Scenic Aperture

Ok, I’ve decided to blog some more about Florida birdies; the Great Egret this time.

Great Egrets, also known as Great White Egrets, range from Oregon to Mexico on the west coast, from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico along the Missouri and Mississippi river valleys, throughout the Southeast U.S. including Florida of course, and vast areas of South America. I have personally photographed them in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Florida, and Costa Rica. Although common, great egrets are beautiful and very photogenic, especially during breading season with their long feather plumes.

Here are some cool Great Egret facts from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

• The Great Egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society, one of the oldest environmental organizations in North America. Audubon was founded to protect birds from being killed for their feathers.
• Not all young that hatch survive the nestling period. Aggression among nestlings is common and large chicks frequently kill their smaller siblings.
• The longevity record for a wild Great Egret is nearly 23 years.

White birds are particularly challenging to photograph. The camera’s exposure meter is easy fooled by a white bird on a dark background, losing important feather details to blown highlights, even on overcast days. It is even worse on high-contrast sunny days.

I almost always shoot in aperture priority mode and use exposure compensation as necessary for control. I will under expose the overall scene if necessary to make sure the white bird is properly exposed. To compensate, I frequently lighten background elements in post after the fact. As a general rule I expose to the right (ETTR) so that the histogram comes close to, but does not touch the right edge of the scale. A clipped histogram on the right side means blown highlights and there is nothing you can do in post processing to recover lost detail. With a bright white bird as the subject matter, this will sometimes result in under exposed or clipped shadows. Everything in photography is a compromise and it is usually better in my opinion to sacrifice detail in shadows in order to retain details in highlights.

Here are a few of my favorite Great Egret shots from two weeks ago. Thanks for looking.

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Canon 7D w/ EF 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 85mm f/4.0 -1.0 iso200

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Canon 7D w/ EF 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155mm f/4.0 -1.0 iso200

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Canon 7D w/ EF 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120mm f/4.0 -1.0 iso400

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Canon 7D w/ EF400mm f/5.6 1/2500s f/5.6 -0.33 iso 200

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Canon 7D w/ EF 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190mm f/8.0 -0.67 iso200

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To follow up on last week’s post about Florida birds I thought I would blog this week on the Roseate Spoonbill, an exotic looking bird found along the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. Its range also includes large areas of Central and South America. I have observed Roseate Spoonbills in Florida many times but this was the first time I’ve gotten close enough to get decent photographs.

The roseate spoonbill is a beautiful bird with a distinctive spoon-shaped bill with pink body and wing feathers. It is a large bird, about two and a half feet in length with a wingspan of about four and a half feet. Like the flamingo, the roseate spoonbill’s pink color comes from the crustaceans it eats. In the mid-to-late 1800s its feathers were used in ladies’ hats and fans. By the early 20th century, the population had shrunk to only a few dozen nesting pairs in the United States. Over time the population recovered and today the roseate spoonbill is no longer a protected species.

I made these photos at Alafia Banks Bird Sanctuary. It is recognized as Florida’s flagship sanctuary and  is the most productive nesting colony in Florida. According to Audubon Florida, “today the islands that make up the sanctuary are owned by Cargill Fertilizer, Inc. and leased to Audubon for operation as a sanctuary. Each year, up to 18,000 nesting pairs of 16 to 20 species of birds nest on the Alafia Bank Sanctuary, making it one of the largest colonies in Florida and one of the most diverse colonies in the continental United States. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has listed Alafia Bank as the most important colony in the state, due to its size (number of birds nesting), longevity of nesting activity, and species diversity.”

I was mostly interested in shooting the spoonbills in flight which was especially challenging from the rocking deck of our boat. My two workhorse lenses for birds in flight (BIF) are the Canon EF400mm f/5.6 and the Canon EF600mm f/4.0. Captain Terry was able to maintain optimum position so much of the time that the vast majority of my images were taken hand-held with the EF400mm. When a little more reach was necessary, I used the 600mm mounted to a Wimberly II gimbal head on a Gitzo GT2531 LVL tripod.

I used the Canon 7D exclusively on this trip. Its crop sensor came in handy for maximum reach. Set to aperture priority, exposure compensation from -0.33 to -1.67  was required to avoid over exposing the  the bird’s white neck and yellow head. I was constantly checking the histogram on the LCD to make sure I was not clipping highlights. Autofocus set to AI Servo and AF point expansion proved to be the most effective method for quickly locking onto and tracking birds in flight without losing focus to the background.

I find these birds to so beautiful and photogenic. I’m pleased to post a few of my favorite spoonbills here for your consideration and comment. Thanks for looking.

