Ron Dudley

A Howl of a Surprise

When you’re out in the field you just never know what you might see. Or hear. On an early morning this week I found this Male Northern Harrier on a trail sign. Since the perch was not a natural one I set up to try to get a take-off shot if he should lift off. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As usual I was shooting from my pickup and in order to get in position for good light I had to park in the middle of the lightly used road. In such cases I always roll down the window on the passenger side so that I can hear any vehicle that might approach so I can get out of their way (it’s very easy to not see an approaching vehicle while concentrating on a bird through the camera’s viewfinder). Having that window down made a big difference to how I reacted to what happened next. 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Suddenly there was a piercing howl that was so loud it sounded like it was coming from inside my truck! Seriously, I almost jumped out of my skin it startled me so much. It was this coyote, hidden in the grasses. It was only about 75′ away from me and with three of the four windows down the clamor was tremendous. Coyotes often howl as loudly as 105 decibels and believe me that’s a very impressive din at this close range – especially when it’s unexpected. At first I could only see the…

Just A Shot That I Like…#13 – Puffed-Up Chukar In Golden Light

During spring and early summer Chukars habitually call from large rock perches but in winter they’re secretive, elusive and very difficult to approach. On the rare occasions I can get close to the species this time of year they’re buried in the vegetation and I can’t get a clear shot. 1/800, f/8, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But I found this bird on a nice boulder perch last month on one of the first very cold mornings of the winter. The sun had just come up over the Wasatch Mountains and this Chukar was determined to absorb some heat from the warming rays so it hardly moved a feather for the several minutes I was able to keep it in frame. At times like this they fluff up their insulating feathers and always remind me of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Or perhaps the bird simply swallowed a softball, ya think? Full disclosure – I cloned out a couple of bird droppings on the rock which is something I seldom do but in this case they were quite conspicuous and distracting. Ron

American Kestrel Preening on a Rabbitbrush Perch

American Kestrels are pugnacious and skittish little falcons that are usually difficult to approach. But last week I found a cooperative male warming himself in the early morning sun while perched on rabbitbrush. Though feisty by nature this kestrel looked almost cuddly while all puffed up against the cold and nestled into the bush. 1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I first approached him head-on which gave me some images where bird and perch combined to produce a pyramid shape that I liked. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But then I maneuvered to get a different angle so that at least part of the tail would be visible. In these early shots my camera settings were meant to give me enough shutter speed for the take-off that I fully expected. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 250, 500 f/4 But when he began to groom contentedly I started fiddling with my settings to get shutter speeds and depth of field more appropriate for the situation. Here he is passing one of his tail feathers through his bill in typical preening behavior. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 250, 500 f/4 He gave me a variety of preening poses that I liked. 1/1250, f/8, ISO 250, 500 f/4 Some of the neck feathers are difficult to reach so they go through some strange contortions in an effort to get to them. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4 Here the eye was half closed but I was still able to get a catch light. …

Just A Shot That I Like… #12, American Avocet Ballet

Occasionally an image still appeals to me despite significant imperfections. In this shot the cluttered background is not ideal nor are the specular highlights on the leg of the male’s reflection but I quite like the positions of both birds, their reflections and the good separation between the avocets and the reflections. 1/1250, f/10, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Fighting avocets are very difficult to photograph because typically several male combatants are separated from each other by some distance and you never know which bird is going to go after another one next and when the action begins it is blindingly fast. There’s also the problem of getting enough shutter speed and depth of field for multiple birds in action. Shooting these birds fighting is nearly always a “poke and hope” situation. Setting the scene: I had been photographing four males fighting over a single female (sexes easily identifiable because the female has a shorter and more strongly recurved bill than does the male) when this male lifted off and attacked two other males just out of frame to the right. I just happened to catch the male in a good position over the female with reflections I liked. One of the things that made this shot work is that I had enough light to use f/10 for sufficient depth of field and still get a fast enough (just barely) shutter speed to get both birds relatively sharp. Ron

Peregrine Falcon Feeding Behavior (graphic)

