{"id":48130,"date":"2017-05-10T05:14:32","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T11:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=48130"},"modified":"2017-05-10T05:14:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T11:14:32","slug":"a-few-birds-from-yesterday-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/10\/a-few-birds-from-yesterday-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few Birds From Yesterday Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the many\u00a0things that makes bird photography both interesting and challenging is that there are no guarantees of success. Trying very hard just isn’t enough. Yesterday morning I invested 6 hours (three hours driving to and from my destination and three hours looking for birds) and came home with not a lot to show for it.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug.<\/p>\n

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1\/5000,\u00a0 f\/5.6, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

Even though raptors were slow I did get a few images I like fairly well. Despite the fact that this Western Kingbird is on a relatively new wire that isn’t even very rusty I think the background turned out to be interesting and\u00a0somewhat unique (though it certainly won’t appeal to everyone). It was fairly close to the bird and I was curious to see how it looked with as little depth of field as possible so I dialed my\u00a0aperture down to f\/5.6 to blur it out as much as possible and this was the result. It isn’t one of my\u00a0best images but for me it has\u00a0enough\u00a0going for it to be a keeper.<\/p>\n

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1\/2000,\u00a0 f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

In the spring when Loggerhead Shrike pair bonds are being formed the male feeds the female to reinforce\u00a0that bond\u00a0and this bird was involved in that little ritual just before this shot was taken but I missed capturing the behavior. The bird was sidelit but when it turned parallel to the wire for a moment I was able to get\u00a0interesting light on the entire body.<\/p>\n

At least this wire was old and rusty…<\/p>\n

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1\/5000,\u00a0 f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

The best bird of the morning was this singing\u00a0Lark Sparrow. A few minutes before this shot was taken I\u00a0saw a pair of Lark Sparrows mating so I think I know why this bird was singing so enthusiastically. Their melodious song <\/a>is a jumble of mixed notes and trills and I always enjoy hearing it, especially up close like this when I’m watching the performance through my long lens.<\/p>\n

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1\/5000,\u00a0 f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

And the sparrow was even cooperative enough to turn 180\u00b0 on its perch and sing for me again. The angle on these shots is slightly steep but I think the bird looks good anyway.<\/p>\n

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1\/2500,\u00a0 f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

My final subject of the morning was this adult Red-tailed Hawk. There are things I like about the image and others I don’t but I decided to include the photo to make a point. I always enjoy these orange lichens in my images in a natural setting like these rocks and I think the\u00a0short grasses add a nice touch despite being invasive cheatgrass.<\/p>\n

But I don’t like the light. The image was taken at 10:11 AM and\u00a0this time of year by that time of the morning the light is just too harsh on sunny days. The rocks and lichens are bleached out a little and\u00a0with the sun so high there are no interesting shadows there. And\u00a0notice the dark detail-less shadow thrown over the area around the eye by that overhanging brow ridge. I\u00a0was lucky to even get a catch light in the eye and I had to work at it to get this one.<\/p>\n

A very famous bird photographer (I have no respect for him\u00a0ethically or personally\u00a0so he’ll remain nameless) preaches that “showing up with your long lens at 11:00 AM on a bright sunny day just won’t cut it” and he advises packing it in after your shadow is shorter than you are tall.<\/p>\n

I’ll have to admit- even he gets some things right.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the many things that makes bird photography both interesting and challenging is that there are no guarantees of success.<\/p>\n

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