High Island Nest Building – Part 1
The nesting activity has started early this year at High Island’s rookery. It’ my favorite time when breeding plumage is on display along with the Great Egrets busy mating and building nests. The rookery is filling up quickly with it being difficult to get isolated bird shots.
My keeper rate has gone up this year with my 500mm lens and using manual exposure more. However, 500mm with a crop sensor camera is almost too close in some cases as I’ve clipped lots of wings on action shots.
Caught this Great Egret with wings spread flying back to the nest with a stick. Unfortunately, the mosquitos have almost the same wing span. They are very nasty this year, at least around sunrise, so be prepared.
More to come…
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II lens mounted on a tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/800 sec @ F8, ISO 400, manual exposure at 500mm
Tim Timmis Photography 
Love the early morning light on the wing spread. If you can shoot from the upper deck it will be better. It will put you several feet back and could make the difference of clipping wings. I remember standing beside you last year on the lower deck for a short period. I was clipping most of my shots so I moved to another area. Hope to spend a couple of mornings or evenings there next week. Looking forward to more of your post. You always catch some beautiful light!
March 17, 2013 at 10:05 pm
Thanks David. I was shooting from the upper deck. Get better backgrounds from that position. Take your bug spray with you.
March 18, 2013 at 4:38 am