The Peregrine Falcon has always been a nemesis bird for me. I’ve occasionally seen them far off, either in flight or perched, but have never been able to get close to one. All that changed last week when I spent an incredible half hour very close to a young bird while it was feeding on a female Northern Shoveler. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there was no LIGHT! DAMMITALL! It was heavily overcast with only a bright spot in the clouds to mark the position of the sun. As usual, this kind of situation requires lots of compromises between shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, motion blur, catch lights, ad infinitum… So compromise I did but I still got many feeding behavior images I find interesting. And since one of the primary focuses of this blog is bird behaviors, you guessed it – a blog post… First – a warning. Some of these photos are graphic. Proceed with caution if your sensitivities are fragile. 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As I first approached this falcon it was depluming the duck. At times feathers were flying everywhere but at these shutter speeds and apertures many of those shots ended up in the delete bin. At this point I was still using the 1.4 teleconverter but the bird soon let me approach close enough that I was able to ditch the tc and get slightly more shutter speed. Take visual note of the size of the crop in this image when the falcon has just begun…

Award Winning Image

Maybe it’s a little tacky of me to toot my own horn but I figured that some of my readers might be interested in this and wouldn’t find out any other way. Yesterday Nature Photographers Network announced the 2011 winners of their annual Editor’s Pick Awards and one of my images won first place in the Avian category. I’ll provide several links below for those who may be interested in seeing my winning photograph and those of the other winners. For those who are unfamiliar with Nature Photographers Network (NPN) it is primarily a nature photography critique site which will explain the critiques below the photos. My image. Be sure to click the “view larger photo” option to see the photo in much better detail. The front page of the NPN Online Magazine, which includes a slide show presentation of the First Place winning images in each of the 9 different categories. Be sure to check them out (hold your cursor over the image to temporarily stop the slide show) as there are some wonderful nature photographs in the presentation. The first, second and third place winning images in each of the nine categories, including the critiques given on each photograph. Ron

Just A Shot That I Like… #11, Bald Eagle In A Dramatic Flight Posture

It’s getting to be that time of year again – Bald Eagle time in Utah! As is typical for this season their numbers in the state are increasing every day. Eagle populations in Utah peak in January and February before many of them start heading north again. 1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4 Though it appears as if this bird was about to snag a fish from the water surface in reality it was simply coming in for a landing on the shore, just out of frame to the lower right. I like the light on the eagle and the overall flight posture. I’m looking forward to freezing my butt off again this winter while photographing these very impressive birds. Ron

Kiting Rough-legged Hawk

Kiting is the ability of some birds to maintain a stable position in the air by using air currents rather than by the flapping of wings or hovering. Last week I had a wonderful opportunity with this young Rough-legged Hawk while it was kiting in the stiff wind rising up from the Antelope Island causeway. The light was good and the bird was cooperative and let me get close – what more could a bird photographer wish for? 1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc It was amazing to see how still in the air this bird could be – often maintaining the same relative position to the ground without significant wing movement for long periods. I swear that if I had been using a tripod I could have focused on the bird, walked away for 10 seconds or so and then returned and snapped the shutter with the hawk still in the frame and without having had to look through the viewfinder or refocus. A bit of a stretch perhaps, but not by a lot. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Much of the time the hawk was hunting – looking down into the grasses for voles. That head position doesn’t provide the eye contact that is photographically desirable but I wanted to include a shot that illustrated hunting posture. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The hawk caught several voles while I was photographing it. In this instance the bird immediately took to the air with the very young vole… …

Just A Shot That I Like… #10 – Prairie Falcon In Flight, With Duck Kill

This morning was cold and very windy out on Antelope Island and most of the birds seemed to have taken refuge from the freezing gale so as we left the island I figured it would be one of those relatively rare days when I had been photographically “skunked”. But as is so often the case, the island had a pleasant last-minute surprise in store for me. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This Prairie Falcon had apparently killed a duck (which I believe to be a Northern Shoveler) and was trying to defend it from two marauding ravens so the falcon decided to haul the shoveler off to a more private and secluded dining area. That turned out to be an unfortunate decision as very soon after this photo was taken a Bald Eagle flew in and forced the falcon to drop the duck. The eagle flew down to the ice, retrieved the duck and nonchalantly flew off with it. The wing and back of the duck are covered with snow/ice crystals. The out of focus lighter “blobs” in the lower background are whitecaps on the Great Salt Lake. This falcon is the same bird I photographed a little over a month ago and posted here. I know that to be the case because the same wing covert is askew in both birds (though it can’t be seen in this image). I’ve now been able to photograph this falcon on four different occasions in the last few weeks. What a treat! Ron

