Skittish Long Legged Birds

The Great White Egrets have been hanging around and gave me an opportunity to get a few more shots at a closer range. This girl is quite a floozy, as you can see, she’s not just giving leg, she’s showing a rather tasty looking thigh too!

I’ve been trying to cook this goose for two years. It’s the fastest slow moving animal I have ever seen. If I approach from the left, immediately upon entering her field of view, she flies to the right. If I approach from the right, she’s gone just as quickly to the left.

To my chagrin, I really had no other choice but to place the bird condo in another spot out front – but hopefully not too very far away. I watched for quite awhile after moving the nest, and finally I began to loose hope as the little bird didn’t seem to figure out where the new location was, or if she intended to resume her matronly duties.

I felt this to be a remarkable shot for several reasons. The rarity, getting three in one frame, the distance away, and the distance off the ground up in the trees. It was well after dark, shooting max f-stop and zoom at a max 300mm for a 2 second exposure at 800 iso, on a monopod steadied against a nearby fence. After the fact, I found I actually over exposed a little bit, but all in all I can’t complain too much about the clarity and sharpness of the focus.

I had this one sitting on the back burner, frankly, because I wasn’t really happy with the clarity of the shot. I’ve got my excuses, low light, long zoom, heavy processing, etc. Even still, when I went back for a second look, I decided that it was better than I remembered, and the contrast of the birds umber eye helped to make the shot worthy of presentation.