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Canon 7D w/ EF600mm 1/1600s at f/4.0 -1.67 iso400

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Canon 7D w/ EF400mm 1/1600s at f/8.0 -0.67 iso200

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Canon 7D w/ EF400mm 1/3200s at f/5.6 -0.33 iso200

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Canon 7D w/ EF400mm 1/1600s at f/8.0 -0.33 iso200

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Canon 7D w/ EF600mm 1/4000s at f/4.0 -0.33 iso200

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Canon 7D w/ EF600mm 1/2500s at f/4.0 -1.67 iso400

Last week I spent a few bucks in an effort to take better photos. Not on a new lens, but rather to join friends in Florida for a photography outing. It was a relatively small investment and it payed off in a huge way. We hired Captain Terry of Reelin and Chillin Charters to take us to rookeries off the west coast of central Florida. This was my third outing with Terry but certainly not my last. Terry is a photographer too so he knows what is important to us; light, timing, and a steady boat – and he delivers!

Steve, Connie, Bruce, and I enjoyed a spectacular day at Alafia Bank Sanctuary and various nearby points in Hillsborough Bay near Tampa. The weather and the wind cooperated and we achieved our main goal of photographing nesting Roseate Spoonbills and Wood Storks. Of course we encountered many other species and were not shy about shooting them too. I’m very happy with the results – in fact, this outing has to be my most productive day of wildlife photography ever (I think also I said that last time I went out with Terry). Not to minimize the importance of long, fast lenses for bird photography, but this day’s photos were as much about location, light, and timing as they were about the latest hardware.

I’m still grinding through the 2,700 exposures taken between sunrise and sunset on Wednesday and will post more in the days to come. But here are two initial shots that I like and hope you do too.  Thanks for looking – if you like them, contact Terry and arrange your own “opportunity” to take better photos.

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Roseate Spoonbill - Canon 7D w/ EF400mm 1/3200s at f/5.6 -0.67 iso200

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Wood Stork - Canon 7D with EF70-200mm 1/1600s at f/5.6 -0.67 iso200

On the second day after the only major snow storm to hit the area this winter, I headed to Squaw Creek NWR in northwest Missouri to check out the action. I knew Squaw Creek did not feel the brunt of the storm as we did in Nebraska. In fact, there was only about an inch or so of snow on the ground south of the Missouri state line. However, I encountered a completely different type of “snow” storm once I arrived at Squaw Creek. This one was a blizzard of snow geese who have apparently decided to head north very early this year. Normally, we don’s see geese in these numbers until mid-March. I have no idea how to estimate the numbers, but I am confident there were at least several hundred thousand out there today. Our winter has been so very mild - I don’t believe the water at Squaw Creek has completely frozen over at all this year – so a few geese and several eagles have wintered over in the area. But now the numbers of both are way up.  The eagles follow the geese as they migrate up and down the Missouri River valley each fall and spring.

In addition to the geese and bald eagles, there were a large number trumpeter swans this morning too. I’ve noticed trumpeter swans several times this winter but their migration is obviously underway too as there must have been 200 or so swans out there this morning.

This “snow storm” was much more fun that the other one Friday night. The video and photo below were both taken with the Canon 7D with Canon EF600mm.

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Snow Geese - a different kind of "snow" storm - click for a larger version

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One week ago today I flew through Denver on my way to Rocky Mountain National Park to photograph bull elk. Boy, what a difference a week makes. Last week I arrived to light snow flurries but it was nothing really. Today Denver and the entire Midwest is getting hammered by a huge winter storm. I heard Denver is expecting 20″ of snow before it ends tomorrow. Here, the weatherman is predicting 7-11″. I’m glad I got in and out before all of this started.  Too bad for the elk, it must be miserable tonight.

Before more time passed, I wanted to post a few more shots of my final morning at Rocky Mountain National Park. Of my four shoots, I was treated to the best light on my last morning. Again on that final morning, the big bulls did not disappoint. I arrived at my favorite spot a good 45 minutes before sunrise and lucky for me, the bulls were right where they had been the previous two days. They continued to graze on exposed grasses for about 90 minutes until, as if on queue, they all turned and slowly walked back into the forest. There was obviously some unspoken (grunted?) signal that was easily communicated between them.

So here are some of the results from my final morning shoot at Rocky Mountain National Park. Shooting large animals is a lot of fun and these elk were patient and tolerant subjects. Again, thanks for looking.

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Canon 7D w/ EF400mm f/5.6 1/320s +0.33 iso 400

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Canon 7D w/ EF600mm f/4.0 1/320s +0.67 iso200

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Canon 7D w/ EF400mm f/5.6 1/320s +0.33 iso 200

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Canon 7D w/ EF400mm f/5.6 1/400s +033 iso200