More clouds reported for duty this morning bringing with them a 59 degree temperature. If there was a breeze it was not very noticeable. Since those recently mentioned clouds were mainly in the west the sun had no problem lighting our way as we headed out at 6:15.
Since I have been splitting my daily walk into two parts, one with dog and one without, I have started taking both the Nikon D5100 with the 55/200mm zoom for chapter one of the outing and then switching to the Panasonic GX-85 fitted with the 100/300mm zoom for chapter two. With my left hand unoccupied by canine control apparatus I can effectively handle the heavier load the longer lens presents. Like yesterday’s walk I had the Panasonic set as follows – Aperture Priority, f 7.1, high speed burst mode, Auto ISO, continuous focus with the central area of the viewfinder as the focus area and still using the inbuilt digital telephoto feature with a small image setting.
I have to admit that I am pretty happy with today’s results. The heron family portrait that is the featured image (above) was shot with the Nikon. The image on the right and the three in the gallery below were all shot with the Panasonic GX-85 mostly zoomed out to the effective 1200mm setting.
As happened yesterday I had no opportunity to attempt shooting at any birds in flight. But I did have the chance to shoot the turkey family shown in the gallery below. They were quite distant from my position and I was very surprised at how difficult it was to get them in the frame. At 1200mm what you are aiming at is shaking like crazy – even with the camera’s stabilization system engaged. Plus shooting those birds in the tall grass and weeds they were feeding in made acquiring focus a real challenge. I tried switching to manual focus but I had to switch back to auto-focus because I couldn’t even find the birds in the viewfinder much less focus on them. If I had trouble with turkeys moving around on the ground with this setup I don’t know how I will ever capture a bird overhead. If I ever see a bird overhead. I’ll keep trying.
Sightings:
Birds: Starlings, Robins, Swallows, Osprey, Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Wild Turkeys, Red-winged Blackbird
Critters: Mule Deer
Gear: Nikon D5100, 55-200mm, Lumix GX-85, 100-300mm
Mule Deer at Lake Pueblo State Park, CO 
Young Great Blue Herons at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado 
Wild Turkey Family at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado