A New Medium

I should really work on improving my skills in photography before adding video, but it is just so cool. HD Video is a feature I haven't really used on my camera, and for some reason in the gusty winds today I decided to give it a whirl.  My biggest accomplishment for the day was grasping exactly how far I have to go and how much I have to learn.  Out of all the 10 to 200 second clips I took today this was the best one...

Biggest lessons from the day -

Tripod - Handheld 400mm lens taking video is simply not possible.
Setup - Video is clearly not for quick snatches - everything that goes into making a memorable photo seems to be even more important for video.
Sound - The cameras built in mic just isn't going to cut it.  These eagles were squawking away and you can barely here them over the wind in the video.

Late Arrivals -

Birding around Cass County recently has begged the question - Where are the spring migrants?  While meteorologicaly you might not expect to see the birds of spring - what with snow, ice and freezing daytime temps, but phenologicaly the early spring migrants are a bit late.  I wasn't sure if this was just a "feeling" I had or if actual data backed it up, so I checked the Minnesota Ornithological Union (MOU) website and found my suspicions were correct.  Below is the data from the Arrival / Departures page on the MOU website - filtered for northern spring arrivals expected by today.  From this list I have seen only two of these species - Horned Lark and Northern Harrier

Horned Lark	2-Feb
Common Merganser	4-Mar
Sharp-shinned Hawk	7-Mar
American Kestrel	7-Mar
Common Grackle	9-Mar
Northern Harrier	10-Mar
Red-winged Blackbird	10-Mar
Ring-billed Gull	12-Mar

Here are photos taken last year of a couple of those early migrants I am so longing to see!

American Kestrel - Cass County 2010

Red-winged Blackbird - noticeably absent from my list this year.