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
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
Gun Range Photos
Made a trip to the local gun range with my two brothers while visiting them over the 4th of July weekend. We typically don’t go home over the 4th of July but it worked out great with being able to spend more time together.
Got a chance to shoot several rifles and pistols and my camera, of course. Took my 100-400mm lens this time for the Battle Creek airshow, which also worked out well for the gun range. It was a blast shooting their guns but I also had lots of fun taking photos.
My first gun when I was in 7th grade was a .45 cal flintlock muzzle loader. My goal at a young age was have an extensive gun collection but my wife is pleased that I changed gears to photography, except for the cost.
Converted these to B&W using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, in order to bring out the smoke and mood of the photos.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 100-400 II lens with 1.4X III teleconverter, hand-held
1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 1600, evaluative metering
1/1000 sec @ F7.1, ISO 1600, evaluative metering
1/1000 sec @ F7.1, ISO 3200, evaluative metering
F-22 Raptor
Got a chance to see the F-22 Raptor again for the 6th time at the Battle Creek, MI airshow over the 4th of July weekend. It’s an amazing plane that never ceases to amaze me with its maneuvering capabilities.
While planning a trip home to visit family this summer, just happened to look up the F-22 schedule and saw it was going to be in Michigan fairly close to home. Took my two brothers with me and they enjoyed the show as well.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 100-400 II with 1.4X III telconverter, handheld
1/1000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, + 1 2/3 exposure compensation, 368 mm
1/2000 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, + 1 1/3 exposure compensation, 560mm
1/1600 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, + 1 2/3 exposure compensation, 560mm
1/1250 sec @ F8, ISO 800, evaluative metering, + 1 2/3 exposure compensation, 318mm
Black Skimmer’s Landing Gear
This black skimmer was doing a fly-by and actually skimming at Bolivar flats, which is a somewhat rare event in that location. From my experience over the past several years, they usually just fly around looking for a place to land so this was a very nice change of pace. Especially since this was during a guide trip that I was leading with three great guys from New Zealand, Canada and Indiana.
It’s always a challenge to capture these birds in flight while using a ground pod since your range of motion is limited while laying on the ground. Added bonus was he briefly turned directly towards me. Also like that his feet were hanging like landing gear coming down.
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 @ F10, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
All Puffed Up
This white morph reddish egret was all puffed up while strutting around Bolivar Flats. There has been a record crop of white morph’s around this neck of the woods lately, which is very cool.
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
1/2000 sec @ F8, ISO 400, evaluative metering, no exposure compensation
Reddish Egret Stalking
This reddish egret was stalking its prey just after sunrise. He had his head on the down low while running towards the fish. His legs lined up perfectly that it looks like he only has one leg with two feet attached to it.
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 @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 1/3 exposure compensation
You Lookin at Me??
You lookin at me? Better not be. My boys behind me will come after you.
Made another trip to Bolivar Flats over the Memorial Day weekend while guiding three clients for two days. They were at the end of a 3 week trip across south Texas with the Galveston area their last stop. Thanks again to Kent, Bill and Ian for allowing me to show you around this part of Texas. Had a great time and got to see lots of birds.
Made two stops to Bolivar Flats and found some avocets, reddish egrets and lots of snowy egrets. Had several opportunities for some interaction shots which are always fun. One was a little weird with an avocet trying to mate with an inanimate object. More on that later.
While focusing on a avocet, saw two snowy egrets walking behind him. Switched my attention to the background and visualized this shot coming as they crossed behind him. The avocet cooperated by staring at me while getting some scratching action in. Made for a cool shot.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4x III teleconverter mounted on a Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/1250 sec @ F10, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Yellowstone Winter Trees
It’s getting quite toasty with the heat/humidity in SE Texas so I thought that it was time to cool it down a touch with a couple of photos from Yellowstone in winter. My trip was focused on “wildlife” but we did stop a couple of times for some landscape photos. Proof that I can somewhat take non-critter photos.
I wasn’t the best prepared traveling without my ball head but made
do. Trying to use a 17-40mm lens on a gimbal head was a challenge though. Plus breaking my 100-400 lens on day 1 didn’t help so the last shot was with my 500mm lens. Next time I’ll have my back-up camera ready with my wide-angle lens for just such an occasion.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 17-40mm lens mounted on tripod.
Manual mode, 1/60 sec @ F11, ISO 200, spot metered off the snow + 2 stops
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II handheld
Manual mode, 1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 100, spot metered off the snow + 2 stops
Spoonbill Wingspan
Drove down to the Rockport, TX area at the end of April to participate in a workshop with Hector Astorga. We spent two mornings visiting the Aransas NWR rookery by boat. We experienced very high winds and high surf but boat captain Kevin Sims did an excellent job as always. It was quite the roller coaster ride getting to the rookery with three foot waves bouncing the small flat-bottomed boat around in the dark before sunrise.
