Avocet in Breeding Plumage
Took Friday off of work to properly break in my new camera at Bolivar Flats with a little sand and salt water. It was low tide at sunrise but most of the sandbars were covered in seaweed. Just as well since I forgot to take my rubber boots with me. The outing started out slow with some Willet shots at a distance but ended up great with getting head shots of Avocets and a Reddish Egret.
Relocated my position a couple of times and ended up with two options. Off to my left was a group of Brown Pelicans/Black Skimmers and off to my right was a Reddish Egret with a few Avocets near by. Not likely to get close to the Pelican’s without spooking them so I headed towards the Reddish Egret. Couldn’t get real close without my boots so ended up picking a spot upstream of the Egret and laid down with my ground pod hoping that the birds would come to me. I love it when a plan comes together. The Reddish Egret ended up going right by me and two of the Avocets walked right towards me. One ended up being too close to get a full body shot so I focused on the top half of this body. Minor cropping to reposition him in the frame gave me this shot.
Losing the crop factor from my 7D won’t be a big deal when the birds cooperate like this. Only minor adjustments in Photoshop with saturation/contrast for this photo. No sharpening was required in Photoshop. Something tells me that I’m going to like my 1DX/500mm combo.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4x III teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/1250 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Tim Timmis Photography 
Plain and simple…awwwesome. Clean background, beautiful catch light with tack sharp image. I might have cost you some money letting you try out my 1DX, but you’ll never look back.
May 24, 2014 at 8:04 pm
Looks like a great start to a wonderful relationship with your 1DX.
May 24, 2014 at 10:29 pm
Being too close is just one of those delicious ironies when you have a long lens.
May 25, 2014 at 12:29 am
Thanks Doug. I was pretty much convinced that I was going to get one and trying out yours confirmed my instinct. Thanks again for letting me play. It’s a keeper.
May 25, 2014 at 2:52 pm
Thanks David. It was good to see you yesterday.
May 25, 2014 at 2:52 pm
It’s a good problem to have and I’m cherishing it every time that it happens.
May 25, 2014 at 2:53 pm