Bosque 3rd installment

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My time here at Bosque is flying by - pardon the pun! I’m having a great time here even though it seems like there are fewer birds here than last year. In addition, the Sandhill Cranes seem to be taking off BEFORE sunrise and flying back into the ponds AFTER sunset.

As a result much of the time I’m trying to shoot in very low light. As you will see in my images posted with today’s entry, I’ve been trying to get some pan blur images. I’m pretty happy with a few I’ve gotten.

Sunday evening when editing images I noticed a disturbing dark curved line in many images I was processing. After considerable pondering, emailing a couple of photography friends for suggestions and inputs, extensive testing and a conversation with Canon Tech Support, I concluded my primary camera body (and the one BEST suited for bird flight photography) has a problem with the shutter at high speeds. Unfortunately high shutter speed is a key factor in capturing sharp images of birds in flight.

Thank goodness for a spare camera body. I believe I am still capturing good images with my backup. I’ll wait until after I return home to send my camera to Canon for repairs. It doesn’t exhibit any problems at shutter speeds I normally use for landscape and general travel photography.

Workshop has been informative thus far and we have a knowledgeable set of instructors. Today was a full day and the next two promise more of the same.

It’s possible this will be my last post before I start the journey back home. So if you wonder why I’m not updating my travels in the next few days that’s why.

Hope you enjoy these images from the past several days. Thanks for checking in.

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Photos

Sandhill Cranes
Early morning flight.

Kill Deer
Just another example of other birds you see here at Bosque. There were lots of these feeding in the front of the crane pond yesterday.

Outstanding in their field
Two Sandhill Cranes that posed nicely near the front and edge of the pond. Often they are at the back of the ponds and much further away from us.

Cranes and Geese
You normally don't see the cranes and geese flying together, but I got several images where a few Sandhill Cranes were 'in formation' with the Snow Geese. The thing I really find interesting about this shot (and you may not be able to see in this small image) is the crane just above the horizon on the right side appears to have something in it's mouth (looks to me to be a small rodent). I asked a couple of the instructors if this was normal behavior and they were puzzled. I plan to show the image to folks Wednesday to see if others can help me identify what the crane has in his mouth.

Turning Base
Two Sandhill Cranes turning base as they come in for a landing.

Pan blur
One of my attempts to pan with the birds in flight.

Artsy low light
Another of my low light images with slow shutter speed.

3 ship
There has been some GREAT early morning and late evening light in the skies.

Prepare for takeoff
One of the keys to successful bird photography is learning how to anticipate when they are about to fly. The Sandhill Cranes lean forward and stretch out their necks before they lift off.

Just after takeoff
Here's one that's just lifted off heading to the cornfields for breakfast.

Engine runup
I'm excited about this image and the next one I'll post. As you can see the one on the left and right are leaning and ready for takeoff. The guy in the middle was a sleepy head and not ready to blast off quite yet.

Dipping before liftoff
Monday a professional photographer I know told me to watch for this. Sometimes as they are preparing to lift off, the cranes will dip their breasts in the water just before they fly. Well after hearing that I watched for it the last two days. This image shows it clearly. This was taken immediately after the previously posted image. As you can see from the positioning it's the same 3 birds and the one on the right dipped his breasts into the water as he is about to fly away.

Another pan blur
With flight photography you are always panning the camera as the birds fly across your field of vision. When the light is low and it's impossible to stop the action with a fast shutter speed, this is what many photographers try to capture. It's a little more artistic than what I normally shoot, but I sort of like it.

Glorious sunset
Tonight I was packing up the tripod and putting away the 500 mm lens when I looked back at the sky. This is what I saw. It was 35 minutes after the sun dropped behind the mountain and a good 20 minutes after official sunset. The God Ray's were breathtaking.
I quickly grabbed the camera which is on the fritz (for flight photography) and used my wide angle lens to capture this hand held.