"On the Waterfront" - Part 4

A view overlooking a section of Blackwater NWR ........

A few Canada Geese flying over .............

A fly-over adult Bald Eagle ......

Here is "Father Time" ........

Nice wing-spread ..........

I usually can find a Bald Eagle sitting in these trees .........

A Great Blue Heron among thousands of Canada Geese .......

My count-down to my first trip to Blackwater is on Charlie! 10 days to go!
I have read that they do have about 8 goldens there, and I have seen a couple photos... all from far away.

Beautiful photos Charlie!! That Long-tailed Duck is just incredible. Loved "Father Time" and the wing (and toes) spread. The view shot was really pretty too!

Wonderful pictures Linth! Love the "wing spread"!

Thanks, again.

As you all know, lighting can make or break a photo. I took a photo of a female Canvasback coming in for a landing but for whatever reason the exposure failed. So, I played around with it and this is the best I could do trying to make something out of nothing. The lack of color saturation in the original forced me to turn it into a black and white photo.

This one looks like she (female Canvasback) is almost so close that she splashed water on the camera lens as she came in for a landing.

Another juvenile Bald Eagle flying by ..........

And, the ever present Turkey Vulture ..........

Linth, I'm so glad you've posted photos of Blackwater NWR. I've been following the Bald Eagle and Osprey cams since the beginning of last season and it's wonderful to be able to get an idea of the area. Thank you. Any more?

They have a video up of the two eaglets being fed...
http://www.youtube.com/user/BlackwaterRefuge#p/u/6/SL2qMmxlS1E

Very nice! Love what you did with the background too.

Very nice, I like what you did with the background too!

A pair of Northern Pintails ......... I've seen quite a few but not real close to me.

Beautiful Linth!! I really think that the black and white is almost as pretty as a color photo. Great job on saving the great picture.

Wild Rose, that video is priceless!

Wonderful pics Linth! Love the background appearance!

Excellent action shots Linth!

VA, Thanks for the link to that precious video!

Thank you all.

Here's a recent photo of the Visitor Center, at Blackwater, with Snow Geese in the foreground. They have really nice facilities. The refuge covers a large area but most people spend time around the visitor center, i.e. wildlife drive, trails, etc.

I took a lot of photos of these two Bald Eagles sitting along the wildlife drive. It was heavily backlit. I tried every setting in the books but nothing worked. So, again, rather than have a blah photo, I chose to change the color of the background to somewhat give the appearance of a sunset. Something is better than nothing .....

I've posted this photo before, taken inside the visitor center. It provides an excellent close-up of what an eagle nest looks like.

Testing :-)

Nice shots Linth!! Really like the splash down shot! I tried to post on here last night but none of my posts went through.

Nice mount of the Eagle and nest at the visitor center. I never have mentioned to anyone that I was a Taxidermist for about 20 yrs. Our high school was of only a few that actually taught a 3 year course.

Great action shots Linth! Love the background change too.

Four 'Northern Shovelers' (3 males and 1 female) flying by .........

A male Canvasback that has some leucistic coloration ????

What more can I say ..........

Perhaps I should quit while I'm ahead ???

I may have posted this Canada Goose photo earlier but this one is cropped tighter ........

Another more heavily cropped photo of a landing Snow Goose .......

hahah. I love it when you do captions!

also, I love shots like the snow goose and that heron where the feet are all spread out like that.

Thanks, Mrs Ed ......

Burd, 20 years as a taxidermist. WOW !!! I've never heard of a high school having taxidermy as part of their curricula. Why did you give it up ? I've used the services of a taxidermist a few times in my earlier life despite the displeasure of my wife. It requires a lot of skill to fully satisfy the customer. And they would like you to have it finished tomorrow ! What's the most unusual wildlife that you worked on ?

Here's a few Snow Geese in the foreground and a lot in the background ......

One might ask, what is the significance of this photo. It's meant to reflect a reality in that the Snow Goose is on a collision course of negative consequences, caused by overpopulation. There has been a twenty-fold increase in the population in the Atlantic flyway since the 1960s. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has established a goal to cut the populations in half to help alleviate pressure on the fragile breeding habitat in northern Canada. Portions of breeding grounds have been damaged to the point that it may take decades to recover, and the geese are also showing lower-than-normal body size and suffering a decrease in gosling survival due to habitat degradation.

And, this doesn't even address the fact that geese have caused $64 million dollars in damage to aircraft, in addition to contributing to the loss of human life.

I think overpopulation of the canadian geese is pretty bad. At least with those which have stopped migrating.

Nice shots Linth!! Resident Geese are probably the main problem altogether as they fly to different areas all day long. Here the Canada's fly east in the morning and west in the evening..but right now they are everywhere along with the poo. They take up residence where ever it suits them anymore. They tried to take over my brothers pond last year...but after a couple of goose dinner's they haven't been back.
On the Taxidermy note..I had to give it up for a while because I lived in apartments, and that's not a good place to conduct it. lol As far a some of my most unusual mounts a small Black Bear, Bison head, 50" Tiger Muskie, and a 25lb/48" Northern Pike (from Canada). Also have done a Timber Rattler. In high school every now and then an (educational mount) would be brought in and I was able to mount a Great Horned Owl. Other than those it was always Ducks, Geese, Ring-necked Pheasant, Red Fox..etc you know hunting/trapping season's. Ive done more fish mounts than I can remember...most were large Walleye and Yellow Perch. I still have a couple of walleye and a small mouth bass and a lone wood duck in the basement. Have pictures but no scanner right now. Taxidermy is like riding a bicycle once you learn you never forget.

Another close-up of a previously posted photo. This is a 100% crop at 500mm.