{"id":84093,"date":"2020-04-17T05:13:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T11:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=84093"},"modified":"2020-04-17T05:36:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T11:36:41","slug":"rushing-western-grebes-and-murphys-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/rushing-western-grebes-and-murphys-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Rushing Western Grebes And Murphy’s Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

As hard and as often as I’ve tried over the years I’ve only been able to photograph grebes while they’re rushing, and do it well, two or three times.<\/p>\n

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

One of them was on June 12, 2012 at Bear River MBR. And this time I was lucky enough to get quite a few nice photos as the mated pair ran across the water in their distinctive postures and highly choreographed dance.<\/p>\n

Both birds are sharp enough, they’re well separated from each other and I even have a couple of clumps of pleasing emergent vegetation with the leading grebe well placed between them. And I really like the reflections in the water at the top of the frame.<\/p>\n

But in the eight years since I took this photo I’ve never posted it. Ol’ Murph saw to that.<\/p>\n

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In one of the very few times I’ve been able to photograph rushing grebes well a black-hearted blackbird photobombed my image and essentially ruined it. In the first version of this photo I cloned the blackbird out.<\/p>\n

The offender appears to be a juvenile or female Yellow-headed Blackbird – they’re common at the refuge in early summer. Whatever it was I didn’t notice it through my viewfinder so I didn’t know it had intruded into my photo until I looked at my images on the big screen at home.<\/p>\n

I realize that Murphy sits on every bird photographer’s shoulder at times but I swear he has a special affinity for mine.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes and miscellanea:<\/em><\/p>\n