Veterans Day Salute
This post is dedicated to all veterans past and present. Thank you for your sacrifices.
These are photos of the Blue Angels from 2018 Wings Over Houston airshow on Sunday Oct 21.
Taken with Canon 1DX with Canon 100-400 II lens, handheld
1/1600 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, aperture priority
1/2000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
1/2500 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
1/2500 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
1/2000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
1/2500 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
1/3200 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority, converted to B&W using NIK Silver Effects Pro
1/2500 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
Marbled Godwit
This Marbled Godwit walked very close to us at Bolivar Flats on the same day as we found the white morph reddish egret. He kept probing the sand for food.
I like this shot as he is facing in my direction, the position of his feet, got some interesting lighting on his bill and the raised tail feathers, which isn’t typical from my experience.
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.
1/640 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
1/800 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Reddish Egret Pose
Finally made it back to Bolivar Flats yesterday after a long hiatus (since April). Got invited to head to the flats by Lea, who contacted me back in May for some advice. It was a good time and I needed the motivation to get back out there in this heat. Feels-like temp when we arrived just before sunrise was 95 deg F. Decided to not wear my waders or jacket and just get all wet/sandy, which happened as predicted.
There were lots of birds around including reddish egrets, pelicans, willets, long-billed curlews, marbled godwits. Did not see any avocets. We spotted 2 reddish egrets and 3 white morph reddish egrets in the area and took some time to photograph them and get closer to this one. They weren’t very active but we had the opportunity to get some decent shots of them posing and preening.
Reddish egrets will puff out their feathers when they are trying to intimidate other birds. Not sure what got this one excited but it made for nice looking hairdo.
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
Caught it!
Reddish egret are quite the fishing experts. This white morph put on a great display of fishing prowess and ended up catching this fish and looked in my direction.
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.
1/1600 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, +1 exposure compensation
Reddish Egret Jump in B&W
This white morph reddish egret was practicing his jumping skills at Galveston’s FeatherFest in April. This was shot #11 out of a series of 16 photos that he was in the air.
Colors were somewhat muted so I converted into B&W using NIK Silver Effects.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/1250 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
White Morph Reddish Egret Launching
Sunday’s visit to Bolivar Flats with my last field trip for this years Galveston’s FeatherFest. Was a little worn out after 4 days but it was well worth the effort to take a couple of groups to Bolivar Flats. It was a new experience for some of them and we had some great photo op’s on both trips. We couldn’t get very close to the avocets on this trip but I did find a morph reddish egret. Spotted him at a distance and maneuvered the group close to the water as he was fishing. He worked his way back and forth in front of us making for some great photo op’s.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II and 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head
Aperture priority, 1/3200 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
Ground Level Photography from Galveston’s FeatherFest
Here are the group photos from Saturday’s Ground Level Photography field trip at Bolivar Flats. Had a great time with lots of laughs from this group.
The morning started out ominous with very high winds, close to 30 mph, and high surf. Wasn’t sure that we would see any birds until we got further down the shoreline. Found an estimated 3,000 American Avocets huddled together within shooting distance. You can see some of the remaining Avocets behind the group in the photos below. Lots of belly crawling involved. Turned out to be a very productive morning.
Participants can copy full size photos from my website:
https://www.timtimmis.com/Wildlife/Galveston-FeatherFest-2018/
Galveston FeatherFest 2018
As another year at Galveston’s FeatherFest comes to a close, thanks go out to everyone who participated this year. Special thanks to JulieAnn Brown, Executive Director from Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council, and her flock of 200 volunteers that make the event possible every year.
Had a great time leading three field trips and three classroom workshops again this year. This was year #6 for me as a leader and can’t wait to do it again.
Extremely high winds on Friday and Saturday mornings provided some challenges but the birds and rain cooperated. We had a flock of black skimmers and beautiful sunrise at East Beach on Friday, a few thousand avocets in breeding plumage on Saturday morning at Bolivar Flats and a white morph reddish egret dancing away right in front of us this morning.
Here are some group photos from today’s Ground Level Bird Photography field trip to Bolivar Flats. They received the full ground pod treatment including laying in some prime-time muck. Thanks again Chris for helping out again this year.
I’ll post more photos later as time permits.
For the participants that would like a full size copy, I’ve posted them on my website that you can copy from:
https://www.timtimmis.com/Wildlife/Galveston-FeatherFest-2018/
Reddish Egret Dancing
While getting prepared for leading workshops at Galveston’s FeatherFest again this year, went back over some photos from last years event and found this one taken at Bolivar Flats. This reddish egret was dancing around and put on a great show for my group.
