San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

Shutter Speed

January 12, 2014

I took Pongo out to the San Luis Wildlife Refuge this weekend.  I figured it would be a nice place to experiment a bit with the new camera as well as hopefully see some sandhill cranes.  I turned out to be right on both counts.

Colombian Black-tailed Deer -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

I've already figured out that the new camera is more sensitive to lighting conditions than my old camera.  The back lit picture of the deer is a good example.  Although they're dark and a little distant, the deer are still pretty sharply in focus, at least compared to what I'd have expected with my old camera.  Things would have been more washed out and blurry with that camera.  It would have tried to compensate for the back lighting.

Northern Harrier -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

I was mostly messing around with shutter speed on Sunday, mostly at a fairly fast speed.  I ended up with a lot of pictures of birds in flight coming out sharp enough for me to be quite happy, even if they were at a bit of a distance.  The 250mm zoom just isn't enough for a place like San Luis.  I've still got a lot to learn before I start worrying about upgrading lenses, though.

Northern Pintail -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sandhill Cranes -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

The Fugitive

Most of the birds and animals weren't too interested in letting people get close.  I don't know if that had anything to do with the fact that it's hunting season.  There was enough distance in most cases for the birds to go on about their business.  Sometimes the ducks would move away from the road when we appeared.  Pongo jumped out of the window after a duck quacked close to us, maybe the word spread around the refuge about him after that?  He couldn't go anywhere, don't worry.  I suspected he might try something and had his leash tied to the passenger chair.  He looked a little sheepish when I came around to put him back in the car.  The only animal I actually missed getting a picture of was the coyote we saw.  He took off pretty quickly.

Long-billed Curlew -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

I was surprised to see that the male tule elk still have their antlers.  I thought they'd have dropped off by now.  Guess not.

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA