These 2 were taken same place, same day at Ste-Luce sur Mer.

I spend countless hours to do bird watching during the vacations, could not get tired of it.

No iPod, birds, the sea and a camera…

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/45
Aperture : f/38
ISO: 400
Focal length : 300mm (450 en DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 3, Silver Efex Pro from Nik software

For the record, the one below is of a different variety.

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/180
Aperture : f/19
ISO: 400
Focal length : 300mm (450 en DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 3, Silver Efex Pro from Nik software

François

A couple of weeks ago, I found this rather strange electrical poll in an open ground at Vaudreuil-Dorion.

Had to use a flash, took a Nikon SB-900 for the job.

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/60
Aperture : f/9.5
ISO: 1000
Focal length : 122mm (180 en DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 3, Silver Efex Pro from Nik software

François

It is hard to return from vacation, we rode for 970 kilometers on Saturday, rain is here now…

Let’s look at the bright side, this is a good occasion to work on the pictures taken lately.

Here is one of many great moments we lived during the last 2 weeks, an encounter with a Kingfisher bird at the Mitis river.

This is a salmon river. We happen to be close to its end, right by the St-Lawrence. This portion is part of a small natural parc, the “Parc de la Mitis” .

We are on a pretty steep cliff.

While looking at the wonderful landscape, we hear a bird, unknown to us, followed by a “plouc” noise. And again, a little weird “chirp” and a “plouc”. I go down one level on the cliff and there it is: a belted kingfisher.

Reminder: by clicking on the picture you will see its larger version.

Here is a link to a sample of the sound emitted from the bird, check at the bottom of the page: Sound of a Belted Kingfisher

This one is a female, only them are displaying brown feathers below their throat.

I was in a shock at first, to see such a special bird.

Luckily, I have the right lens on the D90: the zoom Nikkor 70-300.

The bird preys just inches below the water and swiftly return to a rock, go back toward the water and disappears for good.

The whole sequence last 30 seconds.

And it was gone…

It started my day on a really good note!

Treatments and shooting characteristics :

D90
Exposure : 1/500
Aperture : f/11
Focal length : 300mm (450 in DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 3, Viveza and Define from Nik software

François