Cold Turkey, Literally! (Photos)
Hello, fellow Steemians!
Now that Thanksgiving is many months away, the turkeys have become a lot braver. They frequently cross the road between two farm fields and can sometimes be seen climbing through the snow-covered hills in this area.
ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec, 200mm
As many of you know, the bald eagle is the national bird of the United States of America, and is a symbol of the country. What you may not know is that the much more modest turkey was almost selected as the national bird. The turkey is native to North America and novel to the first Europeans on the continent.
ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/400 sec, 200mm
Considering their appearance, particularly their wrinkly faces that only a mother turkey could love, it's probably best that those charged with such things decided to adopt the bald eagle.
ISO 400, f/4, 1/500 sec, 200mm
They are quite the socialites, turkeys. They seldom travel alone. This particular flock consisted of about twelve birds. The three above were stragglers, slowly waddling their way to the others. The last one finally realized I was there with a 27-200mm bazooka-like lens pointed at them and started to get a little worried.
ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/1250 sec, 200mm
Many of you may remember a photo I posted last month of a large paper wasp nest. It seems the birds, ice, and cold have finally begun to destroy it. In this photo, the outer wall has been stripped away and the inner nest chambers are visible. The nest is about twenty feet (6 meters) above the ground and, fortunately, quite empty.
ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/1250 sec, 110mm
Walking through the woods in a snow shower is a peaceful experience. Like dense fog, it seems to create a palpable silence. The temperature dropped dramatically, though, and it was time to find a hot cup of coffee and get some work done.
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@fotosdenada
Hey man, it was so much fun reading about those big birds 😁Some great photography, too, particularly the last shot! It's magical :) The bazooka lens, is it a Canon?
Thanks! Yeah, I have one of the big white 70-200mm lenses. I just work I could upgrade my camera body, now...
Man, I just googled it, it's freaking huge and heavy with its 1.3 kg :) I've been looking to buy a telephoto lens for my micro 4/3 camera lately, and I found one from Olympus - the 40-150mm f/2.8 (which equals to 80-300mm). It's half the size, the weight, and probably the price compared to the one that you have. Maybe you should consider switching to a different system when the time comes? :)
I actually really like the Fujifilm X series but, as you see, am a bit invested in Canon. Of course, being a grad student with limited income, upgrading or changing systems isn't likely to happen for quite some time.
Micro 4/3 is nice, from what I've seen, especially for traveling. One of the more attractive features of 4/3 is the lens adapting. Some of the older lenses were amazing and can be picked up pretty cheap.
A couple friends had Olympus gear, when I lived abroad. They could fit their camera and a couple lenses in a purse! Most of the time, they could get about the same shots, too.
For my current photographry goals, I'd like to get a full-frame body. My old 7D has difficulty in low light and I'd love to get even more shallow depth of field. Rumor has it Canon is working on a full-frame mirrorless, so that might be an option when I have an income again :-)
I do have to say, i loved the looks I got while taking photos of birds off the overlooks in Ronda, with the machine-gun-like burst and 70-300 I had at the time.
Well, I hope that you will soon be able to treat yourself with a full-frame body :) Maybe when the price of Steem goes up?
It would be weird if our national bird was the turkey and we ate hundreds of thousands of them for holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Really cool shots. We see wild turkeys around here sometimes. I know a cemetery around here they seem to love. Guess because its quiet. :)
Maybe they're making some profound statement! Turkeys are weird!
Stunning entrance into the forest! I loved you comments...now that Thanksgiving is many months away...you gave me a chuckle on the mental image of the turkey being extremely cautious as if it KNOWS it survived Thanksgiving, and it can go for a walk, lol. Love your photos as always!
Thanks! They were actually in a field a bite before Thanksgiving, and it looked like they were discussing tactics. In reality, I think they rank low on the avian intelligence scale lol
Outstanding photography ..I will wait your next post. Carry on
Thank you!
These are some sweet shots! It must be cool having wild turkeys running around!
Thanks! They are interesting, although not the cutest birds in the world...
Ahahaha, so cool! Haven't seen such combo in my life :)
Thanks!