Photographer Chad Davis Blog » birds

George Owens Nature Park-Independence

Chad Davis — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:13:18 +0000

In a prior post titled “A rant with a twist“, I had talked about a park in Independence. I have visit George Owens Nature Park several times before mostly for birds that are attracted to the feeding stations placed around the Nature Center. Now, before I go on. I think it would be good to fill you in on a little history here.

George Owens Nature Park is located at 1601 S. Speck Rd., Independence Mo. 64057 The park consist of 86 acres of beautiful forest with lakes, hiking trails and wildlife. It includes Six hiking trails, two fishing lakes. Organized group campground, Family Picnic area, Nature Center, Rain Gardens and a Pavilion.

Some of the upcoming events this park has to offer are Winter Hikes, Groundhog Day Celebration, Bluebird and House Class etc. For more information please visit the website at http://www.ci.independence.mo.us/parksandrec/Owens.aspx.

Nature isn’t something you should take lightly. If you like watching birds and other creatures then you have to be willing to be patient and allow mother nature to accept you on it’s terms. People today are so removed from the wildlife around them that when they see Deer, Birds etc. they expect them to accept people as non-threatening. This is a mistake to think they will not perceive you as a threat. As individuals people are always a threat. We intrude, encircle, and approach animals when we perceive safety and not when the they are ok with our presence. All creatures have a body language, understanding that language is key to understanding them. I will be the first one to tell you that it’s impossible for one individual to learn the body language of all animals, but we can all learn the basics. We actually know quite a bit already that’s why we look at some dogs and suddenly feel threatened and others we do not. We just have to take a little time to learn the basics.

While visiting George Owens you might see Wild Turkey, Deer, Cardinals, Wood peckers, and other species of wildlife. You have to be patient the deer are not going to come up to you just because you are there. The birds are not going to land on your shoulder and chirp in your ear. Although I have seen that happen. On my visits I often see turkey. In fact just about every time I have been there I have seen turkey. They spent most of the time hiding from me on this day. Its ok because I was not really interested in photographing them. I was more interested in photographing small birds, mainly because I saw a dozen or more hanging around the front entrance to the park. Before settling down to photograph the birds especially the Cardinals. I spent a couple hours walking the trails. I wanted to see what had been in the area. Its pretty easy to track animals in the snow. You never know what you will see. I spent a couple hours just waiting for those Cardinals to accept my presence on this visit. The snow was deep, the day was cold and by the time I had gained a little confidence from the birds my feet were pretty cold and the snow found a way into my boots. Within the first two hours I had closed the distance within 65 feet. I needed to be closer and that was going to take more time. I was willing to put in another hour being patient before leaving for the day, not because of being a little cold but for the reason that the lightning was changing. With an overcast day the proper lightning wasn’t going to last more then hour. Despite my willingness to stay longer my decision was made for me. Like a lot of small birds when there is danger around they hide or fly off. I had been making my way closer to them. I had been waiting patiently. After moving another foot, I settled in my new position, planted my tripod legs waiting for the right opportunity to present itself when all the birds went silent and flew off to the safety of the trees. I was wondering what happened. Was it something I did! When I gazed across the sky I noticed a large bird flying about. It was something all small birds don’t like to see. It was a red tailed hawk. I understood why they took off. It wasn’t me, they were afraid of being a meal. So, with that my patience, time and effort were shot. It was time to go home and take a warm shower.

From a prior visit a few years back. Here a couple images.

Red Cardinal

Dark-Eyed Junco

A rant with a twist.

Florida Opportunities at the Rookery

Chad Davis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:45:35 +0000

Hey Everyone,

Well, I’m back from the west coast. Actually I have been back for sometime, I just haven’t been able to get around to writing anything in the blog. I truly apologize for that. Even know I have been back for sometime I have been working pretty hard catching up with business, editing and analyzing all the pictures that I took from Florida and Washington. I have plenty of new photos up on the website. More on that a little later.

