Bird Photography

I finally managed to escape the gymnasium today and headed out to try to capture some of the birds that overwinter near our home in Woodinville, WA.

Bald Eagle, Spencer Island, Washington

All Canon gear: 40D, 300mm f/2.8L IS (on, mode 2), 2x extender, ISO800, 1/2700, f/10, (manual),center focus point selected

I find that photographing birds is one of the most technically challenging endeavors (didn't I just get done saying that photographing gymnastics is challenging?!). Birds are always small...and farther away in the viewfinder than they seem when you are looking directly at them. The best photos are often of the birds in flight...and it's tough to keep the bird in the center of the viewfinder or centered on one of the focusing points...long enough for the camera to lock on the focus of the bird.

Snow Geese, Skagit Valley flats near Conway, Washington

All Canon gear: 40D, 300mm f/2.8L IS (on, mode 2), 2x extender, ISO800, 1/5300, f/10, (manual), center focus point selected

I generally shoot birds with the autofocus on, and select the center focusing point (though not always). Oh how I yearn for the 45 focus points of the 1D MarkIII (or 1Ds Mark III)! I'm currently using a Canon 40D for birds, and it has only 9 focus points...probably my most significant criticism of the camera (but then again, it doesn't cost as much as a 1D Mark III or 1Ds Mark III.

Snow Goose, Skagit Valley flats near Conway, WA

All Canon gear: 40D, 300mm f/2.8L IS (on, mode 2), 2x extender, ISO800, 1/5300, f/10, (manual), center focus point selected

I headed out the door at 5:30 AM, since this was to be a sunny day, and sunrise is just after 7:00 AM here now. It turned out that leaving the clear air of my lot in Woodinville, I headed downhill a few hundred feet and directly into dense fog. Driving through Everett, WA in the dark without a map in dense fog was challenging, but finally, I managed to make it to Spencer Island...a wildlife refuge just northeast of Everett. Arriving at my shooting location before the sun had come over the horizon (around 6:30 AM), I was greeted by a cacophony of birds in the marsh. A huge Great Blue Heron took off from the marsh near where I was headed...but of course, I didn't have my camera ready to go...and in the dense fog, it probably wouldn't have mattered much.



I headed back home around 9:00 AM, then picked up my family for the drive up to the Skagit valley, where we saw Bald Eagles, Snow Geese, Trumpeter Swans, Tundra Swans, Great Blue Herons, Bufflehead ducks, and a lot of birds I don't know the identities of (okay, I admit...shame on me!).



Here are some photos from that shoot:



Richard