POV Bird Photography with the Nikon Z50 II 180 600mm Local Park Birding

Good morning guys, hope you all are well. Today we are going to do a little bit of POV birding here at a local park by me. I've only been here a few times but it's got huge fields and I can't describe it. It's like a walking path that goes around the giant fields and we're going to try to walk that and just kind of see if we can get any good birds. I'm not sure, migration is getting ready to start so maybe we'll run into something interesting. I don't know, let's go find out. Right now, just before we even get into the trail, there are a bunch of birds right here. Cardinal, American tree sparrows. And it looks like the fields have been burned so we might not have any luck. We might have to stay on this outer trail to get some birds. I don't know, maybe we'll walk both of them. We'll just kind of play it by ear, we've got a few hours. The entire fields have been burned. Might not have any luck getting anything. Now, just past this tree line over here is the river that assures the Mississippi. It is awfully breezy this morning. I do believe there's a little bit of a cold front coming in this afternoon. Right now it's only like 65 degrees I believe. And it's supposed to drop down to the 50s or 40s by the end of the evening. Last time I was out here, I was in this field and I believe the sunflowers were in bloom. And I was trying to get a picture of the indigo bunting perched on top of a sunflower. And I didn't get it. I do have a kill deer over here. Nope, he wasn't having it. He's out of the line of sight now, so never mind. Alright guys, so back there is that entire field. There's a trail that goes all the way around it and then goes right back to where we started. And I think we will follow that trail on the way back because there seems to be a lot of birds over there. We may have picked the wrong trail. I will say, in the summer, this area is entirely filled with indigo buntings. I mean, they're just everywhere. So if you ever need an indigo bunting photo, you can come out to this park. Cliff Gate Park is the name of it, by the way. Yeah, so we can thankfully go to the left. But if we wanted to go to the right, yeah, that's not happening. Oh man, which worries me because I think that area straight ahead on the right side of the trail floods a lot. So I'm kind of nervous to go all the way around just to get stopped, just to go all the way back around here. Yikes, I don't know. Also, if you haven't noticed, the lighting completely sucks today. I mean, it's cloudy, which I usually don't mind, personally. But it's like a dark cloudy, if that makes sense. I just, I don't know. I have some high ISO pictures today. Thinking about going over here and checking this out. Maybe we can get some eagles along the river. Missed them. Here's an American tree sparrow. There's all kinds of birds over here. White-throated sparrows, it looks like. Which I see those guys all the time. And by the way, guys, here's the Mississippi River. I've never been down here before. Well, so far, none of the birds seem to want to cooperate. They're here. I just have not had any luck. Even one landing on a perch, they usually land in these areas where you can't see them. I mean, you can see them, but the shot's going to be just absolutely terrible. I guess we'll get back on that trail, guys. And the birds are here. They are just hiding very well. Alright, well, I stood there for a few minutes. Hopefully somebody would land on a perch back there, but yeah, that didn't happen. So, I guess we'll just walk down here and just see what we can find, guys. And they're here. They are just extremely difficult this morning. Well, guys, it doesn't look like we can go any further. Looks like it goes for about well over 100 feet. So, I guess we'll just turn around and just head back to the front area. And maybe we'll have some luck there, because, yeah, this ain't happening today. Also, if you guys are wanting to know, I'm shooting with the Nikon Z52 with the 180-600. I'm actually getting ready to invest in the Z52 here soon. Get the old taxes back. I'll put some money down and try out the Z52. I need a full-frame body. I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, and I'll definitely be taking that Z52 out for some wildlife photography, and we can see how well that does. If there's anything like this Z52 with the autofocus, man, we're not going to have any problems. I really want to head back in here, because there were a whole lot of birds back here. I think I might make a quick run-through again real quick, and if anything happens, I'll let you guys know. Well, I don't know what is up with that group of birds, but as soon as they see you, man, they are gone. They don't try to even land on a perch somewhere safe to kind of watch you. They just are gone. So, oh well, I'll try somewhere else. That was the absolute closest I've ever gotten to a northern flicker. That was absolutely incredible. Wow. Those guys, usually if they see you, man, they're gone. That was very neat. I think this is where we're going to head next. It's right along that tree line right there, because I hear a lot of birds over there. Absolutely nothing over here on this side. Maybe along that tree line over there, but I don't know if there's a trail that goes on that side. There's definitely one on that side, and this sure would have been helpful down by the other trail. So, I'm sure they got this closed, obviously, because there's going to be water on this part of the trail as well. Well, not having any luck now either on this side. I don't know what is going on. Oh, man, here we go. I missed it again. This is the life of a wildlife photographer, guys. You get days that are just completely terrible, and then you get your days that are exciting. And this just happens to be one of those not-so-good days. It is obviously just not my morning. I had quite a few birds on this tree right here in front of us. And as soon as I walk up over here, slowly, there's a guy coming that way, and there's a guy coming this way. And the guy this way is running, and they just all took off. So, it's just going to be one of those days, probably. On the post. Well, that was really neat, guys. I got closer and closer, and finally, the reason we left is because there was another bluebird chirping at them, and they went down to the ground together, and then they flew off. So, I don't know. It was pretty neat, though. I'm really glad that we got the eastern bluebird. One of my favorite birds. And it's also the state bird of Missouri. So, there's a trail down here that we're going to head to. We'll walk around that area for a minute, and then if we don't see anything, we might head back out to where we had some luck with that bluebird. And if we don't get anything then, I think it's time for us to try something else. Carolina wren. It's right there. So, up top there, there's a little lookout, and you can see the entire area, including the river over there. Well, I was here, I think it was last year, and I heard one of the predominatory warblers, I think I'm saying that right, in this area. And I tried to find him, and I just had no luck. So, hopefully, he comes back here this year, and we can try to get a photo of him, because that would be grand, because I do not have one of him yet. It's starting to rain a little bit, which I believe my Z-52 is somewhat water-resistant, dust-resistant, so we should be okay. It is just such a dreary day. Here's the Mississippi River for you guys again. Guys, I will say that this 180-600 vibration reduction on the lens is pretty incredible, because I was at 1.250 of a second on my camera, and, dude, these pictures are sharp. Alright, guys, well, I think we'll head down over here to our right a little bit, see what's over there, because it seems to be the most action is right in that area over there. If we don't see anything, then I guess we'll just head out. Some blue jays right there. Eagle dude just flew right in front of us. I didn't see him until the last minute. I don't even know if I got any photos. No. That sucks, man. So along that tree line, there's a bald eagle way down there. I think we might try to head over there. Well, as soon as we started to walk over there, the eagle flew off, so no point in trying to get him now. You guys will just perch on anything. Cardinal and a bluebird perched right on that sign. Well, I think that's going to be the end here. I've only got about an hour until I have to get ready for work, so it's going to take me at least 20 minutes to get home. I'm going to have to make my lunch, get ready, and go to work. Well, anyway, guys, I hope you've had fun. It's been a blast being out here. We're going to definitely have to come back out here when it gets a little closer to spring and try to find some of those migratory birds. So until next adventure, guys, God bless, and I'll see you next time.