Hopefully I’ll be able to get online today using my hotspot.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Yesterday morning, while I was photographing other birds on the ground and on the water at Bear River MBR, a small group of Double-crested Cormorants flew by unexpectedly. They weren’t real close and blue sky backgrounds aren’t my favorite but as is my habit I instinctively raised my lens and fired off a short burst anyway. You just never know when you might document a bird that’s unusual in some way or an interesting behavior.<\/p>\n So these three sequential photos are grab shots. Total elapsed time from first to last was less than 2\/10ths of a second.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n The cormorants were headed north but suddenly a south-bound pelican appeared at the top of my screen. In this shot they don’t appear to be particularly close to each other but the pelican was headed for a pond to my left so it was descending quickly. Quickly enough that in the next shot in the burst…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n the pelican and one of the cormorants nearly collided. At least it looked that way.<\/p>\n I had no idea the pelican was anywhere in the area and it happened so quickly all I saw through my viewfinder was a large flash of white zooming through the frame from right to left. So I didn’t know what had occurred until I looked at my photos at home. I figure their closing speed was somewhere between 50 and 60 mph so it’s a damn good thing they missed each other. Just imagine the explosion of feathers.<\/p>\n With birds you just never know what might happen and that’s another way they make my life more interesting.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – In case you’re wondering…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Yes, I found Old Stoneface in ‘his’ favorite spot for the third time in my last three visits to the refuge. And no, he didn’t move a feather while I was with him. But he’d moved a few feet from where he was the last time I saw him a few days earlier, so I figured he wasn’t dead. Probably…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If there’s a possibility you’re going to collide head-on with another bird in flight, you don’t want it to be with a 16 lb. pelican. (4 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/double-crested-cormorant3430-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"double-crested-cormorant3430-ron-dudley\\"")
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