A quick post this morning. Network Solutions (non-solutions) is being their usual non-reliable self (as I’m sure many of you already know from the slow load-times of my blog) so making a more detailed post is virtually impossible. I apologize for the inconvenience and frustration.
1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light
I spent some more time with my favorite Loggerhead Shrike family yesterday morning and was able to get this image of a juvenile soon after lift-off. This may be my favorite shrike flight shot so far.
Ron
Sensational Ron! Thanks so much for sharing!
Charlotte
Favorite? With good reason.
Wow, wow and wow. And yes, your posts are often slow to load – but soooo worth the wait.
Thanks, Elephant’s Child. I’m working on it.
Ron; I love this one, but I also like the one from yesterday. Ron; do you have a camera battery grip on your 7D?
Maria, I have a battery grip for my older 40D but seldom needed it so I never got them for my two 7D’s. I mostly wanted it for the ease of shooting vertically rather than the extra battery power on board but it’s very easy and quick to switch out a battery and I find the added size with the grip attached would get in the way when I’m shooting in the fairly cramped space of my vehicle.
The reason I asked you is because I acquired “de Quervain’s tenosynovitis” (an inflammation of two tendons that both abduct and extend the thumb). I have a suspicion this condition may have been aggravated because I didn’t use the battery grip, which is ‘supposed’ to improve the grip on the camera. Anyway, now I know I’m not the only one that doesn’t use these battery grips. My logic now is that they also add weight, and each hand is shaped so differently, and my hands are not that big, so I decided to stop buying them (the Rebel does well with one though because it’s small). I actually do very well handholding the 70-200 IS f/4, but when I hand hold the 100-400mm I need a wrist brace (one that also supports the thumb). The logic of the battery grip (besides the extra battery power) is the ergonomic improvement of the hand grip on the camera. Since the grip adds more circumference area to hold on to, it improves the overall grip. I also probably have “basal thumb arthritis” too; which is just the wear and tear at the base of the thumb. I might consider the grip for the Rebel; but the 60D would be just too heavy, for me anyway.
I can see why this is your favorite of the shrike photos. It gets me as much as the one yesterday when the bird was about to lift off. Slow loading times are frustrating, but the photos are always worth the wait.
Thanks, Susan. We’ve been working at trying to correct the loading problem all day but it may not be completely resolved for a few days. Very frustrating!
Colors, montage, perfect arc of the wing, beautiful!
Thank you, Patty.
Slow, but sure…finally came through and well worth the wait. I have very mixed feelings about these birds…more positive now than before, thanks to your photos and comments, but can still remember the horror I felt when I first learned how they impale, sometimes still living prey, on thorns, etc. The nickname “butcher bird” is a euphemism, but they’re still not as awful as humans can be to each other and all other beings…and for what? Certainly not for food.
The loading problems may continue until early next week, Patty (long story).
That’s terrific Ron!
I really enjoyed studying all its aspects. The lens you used performed exceptionally well – with
perfect focus on the face. I particularly like the colours behind, from a painterly point of view.
No wonder you’re pleased with it.
Cheers, Paul.
I like the colors in that background too, Paul – one of the photographer’s delights on Antelope Island is the potential for very nice backgrounds.