Before more Snow Bunting from this past weekend, going back a couple weeks to a late afternoon drive around Presque Isle State Park with a visiting dignitary. (Yes, even w/ visitors there is time for bird photography. There is always time for bird photography. #more_bird)
Following are the view from Leo’s Landing of an amazing/large raft of Double-crested Cormorant on Presque Isle Bay. It’s a lot of Cormorants!
Following two shots are the view east-ish towards the entrance channel to Presque Isle Bay (North Pier on left, South Pier on right). The dark line of dots under the horizon is another raft of mostly Double-crested Cormorant. It’s a lot of Cormorants!
Always great to see a Belted Kingfisher exhibiting “hover fishing” behavior, e.g., flapping to stay in place high above the water, followed by periodic dives; this individual flew off before ever entering the water.
Over at North Pier now w/ a Ring-billed Gull in vocalization mode:
Great sequence of King Fisher! Always fun to see this bird! And the GBH portraits are wonderful!
Tough lighting conditions closer to sunset (e.g., with the GBH shots), hence a ‘double dose’ of de-noising post-processing. (W/ low-light conditions and shooting w/ fixed aperture (full open at f6.3) and shutter speed (1/2000 sec) but floating ISO (sensor sensitivity), resulting pictures will be ‘grainy’/noisy. But this can be removed using de-noising software = a smoother, more natural looking background & better clarity generally.)