Yesterday I had one of those mornings that bird photographers usually only dream about.
It included a variety of up close and cooperative birds of several species, colorful and attractive natural perches, fascinating bird behaviors, lovely and warm morning light, perfect weather, good company, plenty of coffee, a chocolate donut and iced milk to wash it down. And it all took place in a remote and natural setting with no one else for miles around. Short of having an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in my viewfinder this bird photographer couldn’t have asked for anything more.
The Northern Mockingbird photo below is only a teaser, for reasons I’ll explain at the end of the post.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
The perch is a wild rose that was loaded with colorful rose hips and the mockingbird landed in the perfect spot to give me a great view of the entire bird. And it was close, so close that this image is full frame (uncropped). I don’t believe I’ve ever been able to get full frame photos of a mockingbird before because unlike some parts of the country they’re skittish and shy around here. And that’s when you can find them at all.
It’s nice to have greenery in the background instead of the dead, tan grass I usually get this time of year. And I was fortunate that the very long branch on the right side of the frame is close enough to being in the same plane as the bird that both the branch and the berries are sharp. If they hadn’t been I’d have been quite disappointed.
So why is this only a teaser post? I spent 2 hours and 43 minutes at this spot and barely had to move my pickup while taking 1934 photos exclusively of birds. Needless to say I haven’t even seen some of those images yet, much less had the time to review, cull and eventually process many of those I keep.
But you can count on it – you’ll be seeing more of them in the future. In the meantime my work is cut out for me.
Ron
For some strange reason, I do not have an image to view. It’s just a blank space on both my computer and iPhone. I usually read these every day and this has never happened before.
Beautiful shot!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
If you went through 100 photos a day you’d be done in under a year. Of course, you would have to keep on top of the new photos, and do your daily posts, and answer everyone’s comments, and do all the other daily chores, and sleep…. I’m afraid it’s hopeless.
Before you get too depressed, today’s image is wonderful.
I got a kick out of your comment, Lyle. It’s depressing but the way you put it made me smile.
WONDERFUL news. I am so looking forward to seeing more. And I do understand your dread of going through all those photos. And wish I could help. And restrict your itchy delete finger.
Thanks, EC. I’ll try to be more careful and deliberate this time!
1934 images! Sure glad the days of film have passed. Look forward to seeing what you got.
So am I, Dan. I wouldn’t be a bird photographer if I was still shooting film. Not on a retired teacher’s budget…
You were in every photographers dream spot, outside by the rose-hips, hardly moving your blind and having various species come in to have their picture taken. Don’t envy the culling! Some shots are easy, but then there are those that one angst over and over, put aside thinking one will get back to. Nope, I don’t envy you, especially when you are as good as you are, it has to be really tough to throw some of those beautiful shots away.
Great shot of a Mockingbird, and I agree they usually are tough birds to get a decent picture. Looking forward to the many species feeding or resting within the Rose-hips!
“it has to be really tough to throw some of those beautiful shots away”
Yup, you get it, Dick. So many of them are very much alike with only tiny differences, if any. You can’t keep all of them and deciding which ones to discard is tough.
Happy you had a wonderful day. I am looking forward to the photos, but I do not envy the work. I find days like that exhausting and the though of going through that many photos almost gives me anxiety. Beautiful setting and light on the mockingbird!
Thanks, April. Believe me, it gives me anxiety too.
Gorgeous!!!
Thanks, Arwen.
This is a beautiful shot. All the Mockingbirds I’ve ever seen have been pretty tame, starting with the one that used to dive bomb my cat right outside my bedroom at 6:00 AM when I was a kid. They are always interesting to watch, as well as listen to. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you captured on such a good day. The culling and processing may be no fun, but I’m sure it will be worth doing.
Susan, I’ve seen “tame” mockingbirds in both Florida and Las Vegas but of course I didn’t have my photo gear with me on those trips. But around here they’re not common and very skittish.
You deserve to have a “dream come true”–needless to say, that almost always entails enormous amounts of focussed ( no pun intended) work to make
it happen—-hurray for your day of rewards ! Looking forward to seeing some more images as lovely as this one ……..
Thank you, Kris. More are coming and I think some are “lovely” but other behavior shots are more interesting than attractive. However, some are both.
Wish you could send me a batch so I could help with the culling. I don’t have quite the itchy trigger finger you do though, so maybe that’s not the greatest idea, but I could at least get rid of the definite zonks. Today’s teaser is gorgeous. I especially like the muted greys of the Mocker framed by the bright red rosehips.
I wish I could send you the whole kit and caboodle, Marty. Then I’d cull those you kept and I’d save a lot of work on my part!
Tell ya what. You come here and teach my 3rd and 5th periods for a while and I’ll cull 33K+ shots. Deal? I’ll even supply the chocolate donuts/iced milk and coffee.
Nor a chance! Been there and done that with high-schoolers but junior high students are another species altogether…
Beautiful image Ron! I love the soft colors and background. Sounds like a wonderful day! Good luck culling the images. I am just home from an extended photo trip in Alaska with great light, so I can relate. Look forward to seeing more from your fun day.
