Revenge Of The Great Unwashed
Veery ... Catharus fuscescens
As you've probably gathered, my favourite subject to photograph is wildlife ... and the birds of Newfoundland make up a very large subset of that subject. Even though we certainly don't see the amazing variety of birds that some of my contacts in warmer climes such as Costa Rica do ... and I'm always awe struck and envious when they upload their superb shots ... quite a few birds do make this island their permanent home and others come here to breed. And I've put a pretty sizeable dent in photographing them.
But it's always a thrill to spot a new species and even more so to get a great shot of it. The experience of trying to locate a new species is not always a happy one, though .... especially if said search involves certain other two legged creatures. And last year was a case in point.
There are a number of bird forums specifically referencing this island and last spring a regular contributor to one of those forums mentioned seeing Veerys on The Veery Performing Grounds. Now this was just his own pretentious way of describing his sightings somewhere on the Starlight Trail. Which, by the way, is a very long, uphill all the way, trail. So I asked ... on that forum ... where exactly The Veery Performing Grounds were located. At first I got no answer. And it went downhill pretty darn fast after that when I continued asking. You see, the guy from St. John's is a legend in his own mind as far as birding on this island is concerned. But, apparently I am not worthy of imparting information to on the location of a species as 'fragile' as the Veerys. In his opinion I am just interested in photographing birds. Not a "true birder", I guess. Pretty soon all his toadies joined in the discussion. Some even disparaging the name I had chosen for the forum! Same as it has been here on Flickr for years, by the way.
So, all that kind of teed me off a little. Later, I actually posted a link on that forum to this story that I thought he and all his fellow birders all should read: www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/02/birding-spo... Especially sentence one, paragraph four.
Well, it's only my opinion of course, but I think I care about birds and the environment at least as much as or ... well, why be modest? ... a darn sight more than they do! I've been feeding birds here for years. And I provide nest boxes for Tree Swallows and Chickadees right here on our property. Chickadees will eat out of my hand and the Tree Swallows trust me enough to jump on my hand and go for a ride. Very rare birds like the Summmer Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak have even shown up at our feeders (The proof of all this is right here on Flickr).
Anyway, as they say, Karma's a b**ch! I found the Veerys last week ... no thanks to any of those hoity-toity snobs who have no sense of behaving decently. And I got detailed shots that I'm quite pleased with ... despite the fact that I shot them with my Nikon D300 rather than the D810. Probably better than they'll ever get! And I'm going to post quite a few of them up here. This one is the first.
Oh, yes ... I rarely use that bird forum anymore, but the last time I checked, I noticed the guy was now giving far more detailed descriptions to his bird finds. Maybe that link I gave him taught him a thing or two ... things he should have known all along. And you can be absolutely certain if any photographer or birder should happen to ask me for help in locating a certain species, I won't be jealously guarding any info I might have!
*** If you are interested, check out the larger version (if you're using an iPad, just tap the photo) to see the detail in the eye, beak, feet, and feathers. It's what I look for in a bird shot.
Revenge Of The Great Unwashed
Veery ... Catharus fuscescens
As you've probably gathered, my favourite subject to photograph is wildlife ... and the birds of Newfoundland make up a very large subset of that subject. Even though we certainly don't see the amazing variety of birds that some of my contacts in warmer climes such as Costa Rica do ... and I'm always awe struck and envious when they upload their superb shots ... quite a few birds do make this island their permanent home and others come here to breed. And I've put a pretty sizeable dent in photographing them.
But it's always a thrill to spot a new species and even more so to get a great shot of it. The experience of trying to locate a new species is not always a happy one, though .... especially if said search involves certain other two legged creatures. And last year was a case in point.
There are a number of bird forums specifically referencing this island and last spring a regular contributor to one of those forums mentioned seeing Veerys on The Veery Performing Grounds. Now this was just his own pretentious way of describing his sightings somewhere on the Starlight Trail. Which, by the way, is a very long, uphill all the way, trail. So I asked ... on that forum ... where exactly The Veery Performing Grounds were located. At first I got no answer. And it went downhill pretty darn fast after that when I continued asking. You see, the guy from St. John's is a legend in his own mind as far as birding on this island is concerned. But, apparently I am not worthy of imparting information to on the location of a species as 'fragile' as the Veerys. In his opinion I am just interested in photographing birds. Not a "true birder", I guess. Pretty soon all his toadies joined in the discussion. Some even disparaging the name I had chosen for the forum! Same as it has been here on Flickr for years, by the way.
So, all that kind of teed me off a little. Later, I actually posted a link on that forum to this story that I thought he and all his fellow birders all should read: www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/02/birding-spo... Especially sentence one, paragraph four.
Well, it's only my opinion of course, but I think I care about birds and the environment at least as much as or ... well, why be modest? ... a darn sight more than they do! I've been feeding birds here for years. And I provide nest boxes for Tree Swallows and Chickadees right here on our property. Chickadees will eat out of my hand and the Tree Swallows trust me enough to jump on my hand and go for a ride. Very rare birds like the Summmer Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak have even shown up at our feeders (The proof of all this is right here on Flickr).
Anyway, as they say, Karma's a b**ch! I found the Veerys last week ... no thanks to any of those hoity-toity snobs who have no sense of behaving decently. And I got detailed shots that I'm quite pleased with ... despite the fact that I shot them with my Nikon D300 rather than the D810. Probably better than they'll ever get! And I'm going to post quite a few of them up here. This one is the first.
Oh, yes ... I rarely use that bird forum anymore, but the last time I checked, I noticed the guy was now giving far more detailed descriptions to his bird finds. Maybe that link I gave him taught him a thing or two ... things he should have known all along. And you can be absolutely certain if any photographer or birder should happen to ask me for help in locating a certain species, I won't be jealously guarding any info I might have!
*** If you are interested, check out the larger version (if you're using an iPad, just tap the photo) to see the detail in the eye, beak, feet, and feathers. It's what I look for in a bird shot.