Incoming Pelicans
Took a couple of vacation days this past week and headed to the Gulf coast for some quality social distancing at Bolivar Flats Audubon Shorebird Sanctuary. Was well worth the time and effort.
Saw these 3 brown pelicans flying close to each other at a distance and started tracking them with my camera. Got about 80 shots of them just waiting for this photo when they were side by side, coming right at me with their wings outstretched.
Pre-visualized this shot as I’ve gotten some similar pelican photos probably 10 years ago and have been waiting to recreate it ever since. Was very pleased on how this one turned out.
Taken with Canon 1DX mark III, Canon 500mm F4 IS II and 1.4X III telconverter, mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head.
1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, aperture priority, + 2 exposure compensation, 700mm from ground pod
Brown Pelican in Golden Light
Caught this brown pelican doing a fly-by while in the prone position with my ground pod. Got a nice series of shots with this one being one of my favorites with the wing position just off of the water. The calm water and reflection helped as well.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II and 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on a skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head.
1/500 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
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
Pelican Stealing White Morph’s Fish
Here are some photos of the brown pelican scaring the white morph reddish egret in order to steal his fish. He surprised me as well and they were too close at 700mm and ended up clipping the pelican’s wings in the first shot. You can see the fish drop in the second photo with the pelican getting ready to enjoy his spoils in the last shot.
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 @ F11, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
1/1600 sec @ F11, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
1/1600 sec @ F11, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
Brown Pelicans in Missing Man Formation
These brown pelicans were flying in formation in a line when three of them broke off in what looks like the missing man formation. Taken during my second trip to Galveston’s FeatherFest.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500MM F4 IS II mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/1600 sec @ F5, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
Pelican in Rising Sun
In preparation for my two field trips that I’m leading to Bolivar Flats during Galveston’s FeatherFest, made a scouting trip to the coast last Sunday. My original goal was to scout out the area but will have to try that one again as I didn’t get past the parking area due to a flock of Avocets being right there before the sun came up.
Caught this brown pelican doing a fly-by as he passed near the sun. Was able to see him coming as I’ve learned to shoot with both eyes open, which is one of the tips in one of my classroom workshops that weekend.
Very little cropping on this shot, which made it a little more challenging than normal for a flight shot off of a ground pod with the limited range of motion from side to side.
Here is a link to the FeatherFest website. We have several great photography leaders with both classroom workshops and field trips. This will be my 5th year leading my events. As of a week ago, there were a few spots left on my trips so check them out if interested.
http://www.galvestonfeatherfest.com/
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 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Brown Pelican as a Fishbowl
Found this Brown Pelican fishing off of the Texas City dike. It’s fun to watch them dive into the water and then to see what they come up with. He was getting harassed by a laughing gull that would stand on his head waiting for him to come up with fish to steal.
Got this shot after the gull flew off with a fish. The back-lighting helps with showing off the veins in his beak. This little fish didn’t have a chance but popped up to get his picture taken.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II lens with 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld out my car window
Aperture priority, 1/2000 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation, 700mm
B&W Pelican
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
Brown Pelicans Fishing at Sunrise
Brown Pelicans were out in force last weekend at sunrise along the Gulf coast. They would come close to shore diving for fish. Had a blast tracking them as they flew in and dove into the water. The take-off’s were fun as well. Good opportunity for some action silhouette shots.
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, 1/8000 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, 1/1600 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Pelican Close-up
Tried to go to Bolivar Flats again last Sunday after a very successful trip on Sat. Should have known better as it’s difficult to get two good days in a row at one location. That turned out to be the case as it was too windy, which covered up most of the sandbars and kept the birds from being out where I could reach them. Headed back across the ferry and found this Brown Pelican just hanging out. Got some good eye contact as he was probably wondering what I was doing.
Taken with Canon 1DX with Canon 500mm F4 IS II and 1.4x III teleconverter, handheld
1/640 sec @ F5.6, ISO 3200, +1 exposure compensation
Tim Timmis Photography 