Blurred Avocet
When the light doesn’t cooperate, there are always blurred shots to be taken. American avocet in a blur from Bolivar Flats during one of my Galveston FeatherFest workshops that I led this year.
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.
1/125 sec @ F5.6, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, + 2 2/3 exposure compensation, aperture priority, 700mm
White Morph Reddish Egret
Found two White Morph Reddish Egrets at Bolivar Flats last weekend while guiding my old buddy Newton. He brought along Ruth Hoyt, who is an excellent professional photographer/guide at south Texas ranches, like Laguna Seca, where I first met her. It was great to see both of them again.
The tide wasn’t low but the birds were out in force. We started with a group of Willets and other small shorebirds with a lone Avocet nearby. There was a group of Avocets within striking distance but they were spooked and took off.
Spotted a couple of Reddish Egrets further down the shoreline and headed that direction. The Reddish Egrets weren’t very active initially so Newton and I headed back up the shoreline to a group of Black Skimmers.
We then spotted at least two White Morph Reddish Egrets back down the shoreline so we headed back in that direction. Lots of up and down on this trip. Found two White Morph’s and two Reddish Egrets along with one Great Egret standing around. They eventually started to catch fish with one of the Reddish Egret’s trying to chase the two white morph’s away.
This White Morph was striking some nice poses with his feathers all perked up as he was checking out the other egrets.
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 @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
White Morph Reddish Egret Fishing
This white morph reddish egret put on quite a show during my field trip to Bolivar Flats for Galveston’s FeatherFest. Too bad it was cloudy but I’ll take that over rain any day.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter
1/1250 sec @ F11, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
1/800 sec @ F13, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
1/1000 sec @ F13, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
1/800 sec @ F13, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
1/800 sec @ F13, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Foggy Sunrise
The fog was very thick all the way to Bolivar. The sun peaked through the fog just as I had hoped. I laid down to catch the Godwit’s and the moved to the poles to get the Great Blue Heron on its perch. The sun was fairly high up for the GBH shot so I had to use more negative exposure compensation to keep the sun from blowing out too much. Interesting tip about the 7D, you can go beyond the -3 stops in exposure compensation that shows on the camera. If you keep turning the dial, you can get much lower. The 3rd photo was taken at -5.
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens
1/6400 sec @ F10, ISO 200, -3 exp. comp., evaluative metering, ground pod
1/1600 sec @ F8, ISO 200, -1 2/3 exp. comp., evaluative metering, ground pod
1/8000 sec @ F7.1, ISO 100, -5 exp. comp., evaluative metering, hand held
1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 250, evaluative metering, hand held
Avocets
It was a balmy 30 deg before sunrise at Bolivar on 2/5/11 but the birds were still out. Wasn’t sure what I’d find as my last trip there was a bust for bird shots. Not many birds near shore before sunrise so I waded out about 100 yds into the gulf while waiting for the sun to come up. Didn’t want to get wet and cold laying down quite yet. Got a few blurred flight shots and worked my way west towards the jetty. Saw a large flock of birds flying around and was hoping for Avocets but it ended up being a few hundred black skimmers. Tried to get close to them to lay down on a sand bar when the water came up and covered the sand bar just as I got there. Moved to a different area and laid down to shoot. Got some skimmer shots and they eventually flew off.
Decided to stay put to see what else would come around. A flock of Avocets landed near by and they started walking towards me. Of course my memory card was filling up so I changed it before they got too close, or that was the plan. After I got the new card in and formatted, looked up and they were right in front of me about 30 ft away. Didn’t want to take time to put my glove back on so I shot away and got some frozen fingers. The Avocets ended up being all around me and I got several almost full frame shots. The challenge with Avocets is that they like to walk around together in groups and it’s tough to get individual shots of them so I’m very pleased with these shots. Ended up being a great day for bird photography despite the cold weather. Here’s hoping for 20 deg weather next time!
All taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on ground pod, no flash
F7.1 @ 1/1600 sec, ISO 200, spot metering, +.33 exp comp
F7.1 @ 1/2000 sec, ISO 200, spot metering, +.33 exp comp
F7.1 @ 1/1600 sec, ISO 160, spot metering, +.33 exp comp
F7.1 @ 1/2500 sec, ISO 200, spot metering, +.33 exp comp
F7.1 @ 1/2000 sec, ISO 200, spot metering, +.33 exp comp
F7.1 @ 1/1000 sec, ISO 200, spot metering, +.33 exp comp
Tim Timmis Photography 