Seems like an appropriate day to post this rabbit photo from my trip to Santa Clara ranch last year. While taking bird photos from a blind, this bunny hopped out in front of us and did a nice pose. He was too close for a full body photo so I got this head shot.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/250 sec @ F4, ISO 6400, evaluative metering
Bathing birds can provide for some good photo op’s. With a high shutter speed, froze the action when he came up out of the water. Captured the water going over his head and body. Always a good time seeing these birds up close.
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod
manual exposure, 1/1600 sec @ F10, ISO 400, spot metering, 700mm
After a tiring work week, it was a challenge to drag my old carcass out of bed early on Saturday. However, calm winds in Galveston coaxed me out of bed at 4:00 a.m. and I headed to the gulf coast. The last two trips have been less than stellar with the tide being too low, which spreads out the birds with Avocets nowhere to be found. Had high hopes on the way to Galveston with seeing the distant water vapor from Texas City plant stacks going straight up with no wind. The clouds were a gorgeous pre-dawn red color as the ferry approached Bolivar. All promising signs.
Geared up in my waders and headed out across the flats as the sun started to break over the gulf. That sight in itself made the trip worthwhile. Found a flock of Avocets nearby. Walked slowly towards them and laid down in order to not spook them. Started belly crawling to get closer when some birds to my left took off. Looked behind me and saw two wade fisherman walking along the shoreline, which is not a good sign for getting good bird photos. As anticipated, they ignored what I was doing and walked out into the water and headed straight towards the Avocets, per the photo below. Needless to say, my Avocet high hopes for the day were dashed.
With my prime targets flying away, had to come up with a plan B. After looking around at my options, decided to move closer to the water line and wait it out, hoping that the birds would return. No Avocets but the Willets and a Yellowlegs cooperated for me. Frustration turned into some decent shots and incentive to go back again another day. A slow morning at Bolivar is 100 times better than sitting at home.
On the way back to the car, got a chance to talk to a couple of other bird photographers, which is always a good time.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod and Wimberley II gimbal head.
My original target – flock of American Avocets
Aperture priority, 1/1250 sec @ F5.6, ISO 800, evaluative metering, + 1/3 exposure compensation
My two new best friends…
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F5.6, ISO 800, evaluative metering, + 1/3 exposure compensation
Willets with some nice crossed beak action
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 800, evaluative metering, + 2/3 exposure compensation
Yellowlegs checking me out with some direct eye contact
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 800, evaluative metering, + 1 exposure compensation
I really like the elegant curved wing position of this Royal Tern photo but my feelings are tempered by the scene that unfolded before Newton and I on this outing. While lying on the beach at high tide taking photos of Terns and some smaller shore birds, this Royal Tern appeared in front of us flapping his wings in and out of the water trying to make it to shore. He eventually made it to dry land but appeared to have an injured leg. We couldn’t see any obvious reason for his injury. Very sad…
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, 1/2500 sec @ F5.6, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
These White Pelicans were feeding close to my position and provided a nice line-up to photograph.
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, 1/640 sec @ F5.6, ISO 2500, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Found this Reddish Egret hanging out close to the car while walking back from seeing the Peregrine Falcon per my last post. He walked along a sandbar and turned to check us out and then continued on his way.
It was later in the morning so the light was harsh but he still made a good photo op. Had to crank up the exposure compensation on the second shot to keep it from becoming a silhouette with the sun behind him.
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, 1/1600 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 2/3 exposure compensation
Made another trip to Bolivar Flats on Friday with Sheldon to see if we would have any better luck with finding birds than on our last trip. It was very low tide again with some wind but not too bad. While walking out to the sandbars just before the sun came up, I spotted what looked like something sitting on a piece of PVC pipe that was sticking out of the sand. Taking a look through my camera revealed a Peregrine Falcon perched on the piece of pipe.
We slowly walked towards him and laid down on the sand. We were very patient with this Falcon in order to not spook him before we got closer. We ended up spending 2 hrs watching him and crawling closer. He faked us out several times by stretching his wings and doing his duty but he never took off. He may have spent the night sitting on that pipe by the way that he was acting.
It was challenging to keep focused on him for that long and my neck/back/arm got very sore along with my right hand falling asleep. Ended up rolling on my side several times to rest my neck and stomach.
We knew that the photos of him sitting on the pipe wouldn’t be very good with the unnatural perch so we waited very patiently until he took off. He was facing into the wind and we were laying in front of him hoping that he would fly towards us, however he took off in the opposite direction. It was disappointing but it’s always cool to see one of these birds and sometimes you have to take what you can get. My old body is still paying the price from that outing with a very sore back/neck.
Luckily we found a more cooperative Reddish Egret on our way back to our cars. I’ll post some photos of him later.
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
All photos are aperture priority, 1/1250 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
A first for me, found this Common Murre while on a whale watching trip off the coast of Monterey Bay, CA. He floated by the boat and I was able to squeeze off a few quick shots.
Taken with Canon 7D II and Canon 100-400 II, handheld
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 360mm
Aperture priority, 1/8000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 349mm
While taking photos of some Willets, this Clapper Rail came out from the weeds and surprised us. He then walked straight towards us and turned left right while coming very close to where we were lying, which resulted in only minor cropping on the last two shots. Helped to prove the point that birds don’t recognize you as a person while lying down with a ground pod.
These Rails usually stay close to the weeds for cover so it was very cool to see this one out in the open.
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, 1/1250 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
Aperture priority, 1/1250 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
This Brown Pelican was coming in for a landing and filled the frame. The colors were very muted so I converted it to B&W.
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, 1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Tim Timmis Photography 