![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/yellow-warbler-6562-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"yellow-warbler-6562-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nMy first Yellow Warbler of the year and I caught him at takeoff. With this species, quality takeoff and flight shots are highly unusual for me.<\/p>\n
Because of our unusually deep snowpack in the mountains this spring, both the birds and this photographer have been later than usual in getting into the high country. Yesterday morning I made my first trip up there this year and Yellow Warblers were the most common songbirds I found.<\/p>\n
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1\/5000, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This male was unusually patient and cooperative for a warbler but while he was perched here I wasn’t particularly fond of the shadow across his lower back. And because he was a tiny, flitty and incredibly speedy warbler I knew I had virtually no chance of getting him taking off or in flight. Compared to my reflexes they’re just too fast, especially when I’m close.<\/p>\n But every once in a great while the photography gods smile in my direction.<\/p>\n My Canon R5 is set at a burst rate of 12 frames\/second (I don’t use the even faster electronic shutter), which means that when I try to take a single photo I often take two because I don’t get my finger off the shutter button fast enough. This shot was meant to be a single photo, but two of them fired off and…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n this was the result of the second, unintentional, shot.<\/p>\n In a nanosecond the bird had launched himself horizontally and I even had plenty of room in the frame on the right for a composition that works for me. I like his feet pushing off, his slightly raised wings and the way the horizontal branch seems to be leading him out of the frame.<\/p>\n Shots like this are one of at least three reasons I typically use faster shutter speeds than most bird photographers. Even at a SS of 1\/5000, his feet are moving so fast they’re more than a little soft (at f\/5.6 that softness may also be partially caused by insufficient depth of field).<\/p>\n I’d rather err on the side of too much shutter speed than too little.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My first Yellow Warbler of the year and I caught him at takeoff. With this species, quality takeoff and flight shots are highly unusual for me. (2 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/yellow-warbler-6563-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"yellow-warbler-6563-ron-dudley\\"")
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