Bjorn surprised me when he said he wanted to go do some wildlife photograpy with me. You bet! So we went out to photograph ducks in Duluth in December (How’s that for alliteration?!). We went to a local cemetery where there are always a bunch of Mallards (and one Black Duck). He did great!
The PhotoNaturalist
Adventures in natural history photography with Sparky Stensaas
December 17, 2023
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I am invisible! At least when I’m in the floating blind. Without it, I would never have been able to watch this female Belted Kingfisher hunt for about 20 minutes at extremely close range. And she was very successful! [April 22, 2024; Douglas County Wisconsin; Canon R5 with Canon 100–500 mm lens at 500 mm; 1/2500 second at f8; ISO 1250; floating blind/floating hide] #floatinghide #floatingblindphotographyfloatingblind #beltedkingfisher #sparkystensaasMy Earth Day 2024 floating blind/floating hide adventure started out slow… The water was deep, the air temperature cold… and the ducks seemed very far away. But a Red-winged Blackbird landed quite close. I tried doing some 8K video but that was boring and then I thought this might make a good high key image since the sky was bright and I was looking up from water level. I think it worked. [April 22, 2024; Douglas County, Wisconsin; Canon R5 with Canon 100–500mm lens at 128 mm; 1/1000 second at f5; ISO 320; +2ev; floating hide/floating blind] #floatinghide #floatingblind #floatingblindphotography #redwingedblackbird #creativewildlifephotography #sparkystensaas #highkeyphotography #highkeywildlife #highkeybirdsIn the bird world, the guys get all the human attention. But I do love the subtle beauty of this female Hooded Merganser…and her “fauxhawk.” Taken from the floating blind/floating hide at 35 degrees. [April 22, 2024; Douglas County, Wisconsin; Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm at 500mm; f8 at 1/800 second; ISO 640; floating blind] #hoodedmerganser #floatinghide #floatingblind #floatingblindphotography #sparkystensaas #eyelevelducksYou can hear what’s coming next…the hollow CRACK of two Bighorn rams colliding…the sound echoing through the valley. At least that’s how I like to remember it. [April 28; Yellowstone National Park; Canon 7D with Canon EF 200mm f2 lens and 2X TC; 1/250 at f8 (obviously I wasn’t prepared for this type of action…oh well, it’s sharp enough]Trumpeter Swans [April 30; Yellowstone National Park; Canon 7D with Canon EF 200mm f2 lens; 1/2000 second at f2; ISO 200] 2019.Greater Prairie-ChickenShooting with Sparky Videos
Join Sparky in the field in these short videos from past wildlife and nature photography adventures.
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2 responses to “My 13-yr old son Bjorn ASKED to photograph birds with his Dad!”
Bob Daniel
December 17th, 2023 at 10:33
Sparky this warms my heart. Doing anything with your children is special. Enjoy them always.
Merry Christmas to all. Bob Daniel
JoAnn Stensaas Cobb
December 19th, 2023 at 09:08
Awesome outing! Love the photographs of the young Bjorn at both sides of the camera. And your music is terrific!