![\"belted](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/belted-kingfisher-6790-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSeveral Belted Kingfishers have been wintering in the Farmington area and as of late they’ve been slightly\u00a0more cooperative than is typical of the species. It’s my guess that the reason for that is because much of the open (unfrozen) water available for fishing has been close to roads and they’ve been forced to become more tolerant of traffic and human activity.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/8, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 100-400 @ 400mm + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I found this adult male (no red band across the lower breast)\u00a0two days ago on a favorite perch.\u00a0These birds tend to have explosive takeoffs that are difficult to anticipate. Notice that he’s crouched down and seemingly at rest but when he took off he didn’t even stand erect first to give me a hint of imminent take-off.\u00a0In the very next shot…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/8, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 100-400 @ 400mm + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n he’s already near the frame edge.\u00a0If I’d been shooting with my preferred 500mm I’d likely have missed the bird completely\u00a0or at least have\u00a0clipped or cut off some body parts. In the\u00a0only\u00a0previous shots I have of a kingfisher in flight the bird is far away so I was happy to get one\u00a0where it’s significantly closer.\u00a0I’d have had faster shutter speed and better detail with the longer lens but\u00a0improved detail of only half a bird just doesn’t cut it for me…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note to photographers: Some may wonder why I’d choose f\/8 for this shot which limited my shutter speed and made the background grasses more distinct.\u00a0The Canon 100-400 lens I’m using while my 500mm is in the shop is limited to f\/8 at 400mm on the Canon 7D Mark II with the 1.4 tc attached. It will go to f\/6.3 with the lens at shorter focal lengths but in this situation\u00a0I needed all the reach I could get with that lens. <\/em><\/p>\n I heard back from Canon yesterday and I now have a reasonable expectation of getting the 500 back next week. I just hope they’re able to find and fix the problem.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Several Belted Kingfishers have been wintering in the Farmington area and as of late they’ve been slightly more cooperative than is typical of the species.<\/p>\n![\"belted](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/belted-kingfisher-6791b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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