Last week I experienced 2 examples of a point I like to make: Stay a little longer when you find a trusting bird that allows you to take some initial photographs. What’s the hurry? You’re already in position, so see what this bird is up to next. If there’s more than one bird before you, all the better. I’ve found that in a minute or 2, or 10 minutes later, something more interesting is likely to happen. The bird may stretch its wings, call with its beak open wide, see potential food and react, see a potential mate or territorial invader, or simply take flight. Any of these and other actions can provide another dimension to the initial segment of your photo session, and all you need to do is ‘stay a little longer.’
The first example began when I found 2 Wilson’s Snipe probing in shallow water, with perfect sunlight, beautiful water color, and not a ripple in the water’s surface – except when the snipe probed or waded a step forward. I have many snipe photos, but when everything comes together like that, it’s hard to pass up a primo photo opportunity. I took a couple initial portrait photos when one of the birds stood upright, as they probed with their long bills, and as they showed different sides of their body and even a full frontal view. It might seem like that covers all the photo options, but it’s worth it to see if there’s another activity that might take the photo session to the next level.
It didn’t take long, for as I was focused on a snipe, ready for its next move, a Killdeer zipped just above the snipe on the fly, which provided a split-second chance to record the snipe’s reaction. I was on high alert so as the snipe “flinched,” I took a single photo just as the snipe leaned low against the water’s surface, lowering its head while spreading its tail upward. The tail-spread showed the orange color of the tail feathers in contrast to the rest of its brown and black marked plumage. Woo!
The Wilson’s Snipe quickly regained its composure, or at least it looked that way, but the Killdeer landed a few feet away and was looking in the direction of the snipe. By the time I had a chance to refocus on the snipe, the Killdeer repeated its aggressive flight, passing just above the snipe a second time with the snipe dipping low again and spreading its elevated tail. Of course, I reacted by taking another super-quick photo, which turned out to be an almost exact copy of the first reactive image.
It’s always exciting to photograph a circling bird as it flashes into the sunlight. The long wingspan of this first-fall Bald Eagle is on full display in this image (600mm zoom lens, f-8 aperture, 1/2500 shutter speed, 800 ISO).
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Rarely do we notice the tail of a snipe; have you seen its orange colored tail tucked beneath its wings as it stands, calls, or forages. For me, I’ve only seen a Wilson’s Snipe spread and raise its tail during mating behavior in early spring, when a male spreads and elevates its tail feathers while calling in a mating display. Now, this snipe appeared to have used this elevated tail spreading behavior as something of a defensive mechanism, perhaps tied with the sudden flash of orange plumage to distract the aggressor, or even to make the other bird think the elevated feathers were its head as the snipe lowers its more vulnerable head and bill low to the water.
At any rate, I was thrilled to get the split-second action photos of the snipe’s reaction to the aggressive Killdeer. And when I say split-second, I can back that up by pointing out that my shutter speed was a flashy 1/1000 of a second! (Imagine that for moment, a second of time split 1/000 times; now that’s fast!) I used my usual Av (aperture priority) camera mode, with an 800 ISO setting and an f-8 aperture setting. These settings and my camera and lens provided beautifully accurate colors and stopped the super-fast action to provide a sharp image to illustrate the story behind the photos of the Wilson’s Snipe.
Eagle Follow-up
My second example of staying with an interesting photo subject took place last Friday on the edge of Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The moment I reached the west shore of Long Lake I was greeted by a big eagle flying low in my direction along the shoreline, pretty much looking eye to eye with me as I focused my camera. As the young Bald Eagle flew closer it elevated a little higher, above my head and over the water, which provided a good potential for photos on the wing. With the sun at my back, I photographed the eagle as it passed closest, wings up, wings down, flying slowly away.
Taken just a moment after the above photograph, this image is different enough to show it as a second example in a series of photos taken as the eagle circled into the sunlight (600mm zoom lens, f-8 aperture, 1/2500 shutter speed, 800 ISO).
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Thinking I might be able to intercept its flight, while keeping the big raptor in sight I drove a mile south and turned west 200 yards. There I could see the eagle approaching my position, and that’s when it joined 2 Turkey Vultures that began circling in a rising thermal of warmer air. As they approached closer, the eagle provided some nice vertical spread-wing photos as it flared into the sunlight, followed by a vulture that did the same move but in the opposite direction. I thought they would sweep overhead, and the vultures did, but the young Bald Eagle worked its way back north into another thermal far out of camera range.
In this case, by taking advantage of a bird on the move, I managed to get 2 different photo angles and image types of the same subject. That doesn’t always work out, but Friday it was well worth the extra effort to give it a second try. In fact, the second photo position provided the better photos, further emphasizing the worth of trying to build on an initial encounter. The second set of photos are usually more active, and sometimes more dramatic than the first. As for the technical settings, I used a simple f-8 aperture along with my usual 800 ISO setting, which provided a plenty fast shutter speed of 1/2500 of a second, which stopped the surprisingly fast gliding action.
Like many photographers, I often took initial photos of a bird, and moved on in search of the next photo opportunity, but as I became more seasoned, and more patient, experience has taught me that the first photos may not be the best of a given bird, pair, or flock of birds. When I find a trusting bird that I can photograph without alarming it, it’s very rewarding to spend time in its presence; share a little time together, and see if there is another photo that will supersede or add to others I’ve taken initially. Give it a try, and enjoy the process and the resulting photographs.
Article and Photographs by Paul Konrad
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