A Bohemian Waxwing in Mori this morning..................not a great photo: a grey sky, crappy angle and twigs in the way..........
It was a grey day all round, not good for photos. There were still some eagles present at Yakumo but none of them close enough for photos and none of them doing anything anyway.
Up at Oshamanbe I was hoping to get some Long Tailed Duck photos but there were hardly any ducks in the harbour, just lots of winter gulls...............
And lots of Great Egret too...............more white birds against grey skies.
I always get a bit tired of winter by mid February. December and January are great for birds, both birding and photography but some years down in south Hokkaido things often tend to fizzle out a bit around now. The eagles are not very active, far fewer in number and will head north very soon and (so far) I haven't seen so many winter passerines in 2015. That may change soon. you never know..................
White on white can make quite effective images Stuart.
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret, thanks for the comment. Well there lots of white birds here in winter...................
DeleteI like your white birds against the grey sky, but I hope the weather improves for you.:)
ReplyDeleteIt's very nice outside now..................but I have to work.....................
DeleteI've been keeping an eye out for waxwings here too, but none so far. I used to hate photographing colourless birds up against grey skies but you have shown here they can be quite beautiful. Maybe more dramatic than a blue sky.
ReplyDeleteNot so many Waxwings near me this winter................not yet anyway.
DeleteDefinitely not a Waxwing winter here this time. Not a winter for glaucs either. It will soon be March Stu.
ReplyDeleteYes Phil, spring will be here soonish...............that means in about 8 or so weeks in Hokkaido.
DeleteLast Waxwings I saw were at Silverdale nr Leighton Moss... handsome bird I have to say. PS. After his swallow dive against PNE last night I guess Rooney could go into training for the Olympics ;-)
ReplyDeleteDidn't see the game but I was really really hoping Preston would do Man Utd (I'm not even a Preston fan by the way).............................
DeleteSorry Stu, I forgot...Carlisle Utd isn't it..:-)
DeleteWhen Liverpool aren't playing.....................
DeleteThey look fine! I have the bird-against-white-sky problem a lot, as you can imagine. I'd recommend (if you postprocess) pulling the blacks down (or raising the black level), increasing the saturation, and upping the colour denoise. That can improve things - especially with a stunner like a waxwing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks I'll bear that in mind, I usually tweak with contrast and raise the black level..............
DeleteIf you do it with levels, you'll often have to compensate raising the black level by moving the midpoint too, to stop it being too dark. I always fiddle to taste anyhow :)
DeleteI use Lightroom, not Photoshop..............AFAIK there is no 'levels' tool as such..................
Delete"White Sky Days" are not what we like.... but I've always got time for a Waxwing or two.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I have a day off it is a 'white-sky' day and every day I'm too busy to go out it's a 'blue-sky' day.
DeleteI've been trying to find Bohemian Waxwing here this winter but so far no luck. Even the resident Cedar Waxwings have made themselves scarce.
ReplyDeleteHi David, yes they are very erratic here too..............
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