![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/belted-kingfisher-3600-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-3600-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nMy first decent kingfisher takeoff or flight shot in seven months.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n If memory serves I haven’t had a good opportunity with a Belted Kingfisher since last October so six days ago in the mountains I was pretty happy to see (and hear) this guy fly in and land reasonably close to me. He fished the stream below him for quite a while without success so I got oodles of photos of him while he was perched but the setting was cluttered with branches and twigs so I’m not fond of those shots.<\/p>\n He didn’t dive on a fish a single time while he was here so my best chance for takeoff and flight shots would be if his patience ran out before mine did and he took off to fish elsewhere. It was a very long wait with my eye glued to the viewfinder but when he finally took off I got this single sharp shot that I like, despite its shortcomings.<\/p>\n Those shortcomings include a cluttered setting and whites under his wing that don’t have a lot of detail in them. I also wish I hadn’t had to crank up my ISO to 1600 in order to (barely) have enough shutter speed for flight shots. But I like his takoff posture (especially his wing position), I have light in his eye and most importantly, he’s sharp – even in such low light with a marginal shutter speed.<\/p>\n I have better kingfisher photos than this one but when I think back on all the years that kingfisher takeoff and flight shots were a huge nemesis for me it reminds me that back then I’d have given my shutter finger for a photo like this one. I suppose that’s hyperbole, but not by much.<\/p>\n It’s all a matter of perspective.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My first decent kingfisher takeoff or flight shot in seven months.<\/p>\n