New Gear!

Well I finally went and did it. After 4 and a half months playing with my Canon SX50 HS, I have officially upgraded gear. A good friend of mine had purchased a Nikon D5100 a year or so ago, and it's been sitting collecting dust ever since. He's taken a couple photos with it but that was when he first go it. It's practically brand new. He made me a killer deal on
it and I decided it was the best camera for me at this time. I have to admit, that I was really looking hard at a Sony a6000 mirrorless camera as an option. All the reviews were excellent, and this camera really performs well, but it all comes down to lenses. There's just not enough lenses available for the a6000, and for me, that's a deal breaker. If you're going to shoot birds, you've got to first GET to the birds, and 215 mm max focal length will just end up leaving me wanting more every time. So I decided to go with the Nikon, a great deal, a great  camera, and I can always upgrade bodies when I decide to upgrade down the road and I'll already have nice lenses. And I am keeping my little Canon too, it may come in handy here and there.

It all worked out really well and so today I went birding on my lunch break as usual and tried the new set up out. It performed quite well and the birds even showed up for my test flight. Today I went to Spenard Crossing at Westchester Lagoon and saw: 2 Steller's Jays, 3-4 Common Redpolls, Black-capped Chickadees, a Hairy Woodpecker (a first for my 2016 list), Magpies, Mallards, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Canada Goose (another first for my 2016 list), and a Common Goldeneye. Not a bad day of birding. I got plenty of shots in which are posted below. It's quite slick out there so I wore my ice creepers, and I'm certainly glad I had them.

Well that's all for today, as usual, keep your eyes to the trees and keep your binoculars handy.