Osprey grabs a fish at Sto. Tomas

This migratory raptor, whose wingspan exceeds four feet, feeds exclusively on fish. Its diving routine to catch its regular meal is one of nature's awesome spectacles.

 

I was privileged to witness this fishing raptor get its prey at the vast fishponds of Sto. Tomas recently. The bird closes its nictitating membrane (a semi-transparent secondary eyelid) at the point of impact to protect its eyes from damage. When this image was taken a split second after the grab, the nictitating membrane was still unretracted.

 

Again, I'm impressed by the amazingly quick AF of  my new BIF rig (7D MII + 400 f/4 DO IS II + 1.4x TC II). My reaction time to acquiring and tracking the diving hunter was delayed, but the combo was quick enough to compensate for the shooter's slowness. It managed to lock in almost instantly to capture this first frame of a short burst.

 

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Osprey (Pandion haliaetus, migrant)

Habitat - Associated with water both along coast and inland. 

 

Shooting Info - Sto. Tomas, La Union, Philippines, December 9, 2015, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II + EF 1.4x TC III,
560 mm, f/7.1, 1/2000 sec, ISO 320, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop resized to 800 x 533.

 

High res 1575 x 1050 version

 

Portraits of a Whiskered Tern

Wild bird imaging, like all genres of photography, is all about the quality of light.

 

When light is good, even the most common bird species can be portrayed in a pleasing manner, like this ordinary migratory bird.

 

I was waiting for birds in flight at the vast fishponds of Sto. Tomas (La Union) when this individual perched on a stake in the middle of one of the ponds.  The 3 pm sunlight had started to turn golden and its intensity became mellower. The background is out-of-focus pond water. I waited with my hand held rig for the bird to strike interesting poses before firing short bursts. Here's a couple of images from that brief portrait session.

 

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Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybridus, migrant, non-breeding plumage)

Habitat - Bays, tidal flats to ricefields. 

 

 

Shooting Info - Sto. Tomas, La Union, Philippines, December 6, 2015, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II + EF 1.4x TC III,
560 mm, f/7.1, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop resized to 800 x 533.

High res 1500 x 1000 version

Shooting Info - Sto. Tomas, La Union, Philippines, December 6, 2015, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II + EF 1.4x TC III,
560 mm, f/7.1, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop resized to 800 x 533.

 High res 1575 x 1050 version



Philippine Scops-Owl at ISO 12,800

For some time now, in the early evening, I've been hearing a strange bird sound at the mango tree in my mother's backyard. I long suspected that it is an owl species, and a few nights ago I couldn't contain my curiosity anymore when I heard the call again.

 

I grabbed a bright flashlight and scanned the branches of the mango tree. True enough, there's an owl perched on one of the branches with a newly-caught prey (a fat, juicy mouse). I quickly rushed back to the house to get my camera, and returned with the domestic boss in tow to hold the flashlight while I shoot. 

It looks like a Philippine Scops-Owl (Otus megalotis) to me, but I could be mistaken and would welcome any ID correction. I'm sure though that I haven't photographed this owl species before, so it's a much welcome photo-lifer (my 279th species).  

I'm very impressed with 7D MII's IQ even at ISO 12,800 - yes, noise is there but it's fine grained and responds well to a simple noise reduction routine. If forced by low light, I wouldn't hesitate at all to shoot at this high sensitivity. I did expose to the right (ETTR) to mitigate the noise. 

 

The camera was on AWB and the white balance as captured was too "cold" for my taste. Since 100% of the illumination on the bird was provided by the flashlight (torch), I simply had to shoot a white sheet of paper under the same light later to aid me in setting a "click white balance."

 

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Philippine Scops-Owl (Otus megalotis, endemic, provisional ID)

Habitat - Forest and forest edge in the lowlands.
 

Shooting Info - Baroro, Bacnotan, La Union, Philippines, November 29, 2015, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II, f/4, 1/250 sec, ISO 12800, manual exposure/flashlight, hand held, near full frame resized to 800 x 533.

 

High res 1500 x 1000 version