I purchased a new Panasonic DMC-FZ35 camera from Amazon which arrived just in time for the holiday weekend. I had high hopes that this camera would be better in terms of image quality than my Canon S2IS. It took one day of failed attempts of trying to photograph a Prairie Warbler to realize that a new camera wasn't going to make photographing birds any easier. I was anxious to see of what kind of potential the new camera had so I to choose a location where the birds were a little more cooperative. Instead of insisting on getting shots of a particular species, I decided to let the camera choose the birds. I took a ride down to the Guilford boat launch. Although I didn't see a large variety of species during my visit there last year, I was able to get fairly close to the few that I did see. 
These gulls kept themselves busy by fighting over a scrap of fish that one of the fishermen left behind. They reminded me of those synchronized swimmers you see in the olympics.
There were plenty of Willets around and they aren't particularly shy during the summer months.
I thought this jellyfish looked a little like a sunny side up egg.
The sunlight was pretty harsh by the time took the picture of this mockingbird but at least it was in focus. I read a lot of complaints about cameras that produce images with a lot of noise in the reviews that I read. I spend too much time deleting pictures that are dark or blurry to worry about ones that have noise.
I tried to get a picture of this sparrow that kept popping up out of the marshy grass. At first, I assumed it was one of those saltmarsh sparrows but after taking a closer look at the photo I'm wondering if it might be a juvenile Seaside Sparrow. The lighting makes it difficult to see a lot of detail. What do you think?
This dragonfly was courteous enough to land on a stick right in front of me. Does anyone know what kind it is?
These flowers look a little like Tiger Lilies to me. Can you identify them? I used the flower mode on the camera for these.
I enjoy seeing Osprey nesting on platforms along the Connecticut shoreline this time of the year but it was kind of nice to see them build a nest in a tree for a change. This photo was taken inland not too far from where I live.
I didn't get anywhere near the nest but I think this Osprey was telling me to back off so I did. They seem to be more tolerant to human presence at the shoreline nest sites.-
Is the Pansonic FZ35 better than the camera that I have now? Maybe slightly better, but that remains to be seen. It has more optical zoom which makes it more sensitive to camera shake but when I can keep the camera steady, the images seem slightly sharper than the Canon. The video I took came out nice and clear but I haven't figured out how to edit and upload it yet.
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Buying a new camera has boosted my enthusiasm for attempting to photograph birds but it won't do me much good if I don't use it properly. With that in mind, I borrowed a DVD from the local library called Digital Photography Unleashed. It gave me some useful tips along with a few new ideas. I have no intentions of trying to become a real photographer but it would just be nice if I was able to get a higher percentage of usable pictures.
