Photography Outing – Looking for birds on the NC Coast
I decided to take a photography outing trip to the North Carolina coastal areas for a few days. Compared to past visits, I was generally disappointed with the number of birds I found on this trip. For one, mid-March is the beginning of the mating season, so my guess is that many of the birds were in the back water and inaccessible roosting areas. Also, the weather was very windy all 3 days. And a cold rainy day on Saturday with the wind made it near impossible to even try to set up the camera. All that being said, I did find a few good opportunities, and came back with some great shots.
My camera skills still need some work, especially the ability to get shots that are in crisp focus. So please excuse some of these shots that are slightly off focus. For those wanting details, I shoot all my pictures in RAW and process them for artistic and creative expression in the Lightroom program. None of these have been altered with Photoshop.
I started out near Fort Fisher, below Wilmington, NC and found these.
And here is a shot I processed into a black & white rendering.
Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium
A visit to the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium the next day was called for because of rain and wind. I knew they have a viewing deck to a nicely shallow area that always attracts herons and egrets. It provides some cover for the camera when the rain is light. During rain showers, there are plenty of displays to see inside.
Unfortunately, my Sigma telephoto lens has ‘slow glass’ (f4-f5.6). I struggle with having to use a wide open f-stop, and a slow shutter speed, and a high ISO on dark and dismal days like this. I like the lens, but I mostly think of it as my sunny day telephoto lens when I have more options with my settings. Here are some shots from that visit.
Oyster Creek
The next day I was up early in order to get to Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge for the sunrise. Too many clouds foiled that opportunity. I had never been there before and I discovered that it is not as photo friendly as some of the other NWR’s that I have been to. It looks like a wonderful isolated protected place for the birds, but the viewing areas and access paths were very limited. The marsh grasses were very thick and tall, and did not allow for viewing into those areas. So when leaving, here are some road side photo opportunities I found in Oyster Creek on the way to Harkers Island.
Harkers Island Harbor
I did a very quick U-turn after passing the Harkers Island Harbor when I saw some pelicans lounging around on the dock pilings. They were very cooperative and let me get close enough for some nice shots. It also gave me a chance to be a little creative with some of the photo compositions. Of note, the pelican with the white neck is a non-breeding coloration, the brown neck is breeding plumage.
Washington, NC