Wasn’t sure why the two birds were hanging out together until observing interesting behavior a few weeks later when a pelican kept stealing fish from a reddish egret. Whatever works for getting breakfast.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on a Skimmer ground pod with a Wimberley II gimbal head
1/2500 sec @ F5.6, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Brown Pelicans in a Blur
I’ve been in a major creative funk lately with it being several weeks since I’ve gone out to take wildlife photos. Life gets in the way sometimes with business travel, some dental issues, lots to do around the house and getting a new computer. I’ve been working on a blog post about my journey to find a new computer and will share that later. Also the weather in SE Texas hasn’t been cooperating on weekends for the last 8 weeks or so.
Decided to go to the Texas City Dike a couple of weeks ago to create some abstract wildlife photos with some slow shutter speeds. Made it to the dike before sunrise and waited until I could focus on brown pelicans that were diving for fish.
Used shutter priority to slow the action down while creating some interesting blurs. It’s fun but challenging to try this technique. You won’t get the same photo twice as each shot is dependent on how fast you are panning with the bird and what the bird is doing, which is part of the fun. Went back the following weekend to crank it down even further to 1/10 sec.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld out my car window
Shutter priority, 1/15 sec @ F5.6, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +2 exposure compensation
Shutter priority, 1/20 sec @ F11, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 1/3 exposure compensation
Shutter priority, 1/20 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 1/3 exposure compensation
Whooping Crane
Spent this past weekend in Rockport, TX trying to find Whooping Crane at Aransas NWR via a boat with Kevin Sims. Had a great time as always. Thanks again Scott for the invite.
Saturday with very foggy and had to start late and tried to wait out the fog. No luck with that strategy, so Kevin worked the shoreline. We found three whooping cranes that were looking for crabs in a small pond close to the shoreline. We got very luck as they worked their way towards us and ended up walking out of the pond and got very close. Ended up having to taking off my 1.4X teleconverter as I was only getting head shots. A great problem to have when shooting whooping cranes.
Got this stare down from the juvenile crane. They stuck around for about 1/2 hour and then walked away. Was a great experience.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II lens mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/500 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, spot metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
Yellowstone in Winter 2018 – Day 2
Day 2 in Yellowstone confirmed our suspicion that the wounded bison didn’t make it as a new carcass was discovered about 25 yds from the tree where we left her the day before. As we approached the area, several wolves were crossing the road in front of us about 50 yds away. It was too dark to take photos so we got out our cell phones for some video. They went up the hill to our left to bed down with their full stomachs.
We kept pushing forward in search of frosty bison as the temperature had dipped to – 18 deg F in the park just after sunrise. We headed towards Old Faithful and found a lone bison with some decent frost on him and got some full frame shots. Kept going and found several bison a little further off of the road so we stopped to take some photos. Some hiking out into the now put us in position to get some cool shots of the group. We later found a group of bison heading towards us walking down the road that were back-lit so we bailed out of the snowcoach again. We worked along the Madison River on our way back to the wolves.
1/800 sec @ F6.3, ISO 2500, manual mode with spot metering off of the snow + 2 stops
1/500 sec @ F6.3, ISO 800, manual mode
We spotted a lone wolf at the top of the hill lying down resting with his head raised and paws out in front of him. He looked like a big puppy dot and was sleepy from having a full belly. We photographed him for quite a while until he got up and moved.
1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 200, manual mode
We headed back towards our vehicle and started eating lunch near our tripods. Food wasn’t supposed to be an element in our shooting until Jared spotted a black wolf coming out of the woods right behind us. We quickly spun around and started shooting as he moved towards the road. Got the shots while operating my camera in one hand and holding onto the sandwich and lens with the other.
It was an amazing experience to see a black wolf in the white snow at that distance. The first shot below is full frame with no cropping. He could have cared less if we were there or not as he never lost focus on his awaiting feast. Got 67 shots of him as he came down the hill and casually walked away from us down the road.
1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 200, manual mode
1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 200, manual mode
1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 200, manual mode
Thought that those were shots of a lifetime until he returned about 14 minutes later. He ran up the hill only turning his head slightly to look at us near the top as he barely acknowledged our presence. With his yellow eyes and black sculpted body, he looked like the wolves that nightmares are made of. A literal once in a lifetime experience and I’m still fired up about it.
