Posts in Category: flight
Costa Rica! Incoming Macaw
Scarlet Macaw: Macaw Ranch, Sarapiqui Valley, Costa Rica, December 2024 — More by chance than by design, the spot I chose to stand in the pasture where the Macaws fly gave me views as they passed at eye-level, but also as they circled out and up a little rise toward my vantage point…so I could photograph them as they came head-on and slightly below me. The OM-1 was simply magical when faced with the challenge. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 300mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Air show
Scarlet Macaw: Macaw Ranch, Sarapiqui Valley, Costa Rica, December 2023 — One of the highlights of any visit to the Macaw Ranch in Costa Rica is the chance to photograph Macaws in flight as they move back and forth between two peanut feeding stations. They fly by at eye-level and no more than 30 feet away. It is a show they put on regularly for tourists and birders who visit…and apparently the peanuts are highly motivating. Again, these are free flying birds, but certainly semi-tame, well habituated to human presence…so I have mixed feelings about the whole thing…but it certainly was an opportunity for some amazing flight shots. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 300mm equivalent. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Air show
Bald Eagles: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I have seen this action in photos, and in a video or two on YouTube, but I never expected to see it through my viewfinder. I was taking photos from a great distance of this interaction between 3 immature or sub-adult Bald Eagles squabbling over a perch in the dead top of a tall pine when Eagle number 3 was doing a close pass, when Eagle number 2 suddenly flipped over in mid-air and they did the “show me your talons” thing. From the size difference in the two birds I am thinking this is a male and s female…the female below and the male above. I know it looks so unlikely that you might suspect photoshop or some kind of AI generated image…but I assure you these are real Eagles acting like real Eagles. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent (cropped considerably). Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomatic and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Sunday gift
Immature or Sub-adult Bald Eagles: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I went for what is becoming my customary Sunday morning photoprowl, visiting our local park along the river and then the river mouth and the marshes behind the dunes where it meets the sea. I am generally pleasantly surprised by something…and yesterday it was an immature or sub-adult Bald Eagle that came, chased by noisy crows, and settled in the dead top of a far pine. I took some shots from where I stood, but then began to walk closer. I was still a long way off when, again, surprise, a second and a third sub-adult eagle flew in from behind the first and attempted to dislodge it from its perch. Nothing doing. The first eagle was not budging and the second never really got settled before the third was on them both. After some interesting areal maneuvers, which I will share tomorrow, all three Eagles flew off, far out over the marsh, where one settled into a tree even further away. On my way out I found the other two in a tree on a rise of the farm fields. A surprise and a gift indeed. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent (from way too far away). Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator. Shutter speed 1/1600th.
Florida! Great Blue flyby
Great Blue Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, January 2024 — Photographing Pelicans and Spoonbills in the distance, I looked up just in time to see this Great Blue Heron on approach. I got the camera into Birds in Flight mode with a switch of the control dial, panned with the bird, and shot off a burst as it passed me. Such a beautiful bird in flight. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Florida! More Pelicans in flight
American White Pelican: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, December 2023 — More Pelicans in flight from a close flyover out on Blackpoint drive. Pelicans are the ultimate soaring bird, riding thermals high and low, especially over water. Even in low glides between feeding spots they can go many minutes between wing flaps…and when using the high thermals for long distance travel they can glide for hours. These are big birds…among the heaviest flying birds in North America with a wingspread and depth to match. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! a stack of pelicans
American White Pelican: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — There is a fair sized flock of White Pelicans hanging around Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island this year. The first days I was there I only saw them in flight, but it was certainly a sight to see. This is a five bird stack from a lock of at least 30 that went over. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Rosy in flight
Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — Another hoped for image from any trip to the Space Coast of Florida: a Roseate Spoonbill in flight. There is noting like that pink wingspread. To my eye, it outdoes even the flamingo. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 436mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Skimmer
Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — Another of my “most wanted” birds and shots for my Florida trip this year: the Black Skimmer skimming. The hardest part is keeping the skimmer in an 800mm equivalent frame as it is moving so fast over the water, especially when it passes close. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Most wanted for today
Snowy Egret: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2024 — I am giving my first Easy Birds and Wildlife with the OM-1 workshop early tomorrow morning, so I will post this tonight…for tomorrow’s Pic for today. 🙂 I have only seen the Snowy Egrets tiptoeing across surface of the water a few times in my life…it is a feeding technique that they only do when the brine shrimp hatch in shallow pools in the marsh, and then dozens of Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Spoonbills, and gulls gather to feast and the Snowys dance on the water. It is amazing to see. I have a few photos from past years, but nothing I was really happy with, and mostly accidental. Today with the OM-1 it was easy…almost too easy. I have dozens of shots better than anything I have managed before. I have a short video I will post one of these days so you can get a sense of what it looks like “live.” OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at a 300mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. -1.0 EV. Processed in Photomator.