![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/american-coot-4422-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-4422-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nDuring a coot chase I can\u00a0seldom see both\u00a0birds in my photos. In part of\u00a0this series I can. The following five images are presented in the order they were taken with no skips.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, 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 Photographing coot chases is fun and it’s great practice for the photographer to boot. Yesterday afternoon I noticed this American Coot assume a threat posture (stubby tail\u00a0held vertically\u00a0and head and neck low on the water) so I quickly focused on\u00a0it and fired away as\u00a0it accelerated rapidly in the direction of another nearby coot. Here the bird is just beginning its attack and is still rising up out of the water.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, 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 Now those legs are really churning and the bird obviously has mayhem on its mind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, 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 The intended victim had been peacefully\u00a0munching away on some “salad” when it made the mistake of coming in too close. It didn’t abandon the snack when it started to make its getaway.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, 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 I like the way the aggressor is leaning into\u00a0a turn as\u00a0it attempts to cut the other coot off at the pass.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, 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 This is the last shot I got before the bodies of the two birds intersected and the coot on the right was obscured. A fight never resulted from the encounter and about\u00a0five seconds after this shot was taken the coot with the snack was calmly munching away on its meal.<\/p>\n Note to photographers: In situations like this I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cut wings off as soon as they’re\u00a0raised vertically\u00a0as the chase begins. Only seconds before this encounter I did it again. So this time I\u00a0finally<\/em> had the presence of mind to lower my active focus point (rather than using\u00a0my default center focusing point) and\u00a0doing so made all the difference by giving me more room up top. There’s no doubt in my mind that if I hadn’t lowered it I’d have clipped or cut off wings.<\/p>\n Now if I can only remember to do it in the future…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During a coot chase I can seldom see both birds in my photos. In this series I can. The following five images are presented in the order they were taken with no skips.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/american-coot-4423ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-4423ron-dudley\\"")
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<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/american-coot-4426b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-4426b-ron-dudley\\"")
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