paddling Pleasant Lake | Male Eastern Kingbird

Paddling Pleasant Lake | Male Eastern Kingbird

Paddling Pleasant Lake | Male Eastern Kingbird   The male Kingbird is usually several feet above of the nest; standing guard.  This year, the Kingbird’s usual nesting place appears to have been destroyed.  The female and nest were not in sight.  Still, it must be very close.  If you get too close to the nest, the males will start screeching and dive bombing you.  For the whole story with all images, see Paddling Pleasant Lake | a 7 Image Story.

Paddling Pleasant Lake | a 7 Image Story

Paddling Pleasant Lake | Beaver's HandiworkPaddling Pleasant Lake | a 7 Image Story   Paddling along Pleasant Lake’s shoreline will generally yield at least a few decent images.  On this day, the boat traffic was a bit heavier than usual, which made numerous waves.  Capturing macro images of the water lilies was very difficult due to the extremely short depth of field.  Still, the water is generally clear enough to see the water lily stems in the sandy lake bottom.

Beaver’s Handiwork   Paddling the Kayak on glassy flat water provides a nice platform to capture both macro water flower images as well as wildlife images.  It’s all about paddling slowly and gliding with camera in hand.

Great Blue Heron   Paddling slowly toward shore makes it a bit easier to capture nice wildlife images without disturbing the wildlife.  This Great Blue Heron still walked behind the bushes, but it did not fly away.

Male Eastern Kingbird   The male Kingbird is usually several feet above of the nest; standing guard.  This year, the Kingbird’s usual nesting place appears to have been destroyed.  The female and nest were not in sight.  Still, it must be very close.  If you get too close to the nest, the males will start screeching and dive bombing you.

New Driftwood   Paddling into calm water with late afternoon light allows creation of a serene photograph depicting the essence of nature on a small northern Michigan lake.

Insect on Lily Pad Flower  This macro image was captured using a 10mm extension.  The water lily was moving up and down due to waves on the lake.  My kayak was moving in reaction to the waves.  My arm was moving since it was outstretched to manually focus the camera very close to the lily.  With such a narrow depth of field, it’s amazing that anything was in focus.

Feather in the Grass  A lone feather blowing in the wind adores the lakeside grass.  No telling where it’s from or where it’s going!

Red Lake Door   A holiday on Pleasant Lake would not be complete without the red door.  This year the red door seems to be pointing us skyward.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Paddling Pleasant Lake.

Click any image below for a slide show.

Pleasant Lake Kayaking | Eastern Kingbird Female Nesting

Pleasant Lake Kayaking | Eastern Kingbird Female Nesting

Pleasant Lake Kayaking | Eastern Kingbird Female Nesting   This female Eastern Kingbird is nesting on a branch just a few feet over the water.  The male is close by usually several feet above the nest standing guard.  If you get too close he will start screeching and dive bombing you.  For the whole story with all images, see Pleasant Lake Kayaking | a 7 Image Story.

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird  How did I get that close with 110mm?  On a Nikon 1 V3 with a 2.7 crop factor, 110mm becomes 297mm.  Also, I was in a kayak drifting without paddling toward the bird.  The branch it’s perched upon is about 5 feet off the water.  Its nest is below it, about 2 feet off the water.  Yes, I stopped the drift and did not threaten the bird or its nest.  This bird looks like an Eastern Kingbird to me.  Certainly, I’m not a birder.  If you think it’s another type of bird, please contact me.