maiden voyage with the new camera

Last year, my mom and I took a drive out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge near Brigham City. Neither of us had ever been there, despite having lived in northern Utah for a longgg time, and I’d heard many good things about it. Confused at first, I thought it was just the short walking trail around the education center. While that was nifty enough, we both left wondering what all the hub-bub from my birding friends was about. Surely there had to be more to it than that?

As we prepared to leave the parking lot, we noticed a large sign that showed the “driving loop.” A-ha!  There was more to it, and what a treat it was!  Since then, I’ve become somewhat of an addict, even though my knowledge of birds is miniscule at best — but I’m learning!

I’ve been wanting to upgrade my camera for years, but since I’d been so busy with school I rarely got a chance to get out and shoot, so there seemed to be no point. After my graduation last month, the one and only splurge (*thanks, mom!) was to order a new camera!  This beauty is like moving from a nice, reliable compact car to a brand new, all-the-bells-and-whistles Cadillac. The learning curve has been steeper than I expected, but I’m having fun trying to figure everything out.

These pictures were from the maiden voyage. I normally shoot in manual mode and figured that I’d be able to figure it out on my own, without the instructions. Needless to say, the camera won. These shots were all taken on automatic, but I still love how they turned out! And imagine how much better they’ll be next time when I actually hopefully know what I’m doing. 🙂

AmericanAvocet1
American Avocet

AmericanAvocet4

BabyCoot2
Baby Coots are the “cootest”!
BabyCoots_blog
Mama & Baby Coots
Blackbird1_blog
Yellow-Headed Blackbird
Blackbird2_blog
Irritated Yellow-Headed Blackbird. He gave me an earful!
CliffSwallows2
Cliff Swallows
Coots3
Mama Coot & Baby

DuckOnWood

GooseFamily
Family of Canadian Geese
GreatBlueHeron1
Great Blue Heron…
GreatBlueHeron2
On the lookout for dinner!
GreatBlueHeron3
Spotted something!
GreatBlueHeron4
Success — Dinner is served!

GreatBlueHeron5

GreatBlueHeron6
Another satisfied customer 🙂

LandingBird1LandingBird2LandingBird3MarshAndMountains_blog

Pelicans2
Pelicans, et al.
SnowyEgret
Snowy Egret
SnowyEgretInFlight
Snowy Egret
SnowyEgretTakesFlight
Snowy Egret
WFIbis
White-faced Ibis, taking off

WFIbisTakesFlight

WhiteFacedIbis1
White-faced Ibis

4 thoughts on “maiden voyage with the new camera

Add yours

  1. Beautiful, Tracy. Nice camera too.
    We drove up there about three weeks ago only to find a locked gate. Glad it’s open again.

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