Happy New Year!
Hoping that all of you had a great 2017. My plan was to post my favorite shots for 2017 before now but I got tied up over the holidays so it will have to wait for early Jan.
2018 will start out with a bang for me from a photography perspective and then have some challenges. It’s going to be an interesting year for sure.
Spend the morning of Christmas Eve at Bolivar Flats along the gulf coast taking shorebird photos, along with a few raptors. While walking out along the shoreline, saw a dark spot out on the sand that looked out of place. Trusted my instinct and picked up my camera and spotted a peregrine falcon. Got very excited and walking slowly closer to him, laid down, took a couple of shots, went to check my histogram and he took off.
Walked away from that area over to one of my favorite spots around the corner and spotted a couple of hundred Avocets feeding just off shore. Laid down and belly crawled towards them. The muck was very slimy and ended up on my knees and pushed my ground pod along for about 60 ft and stayed put for a couple of hours.
All of a sudden, all of the birds flew away, which usually means that either a raptor or human was nearby. Spun around on my stomach thanks to the slimy muck and caught this Northern Harrier flying along the vegetation line.
Ended up seeing a couple of Harriers and four Caracara’s. Tis the season for migrating raptors.
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.
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +2 exposure compensation.
Tim Timmis Photography 
Wonderful photo of the harrier, and love the belly-twirl-in-the-muck story! Fun!!
December 31, 2017 at 8:25 pm
Happy New Year Tim. Looking forward to your photos in 2018. I especially enjoy the birds of prey.
December 31, 2017 at 8:36 pm
Thanks Dotty. It gets quite mucky out there at low tide. By the end of my 2 hours of shooting my elbows had sunken down about 4 inches into the muck. Great times.
December 31, 2017 at 8:45 pm
Thanks Joe. I’ll post of few more birds of prey for you.
December 31, 2017 at 8:46 pm
Happy New Year ! I wish you the best for 2018.
January 1, 2018 at 7:36 am
Awesome! Love to hear how you go the extra mile (muck) for the shot! 🙂
January 1, 2018 at 8:29 am
Thanks Cornell. To you as well.
January 1, 2018 at 12:48 pm
Thanks Donna. Goes with the territory where I shoot. Have to embrace the fact that you are going to get wet and dirty, along with your gear. Great times.
January 1, 2018 at 12:49 pm