For the bird species I typically photograph the courtship displays of Sage Thrashers are unique. These displays don’t last for long in the spring and this year I was beginning to think I would miss getting any decent images of them performing but yesterday morning on Antelope Island this bird saved my bacon.
1/6400, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
While displaying these thrashers raise one or both wings and flutter them for several seconds while singing almost continually. Usually they have their back to me or are too far away when they do it but this bird (presumably a male) apparently forgot about his role as a difficult photo subject and performed in good light and in profile with a graded background that I like. The sagebrush setting is a little cluttered but I’ll take it.
1/8000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
After a short time “he” moved forward a little on the sagebrush and performed again.
I can’t believe the shutter speed I got for these two images. They were both taken before 9 AM so the light wasn’t particularly bright and I was going by the seat of my pants without checking settings for fear of missing the display. In hindsight I wish I’d had more depth of field to get a little more of the sagebrush sharp but I really don’t think it would have made much difference.
But at these shutter speeds there sure isn’t any motion blur…
Ron
Fantastic Ron!
C
These are both great images of the golden-eyed one..Especially like the first where the bird is doing his “Sage Dance”….and singing at the same time!
“Sage Dance” – I might steal that one, Patty, since it’s so appropriate with this bird that spends much so much of its time in sage – thus its name.
Your English is so good, so natural, it’s hard to remember it’s a second laguage for you…
I agree, Patty – Jorge’s English is quite impressive.
And you Patty helped me a lot through our chats.
Thank you.
Gorgeous images. As for the sagebrush being a little cluttered…it’s part of the visual story so it’s all good.
Dave, those sagebrush “twigs” don’t bother me much in these two images because the thrasher is largely clear of them. However, that’s often not the case when birds perch in sage.
For those of us who haven’t seen/smelled sage in a very long time (WAY too long a time), no complaining about it being in the shot. Just sayin’. And you know you’re your own worst critic, don’t you? Just putting that in there alongside my ridiculously redundant OH WOW! and a YOWZER thrown in for good measure! 😉
As for that luck thing, famed race team owner Roger Penske used to say “luck is where preparation meets opportunity.” And there you have it. WIN!
I agree, Laura – the smell of sage is delicious. I can imagine how much you miss it.
I SO miss the “delicious” (a really good descriptor) sage aroma. When I lived in Wyoming, I drove into the field so carefully, staying on the established two-track, to avoid hurting the sage, but then walking through it, Mariah owning her skies there, oh just Oh MY! The scent was always there, delighting my senses, plus the joy of being out in the field with a redtail hawk who owned her skies. THAT was about as close to nirvana as I’m likely to get in this life. So, when sage is in your shot, it brings back enormous, lovely memories!
Ron, regarding your high shutter speed for toady’s great photos: I have noticed here and in previous postings that you seem to set your ISO manually at higher values than the camera would set automatically, in order to get a higher shutter speed. Is this correct? I do it sometimes but then forget to set to ISO back to automatic and may get a lower ISO than needed in subsequent shots in darker conditions.
“you seem to set your ISO manually at higher values than the camera would set automatically, in order to get a higher shutter speed. Is this correct?”
Yes, that’s correct, Ricardo. I want absolute control over ISO so I never have it set on automatic.
Besides the fact that enjoy very much and learn a lot from seeing your blog there is another thing I’ve never mention before that gives me a lot of pleasure too. I’am always learning new words and expressions like today’s “I was going by the seat of my pants”.
I must confess that at first I thought that it was something about your pants and the seat of your Van… After a little reserch I know now it means “to go along using your intuition”. So I thank you for helping me to improve my English.
Interesting performance. Great catch.
Wow, Jorge, I never thought of that but it’s logical that some of our sayings wouldn’t make any sense to you at first. When I think about some of them I often wonder how silly they sound when taken literally. For what it’s worth I think your handle on the English language is excellent.
Thank you for your kind words but I know I still have a lot to learn.
Finally! Your persistence definitely pays off. Beautiful shots. How do you keep the no-seems at bay? Two days ago I got eaten alive!
“How do you keep the no-seems at bay”
There’s simply no practical way to keep those biting gnats at bay, Larry. They ate me alive yesterday too. Bug juice helps a little when freshly applied but those little buggers are a royal pain in the patoot. And everywhere else…
Neat little bird. 🙂 The shutter speed sure did stop the motion and was no doubt needed! Your depth of field caught the important part.:) The “seat of your pants” amounts to MUCH experience and practice, I’m sure. 🙂
Judy, in this case the seat of my pants didn’t serve me particularly well but thankfully the results were still pretty good IMO…