Once we arrived at the rookery, the waves reduced but the anchor wasn’t successful at keeping the boat still so Kevin put on his waders, jumped into the water and held onto the boat to keep it from moving around. He would then push the boat around manually when we needed to switch positions around the island. He definitely went above and beyond the call of duty on this trip
The rookery was filled with great blue herons and spoonbills, along with a few snowy egrets, reddish egrets, black crowned night herons, oystercatchers and terns. Most of the chicks were fairly large but were still actively being fed by their parents.
Caught this spoonbill coming in for a landing with his wings outstretched while positioned at the upper deck of the boat. With the wind/waves, it was challenging to keep the camera steady on my tripod. Took way too many photos but liked how this one turned out. Very minimal cropping on the right side. Had to crank up the ISO to 3200 to get a decent shutter speed.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, 500mm
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
Flying Fish – White Morph Style
As a continuation from my last post, both white morph reddish egrets that we saw caught some very large fish. A lazy or very smart brown pelican then started to chase the white morphs to scare them into dropping the fish so that he could reap the benefits of the great fishing skills of the egrets.
This white morph apparently fled the scene and kept the fish in tow while flying, which was a first for me to see, let alone photograph. Luckily he landed fairly close to us with a very nice wing spread.
Got some photos of the pelican getting one of the white morphs to drop his fish later in the morning. I’ll post those next time.
This was one of my most successful guiding trips to Bolivar Flats. This was a very rare event to witness/photograph so I’m very pleased that my client got to see this behavior and get some great photos.
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 @ F11, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F11, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F11, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
White Morph Reddish Egret
On this recent trip to Bolivar Flats in Texas, the reddish egrets were out in force, including two white morph’s. I was guiding Bruno from San Diego, who hadn’t seen a white morph before so it was great timing. They danced around right in front of us and both ended up catching some very large fish and had a close encounter with a brown pelican. More photos to come.
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 @ F10, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
1/2000 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
Ground Level Bird Photography Field Trip #1 – Galveston FeatherFest 2017
Last Thursday through Sunday was a very busy time for me at Galveston’s Texas FeatherFest. I led three classroom workshops and three field trips. This was my 5th year being one of the photography leaders and it was a blast, as always.
My field trip on Saturday started off by catching the 6:00 a.m. Bolivar Ferry. I met up with my group once we got off of the ferry and they followed me to Bolivar Flats. It was going to be a sunny morning with low tide so I was hoping that the birds were going to be out. Reports from the previous day indicated that the tide was abnormally low along the jetty without many birds in that area. Upon pulling up to the parking area on the beach, I could see that there were some exposed sandbars and what looked like a flock of avocets, which was a major relief. After we geared up, I gave everyone a quick lesson on how to try to try to keep their hands clean when lying down and getting up and we headed out.
There were two other photographers lying on the beach shooting the avocets so I decided to take my group out on the sandbar so that we weren’t looking into the sun all morning. We walked through the water to the sandbar without incident, which wasn’t the case on Sunday. More on that on my next post.
Ended up having the group lay down on the sandbar in a long row so that we wouldn’t be in each others line of fire for photography. We had 8 participants along with myself and my liaison, who helps me keep track of everyone and gets us back to the headquarters on time. I had the first person lay down near the water line at the north edge of the sandbar since the tide was supposed to be receding. Well that theory didn’t work too well as the water level came up later and the first couple of people started getting wet so we had to shift the line to the right, which would have been an interesting video.
The flock of avocets kept walking back and forth across the area between the sandbars, which provided some decent photo op’s. It’s always a challenge of trying to get one of the birds isolated from the flock. Decided to get a little closer after a while so we practiced crawling on the sand while pushing our ground pods along.
After the action died down, I had the group rotate 180 deg. so that we could get some photos of willets that were in the water behind us. Also, I had noticed several groups of avocets and brown pelicans flying by our sandbar and it finally hit me that we should turn around and get photos of them flying towards us. That turned out to be a great decision as they birds kept coming our way for the rest of the field trip.
Thanks to Richard Howard for being my liaison and to everyone who came out to play in the wet sand with me. I’m hoping that you had as much fun as I did and got some great photos from a different perspective that what you normally see.
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.
This photo is of the flock of avocets that kept walking back and forth in front of us.
Aperture priority, 1/1250 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 700mm
Caught these two avocets that were isolated from the rest of the group. I’m always looking for how two birds will interact of make an interesting photo together, such as their beaks crossing when coming close to each other, etc. These two made a cool mirror image of each other.
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, -1/3 exposure compensation, 700mm
After we turned around, several groups of avocets flew close to us. This group was clustered together when I first spotted them and they then spread out as they got closer to us. The ones on my far right were doing some very cool synchronized flying with common wing positions.
