Oh, deer...

Another hunt for deers after a ride. Noticed two deers on a field after Snöån on my way back to Ludvika. Took the same route as with the bike this Monday and about half way I spotted some big birds (not the one from Sesame Street) on an other filed.

The Common Cranes walked away from me and I had to follow them a couple of hundred meter on the wet field and surprisingly I managed to get quite close before they saw me and took off, much thanks to the fact they disappeared out of sight for a while behind a small hill. :)

Continued the journey and when I passed the bridge I noticed two birds that look different from the usual mallards, it turned out to be grebes. Didn't get close to those either...

After passing where I saw the deers during the ride, the deers were probably long gone, I could see a lone deer out on a open field! Parked my car and carefully closed the doors after getting my gear. I started shooting from the side of the road but the roe deer didn't care much for me so I gradually moved the tripod closer until the deer started to look a bit suspicious...

Stood a while shooting from where I stood and suddenly the deer started to get closer, it gradually moved closer and closer, seemed very curious and as it got closer he sniffed the air trying to identify what strange animal I was.

Then two birds just for the sake of it, one that was in a tree before I left.
And today I shoot a European starling, they look rather dull on distance but up close one can see lots of colors!

All shots with Nikon D7000 & Nikon 300mm/f4 AF-S + Nikon TC-14e II

Bonus! The levitating cat!

Oh Mallard!

After Saturday's bike ride I went back to the place where I had seen the swans in hope of taking some shots of them but the swans had left the building. Wasted some time shooting some mallards as compensation for the missing swans.

The sun was setting and the birds a bit shy, had planned to bring some old bread to lure them closer but forgot it at home.
Some was reluctant to leave their spots.
But as I got closer most of them swam away or took to flight.
Got a lot of practice to shoot BIF:s (Birds In Flight), at one point the birds passed the sun, I can tell you that getting a direct look at the sun (despite it was setting) through a 300mm lens with a TC was like getting a electric chock! I was blind on my right eye for a while.

After I scared the ducks I wanted to scare some larger birds so I did the same with some Canada Geese's! ;)
Now over to something slightly different, for those that might get slightly nauseated from looking at animals eating other animals might want to finish up what ever they are eating right now!

On the way back to the car to defrost my ears I spotted one of the ducks ferociously picking and handling something in the water with it's bill. Thought it had found a large piece of bread or something that it was making in to smaller bits...

As I got close I noticed it was a frog!
The frog seemed as dead as it could be but the mallard kept pounding it against the ice edge.
Wonder if it thought the frog would fall into smaller pieces eventually, it just kept on going at the frog!
I got really close since the mallard was completely occupied with the frog but finally the bird noticed me and carried the "catch" away with him.
By now my already cold ears were frozen solid in the cold wind and I had to give up. That display was not what I had expected when shooting mallards!

This&That

Just a few shots from yesterday, took a short walk and shot some photos while enjoying the nice weather.

The bees seemed to like it too!

Lot's of small birds flying around but they were quite shy.

Not lost the hops since last year... ;)

More bees.

Managed to get close to one of the birds. Think this is some kind of sparrow.

Nikon d7000 & Nikon 300mm/f4 AF-S

Springeling?

Trying to pass some time while waiting for the spring to arrive, got out and made a attempt to capture some early spring mood. =)

Still playing around with the Nikon 300mm/f4 AS-F and TC-14 on my Nikon D7000.

That was from Monday, this morning, Tuesday it was C -12! Going up fast though: http://www.temperatur.nu/ludvika.html

What the duck?!

Another bird entry in the blog? :)

Fantastic weather today, Sunday, plenty light but few birds. Took the car and went out looking for then, found some of them!

Some "bonus" shots:

Again, Nikon D7000, 300mm/f4 + TC14

Monopodding...

Last week I received a Manfrotto 680B monopod I ordered from Amazon (free shipping from UK!) and on Thursday I got home fairly early so I took a short stroll to hone my monopod skills.

I'm still waiting for a specific monopod head, Manfrotto 234RC but still it gives some support without it.
I hope the 234RC will rise the camera somewhat when the monopod is fully extended so one doesn't have to bend ones back in awkward position to be able to aim the camera up-wards!

Some artsy fartsy attempts when there was no birds in sight...

All with the Nikon Nikkor 300mm/f4 and TC-14.

Some test shots...

Yesterday was awful, the snow kept falling down the whole day and way in today, but just before lunch time the snow fall ended and sun managed to penetrate the massive snow clouds!

Took a brief walk and shot a few small unknowing and innocent birds! Some shots taken with just 300/f4 and other with 300+1.4x TC, still lot to learn to get the most out of it.



Seem to work excellent for close ups, have to evaluate if I need to keep the Tamron 180mm Macro. Ok, I will loose true 1:1 macro but if I can take good shots of dragonflies and such I don't care so much. :)

I hope I will manage to use the lens properly tomorrow at the Swedish WRC winter rally!

PS. A chipmunk in slow-mo as bonus! ;)