Eric and I met for the first time at Pittock Mansion one night about a month ago. We have exchanged emails and FaceBook posts since then and discovered that we both enjoy photography and being “out there”. I enjoy bird photography even if I can’t identify too many species. I’m learning bird behavior and trying to teach myself some discipline in camera techniques to maximize my chances of getting birds captured in a sharp photoraph. I was pretty excited when Eric told me that he had reserved the photo blind at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge and invited me to go along.
We met up at Eric’s place and headed out for the refuge. We shouldered packs and walked the 1+ miles into the blind as the sky started to get some light. I’ve never been in a bird blind before muchless shot from one. This one is pretty nice but I was a bit dissapointed in the camo webbing they have hung on the roof and how it limited the vertical photo options in what seemed to be an already confined opening. Little plywood sliders allow photographers to alter the view from 3 sides of the blind while still keeping the interior of the blind fairly inconspicuous to the birds outside. We settled in and started trying to figure out how to set tripods for use or just use the window sills as supports. Neither of us had brought any beanbag supports along. I quickly opted to use the tripod after some really pathetic attempts to shoot using the window sill. I was also a bit dissapointed in the backgrounds you get from much of the available views. Power towers, highways, houses, barns…. not what I wanted in my photos. Luckily there were a few views that excluded the debris and allowed a nice multi-layered background of trees and hills.
We shot for about 3 hours and opted to head back to the observation deck by the visitor center. We stopped to photograph the nesting owl along the way. I tried flash this time but I think it will work a lot better once I get a Better Beamer. The photo below typifies the many that I took from the blind.
The birds were really quite distant from the blind since the lakes are still quite low. Another month or two and the water will be lapping at the blind’s supports and the birds should be a different story all together. We noticed that there are opening along the floor of the blind as well. These would allow us to lay on the floor and shoot at a bird’s eye level. That would solve much of the background issues as well. If the birds are closer the focus depth of field would also help isolate the birds from the background. I’m pretty sure that Eric and I will return when the water is up and the forecast is for a clear day.
The photos below illustrate the type of shot one can get from the observation deck near the visitor center. This deck is on a river terrace about 30 feet above the floodplain. The lakes are distant so the birds are small and a long lens is a prerequisite unless you just want to shoot some nice grand landscapes. These images were shot with a 200-400mm lens. A few had a 1.7x in addition. I’m looking forward to a time when the birds might be closer.
It was a lot of fun Bruce. Great photos posted here. My hands are getting cold looking at them! I’m looking forward to getting again as well once the flooding of the fields is complete.