Great Crested Flycatcher

In my previous post, I mentioned that while at DGCA I happened upon a pair of Great Crested Flycatchers tending to a nest. They would both be out searching for food at the same time, each returning to bring nestlings a nice juicy bug. Of course, that is an assumption. I only really saw one bird at a time, so maybe it was the same one each time.

The comings and goings of the flycatchers were good fodder for one of my purposes of this particular trip: practice digiscoping. So I set up my tripod, scope and camera, attached the remote shutter release, and then began trying to get a bird in scope long enough for me to get it in focus and take a few pictures.

The results are varied, with none of the pictures coming out excellent. A few were underexposed. Many were slightly overexposed. None had the bird in super sharp focus. As I hinted in the previous post, I am not sure if I need to change my technique or my expectations. Here are a couple of the photos that I felt were on the better end of the menagerie that I captured.

Basking Lizard

Way back on July 3rd I took the day off from work and visited Dutch Gap Conservation Area (DGCA) to find birds, take photos and to practice digiscoping. While I was practicing the digiscoping with a pair of nesting birds as my subject, I noticed a lizard crawl out onto a nearby tree and begin to soak up some sun. I really did not need to use the digiscoping setup to get pictures of the lizard because it was much closer than the birds, but I also did not want to switch back to my regular photography setup just to get a picture of the lizard (it takes just enough time to be annoying, and is not something you can in a couple seconds).

So, here is the digiscoped lizard in all his glory. He is clinging to the side of a tree in a gravity defying pose, letting the sun re-energize him. Like all of my digiscoped photos, this one is not super sharp (but certainly not blurry). I am trying to figure out if that is user error, gear related, or just the norm for digiscoped photos.