1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 200, manual mode
Yellowstone in Winter 2018 – Day 1
Just got home last week from my second journey to Yellowstone National Park in winter, traveling on Jared Lloyd’s Winter in Yellowstone Workshop. My first trip last year was one of those so called life changing experiences with it being an easy decision to go back again this year before the airplane wheels touched down in Houston. Last year was very special with fishing coyotes, bull elk, jumping fox, frosty bison and a long-tailed weasel. Also got to see wolves in the Lamar Valley about 1 mile away through a spotting scope. This year changed that perspective, just slightly, forever.
Day 1 in the park started out with a slight delay with the snow coach but it all worked out with us entering the park at the West Yellowstone entrance around 7:30 a.m. We had heard about a carcass near the road with wolf activity, so we were very excited to see what the morning would bring. As we approached the location, we could see what was left of the carcass but no wolves, so we kept going in search of other wildlife along the Madison River. We worked the river to the warming hut and headed back west.
Just past the seven mile bridge, we spotted two wolves on a hillside that were watching a young bison that was standing in the river. The bison had apparently been attacked earlier by the wolves on her rear legs and was seeking shelter in the river.
Manual mode, 1/2000 sec @ F10, ISO 500, spot metering off the snow, +2 stops
Manual mode, 1/1600 sec @ F10, ISO 400, spot metering off the snow, +2 stops
We photographed the wolves for over two hours and they eventually moved over the hill out of sight. The bison took that que to try to make an escape by walking along the river right in front of us and then up on the road heading east, limping along as she walked. We found her later on the opposite side of the road lying down next to a tree.
We all knew what would likely be her fate by the next morning, which came to pass. The circle of life is very hard to watch in person but inevitable in the wild.
Manual mode, 1/1000 sec @ F10, ISO 400, spot metering off the snow, +2 stops
Manual mode, 1/1000 sec @ F10, ISO 400, spot metering off the snow, +2 stops
Manual mode, 1/4000 sec @ F6.3, ISO 320, spot metering off the snow, +2 stops
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on Induro tripod with leveling head and Wimberley II gimbal head, some hand held.
White Tailed Hawk
Hope that everyone survived new years celebrations. We did our usual Mexican restaurant for dinner and headed home before the crazies got on the road.
For my old friend Joe, here are a few shots of a White Tailed Hawk that I found on the road leading up to Anahuac NWR while guiding Stephen Bontempo around a few weeks ago. These were taken out my car window. Pulled up and had to quickly get ready to shoot. He laughed before I got the first shot off but got several photos of him as he took off and flew away. Good times…
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter.
1/1000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
1/1000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
1/2000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
1/1600 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
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.
Reddish Egret Portrait in Golden Light
Golden light at sunrise rocks. Got this Reddish Egret portrait shot from Bolivar Flats along the Gulf Coast on Friday. As usual, was using my ground pod to get the low-level look.
I try to get into position about 1/2 before the sun comes up to get some cool pre-dawn color but that’s not practical with the time change. Have to get up at 4:00 a.m. at the latest to make the 6:00 a.m. Bolivar Ferry. Was walking out to my spot when the sun popped but it was still good. Don’t know about the birds, but I had a great time.
Started out shooting black necked stilts when this reddish egret flew in. He didn’t stick around long but loved the golden light on him and the weeds in the background.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm with 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
B&W Sea Otters
Here are some more sea otter photos from Morro Bay, CA. There were two pups in the group and it was difficult to get a decent shot of them.
Converted these to B&W using NIK Silver EFfx Pro 2.
1/640 sec @ F4.5, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2 exposure compensation, 500mm mounted on tripod
1/400 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2 exposure compensation, 560mm with 100-400 II lens and 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld
1/500 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2 exposure compensation, 560mm with 100-400 II lens and 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld
Sea Otters at Morro Bay, CA
Spent last weekend at Morro Bay in California taking photos of sea otters. This was my second trip there in the last 4 1/2 years. Got some time to see some old friends and make some new ones. Love this small bay town and need to try to make this an annual trip.
Day 1 was cloudy with about 20 otters wrapped up in sea weed near the Morro Bay rock. They wrap themselves in kelp to keep them from floating away at night while sleeping.
Tried to get as close to the water as possible, which meant positioning my tripod on the rocks and sitting on a rock for a few hours. Had to shift position when the water came up with the tide.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head.
