Posts in Category: flight
Tricolor up and away
Tricolored Heron, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville FL
This is the Tricolored Heron that owned the feeding rights along the stretch of water channel between the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive restrooms and the observation tower on the Cruickshank Trail at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I was all focused and ready for a portrait when he sprang into action…moving down the channel a dozen yards.
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed and cropped for composition in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Reddish Egret in flight, with reflection
Reddish Egret, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, FL
Reddish Egrets are, most days, my favorite wading bird. They are the clowns of the shallow pools. They don’t seem to be able to do anything without evoking at least a smile. If this were a picture of a Great or a Snowy Egret in a similar pose, it would look elegant and refined. As it is, with the Reddish Egret as the center of attention, it looks, to me, just a bit silly…slightly slapstick. It is the burden the Reddish Egret has to bear, and it does so with a measure of a grace all its own. No one can say the Reddish Egret does not enjoy being Reddish…if we are amused, that is not its fault. 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 125 @ f4. Processes in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Pelicans landing in early light
American White Pelicans, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida
American White Pelicans joining a feeding flock along Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge early in morning, just after sunup. Lovely light on lovely birds.
Sony Rx10iii in my specialized birds-in-flight mode. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 250. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. You can find more info on the BIF mode at http://psnp.lightshedder.com/?p=998.
Bald Eagle!
American Bald Eagle, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida
I always tell my students, photography is all about being in the right place at the right time, and ready! This is especially true of wildlife photography. We pulled off on the side the road to photograph this American Bald Eagle on a snag about 200 feet in. I walked back along the margin a few dozen yards for a better angle and was set up on the Eagle when it decided to fly. I could tell by the shift in body posture that it was about to go, so I was able to pan with it as it lifted off. Bam!
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f5.6. Processed and cropped for scale in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Pelican in flight
American White Pelican, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville FL
There were lots of American White Pelicans off Black Point Wildlife Drive, at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville Florida yesterday. In fact, they might have been the most numerous birds. I saw them in the air and on the water in large groups. Of course, you have to try for flight shots!
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ f5.6 @ ISO 100 using my special custom flight mode. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Snow Geese photo-bomb Sandhills
Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Socorro New Mexico
I was tracking these Sandhill Cranes, trying to get them framed against the mountains, when these two Snow Geese overtook them and got in the way 🙂 Geese fly considerably faster than cranes. This is another shot I could not possibly have planned. Just the right place at the right time and ready…which, as I have said before, is my most basic recipe for photographic success, especially nature and wildlife photography.
Sony RX10iii at 518mm equivalent field of view. My specialized Birds in Flight mode. 1/1000th @ f7.1 @ ISO 100. -.3EV exposure compensation and level 5 DRO. Processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
One good tern deserves another :)
Common Tern, Mousam River, Kennebunk Maine
Another Common Tern in flight shot from my recent session at the mouth of the Mousam River here in Kennebunk Maine. This one was taken at the full 600mm equivalent of the Sony RX10iii, and then cropped for scale. Just keeping a tern in the frame at 600mm is a trick in itself. 🙂
As above. Exposure 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Common Tern :)
Common Tern, Mousam River mouth, Kennebunk Maine
The Common Terns are having a meeting
at the mouth of the Mousam River,
where it runs into the sea. Some fishy
thing must be running because they are
active in large numbers along the coast
and up the river a quarter mile. They rest
along the sandbar where Back Creek meets
the Mousam, and are a constantly evolving
gyration of birds along the far shore, diving on
that fishy thing, and then coming back to the
sand bar to show off their catch. Watching
them puts any airshow you ever saw to shame.
Nothing can match the grace and ease of those
who’s lives depend on their prowess in the air.
And I tried to catch just a bit of that with my camera 🙂 Sony RX10iii in my slightly customized Sports Mode. 1/1000th @ f6.3 @ ISO 100. About 470mm equivalent. Cropped and processed in Lightroom.
Least Terns in flight: Happy Sunday!
Three Least Terns in flight. Laudholm Beach, Wells Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
To the generous eye, the glory of God is all around us in the natural world. Sunsets and sunrises, the drama of clouds over a sunlit landscape, the energy of a storm, the quite beauty of flowers…God’s glory is all around us. And no where, as I see it, more clearly than in birds in flight. Grace and power, intense purpose accomplished with such ease it looks to us like play…our spirits soar just watching, and it takes a hard heart indeed, or one terribly distracted, not to be driven to praise.
There is only one place where the glory of God is more clearly revealed…and that is, as Paul says, in the unveiled faces of God’s children. May your eye be generous to see the glory of God today, and may your unveiled face reveal that glory to all who see you. Happy Sunday!
Least Tern takes a dive!
Least Tern plunge fishing, Laudholm Beach, Wells Maine
I went out yesterday specifically to find birds in the air so I could practice Birds in Flight with the new Sony RX10iii. To have a chance at BIFs, you need somewhere there are birds pretty much constantly in the air…a lot of birds is better than a few. My prime BIF locations are Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico for Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, and the wild bird rookery at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm for Wood Storks and Egrets. The only reliable place around home is the very end of Laudholm Beach where the Little River comes to the sea, and where there is a nesting colony of Least Terns (and a few Piping Plovers…both endangered in Maine) on both sides of the river. This time of year the Terns are in full breeding mode and are actively plunge fishing in the Little River. Now there is a difference between catching Cranes or Storks in the air, or even geese, and catching a Least Tern in the air. Terns are smallish, and Least Terns are both tiny and fast, which makes keeping them in frame long enough for the camera to focus and then getting off a burst is very challenging. I will go back today, even though it is the better part of a two mile walk each way, to try some techniques I discovered in reading the camera manual last night…after reviewing yesterday’s take.
What we have here is high speed sequence of a Tern diving. As you can see, the Tern goes completely under water after its prey. I can not imagine the strength it takes to break the surface on the way out and get into the air with a fish, even a small fish, in your mouth.
Sony RX10iii in Sports Mode. 600mm. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.