I wanted to talk a little about the places I visited in Florida and Washington. My trip to Florida involved more then taking nature pictures. My visit to the warm southern state of Florida was actually for a wedding. Since I would be down that way I would make the best of my off time while there. When I was done working I would be able to photograph the wildlife, my true passion. So with the little time I had left on this trip, I visited a couple local parks and because of the time of year. I would visit a well known place called “Gatorland”. If you have never been there and you might plan a trip to Orlando, look them up. You can find out more information about them here. www.gatorland.com . It’s a pretty neat place and the opportunities for photographing wildlife are abundant during certain times of the year. You can buy special package to be allowed in Gatorland early and late in the day when the lighting is at it’s best. Of course your always assured of photographing the abundant reptiles on exhibit. I spent more time photographing the wildlife flying above or roosting on nest then the Crocodiles and Alligators in the area, which is what the topic of this post will be.

When I first arrived, within an hour I had spotted an Osprey hovering above the palm trees. He was a good distance from my long telephoto lens. I never bothered with him except to keep an eye on what he was up to every fifteen minutes or so. So, my main concentration was the Osprey from the start, but I also would not throw away any opportunity if it came along. Often that would happen, but I would still have that beautiful Osprey in the back of my head wondering what he was up to. Every time I was distracted I would find him again hoping he was still in the area. Sure enough he would be. There was a fellow photographer there from Austria. The gentlemen and I would spend more time walking along the rookery waiting and photographing the area talking shop. Late in the evening we watched the Osprey I had been watching earlier perched in a tree. The day was growing long so we decided to watch this beautiful bird for awhile. Waiting for the right moment we positioned ourselves in an open area along the walk way for him to take off from his perch. After a couple hours he finally flew off. We managed to get a few shots of him, but nothing really to brag about. Thinking the opportunity was a bust, we photographed a few White egrets flying about. At that time I was still interested in the Osprey, wondering where flew off too. He was more impressive to me and I had been watching him all day. I didn’t want to be defeated. I invested a lot time in this bird. I walked a little way from the spot I had chosen earlier when all the sudden out of the corner of my eye. I spotted him flying toward us with something grasped in his claws. I couldn’t make it out, but I was almost positive it was a fish. I just had to capture him with that fish. The question was, “Where was he going with his meal”. We didn’t know, but I wanted to be ready if he got in range of my camera. Sure enough he flew around these two trees planning a landing. At least that is what I was hoping for. I was ready and managed to capture a series of shots of him with the fish grasped in his claws and wings wide open en between those two trees. Only one of these shots was the one. So you see, I really waited all day to get the one shot that made the hole day worth while. The result of that long wait was beautiful. You might have seen it already on the front page of the site.

Osprey with Fish

Also If you wish to purchase this image click this link below.

http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewImage=3865

The Gatorland visit was one day only, but I would have loved to come back a second day and maybe a third. To get some of these great shots, I spent most of the time at the rookery of Gatorland. This time of the year the birds are building nest and mating. I happen to be a little early when I visited. The time to be there would be late January and February and into March. The birds would be many, that catching a great shot would be guaranteed if you have the patients.

My visits to the local parks. I spent hours just searching for the wildlife to photograph. In deed I found them but getting something beautiful was all together a different story. On the next blog posting I will talk about the visit to the local parks. With that I leave you with a shot of an alligator coming in for a closer look and a link to the newest photos on the website. http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1005

Florida visit to the rookery,

Chad Davis — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:08:25 +0000

Well, I have managed to make it back from my trip to Florida. Spent some time photographing birds mostly. It sure is beautiful down there this time of year. I didn’t have much time to photograph being that I was really down there for business photographing a wedding. I normally don’t travel such distances to photograph weddings, but this happen to be a special occasion. My niece was getting married and I told her that I would shoot her wedding.

