![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/long-billed-curlew-1514-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"long-billed-curlew-1514-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nMe, not the curlew.<\/p>\n
I was pretty discouraged at the beginning of my trip to Bear River MBR three days ago. From watching the sun relative to the clouds as I was arriving at the auto tour loop, I knew that I’d only have about 10 minutes of light before much of the rest of the morning would be heavily overcast. And at that point I hadn’t yet taken a single photo with any potential merit.<\/p>\n
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1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 1000, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n As I was driving slowly west on the beginning of the deserted, one-way dirt road with my tail between my legs, this Long-billed Curlew flew up from behind me and to my left. I didn’t even see ‘him’ until he was nearly parallel with my pickup window so the bird would be past me in just a couple of seconds. But I had my camera on my lap with the end of my lens poking out the window so I went for the gusto, raised my lens and fired off a few shots while I was still driving.<\/p>\n In those conditions I had almost no chance of getting any decent photos but my attempt at a Hail Mary kept him in frame for 13 shots and two of them were ‘sharp enough’, whatever that is, even with a shutter speed of only 1\/1600. This is one of them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 1000, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Here’s the other one. I think I prefer this one, although neither is what I’d call a great shot.<\/p>\n I’ve attempted photographing birds in flight while I was driving slowly on deserted dirt or gravel roads a few times before but in the past I’ve always forgotten to glance at my speedometer to see how fast I was going. This time I remembered. My driving speed was 14 mph on a rough, although recently graded, dirt road. I have better curlew flight shots but for me when I’m evaluating my photos, DOD (degree of difficulty) matters.<\/p>\n I dunno, maybe it takes a seasoned bird photographer with a super telephoto lens to fully understand the challenges of that shooting situation.<\/p>\n I’ve never bought a lottery ticket in my life and strait-laced Utah doesn’t allow them anyway, but if they did I’d have stopped and bought a few on my way home.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Me, not the curlew. (2 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/long-billed-curlew-1507-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"long-billed-curlew-1507-ron-dudley\\"")
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