Virginia Rail at Carey Lake WMA, Idaho

While checking out the Hooded Crane at Carey Lake Wildlife Management Area, I also had the chance to photo a very cooperative Virginia Rail.  I laid down on my stomach to get on its level and took tons of pictures.  Here are a couple of them that I thought turned out pretty good.  None of these are cropped or color enhanced.  These are just the raw photos straight from the camera.

Because the rail came up so close I was able to fill the frame...too much so in some cases.  I read recently that one should keep the eye in focus and the rest of the photo will take care of itself.  Well, you can see that I was working really hard to keep that eye the center of my focus, but because of that I ended up cutting off part of the bird with my shot.  Still, I am very happy with the detail in the photographs of this Virginia Rail.  They make for a good plumage and coloration study of this fun little bird.

I also think its kind of cool to see the new cattail shoots coming up in this first picture.

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