Tag: bird photography

The Trouble With Harriers

Obtaining proper exposure on certain birds with high contrast colors has always been a big problem for bird photographers.  When your subject has both very light and very dark colors it becomes problematic to get good detail in the darks without “blowing out” the whites, especially if the whites are very bright white.  A partial list of bird species that are notoriously difficult to expose properly would include the Black Billed Magpie, male Wood Duck, adult Bald Eagle and many species of Terns.  And because of the bright white rump patch found on all ages and both sexes of Northern Harriers, that species would also be on the list. One of the partial solutions to this problem is to photograph while the sun is low during either early morning or late afternoon because the light is much less “harsh” then and also because it has a better chance of striking the bird obliquely rather than at right angles (light at an angle tends to produce tiny texture shadows – “detail”).   1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I like this image for a variety of reasons: the well-lit and detailed view of the topside of a harrier in flight, provided by the banking flight posture of the bird getting good eye contact with this flight posture isn’t easy, but this shot has it the background has some color texture – instead of solid blue sky or white clouds it’s a subtle mixture of both the harrier is sharp –…

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Getting Close To The American Kestrel

One of the first lessons bird photographers learn (often to their great frustration) is that you must get close to your subject in order to get good detail.  Very close.  Even if you’re shooting with a long, expensive lens.  And getting close usually ain’t easy!  Large crops rob detail.  I’m of the opinion that cropping away any more than about 50% of the image generally does unacceptable damage to image quality. Some species are relatively easy to approach – around here American Robins,  Mourning Doves and House Finches come to mind.  Other species have a reputation of being particularly skittish and at the top of that list for many photographers is the American Kestrel – a strikingly beautiful little falcon that is found throughout most of North America. For many years I’ve posted bird images on an internet avian critique forum and whenever I’d post a shot of a kestrel I’d invariably get comments that went something like this: “How in the world did you ever get this close to a kestrel?  I always see them perched up high on poles or wires and whenever I even begin to get close they fly away”. Well, here’s the secret – photograph them when it’s cold.  Very cold!  That means in the depths of winter.  It also means in the early mornings on those days when it’s coldest of all.  I’ve found that many species of birds are more reluctant to fly in the cold but that tendency seems to be magnified with the kestrel.  I’m not sure why but as a photographer I’m more than happy to…

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Farmington Bay Bald Eagles 2012 – A Bust!

Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area is typically a mecca for birders and bird photographers during January and February.  When it gets very cold many of Utah’s wintering Bald Eagles congregate there and create quite the spectacle for avian enthusiasts.  Though I’m not particularly fond of photographing birds among throngs of people I usually can’t resist the unusual opportunity with these magnificent birds and join in the fray multiple times during the “season”.          1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc One thing that especially appeals to me about Farmington Bay is the opportunity to photograph these eagles in flight with the Wasatch Mountains as a background.  Even though such a background makes it much more difficult for focus to “lock on” the bird I really like the dramatic backdrop the dark, often shaded mountains provide when there’s light on the eagle – much more appealing for me than the typical blue sky background.        Typically there are hundreds of eagles at the refuge during “prime time”.   I once counted 225 birds and that’s just the ones I could see.  Others have reported from 300-400 birds.  This photo should give you some idea, though it shows just one small portion of Unit One.  The concentration of birds was about the same that day everywhere you looked over the ice.        This is the famous “eagle tree”.  I’ve seen as many as 20 birds on this one perch alone.  Of course the eagles prefer to look south over the ice and water so it’s difficult…

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Catch Lights in Bird Photography

Broadly defined, a catch light in photography is a reflection of a light source in the eye of a subject.  In bird photography, that light source is often the sun and typically appears on the shiny, wet cornea of the bird as a single point reflection.   However, as we will see, there are variations on that theme.   Catch lights are highly desirable, to the point that many avian photographers simply delete virtually all photos that don’t have them (a painful process, to be sure).   Others resort to artificially cloning them into the eye when they don’t appear naturally – a practice that I find distasteful, even dishonest for a nature photographer (that said, I’m not adverse to running an extra round of sharpening or a Levels adjustment to enhance a subtle catch light that already exists). Natural catch lights that are a direct reflection of  the sun will appear in the upper half of the eye, usually from the 10 o’clock  to the 2 o’clock position, depending on the angle and position of the sun behind the photographer.  If the sun is behind the bird (back light) or too high in the sky, that kind of catch light will not be produced.     Without “light in the eye”, viewers perceive the eye to be lifeless, “dead” or even evil.  For this reason, cinematographers often deliberately eliminate catch lights on “the bad guys” in movies and television.   There is almost no difference between the two American Kestrel images above except for the slight head turn in the first shot that allows light from the sun…

