A sunny morning, brilliant blue sky, no wind, shallow water and no wildfire smoke – a recipe for nice reflection photos if the birds will only cooperate.
1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
For some reason I haven’t posted many photos of Greater Yellowlegs to my blog. But a week ago today I got some pretty nice reflection photos of them at Farmington Bay WMA so I thought it was time to rectify the situation. This species, one of the most ubiquitous shorebirds in North America, has a prolonged fall migration that begins in June and lingers into early winter. I’ve been seeing them in northern Utah for several weeks now.
I suppose the mud in these photos isn’t very attractive but I think the bird, the reflection on the still, blue water and even the bird’s shadow add enough visual interest to compensate for the muddy shore. I also like the position of ‘his’ right leg, and its reflection of course.
1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
I took some photos of these birds with my teleconverter attached but I was a little too close optically so for both of these shots I had removed it. That allowed plenty of room in the frame for the birds and their reflections, even when the bird was standing upright.
I think the namesake bright yellow legs of this species lend themselves nicely to photography, especially when reflections are involved.
Ron
I am fascinated by the geometry of the legs/reflections in the first photo. And eye catches in both both reflections. Very cool.
I imagine your floors are a mess right now. We had the kitchen floor replaced in our last house. I contemplated doing it myself, but seeing it done I realized that experience really counts. And a good back.
“I imagine your floors are a mess right now”
You are absolutely right, Lyle!
But so far at least I like the installer – he really seems to know what he’s doing and he seems to be making good progress. We’ll see what I say when it’s all over.
I hope it goes well, our last installer, tile, did a good job but he was 2-3 hours late all three days he had scheduled to be there. It caused him to require a extra day we had not counted on and the extra day created a big problem for us with other commitments back in Salt Lake. We kept hearing about poor labor in St George, we lucked out with all the other work and had good experiences, on time, finished when scheduled, showed up when expected, came back when I wanted something adjusted, til the tile. We still have three more major projects looming. I hope they are as smooth as the first three.
April, my installer left early today but he told me at the beginning that he’d have to because he had a parent/teacher conference for one of his kids at 3 PM.
You’ll never catch me, a retired teacher, complaining about a parent who thinks PT conferences are important enough to take off work for one.
Ahh, the sky is still blue out there somewhere. Great photos such intense colors. I forgot what it looks like!
April, that sky looks pretty good doesn’t it, even when reflected.
Great images – one of our ‘memory’ species of visiting the US.
I’m glad you got to see them while you were here. Thanks, Gary.
Love the reflections…more poignant than the reality!
Thanks again!!!!
Thank you, Mary
These are beautiful shots.
Take it as easy as you can over the next few days. And please look after you.
I’m working on it, EC.
These made me smile.
Good!
Wonderful photographs of one of my favorite waders!
That sky really shows off the bird’s reflection. I even like the mud.
No wildfire smoke. A good thing.
Wally, that smoke got old, very old, many weeks ago. Some of it is back this morning but it isn’t too bad. Yet…
Perhaps you can hire teenagers to help put stuff back. 😉 Sending you “large hydrocollator pack” (and maybe a little ultrasound too) thoughts.
Whoops! This was supposed to be a reply to your reply to me. This is why I shouldn’t try to type/think/function when I have to be up at the butt-crack of dawn.
Marty, I got up at 3 this morning – way before butt-crack… 🙂
Snap.
The darkness of the mud compliments the bright blue water and reflection. Those are some gorgeous legs! We’ve been inundated with blue jays this week! Very fun following the bird migrations during our first season in the mountains.
Kathleen, I hope we get some blue jays this year. They never used to be found around here but for the last few years there’s been a few reported. I photographed one of them but only one time.
Awesome !
Nice “viewing” to start off my Monday.
I’m glad you enjoyed them, CJ. Thanks.
Very nice reflection shots. Perfect sky and water. I love this time of the year with the return of the Yellowlegs, Black-necked Stilts, and American Avocets.
A couple years ago I did a whole photo book with reflection shots.
Good luck with the installers and take it easy on the back.
Thank you, Everett. I’ll need the luck.
That brilliant, light cobalt blue of the sky reflected in the water is the PERFECT
color foil for those richly golden legs — I really enjoyed the simplicity of these
shots . Good luck with “it all”. this week !
Thanks, Kris. It’s funny that I’m not particularly fond of plain blue skies as my backgrounds but when those same skies are reflected in water I love’em.
Reflections are ALWAYS a bonus….. 🙂 Mud certainly not a distraction for me. 😉 Legs look like bamboo at times……
“Legs look like bamboo”
You’re right, they kinda do.
Great reflection shots. I esp like the first “stepping” shot which draws me in with the action
Thanks, Granny Pat.
These are delightful shots, Ron, mud and all! 🙂 I really like the ripples of water in the first shot that break up the mirrored surface of the pond. It’s a great contrast to the perfect reflection in the second shot.
Hope your back is feeling a bit better today. Take care of yourself (and hire some teenagers! 😉 ).
Thanks, Marty.
“Hire some teenagers”
Too late for that. The installers should be here in a couple of hours. The next few days aren’t going to be any fun.