El Dorado Park

Its been a very long time since I've made my way down to El Dorado Park to shoot the egrets and herons there.  So not to long ago I took the drive up there to see what I could get.  My goal was to get some shots of one of them catching a gopher.  As luck would have it the first one I saw caught one.  I did have to stalk him for about 30-45 min's until he finally caught one, but the resulting shots were worth it.

Used my 7D mark ii and 300 f/2.8L IS lens for these shots.  Camera was hand-held.

Thanksgiving at El Dorado Park

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I spent the day with family and enjoyed some great company with some awesome food.

The day before and after Thanksgiving I went out to El Dorado Park to simply enjoy the evening and see what I can find. Although the pickings were slim, I did get a few shots, so enjoy and thanks for stopping by.

El Dorado Park

Really not a lot to say about this post. Last week I decided to get out to El Dorado Park and see what was out. Although I was a bit dissapointed with what I found, I still enjoyed the being out and walking around. It's always very peaceful in the evening hours at El Dorado and is perfect for just being out.

Even though the wildlife was limited, I was able to come away with a few shots that I liked. So with that said enjoy.

El Dorado Park

Since we've been having some awesome weather this past week I thought it would be a great evening to get out to El Dorado Park for some bird photography. Now I will say that I did have a single goal in mind and that was to capture some shots of the Great Blue Heron and White Egret catching gofers. I wasn't disappointed, which you'll see in the following pictures.

El Dorado Park - Revisited

As in my prior post I haven't had much going on in the sports shooting department, so I've been just getting out when able to shoot some local wildlife. I find just being outside walking around in the evening very relaxing

Once again I went to El Dorado Park to try my luck with the local wildlife. El Dorado Park is broken into three different sections. The first section isn't really part of the park, but is located on the south. It's the nature center, which has a few trails and a pond that offers a variety of flora and local wildlife.

The next portion of the park (center) has two ponds, with one being much larger than the other and a creek connecting the two. This is where I started my evening. I started by walking around the smaller of the two ponds and then following the creek to the larger pond. My first photo opportunity came with a few turtles, but as I attempted to get closer all but this one fled back into the water.

Once I came upon the creek I positioned myself low on the ground to get the following shots and partial reflections.

After walking around the center park for about an hour I decided to give the third portion of the park a chance. This next portion of the park has one large pond. As I exited my car I found this guy sunning on an overhead branch.

I continued by walk and found this guy on top of a small rise that overlooks the pond. I tried two different compositions for this shot. Not sure which one I like best, but I am very pleased with the background on these two shots with just a hint of water.

Along the most northern portion of the pond there is a small island. It was in this area where I found this guy fishing. One of the shots I want to capture is of an Egret or Heron catching a fish and tossing it up while adjusting it to swallow. Needless to say I didn't get that shot, but I did get some nice shots of him on the hunt.

I really loved how the sun peaked through and highlighted him in the water among the reeds.

While walking to the back portion of the park through an open field I found this one hunting for rodents. Here he is intently focusing on possible movement. For the next shot I quickly, while trying to remain as quite as possible, repositioned myself to capture the catch, but just as he dove into the dirt my battery died. Now he didn't catch anything in this attempt, but I was really disappointed in myself for not being aware of my equipment. I could have missed a great shot, and more than likely did as I had to go back to my car for another battery, but in the end the park was closing so I had to leave anyways. Either way it was a great evening to be out shooting.

El Dorado Park

Here we are into soccer and baseball season and I have nothing going, no jobs are requests for action shots. This is what I get for sticking to my guns regarding compensation, but it's as it should be.

So when I can't shoot sports I do the next best thing, take a nice walk at a local park for some wildlife shooting. So Wednesday evening I found myself walking through El Dorado Park with the beast (300 f/2.8 with the 1.4x attached) slung over my shoulder. I started with the Egrets and Herons, as I know they hunt for rodents and gofers. I was hoping for some shots of the hunt, but had no luck. I then walked around the pond and captured the Great Egret in flight. While around the pond I heard some commotion with a few hawks. I repositioned myself near a few trees and was able to get the last few shots before they flew off and the sun went down.

All in all it was a very peaceful evening and walkabout ending in some nice shots.

El Dorado Park

I recently had two days off this week and decided to hit El Dorado Park to simple get out and see what I can see. The bird activity was pretty quite with limited options. I did manage to grab a few shots, but not what I was looking for. Even though I didn't get what I wanted, I was happy with my results for the day.

I used my 300 f/2.8 along with my 1.4x attached.