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F10, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation, 700mm
This is the same group 1 second later as they got a little closer.
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F10, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
Here are the group photos so that I have evidence that yes, they actually laid down in the wet sand and…
Aperture priority, 1/1250 sec @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
…that they got wet and dirty. Mission accomplished.
Aperture priority, 1/1250 sec @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
Willet Wars
On my last trip to Bolivar Flats, the willets were in fighting mode with breeding season in full swing. While taking photos of avocets, the willets were squawking away and chasing each other around. These two started going at it and were circling around after one grabbed the others neck. He then lifted off trying to get away but the other one held on for a while. He finally broke free and left the area.
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 @F 7.1, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, + 1 1/3 exposure compensation
Avocet Silhouette
About 3 minuets after the brown pelican sunrise photo per my last post, caught this group of American Avocets passing under the sunrise. Made for a cool silhouette 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
Aperture priority, 1/8000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 1600, 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.
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
Bighorn Sheep
Another first for me was to see Bighorn Sheep in the wild on my Yellowstone trip. We searched for a few days in the Lamar Valley looking for them with no luck. On our next to last day, we found two of them just outside of town. We parking along the highway and got several good looks from them.
One of my favorites was this face to face interaction. Not the right time of year for head butting but it was cool to see.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head.
Manual exposure, 1/1600 sec @ F8, ISO 400
Manual exposure, 1/1600 sec @ F8, ISO 400
Whooping Cranes
Made my first trip to the Rockport, TX area to see the Whooping Cranes a few weeks ago. It’s been on my bucket list forever since I’ve lived in Texas but never made it there until now. Thanks Scott for the invitation.
We took a boat tour with Kevin Sims and he got us very close to the cranes at the Aransas NWR. He has a small flat-bottomed boat that he beaches on the shore to help keep it stable to shoot from with a tripod. With the upper and lower decks, there are plenty of different perspectives to get.
http://texasbirdingphotos.net/
We went out for two mornings in a row but it was cloudy most of the time. I’ll definitely be going back again next year.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500MM F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley gimbal head
1/2500 sec @ F11, ISO 800, evaluative metering, -2/3 exposure compensation
1/1250 sec @ F10, ISO 400, evaluative metering
Moose Encounter at Yellowstone
Here are some photos of my first Moose encounter in Yellowstone. We found this one as we were headed to Cooke City on the north side of Yellowstone. Jared spotted a female moose and made a quick turn around with his vehicle to try to find it again. We ended up having to drive to the next turn-around as the snow was quite high along the road. By the time that we got back, Doug had spotted this male bull moose walking through the trees.
We set up near the road as he walked out of the tree line right in front of us. It was very exciting as he got into open ground in the virgin show.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter, mounted on a tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head.
Manual mode, 1/2000 sec @ F7.1, ISO 800, spot metering off of the snow
Long-Tailed Weasel
Here are some photos of a Long-Tailed Weasel from Yellowstone. He was originally identified as an Ermine but later was corrected to the Long-Tailed Weasel due to the length of his tail. The black tip on their tails help them survive as raptors will go for the black tip and allow them to escape.
Meggi spotted him while will we were headed down one of the snow covered roads. The snowcoach driver stopped suddenly, I grabbed my 500mm lens and headed to the door. Of course, the driver was trying to grab some of his gear and hadn’t opened the door. I started raising my voice and ended up yelling for him to “please open the door!”. That got his attention and I started shooting from the open door. However, the people behind me weren’t too pleased so I bailed out of the vehicle and the pursuit was on for this little critter.
In my haste to get at least a few shots before he disappeared under the snow, I forgot my hat and gloves. Also forgot that my 1.4X was still on, so trying to quickly focus on this fast moving little critter was a major challenge. He ran back and forth along near the road for about 20 min. At one point he ran across the road and back and went straight for our workshop leader, Jared. Thought that we was going to try to run up his leg.
Several other vehicles stopped while we were there to get photos. It was lots of chaos but also lots of fun. Had to sneak back to the bus at one point to grab my hat/gloves and take off the teleconverter.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III telconverter, handheld
1/2500 sec @ F7.1, ISO 800, spot metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
1/2000 sec @ F7.1, ISO 800, spot metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm, with minimal cropping
Nature’s Snowplow
This bison was found in a snowbank and plowed his way to the road. Very sturdy beasts for sure. At this stop, I started out using my 500mm lens on a tripod and then switched to the 100-400, which was a good move. Ended up with a good variety of shots.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 100-400 II lens, handheld
Manual mode, 1/1000 sec @ F6.3, ISO 400, spot metering off the snow
Since the colors were muted in the snow, converted it to B&W using NIK Silver Efex Pro II
Tim Timmis Photography 