Lazuli Buntings of the San Rafael Swell

For me Lazuli Buntings have long been an elusive subject. Though they’re common in the western U.S. I rarely see them near my home and when I’ve found them in my travels they either won’t let me get close or they’re buried in thickets where I can’t get clean shots of them. All that changed on an early June photo/camping trip to Utah’s remote and visually stunning San Rafael Swell. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found the males singing on territory and more cooperative than usual since their preferred singing perch was at the top of low shrubs and they were often so involved with their melodious territorial declarations that they sometimes let me approach them quite closely. This one is perched on greasewood which provided some nice green colors in this arid habitat that they prefer. I like this good look at the bi-colored bill of the species. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc At times one of these males would give me a clean perch and background for a typical “bird on a stick” image. 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But more often than not the perch would be more cluttered. Here I’m less than happy with the out of focus twigs in the foreground but I liked the cottonwood “cotton” stuck to the bill. The unusual background color is from the Entrada Sandstone so common in the area. 1/1250, f/8, ISO 200, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’ve seldom seen birds get so…

Just A Shot That I Like… #9 – Rough-legged Hawk Taking Off

I was looking down on this Rough-legged Hawk from an elevated road when it decided to take off. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This shot illustrates both the blessing and the curse of using an attached teleconverter. If I hadn’t been using the tc for this image I’d have had two choices: 1), crop so that the hawk was much smaller in the frame which would have reduced the impact of the image or 2), crop so the bird was still this large in the frame which would have significantly reduced image quality and increased noise. So I’m glad I had the tc on for this shot. However, after take-off this roughie unexpectedly flew past me very close and I clipped or cut off many body parts in most of those images. If I hadn’t been using the tc I’d likely have been able to get some pretty spectacular flight shots with this nice background and good light. You just never know… Ron

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…

Just A Shot That I Like… #8 – Prairie Falcon In Warm Light

I’ve tried and failed for a long time to catch a raptor perched on the darker rocks (Farmington Canyon Complex) that are most common on the southern part of Antelope Island. I think these rocks make much more attractive perches than the almost white and difficult to properly expose Tintic Quartzite boulders on the north portion of the island. Last week I finally succeeded with this Prairie Falcon. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As an added bonus the sun was just coming up over the Wasatch Mountains so the golden light added some warmth to the image which I like. I only got off a handful of shots but at least the bird turned its head into the light before it flew off. Based on bill color I believe it to be a first year bird. Now if I could only get this close to a Peregrine Falcon in good light… Ron

Harlequin Ducks Along Antelope Island Causeway Have Apparently Been Killed

As many of you are aware there have been three Harlequin Ducks along the Antelope Island causeway for many weeks now – two females and one male. These ducks are extremely rare in Utah as there’s only been a handful of sightings of the species in our state over the years. These three ducks have been enjoyed by bird lovers and others at the first bridge on the causeway for about six weeks this early winter. They were quite approachable by people and were a delight to observe and photograph. According to reports, all three ducks are now dead – “harvested” by hunters. Here’s a link to a very enlightening (in more ways than one) discussion of the reported incident on a hunting forum. Killing these rare ducks along the causeway is apparently perfectly legal. Whether or not it is ethical is very much open to question – including by many in the hunting community. Harlequin Duck. Photo taken on 10/30/11 at first bridge along causeway Female Harlequin Duck – photo taken on 11/17/2011 at first bridge along causeway Male Harlequin Duck coming into breeding plumage – photo taken on 11/17/2011 at first bridge along causeway Though I’m not a hunter I’ve been an avid supporter of hunting for many years – including extolling the positive effects the practice has had on wildlife populations to my high school zoology and biology classes for 33 years. Should it turn out that the person reporting the killings of these ducks has been less than truthful and the birds turn up again in the future I…

Just a Shot That I Like… #7 – Ring-necked Pheasant Roosting In Tree

Many folks think of Ring-necked Pheasants as strictly ground dwelling birds but that’s simply not the case. These pheasants regularly roost in trees at night and the following morning they will often be active in the roost tree for up to an hour before descending to the ground for the rest of the day. 1/800, f/8, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Virtually every time I’ve seen these birds in trees it’s been on very cold, sunny mornings so I’ve always had the impression that they’re sunning themselves to warm up a bit. Usually they flush to the ground for cover before I can get close enough for quality photos but this cooperative male apparently decided that his chill was more of a threat to him than I was. He let me shoot away from close range for quite a while even though he was perhaps 20′ up in the tree and on a very exposed branch. Long-tailed birds like pheasants and magpies can present difficult compositional problems when cropping for presentation but I though this vertical crop worked out well with him on the diagonal perch. Ron

Author: Ron Dudley