What time I did have to myself I managed to check out the all famous Gatorland USA as well as take in a few shows at Sea World. I took a few pictures here and there. More pictures at Gatorland USA rookery were taken then anywhere else. Here is there link if you get a chance to visit. http://www.gatorland.com The best times to visit are April to March. Most birds have been migrating south and you will find plenty in December and January down in Florida, but it really gets to hoping in March. Lot’s of birds to photograph and plenty of gators too. I wasn’t all that impressed with them. Perhaps because they spent more time just lying around while I was there. Not to say the opportunities were not there, just not at that time. Gatorland does have some new admission prices just for photographers that include access before opening and after closing hours. You would guess right, that yes they are well fed, but I really went there just because I was limited on the time and I would be assured of seeing plenty to photograph with the time I had left. I was most impressed with the two Osprey that had been hanging around the area. I managed to capture a few images of one them with a fish in it’s claws. There was also a Bald eagle that came around for a bit. He didn’t stick around very long though. I haven’t finished editing all the images therefor I apologize for not having anything to show you in this post. Please return though because I will post some images from this trip.

I have been updating the site and uploading images from prior shoots after returning from my journey to Florida. I somehow ended up with a cold and I have been fighting that little virus for a couple days now. Hopefully I will win that battle. I have updated some images in the portfolio section of the website because I really needed to add something new there. This month has been a little busy for me and it’s not over yet. I have plans to leave on the 27th of this month for the Washington to photograph the cold wilderness for a few projects I have planned, so bare with me. I plan on posting plenty of images as well add some new work to the Studio Gallery for sale upon returning from that trip. I might do some posting while up there too. So, maybe before I get back from there.

That’s all I have for now so have a good one and I hope you will return.

Chad

Florida Opportunities at the Rookery

I finally made it there.

Chad Davis — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:53:36 +0000

Well, for weeks I have been trying to get up to Squaw Creek with little success. Finally I made up there this last Monday. I planned on arriving before sunrises. I looked on the internet to find out what time the sun would be showing itself in the morning and I set my alarm clock. I managed to wake up in plenty of time. I actually woke up before the alarm even went off. I’m not much for morning person, but when it comes to photographing. It doesn’t take much and I’m out the door. I looked at the weather the night before and I new a storm was going to be rolling in. I just hoped that it would arrive later rather then sooner. So with that in mind I was set to go. I drove the 100 miles to arrive just before sunrise.

When I stopped inside the sanctuary and looked up, I wasn’t at all impressed. There was plenty of birds to photograph. That wasn’t much of problem. The problem lied with the overcast sky. A little to much for me, and I was afraid the storm was moving little faster then anticipated. I sweated it out and looked for a few beautiful scenes to photograph. After all I drove a 100 miles and I was intent on taking a picture of something. I didn’t happen to see much of interest. It just wasn’t my day I guess. Of what little I did manage to capture, I thought these two were the best of what I got. With a little warmer morning I think the potential for some beautiful shots would have been there. These photographs look more impressive if enlarged. Fortunately, having to make these files small doesn’t do them justices.

Finally, with a little time…

Finally, with a little time…

Chad — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:21:27 +0000

Well, finally I have had sometime to write a little. I have been spending a lot of time taking pictures for stock. Little nature here and their along with a little commercial work on the side to keep business rolling.

I can never seem to stay away long from what I love the most. Photographing nature. The season of spring is probably my most favorite part of year for photographing wildlife. The animals are foraging for food, finding mates, having young. The trees are sprouting new growth while people are about enjoying the spring colors along with the warmer weather and starting to clean their grills for the barbecue they have had planned for awhile. It’s an exciting part of the year. I’m sure you would agree.

On a recent trip to the west coast for some family business, I had a little free time to hike around and explore Ediz Hook in Port Angeles. While searching for wildlife to photograph. It was a little chilly, but it was gorgeous none the less. I came along a group of seagulls on the large piece of wood, or more like a large tree that drifted ashore. It had been there for sometime. This large piece of drift wood was now a platform for seagulls as a look out. I had been watching this one particular bird perched on the highest point of the log. Others would come along to compete for the spot, but first they would try to extricate the current occupant from his position. They would fly and land on each other’s back then they would have a little altercation in mid flight over who would hold the high position on the log, making for interesting pictures if you can predict where they would go. This happened twice over and hour. One bird would always end up on the top. Some were better at holding their position then other’s.