- I’m very late posting today. My server was down from the time I got up until midafternoon. It hasn’t been a fun day.
The moment I saw this photo from yesterday morning on my monitor it became my personal favorite of an American Robin. For me degree of difficulty matters.
And no, I’m not talking about this one. I’m only including it to help me tell the story.
Yesterday morning in the mountains the robins seemed to be going out of their collective mind. There were dozens of them calling, bickering and chasing each other and other birds around. You’d have thought it was springtime and their reproductive hormones were responsible for the ongoing brouhaha that lasted for a very long time.
Much of the excitement may have been caused by the presence of this hawthorn bush that was loaded with fruit (pomes resembling berries). Some of the robins were gorging themselves on the ‘berries’ as other robins zoomed around the bush chasing each other.
The hawthorn was at the base of a very steep hill. I noticed one of the robins land on an old fence high on the hill above me and behind the hawthorn so I trained my lens on ‘him’ even though he was far away. I had hopes he’d take off and fly straight down the hill toward me and the hawthorn and I’d be able to get flight shots as he descended the hill.
This time my strategy paid off.
1/5000, 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
I was able to get this single sharp photo as he plunged almost straight down the hill in the general direction of the hawthorn. It may appear like I’m looking down on him but he was still quite a ways above me, which is evidence of how steeply downward he was hurtling. The steep flight angle combined with his wing position and concentration reminds me a little of a raptor diving on prey.
I don’t photograph robins as often as I should. For me this photo is yet another reminder that the ‘common’ species deserve more attention than they get from bird photographers.
Including me.
Ron
The more I watch robins, the more things I see them do. This dive shows great variability in the way they can fly. Last week, watching ones arriving in the evening after migrating all day, I watch them flycatch over ponds while making their way to night roosts in the trees and shrubs.
Great shot.
Makes me look at a robin in a whole different light!!
Great capture!
Spectacular Ron. I love both of these amazing shots. Especially the shot of the robin diving like a peregrine falcon! The background is stunning and sets the perfect stage.
Always thought of Robins as being docile until I saw this incredible photo! It is quite incredible and I’ll hold my comments as you and your readers have captured the excitement! Thank you for the thrill, Ron
Alice, these robins were far from docile. They were so intent on chasing each other in flight a couple of them almost flew into my pickup window. It was great fun to watch it all going down.
Colour me gob-smacked.
This is a brilliant, brilliant shot and the determination of the pint sized warrior is clear to see. And I flatly refuse to apologise for anthromorphising.
This is a shot I would love to have on my wall – and I hope you will consider it too.
I’ve about run out of wall space, EC. But I think it’s past time to replace many of my older ones. Some of them were taken many years ago and aren’t really very good.
Please talk to your devoted fans and followers befores you ‘discard’ any of them permanently. If you get my drift.
Oh. My. Goodness! What a photo! My jaw is still on the floor. Thank you, Ron.
Thank you very much, Nina. I kinda like it myself.
Phenomenal!!
Such a great shot!
Thanks, Dick.
Common Robin transformed into Super Robin. I can visualize a small lovely action hero cape between its wings. Very suspenseful shot Ron! Excellent!
I can almost see that cape! Thanks, Kathleen.
WOW– that was a shot worth waiting for…..never thought I’d see a robin
looking like a dive-bomber !
Thanks, Kris. Good analogy.
I AGREE! Wonderful photo #1 and #2 is great also………😀 #1 captures the bird and feeding well – colors and setting are great! #2 is cool for the Robin “diving”. Ours are all gone – Spotted Towhees left but now are back – or another group – WEIRD year…….
“Ours are all gone”
Maybe “yours” were some of the robins I photographed yesterday, Judy. There sure was a bunch of them. Some of our robins stick around all winter.
You may be interested that my cousin on the farm near Cut Bank sent me a photo of birds yesterday that he wanted identified. They were Blue Jays! My jaw dropped when I saw what they were. I’ve never heard of Blue Jays up there. He managed to get a closeup photo with 5 Blue Jays in it.
WOW! We had a few Blue Jays show up here a couple of years back – was new too us tho guess in Highwood they’ve been around. Relation in GF photographed powerlines near the river just covered with birds – can’t tell what they are – more than she’s ever seen and she is an observer of such things.
It happens to be my personal favorite now as well.
Followers the world over were frustrated this morning with “server not responding” when clicking on Feathered Photography. I guess your server wasn’t either, or something similar.
Lyle, that’s part of the reason why today was so difficult for me. I know that many hundreds of subscribers were wondering where in the hell my post email was. And what was going on – was it a technical glitch or had something unfortunate happened to me?
And there was no way to let most of them know what was going on. The only folks I could notify were the ones who follow me on Facebook.
The dive photo is superb. If I were sculpting a bird in bronze I’d want that image–or something similar–as my model to underscore the powerful movement of the subject by stopping it in an otherwise static, hard material. It’s my theory that it must come from all the traditional field guides I have pored over that I can sometimes become lulled into thinking of birds only as simple, stiff profiles when in fact their bodies are so flexible most species are capable of contortion to extremes unimaginable for humans. And in this more or less routine flight posture captured in a remarkable photo I am again reminded there’s much more to them than those drawings in all those guides. Audubon worked that into his classic artistic views so it isn’t entirely without precedent. Then again, he was creating his plates for a lucrative commercial market and not the scientific one. Simply a great photo.
Thanks very much, Jim. You’ve said that very well.
Audubon is sometimes criticized for painting his birds in contorted, ‘unnatural’ poses. I’d argue (as you have) that most folks don’t realize what’s natural and what isn’t because many of those poses occur so quickly we don’t really ‘see’ them.
WOW! WOW! Spectacular, awesome.
Thank you, Kaye.
I’ve had those frustrating days before, but that one photo makes up for it all. Very dramatic and action-filled. Very nice to see. It also shows things that I would find very useful if I were teaching my students about flight. (Sorry. I know not everyone gets as excited about some fine details as I do.) The way the tail is spread, the height of the raised wings and especially the separation of the primaries and secondaries. This one photo makes a great starting point in discussing what happens when a bird takes flight. Thanks for sharing it.
Dan, I’m glad you agree that the image is special. I thought so the moment I laid eyes on it but you’ve explained part of the reason why better than I ever could.
Excellent photos. That diving one sure looks like a Peregrine Falcon in total concentration centered on the prey he is about to hit. Eagles and raptors are easy to get take off or diving photos, but songbirds, now that takes some skill. Great job Ron.
Yup, songbirds shots like this one take some skill but luck is always a factor too. That’s why perseverance matters. Thanks, Everett.
Kudos to you for fighting your server — and winning! Thank you so much; I can only imagine how @#%$&** frustrating that must have been.
So glad you won! These shots are great — I never thought I’d see a divebombing robin! Totally worth the wait. ❤️
Thanks, Marty. And you’re right, it was a very frustrating day. I’m not cut out for days like this, caused by factors completely out of my control.
Wow!!
🙂
It looks like a Sailor Jerry tattoo!
I had to look that one up, Arwen. Now I agree.
Oh, my! This is glorious! There’s nothing else to say!
Thank you, Shoreacres.
Wow. What a beautiful shot — and worth waiting for! 🙂
“worth waiting for”
True or not, thanks for saying that Kathy. What a frustrating day!