Lisa Rest posted: " The new camera arrived, and I managed to set it up for basic operation so I could take it with me to local places and get used to how it feels. Before I got in the car Saturday morning, I decided I better take a couple photos just to make sure everyt" Goldbird Variations
The new camera arrived, and I managed to set it up for basic operation so I could take it with me to local places and get used to how it feels. Before I got in the car Saturday morning, I decided I better take a couple photos just to make sure everything was working properly. I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk across the street perched on my neighbor's shortwave radio antenna.
I missed the hawk's takeoff. I went to the Chicago Portage where I did not find many birds at all. Nothing new there.
One of a few Dark-eyed Juncos
A White-tailed Deer
Canada Geese flying over
An American Tree Sparrow
I went back to the Portage on Sunday and there was even less to look at.
When I first arrived, a Blue Jay was making a lot of noise, and I saw him at some distance from the bridge by Harlem Avenue. I couldn't resist his electric blueness in the sunlight.
A female American Goldfinch
The Black-capped Chickadees show up sooner or later.
More Canada Geese
Most of the water at the Chicago Portage is still frozen, even though we have been above freezing for nearly two weeks. The water level is deeper, and the deep freeze apparently made ice too thick to melt quickly.
The last bird I photographed on Sunday was a distant Downy Woodpecker.
But it was still a sunny day, so I took out the 75-300mm lens and stood on my back porch to take a few photos through the screened-in windows. They weren't sharp, but they weren't all bad either. The American Goldfinch at the top of the post was one of them.
It's been nice to see more House Finches in the yard lately. I heard one sing on Sunday too. The two below had a little argument.
And I had a Downy Woodpecker in the yard.
As for the camera, the shutter click is much quieter. There are a million new features that I have to check out. But I soon realized I could not download the photos from this camera into my ancient standalone version of Lightroom because it did not recognize them. I knew this day would come eventually. I suspected I was going to be using the Canon photo processing software anyway, so I installed it onto my newer laptop, which I purchased a couple years ago and have kept up to date so I can function in this century. I am now finally forced to make the transition. Ah, technology.
It feels like I have to rewire my brain. I can remember when I was first learning word processing software years ago, how I used to wake up from dreams of copying and pasting... It's probably not going to be that bad, but just getting the hang of the new processor and how it operates and where the heck things are that I want to do is a challenge for my aging brain cells.
I am glad I have a couple months to get ready for spring warbler migration when I really need things to work smoothly. Right now there aren't a lot of birds to worry about. But I have a lot of photos from last year, so I hope to be back soon with some of them.
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