Long Distance Shooting

I love getting close to the birds.  There are reasons for this, not the least of which is that it’s a heck of a lot easier to get crisp, full-crop photographs of said birds.  Another reason is that I just love birds and their little neuroses, idiosyncrasies and behaviors.  Mainly, though, I love being able to at least have the opportunity to capture the “money shot” of these birds.  I have a large collection of bird photographs, but I am always trying to get better, sharper, more detailed photos that capture behavior and let the personality of the subject come through.  Sometimes, however, this isn’t possible.

Last Tuesday, Alex and I were buzzed by a Red-shouldered Hawk.  I wasn’t able to train the lens on it quickly enough (since it took off from about 20 feet in front of us and flew over our heads and out of sight in roughly 2 seconds…), so was a little disappointed.  When we were out on the boardwalk at Spring Valley Wildlife Area heading  back towards the car when out of my third eye, I spy a Red-shouldered Hawk rising from behind the tree line.  It was at this point that I was a little sad that it was, probably, a half mile out.  I was able to fire off a few shots – at 500mm x 2x-tele x 1.5x crop factor (that would be ~1500mm) @ f/6.3 – and a couple of them came out … usably.  I will not be using these as my definitive photographs of the bird, but they were more than adequate for identification.  I was just amazed that I even got those usable shots as I was staring at a silhouette from a LONG way away with a stiff cross breeze making looking through the viewfinder a chore – eyeballs drying out is never a happy feeling.  As a result, most of the shots that I got were “on spec” having simply decided that it looked in-focus-ish enough and hoping that they were, indeed, in focus.  I though to myself, “I really need to get closer to these birds…”  In my defense, I usually do, but not always.

So, it was with chagrin and amusement that the following day’s trip to Eastwood Metropark’s Hydrobowl to see what waterfowl were present featured a slew of Goldeneyes hanging out in the very center of the lake.  Those that were close enough for decent looks would zoom out to the center as soon as I was within, probably, 100 yards.  Ugh.  These photos didn’t come out nearly as well, and I was unhappy about that.  I would post the photos, but they’re a little embarrassing inasmuch as they’re good enough to ID, but little else.

Yesterday, I headed to Buck Creek to see the Glaucous Gulls.  I saw them from a LONG distance away and wasn’t able to get any decent photographs as a result of the “bunching” the gulls were demonstrating.  Despite the Glaucous Gulls being much larger than the Ring-billed Gulls, it doesn’t make any difference if they’re sitting on the ice.  So, I have a couple of photos that are inconclusive (this is why we take the binoculars, kiddies) at best, but the majority of the time I was attempting to photograph other birds at a distance.  The flock of American Wigeons that kept crisscrossing the lake, even though they were close to 300 yards out on the lake, provided some decent looks and I got a decent photograph or two.

This is taking me too long to write, so I will end it here, for now.