0.3 second worth of fishing action

Time is relative, indeed.

Sometimes, a wader can stand motionless for hours without anything happening.

At other times, everything just happens at once.

It's interesting to see how much action can be packed into a mere fraction of a second, specially if this is recorded for posterity by a fast focusing, high frame rate birding gear.

Here's a three-frame, 10 fps burst taken of a successful fishing strike by this graceful wader at the fishponds of  Sto. Tomas (La Union) recently.

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Great Egret (Egretta alba, migrant)

Habitat - Uncommon in a variety of wetlands from coastal marshes to ricefields.

Shooting Info - Sto. Tomas, La Union, Philippines, January 13, 2016, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II + 1.4x TC III,
560 mm, f/7.1, 1/2500 sec, ISO 320, 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, January 13, 2016, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II + 1.4x TC III,
560 mm, f/7.1, 1/2500 sec, ISO 320, 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, January 13, 2016, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II + 1.4x TC III,
560 mm, f/7.1, 1/2500 sec, ISO 320, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop resized to 800 x 533.

  High res 1500 x 1000 version

Kingfisher with my old 400 2.8 IS + 2x TC III

Just checking if my 7D MII and 2x TC III works well with my old 400 2.8 IS.  After a couple of months of shooting a 400 DO II, the bigger 400 felt even heavier than usual. However, its optics are still as sharp as ever even with a doubler and shot wide open.

A kingfisher perched under the canopy of some trees along the Bued River allowed me to get within full framing distance earlier today. The bird's feathers are still partially moist from a previous attempt to catch its meal along a shallow stream.

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White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis, resident)

Habitat - Clearings, along large streams and rivers, and in open country. 

Shooting info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, January 20, 2016, 7D MII + EF 400 2.8 IS + 2x TC III,
800 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO 1250, manual exposure in available light, 475B/516 support, near full frame resized to 800 x 533.

 High res 1500 x 1000 version

A headless Whiskered Tern

This common migratory water bird was coming in to land on a stake in the middle of one of the fishponds at Sto. Tomas (La Union) yesterday. The wind was blowing in my face in a steady breeze. Since birds normally land while facing the wind, I was presented with an avian posterior instead of its photogenic front side.

 

Just the same, I raised my shooting gear, acquired the subject, and fired off a short burst, hoping that my very fast shutter speed can capture and freeze an interesting wing pose. Looks like I got what I wished for. To my color-blind eyes, the side lighting gave the subject some sort of a 3D look.

 

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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, January 7, 2016, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II,
 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/3200 sec, ISO 320, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop.

 

 

 

A raptor's mid-air dinner in sweet light

After a couple of weeks of hectic Christmas activities, I managed to find some time to go afield yesterday, January 6th - my first birding sortie in the new year. The skies were virtually cloudless over the vast fishponds of Sto. Tomas (La Union). I took off my 1.4x TC III to allow more photons to reach the 7D MII's AF sensor, thus increasing AF speed and responsiveness under the dying light of the day.

 

 As the sun got low over the South China Sea, my regular customer arrived to catch its next meal.

 

The raptor promptly grabbed its prey at the well-stocked fishpond and proceeded to eat its dinner in the air, while soaring in the steady breeze. I let go of a long burst, and I was lucky to have one frame with the beak open, ready to munch the soft flesh of the tilapia. The quality and direction of light was very favorable, allowing me to expose the contrasting plumage well. It's normally tough to capture detail of this raptor's eye, but in this case the light angle was just right.

 

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Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus, resident, adult)

Habitat - Open areas often near water, and also in mountains to 1500 m.



Shooting Info - Sto. Tomas, La Union, Philippines, January 6, 2016, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II,
400 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec, ISO 320, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop resized to 800 x 1000.