A Couple of Great Egrets - SMAP
Joining into this weeks Feathered Friends Show Me a Photo #SMaP 172 contest since the theme of "Bird Couples" aligns with some pictures I took recently but hadn't posted yet.
Here is my entry:
I like to call it "The Protector" a role I frequently identify with.
These are Great Egrets from a recent visit to a Florida rookery near St. Augustine Florida. Hard to tell from the pics, but they are about 3 feet tall and wingspan of about 4 feet. Quickly becoming one of my favorite places to visit. These are my favorites from a set of shots where another male was attempting to intrude on this couple trying to nest. It was quite exciting to witness the short battle as he successfully defended his partner and nest from the unwanted intruder. I really need to get out more and learn how to use the video functions of the camera. This would have be great to film a video of.
Here they are giving warning squawks to the other male as he started flying in towards them.
In this shot, you can just make out the other male coming in to land as they both try to fend him off.
Here they are in the aftermath, getting a bit settled, but still alert.
I hope you enjoyed viewing as much as I enjoy shooting them!
Wow, that is something really exciting to see. Fantastic shots!
Thank you, it was quite entertaining in person and just happened to be in exactly the right spot taking pictures just before it started. These were taken about 50 yards away with 200-600mm zoom lens.
You've got good lens.
Being on the right spot at the right time, lucky you.
But you know well how to capture these moments.
600mm is a dream lens for me. I have only 70-200 (my fave for streetphoto) and 70-300 (which sucks). Ehehe.... !BEER
You may consider a tele-extender as an interim measure before you make the leap. I've got a 1.4x and a 2x that I use occasionally. They both work well on my smaller 100-400 lens, but the 2x gets to be a bit much on the 600. It loses 2 stops of light and the camera becomes so sensitive to movement, it's almost impossible to handhold for steady, in-focus shot. The 1.4x works ok, but still difficult to hold steady if not on a tripod. The ones I have are Sony brand and made to work with the lenses, so auto-focus, stabilization and other all still work well. Very nice to have handy on the smaller lenses to bump them up when don't want to lug the big heavy one around.
This is all correct... and I do have a tripod, but... seems it doesnt go well with my style. I prefer to keep things simple, photohunt is a photohunt. Having tele-extender deprives me of auto-focus, right?.. that isnt a suitable thing for me, hm.
My tele-extenders still work as normal lens with auto-focus, stabilization, etc. all functional. This will vary if using different brand lenses, styles, etc. It was a key factor for me in the purchase of camera and lens before I bought. Not always as easy to add later without upgrading or replacing multiple items.
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Fantastic birdies and great pics! You was lucky to happen in right time and place to capture the moment. Before reading the post I considered the 'intruder' they react, was you, hehe. Cool. Thanks for sharing! 🙏
Hehe, I thought some folks might think that. But no, I do not like to disturb wildlife for pics. I was there snapping pics of them and others for 15 minutes with them unaware before the intruder bird flew in.
👍
But when you will encounter intresting fungi, please make a bit of disturbance, resulting in nice visuals. (Smile). 😎
Does this have super better resolution on a cloudy day?
Not sure what you're asking. I had to reduce the resolution a LOT (down to ~13Mb) to upload them.
The original jpg files are about 40MB and the raw files around 59Mb.
It was a bit cloudy and that 600mm lens is hard to hold, and needs lots of light. I was using a monopod to help hold steady. The first pic was shot at about 300mm so not zoomed all the way in.
These were shot at f6.3, 1/2500s and 1600 (auto) ISO. That's why a bit grainy..
I didn't do any post on them other than a bit of brightness adjust when I reduced the size.
I may do a little Topaz post processing magic on a couple shots from that day to sharpen and reduce the grain a bit for printing, but these are as-is without any cropping or other post processing.
This is beautiful, the birds are faithful companions and caretakers during the incubation process.
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