Yesterday afternoon I dared myself. This is the result.
This is the worst winter for light I remember in the almost 13 years I’ve been photographing birds. Most days I stay home because it’s usually a waste of time, money and gas to photograph birds in such dismal light. As a result more of my recent blog posts than usual have been featuring older photos from my archives. I love many of my older photos but I don’t want to rest on my laurels forever.
So yesterday I visited one of our local ponds (it’s very close to my home so at least I’d be saving gas) and dared myself to post the best shot I could get in that light to my blog and use it to explain to my viewers why I’m posting so many older photos lately. I fully expected it to be an awful shot but then my readers would better understand why I’ve been visiting my archives so often recently.
I wanted to give myself the best chance possible to get a reasonably good photo or two so when a tiny sucker hole (I do mean tiny) appeared in the clouds I raced down to the pond (it only takes me a couple of minutes to get there) and gave it my best shot. But in the 10 minutes or so when I had pretty good light no interesting bird cooperated and then the sun disappeared again behind the thick layer of clouds.
When a Pied-billed Grebe came in close I watched “him” through my lens more out of habit than anything. The light was so poor I didn’t even keep my finger on the shutter button most of the time.
But then in an instant two things happened simultaneously that allowed me to get a couple of reasonably good photos (in my opinion, your mileage may vary).
1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
The grebe performed a bilateral horizontal wing stretch at the exact same moment the clouds thinned out enough to give me just a little bit of light.
The stretch lasted less than two seconds and this was the best shot I managed to get. He gave me a nice head turn during the process that even provided a catch light in his eye. I think it’s an interesting pose and though viewers may or may not like the colors and reflections in the water they sure look better than they did before I had a glimmer of light.
Good photo or not so good it is what it is and it’s the best I was able to manage so I decided to honor my personal dare and post it to my blog.
Our long range forecast finally improves to partly cloudy by mid-week so maybe there’s a chance for some serious bird photography after that. But given the truly embarrassing accuracy record of our forecasters there’s probably a better chance that our current resident of the White House will become an environmentalist.
Yes, I’ll admit it. I’m a pessimist by nature.
Ron
HAHA!!! You make me laugh. For what it’s worth, I think it’s a great shot of a darling species. I mean, look at that face!!! *love* Grebes are very cool birds, especially their feet. And if it’s any comfort, our weather forecasters only get it right about 40% of the time here in Tulsa. And they get PAID to be wrong that often. Amazing.
Here’s to some much needed sunshine.
Thanks, Leslie. We actually had a couple of hours of completely unexpected sunshine this afternoon!
I also like the complementary colors of water and Grebe. A couple of features I’ve never noticed (perhaps just individual variation) but your closeup make stand out: the darker neck (some books show it, others don’t), and the white feathers (I assume) at the base of the right wing which really look like bone or cartilage.
Boy, we seem to have an exchange in temperatures. Here it is high teen’s and low twenties. Reminds me of Cache Valley cold.
Thanks, Lyle. I remember Cache Valley winters from when I attended USU (Richard’s Hall). Much colder than down here in Salt Lake.
Love it-the way the primaries are fanned out, and the way most feathers are so distinct!
Thank you, Caroline.
As I read the text I thought to myself that your ‘reasonably good’ photos would be ones I was more than happy with. And I was right. Righter than our weather bureau who are often accurate on temperature but not on precipitation. Speaking of which we have some useful (albeit not fire dousing) rain predicted for Thursday. I so hope that this time they are not lying like pigs in mud.
And I love the pose, the feather details and the colour of the Grebe. Many thanks.
Thanks, EC. I hope you’re (very) pleasantly surprised and your rain does turn out to be a “fire dousing” one.
Gorgeous photo, Ron. Every feather is etched and the water and “air” look cold. Also, to me most fascinating, the alulae are so pronounced – makes me see why that “thumb” is called a “bastard wing.” And now I’m really really curious how it developed!
Sallie, here’s a little about what we know and don’t know about the alula from Wikipedia:
“The presence of an alula has been confirmed in several now-extinct ancient relatives of modern birds, including Eoalulavis hoyasi (an enantiornithine from the mid-Cretaceous, 115[4] mya) and the earlier Protopteryx fengningensis.[5] Since these species are not closely related to modern birds, either the alula evolved twice, or it did so more than 130 million years ago. “
This made me laugh and fitting for your comment at the end of your post today 😁
SNOW ALERT
Expecting:
Zero (0) to 85 inches
Starting:
Sat. Sun. Or Mon. Maybe, but probably not happening at all.
Recommendations:
Stock up on necessities immediately and prepare for a snowpocalypse or a beautiful weekend, either one is possible.
Yup, that’s about it, Diana.
Many years ago my grandfather had this to say about fishing: “It’s not how many fish you catch, It all about being out there in the fresh air and experiencing the water, the beach and nature.” I feel the same way about my photography. I want to be out of the house and surrounded by God’s beautiful creations. If I bring home some good images it makes it an even better day !! That all being said, the day is grey here in New England and I am staying in to finalize plans for my next trip out to your area: Antelope Island, Bear River and then up to Yellowstone next May/June. HA !
That sounds like a great trip, Gary. Perfect time of year for it too.
Now THAT is making lemonade out of lemons! 🙂 🙂 😉 The pose is great. At least you got out there! We’re doing the wind chill advisory thing for the week – up N it’s a “warning” for a few days….. 🙁 Little snow to protect everything….. 🙁 On the $$$ side furnace and humidifier are running “frequently”……
Judy, I wish I had a little more sugar for the lemonade but I’ll drink it anyway!
Speaking of expense for heating the house, I remember when we lived on the farm all winter using propane for heat. Now that was expensive!
Several decades later they finally ran a natural gas line to the farm (which wasn’t cheap to do).
Propane is where we’re at with an older house as in it was originally and old one room school house moved in and revamped in the 50’s…. 😉 Beats electric for price tho! Running lines for any utilities was/is never “cheap”…… 😉
Since you’re using propane I’ll bet you’re aware of EVERY time the furnace comes on $$$
Beautiful picture. I love how the silvery/brown reflections echo and enhance the gray and brown feathers of the bird.
Thank you, Joanne.
Ron, some of your more professional photographer followers can nitpick this photo and look for flaws, but to me it is gorgeous. I love it. The wing spread, the colors of the Grebe against the colors of the water, and the catch-light all make for a really attractive photo. Grebes like Coots and some other winged friends are often overlooked by photographers looking for more exciting opportunities, but I have always appreciated their presence in our lakes. And of course glad you were able to find a small break in that dismal weather.
Thanks, Everett. I’m glad you like it. I agree with you about both grebes and coots. Our feisty coots should become a lot more fun to photograph very soon when their spring hormones start flowing.
Really like that photo! They are an interesting looking bird and ever so often I think they come up with a pose that makes you glad you were there to be able to capture it…as this is one. Not nature’s prettiest but this one to save. Our weather has been so similar to your; even the temps are close. At least we are starting to gain more length to our days to help things out
“Not nature’s prettiest”
I agree, Kathy. But I like to photograph them in part because of their interesting and often aggressive behaviors.