Thanks, Ed. I’ve been wondering how your Alaska trip went. I’ll bet you’ve got a backlog of culling to do too – including lots of griz photos.
Yes, Ron lots of culling to do. I am pushing the limits of my old computer at the moment . A highlight of the trip was going swimming in a river with my Canon 7D2 and 100-400 mm lens! After many days of drying out it seems to work fine. Amazed at that!
Another testament for the ruggedness of Canon! I just wish their electrical contacts were as reliable. I’m having trouble with mine now (between the tc and my 500mm).
Ed, that deserves the rest of the story.
I’d like to hear it too, Ed.
Thanks Marty and Ron,
I was photographing brown bears while wading in the Brooks River, something I have done many times. I like to use my Canon 7D2 and 100-400mm for this since it has plenty of reach, and is easy to put away when the wading gets tough, or a bear(s) is approaching and I have to wade deep water to give the bear space. In this case I was teaching a workshop and we had just finished an incredible session photographing a pair of sub-adults play fighting in the most beautiful light for 20 minutes or more. We were leaving the river and my camera was on its harness and stuffed in the front of my waders as I do when I am too complacent to put it in my dry bag pack. Just after I said “what a beautiful day” I tripped on a submerged branch that grabbed my wading boots. I went face down into the river and even though I was only down for a few seconds my waders took on water, even with a wading belt.
My camera and lens were soaked. I immediately removed the battery. The camera was turned off before the dunk. Luckily I was able to find an equipment room where I let the camera and lens sit, unattached, and not in rice (that is supposed to be a fallacy and not really help dry things out). I checked the equipment every day or so, but did not turn on the camera body until the lens was completely dry. I left the battery compartment and CF card compartment open while drying.
After 4-5 days (forgot the exact number of days) the lens looked non foggy when looking through it un-attacched to the camera body. I crossed my fingers and turned on the 7D2 body. I could see the images on the CF card, I could see menus, I could change settings, but the shutter would not fire. I expected I would lose everything. I turned the camera off and on a few times and finally,slowly, it was able to take photos. I cleaned the sensor using sensor cleaning equipment I had brought along. I was told that if this was salt water to actually rinse the camera with de-ionized water *(hard to get in remote Alaska wilderness).
Happily I took the setup out to photograph some more bears on a different stream and it worked great, until the heat of the afternoon created steam inside the lens. Darn..! So close, and yet so far… When I saw the foggy lens, I turned everything off again, and put it back in the equipment room to dry again for a couple of more days. Then it seemed to work fine. It is insured via photographers insurance, however I am always reluctant to make a claim (not sure why…).
I am normally better and only using the camera on the river when I reach a good spot to photograph, and leaving the camera in a dry bag until then. Time to get back into that mode again.
On a separate, but important note, the 7D2 and 100-400mm were giving me trouble focusing, a high frequency stutter was happening. I noticed some play between the lens and the camera body. Further examination showed the 4 screws on the steel plate on the lens were loose. Very loose! I tightened them in the field (thanks to the trusty Swiss Army knife) and this cured the problem. A friend of mine with the same setup had similar problems with focus. I looked at her lens and the screws were very loose,with one missing. I will put some Loc-title on mine.
Overall I love the 7D2 and 100-400mm II lens for bear photography. It is perfect and I see others using the same setup and loving it. I still sometimes bring my 1DX and 600mm f/4 L II on the river, however this requires holding it above my head while wading, as it hangs down too low, into the water. I am normally a hand-hold wildlife shooter until the light is low. I frequently see people wading in bright light with a tripod, and I like to complain about them doing so, since their mobility is reduced. However, using the tripod mounted camera as a “wading staff” of sorts might be a good idea, although in my case the tangle with the submerged branch would likely havre led to the tripod crashing into the river with me…I still like the dry bag idea.
Thanks for telling the story, Ed – though it made me cringe when I read how they got wet. Glad everything eventually worked out for you!
Egads, Ed! That was definitely a close call. Glad you and the equipment made it to a dry state and that your fabulous shots survived. (Your bear shots are amazing!)
Ron, that sounds like a perfect morning. Very nice photo. I thought I was bad taking 690 the other morning mostly of a small flock of Snowy Egrets and an Osprey who just arrived in the area. But, 1934 photos plus 33,000 to work on – that sounds like an intimidating project. I know you love what you do, so hoping for good health for you so that you can continue, but also that you get the energy to attack that backlog.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Thanks for the encouragement, Everett. I’m going to need it… 🙂
Nice! 🙂 Sounds like a day to make up for many other “blah” ones! 🙂 Good to have some “green” around. Do NOT envy you going through THAT many photo’s! 🙁 I am looking forward to the results tho! 🙂
I’m dreading the culling, Judy.
A confession: I’ve always been diligent about keeping up with my culling but since I started having health issues I’ve been lax. I’m now behind in my culling by 33K photos. It’s incredibly intimidating.
So glad to hear that you had a great day. Looking forward to seeing more!
I sure did. Thanks, Justine.