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Chukars of Antelope Island

 The Chukar, also known as the Chukar Partridge, is a species first introduced into North America from India in 1893.  Since then they have flourished, particularly in the Great Basin of the American west where the largely feed on the seeds and leaves of cheat grass.  Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake provides perfect habitat for them and they abound there.    Chukar calling In the springtime there are times when the hillsides sound like the island has been overrun by domestic chickens from the calling of the Chukars.      Preening on a rock perch Chukars are very prone to perch on rocks – especially in the spring.  While there they call to other birds and preen.  Sentinel birds of a flock also prefer elevated perches while on lookout, which of course is ideal for the bird photographer.      Parent with chicks And here’s one of the reasons there’s so many Chukars on Antelope Island – the breed prodigiously.  Clutch size can be up to 21 eggs!     Chukar covey on boulder In late summer and fall Chukars often congregate in large groups.  These coveys tend to consist of adults and their offspring but several family groups may mix together.      Preparing to jump off the rock Like some other upland game birds, Chukars are often reluctant to fly.  They will typically jump down from their perch and scurry through the vegetation to hide.  They are very fast runners and easily outrun a human on foot.     Rock hopping  I’m often tempted to call these birds “rockhoppers” because of their tendency…

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The Northern Shrike and the Good Samaritan

This blog post will be more about the experience I describe than about the shrike images. The Northern Shrike has been a nemesis bird for me for a long time.  I have many good images of its southern cousin the Loggerhead Shrike but the northern is an uncommon winter visitor to the northern US  and I’ve seldom seen one and never been close enough to the species for good, detailed images – until this week.  And I very nearly didn’t get the shots.     Northern Shrike This winter there has been a single (as far as I can tell) Northern Shrike wintering at the Great Salt Lake wetlands where I often shoot but I’ve never been able to get close enough to it for a quality shot.   Two days ago I was finally able to approach the bird but it wouldn’t have happened without the kind actions of a good Samaritan. As I was driving down the dirt road I could see the shrike flitting from perch to perch in front of me.  Several times I almost got close enough but then it would spook again.  Finally, just as I got close and trained my big lens on the shrike, wouldn’t you know it – a car came up behind me on the narrow road.  If it had passed it surely would have spooked the bird.  But it didn’t.  The driver could see my lens pointed out the window at the bird and simply stopped on the road, turned his engine off and waited respectfully for over 5 minutes as I photographed the shrike before it…

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Photographing Birds on Antelope Island

  My previous post was an overview of the geology of Antelope Island and its non-bird wildlife.  Here, I’ll focus on its birds.   Juvenile Loggerhead Shrike begging for food Loggerhead Shrikes are common on many parts of the island during summer.  They can be a challenge to approach but those few that nest close to the road eventually get used to traffic so if you photograph from your vehicle you can often get quite close.  Here this juvenile was begging for food that was being delivered by a parent just out of frame to the left.    Loggerhead Shrike with dragonfly  Shrikes are often called “butcher birds” for their practice of temporarily impaling their prey on thorns or other sharp projections.   This juvenile had done just that with the dragonfly but it wasn’t very good at it yet and in the end just decided to eat it instead of store it away.     Loggerhead Shrike with spider Shrikes are opportunistic carnivores known to feed on insects, spiders, amphibians, small reptiles, rodents and other birds.   This one also attempted to impale the prey before eating it.     Juvenile Burrowing Owl practicing its parallax technique on me Burrowing Owls are one of my favorite species on the island though they can be difficult to locate from year to year as they often don’t seem to nest in the same burrow the next year.  In the summer of 2009 there was an entire family of owls along the causeway to the island nesting under concrete rubble, as in the…

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