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, + 1 2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/400 sec @ F5.6, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, + 2 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/640 sec @ F4.5, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, + 2 exposure compensation, 500mm
F18 Vapor at Wings Over Houston 2017
Made it to Wings Over Houston special show again this year and took photos from outside the gates with my 100-400 lens. Got in a good spot across the road from the runway and got the F-18 coming in for a high-speed pass almost right over me (first two photos). He came back for another pass and banked left and caught some great vapor on his wings. Lots of fun trying to track him when he was flying around 600 mph.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 100-400 II with 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld
1/3200 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 1/3 exposure compensation
1/2500 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 1/3 exposure compensation
1/4000 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 1/3 exposure compensation
Reddish Egret Fight
These two reddish egrets went toe to toe yesterday at Bolivar Flats along the gulf coast of Texas. Had my ISO cranked up to 3200 while taking static shots of a couple of white morph reddish egrets when these two started fighting. Should have increased to ISO to 6400 but didn’t have enough time to change any settings as the action happened very fast. Lots of blurred action in this series but it was very fun to watch and photograph. More to come…
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500MM F4 IS II with 1.4X teleconverter mounted on skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head.
1/20 sec @ F5.6, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, + 1 1/3 exposure compensation
Hurricane Harvey and Aransas Bay Rookery
Since hurricane Harvey hit the Texas gulf coast, my brain has been in a major funk, so to speak, and I just haven’t been in the mood to post or take any photos for the past month, even though we made it through relatively unscathed.
The storm came ashore and devastated Rockport, TX, flooded the Houston area with about 50 inches of rain and then flooded Beaumont/Port Arthur.
We got very lucky and didn’t have any flooding in our neighborhood but others nearby weren’t so lucky. The west end of my town, League city, got extensive flooding from Clear Creek with about 7,700 homes being flooded. Towns west and south of us (Friendswood & Dickinson) had greater flooding. Overall, the flooding in the Houston area was devastating with around 200,000 homes and one million cars flooded. With over 80% of homeowners without flood insurance, it’s going to be a very rough time for the people of Texas for a very long time. Watching TV and seeing the high water rescues that were underway for several days was very depressing. It was surreal to see highway off-ramps being used as boat ramps for the rescue boats.
We only had two roof leaks to deal with and feel very lucky. Had to play bucket brigade with one of them streaming in on Sunday morning when we were getting 6 inches/hour of rain. It would have been a major mess if we would have evacuated. This storm was good motivation for us to replace our 23 yr old roof, which will be finished tomorrow.
I kept looking out my front door in the middle of the night to try to see how high the water level was coming up. We then decided to move some stuff up to the second floor of our home just in case. Didn’t realize until mowing the yard about a week later that the water came up into my yard about 4 ft with a visible debris line in my grass. Somehow we never lost power.
It took a couple of days before the water receded on local roads where we could get to the store to pick-up a couple of fans to help dry out the carpet near our fireplace. We also bought a couple of car loads of cleaning supplies to donate to a local shelter that was set up for people who had to evacuate their homes.
It’s been very sad to see people’s lives sitting at the curb with furniture, beds, sheet rock, carpet, etc. pulled out of their flooded houses with lots of it still sitting there a month after the storm.
Now back to the birds. Learned recently that the rookery in Aransas Bay has been devastated with most of the vegetation being wiped out. See the link below to see before and after videos at the rookery. Reminds me of what happened to the High Island rookery after hurricane Ike but this is more severe.
http://www.caller.com/videos/sports/outdoors/2017/09/15/rookeries-take-hit-harvey/105609968/
Feel so fortunate to have visited the rookery in April. Here are a few photos from that trip. Hoping that it can recover soon.
Taken from a boat with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod.
1/125 sec @ F4, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
1/2500 sec @ F5.6, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, -1/3 exposure compensation
1/2500 sec @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, -1/3 exposure compensation
Sandhill Chasing Whooping Crane
While taking pictures of a lone whooping crane, three sandhill cranes came flying in. They apparently thought that they had power in numbers and tried to chase off the whooping crane. It made for some very cool photo op’s. They were almost successful when all of a sudden two other whooping cranes flew in what I thought was an attempt to save the day. In reality, they ended up chasing away the original whooping crane. Go figure…
1/500 sec @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, – 1 1/3 exposure compensation
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
Sandhill Crane
Found this Sandhill Crane while exploring the back roads of NE Indiana. Was checking out my favorite Osprey nest when this Sandhill started squawking right behind me. Almost made me jump. Turned around but couldn’t see him with a high berm along the dirt road. Walked up an entrance into the field and saw him walking around very close to me. He was apparently calling a couple other cranes that were hanging out in the field near the osprey nest.
1/800 sec @ F9, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 100-400 II with 1.4x III teleconverter, handheld
Tim Timmis Photography 