This little shorebird was quickly working its way through a patch of seaweed along the beach at Bolivar Flats. Appears to be a Dunlin with breeding plumage.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II lens with 1.4X teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II head
1/640 sec @ F5.6, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Here are a couple of close-up shots of an American Avocet from Bolivar Flats as he was walking towards me. The darker colors around his head/neck are breeding plumage. Only minor cropping and no sharpening.
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
1/1000 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation (due to bright background)
1/1000 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Takes a good balancing act for Black-necked Stilts to mate with those extra long legs. Just wish that they had not been facing away from me but you take what you can get.
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
1/1,000 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
1/1250 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
1/1,000 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
Here are a couple of shots of the Reddish Egret that walked by me as described in my last post. It pays to take shorebird photos from the prone position. Only minor cropping required.
Taken with Canon 1DX with Canon 500mm F4 IS II and 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/400 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
1/1000 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
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
After waiting for Canon to come out with a high-end crop sensor camera, finally decided it was time to upgrade from my 7D to a 1DX. I fought it for quite a while as full frame wasn’t on my radar due to losing the 1.6 crop factor of my 7D. With bird photography being my niche, being focal length limited can be a challenge. A recent trip to Nebraska convinced me that it was time to upgrade with missing some good shots while not being able to crank up the ISO enough to get higher shutter speeds. My 7D is a great camera but it gets noisy above ISO 400.
This was my first trip to High Island this year. Each season is a little different at the rookery with this year not being as good as previous years, IMO, with increased growth of the vegetation on the island covering up some of the best perching locations.
Besides the changing landscape, trying out a new camera was also challenging, especially when showing up in the dark about 45 min before the sun came up. Will need lots of practice with this puppy to get used to the button locations. Luckily the buttons to change focus points and ISO settings are similar to the 7D.
The ability to crank up the ISO to get higher shutter speeds was very sweet. Took most of my photos at ISO 1600, which look very similar to my 7D at ISO 400. I’ll post more later comparing the 7D to the 1DX after I get some more trigger time with the new camera.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4x III teleconverter mounted on Gitzo tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
Great Egret preening: aperture priority, 1/2000 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, -1/3 exposure compensation
One more Nebraska Sandhill Crane photo for the road. Taken after sunrise over the Platte River in cool 16 deg F weather. The Sandhill’s launched before sunrise with some coming back to the river for some final photo op’s.
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/800 sec @ F9, ISO 400, evaluative metering
To round out my Nebraska Sandhill Crane posts, the most fun was watching these birds do their mating dances. They would bow down and then jump into the air for all to see. Some would pick up corn stalks and throw them up into the air. The fields were full of Sandhill’s jumping all around. Good times. Just wish that I would have had my new camera on this trip. Can’t wait to go back next year.
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II out the car window
1/500 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
1/400 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
1/640 sec @ F7.1, ISO 400, evaluative metering
1/400 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
These two Nebraska Sandhill Cranes were staying close together, which made for a good photo op. They mate for life and put on quite a show with their mating dance, which I’ll share more photos of that ritual in my next post.
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter out the car window
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F5.6, evaluative metering, 700mm
Here are a few more shots of Reddish Egrets from my last trip to Bolivar Flats in Texas during my FeatherFest field trip. One Reddish Egret was fishing when another came in and started chasing him around.
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II lens mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II head
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/640 sec @ F9, ISO 500, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/640 sec @ F9, ISO 500, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F9, ISO 500, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F9, ISO 500, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Tim Timmis Photography 
