Back to Clearlake Part 2 (Back Up the Slough)

After checking out the Western Grebes we paddled about a mile up the slough. We spotted a lot of Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. Green Herons leap frogged down the slough ahead of us as we went. It's pretty hard to get close to them. I have found over the years that the best approach is to slowly drift towards them and not hardly move at all. When I do move I try to keep my hands and arms close to my body and move very slowly. Florida photographers are probably laughing at this as they read it. When I photographed egrets down there I had them walk right up to me! Using the drift technique I was able to get pretty close to a Great blue Heron and watch it catch and eat a crayfish and a tadpole. When I tried to shift my kayak to a better vantage point it had enough of that and it took off. I spotted only one turtle on the trip and that was from quite a distance. It dove into the water before I was even two hundred feet from it. We had an absolutely marvelous time watching, listening and photographing the wildlife. It was great just enjoying the peace and quiet in the sunshine. Blessings to all, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens,Bogen 3055 Ballhead with a custom camera support. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop and a shutter speed varied. All photography was done from a Ultimate 14.5 Native Watercraft Kayak If you are interested in building a custom camera support for a canoe or a kayak please check out my blog on it at http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2011/04/kayak-camera-support.html My book "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography is being shipped to bookstores this week for release on Sept.11th. That's pretty exciting. Look for it on Amazon and other fine book seller's. It will make a great gift for yourself or a photographer or a birder wanting to photograph birds in their backyard.

Back to Clearlake Part One

After Lenore saw my last batch of images from Clearlake she really wanted to go. Over the Labor Day weekend we decided at the last moment to go. So where do you think you could find me at four thirty in the morning? I was lashing Lenore's kayak next to mine on the top of the pick up. We left the house just past five thirty and we were on the lake just before sunrise. It was an incredibly calm day with just the faintest of breezes. Just perfect for kayaking! When the sun arose as we were paddling out towards the nesting colony of Western Grebes. You have to be very careful not to get too close or they will abandon their nests and the gulls will swoop in and eat the eggs. So we quietly paddled out for a short visit and then turned around and headed back up the slough. We were really lucky to not only see a lot of grebes but we saw one Clark's Grebe swimming by as well. They look a lot alike. The main difference being that the Clark's Grebes have a white face. There is no black around the eye. While the grebes were really calm the ducks and White Pelicans were not. They would take off if you were less than a hundred feet from them. Still we had a great time watching them. God's blessings, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens,Bogen 3055 Ballhead with a custom camera support. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop and a shutter speed varied. All photography was done from a Ultimate 14.5 Native Watercraft Kayak If you are interested in building a custom camera support for a canoe or a kayak please check out my blog on it at http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2011/04/kayak-camera-support.html I just got an email from my publisher. My book "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography is being shipped to bookstores this week for release on Sept.11th. That's pretty exciting.Look for it at amazon and other fine book seller's it would make a great gift for a photographer or a birder wanting to photograph birds in their yard.

Up the Slough (a continuation from yesterday)

After leaving the nesting colony of grebes on Clearlake I paddled up the slough. I couldn't go very far as it has dried up due to the extremely low water levels of the lake. Still there was a lot of wildlife to be seen. Right after I turned around I watched a doe come down to the lake for a drink. Soon afterwards a flock of geese made there obligatory pass by me. There were a lot of egrets though most of them took off as soon as I got anywhere close to them. This isn't Florida that's for sure. I got to see a nice Green Heron with a great mohawk. Later on I drifted behind some brush and I was able to get the closest I have ever been to a Kingfisher. While waiting on the Kingfisher I got watch a Green Heron capture a frog and eat it. The heron took awhile trying to get the frog lined up with its mouth so it could swallow it. I finished up by drifting with a breeze for a close up with a Great Egret in some beautiful light. I was off the water by ten. Thank you Lord for a spectacular day. Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens,Bogen 3055 Ballhead with a custom camera support. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop and a shutter speed varied. All photography was done from a Ultimate 14.5 Native Watercraft Kayak If you are interested in building a custom camera support for a canoe or a kayak please check out my blog on it at http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2011/04/kayak-camera-support.html

All Heads and No Tails

Today I finished editing my images from kayaking on the Albion River on the North Coast of California. The end result was a large number of Harbor Seal heads. There were very few seals hauled out due to the high tide and the majority of them seemed to be hunting.As a consequence there were a lot of images of seal heads.

God's blessings and love to all,

chris