Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
Siamese trumpeters almost in X-Ray. Been an oddly slow year for swans locally, and most waterfowl in general.
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Got any bird pics?
- Thread starter Wadin' Boot
- Start date
Running around the lake last evening, some sun still making it through the trees, and look who is in the reeds! Lucked out with the light on this one...
Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
Still pretty quiet for this time of year locally. Super quiet actually. So much so I have gone all X-Files in conspiracy excuse making. Well, the bald eagles might truly all be smelting on the Cowlitz but I know it's odd when I see new birds here. Had stunning western bluebirds during the one day snow-show. Really rare the records show. Never in my many decades in lowland WA. So slow here I went to the river and practiced panning shots of...anything that went by. Speedy scaups this round.
I did have the opportunity to finally see a shrike impale some food (cranefly larvae?) for later snacking with seemingly heartless joy., and much like its Latin family name implies- Lanius translates to the Butcher.
I did have the opportunity to finally see a shrike impale some food (cranefly larvae?) for later snacking with seemingly heartless joy., and much like its Latin family name implies- Lanius translates to the Butcher.
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Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
My only local golden eagle sighting recently was at a very good Mexican restaurant in Aberdeen
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My wife and I drove up to Grand Coulee two days ago to get a garlic chicken pizza (Hometown Pizza = yum!), we spotted two golden eagles sitting on the ice on Banks Lake between Steamboat Rock State Park and the highway. They are huge birds!
Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
Lenore up through Banks was where my introduction to golden eagles happened. Hard to beat the landscape. Our piece of Iceland or Scandinavia, and the golden eagles make it feel authentically far northern exotic. Fantastic !
Oh man... that scaup shot is MONEY! Nicely done!
I had a cool bald eagle encounter today while walking the dog. There was a large dead rat on the sidewalk. I think road killed, I saw blood, not poisoned. A bald eagle wanted it. But between the strong gusts, the crows, and all the wires, he had a hard time getting right angle. I watched him make three or four attempts, circling back around to approach in an upwind flight path. These are grabs from video of his closest fly-by. The eagle was maybe 50-60 feet away at its closest. Scenes from a cesspool, lol
Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
Thanks ! Always fascinated in trying to get more movement into shots -especially since I have taken far too many swan and duck shots with the static look and so experiment more. Always liked the track "photo finish" panning so look for opportunities to try it out. Rarely works. Haha.
Added a tad clearer shot of the scaups. This site does sorta butcher images so I cringe a little when see the loss of IQ.
Late last night a well fed cooper's hawk blurred by
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There's a dude on the Osprey's Only facebook page (hands up if, besides Boot, you are a member? ) who tethers dead fish just underwater, sets his camera up with some kind of remote triggering thing, and captures the osprey diving into and underwater to obtain the fish. Ethically lame, that's true, though some of the captures are super cool (plus the comments on each of the photos run about 50/50 "this is awful, stop baiting birds" and "holy smokes this is the coolest thing ever, how did you get the shot ?" Obviously the dude never confesses to baiting) . It seems like you have an opportunity here Matt to use your local dead rats and your love for wildlife to perhaps do the same, minus the baiting part, assuming the streets are littered with dead rats that is. Plus your visual graphics are next level, like Edward Tufte was guiding your hand!
Interesting you mention this idea. I shared this story and the vid with our "family group" text thread. As my brother said-- Who needs social media when you have a family text thread to share a cool bird story and then catch a month's ration of shit? (Not saying this is you) I was summarily chastised for 1) Being a wimp not "manning up" and moving the rat to a spot where the eagle could get a better approach, thereby setting up for a killer shot, and 2) not recognizing that rat poison anticoagulants cause their victims to bleed from every orifice, so the fact that I saw blood on the carcass is not a good indicator of roadkill vs. poison death, and so I am basically an irresponsible negligent killer of wildlife.View attachment 104906
There's a dude on the Osprey's Only facebook page (hands up if, besides Boot, you are a member? ) who tethers dead fish just underwater, sets his camera up with some kind of remote triggering thing, and captures the osprey diving into and underwater to obtain the fish. Ethically lame, that's true, though some of the captures are super cool (plus the comments on each of the photos run about 50/50 "this is awful, stop baiting birds" and "holy smokes this is the coolest thing ever, how did you get the shot ?" Obviously the dude never confesses to baiting) . It seems like you have an opportunity here Matt to use your local dead rats and your love for wildlife to perhaps do the same, minus the baiting part, assuming the streets are littered with dead rats that is. Plus your visual graphics are next level, like Edward Tufte was guiding your hand!
Tough crowd, that family group! Some valid points, though, I suppose--food for thought. I don't want to see wildlife poisoned.
Boot, I am married to a graphic designer so clearly some of that sensibility has seeped into me via osmosis.
@Gyrfalcon22 - are you using your monopod when you pan? I'm also curious about your camera settings when you are trying to your cool motion shots? I used to shoot with a gunstock camera mount with pretty good results. I honestly haven't tried in quite a few years but your images inspire me.
Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
When I use my 400/5.6 lens I use it handheld 99% of the time. If I use the 600/4 I have to use a monopod or tripod with ballhead. I have a setting for image stabilizing where it only accounts for vertical shake but allows side to side panning on my mirrorless camera. Mode 2 on most systems.
All that said I just try and get a shutter speed under 1/125.. 1/60th or 1/30th are good. Depends on how much the subject fills the image and how fast they are moving.
The ideal situation is with tripod, ballhead ..and dark fading lighting. Rarely can do panning shots in day as shutters speeds too high unless you have ND filters and stop way down, but I am never that prepared.
