Canon 1D MkII, 70-200mm f 2.8 IS Lens.
Sometimes we forget how lucky we are. Each morning here, living on the banks of the Murray River as we do, we awake to the sounds of a multitude of native birds as they also wake to face another day. A couple of the locals, well a lot of the local birds actually come in first thing to be fed by my wife who just has to feed any wild animal that fronts up to our door.
Pictured above is one of the early morning diners, a Whistling Kite, who along with his/her partner land in a nearby tree and Whistle until Robyn gets out of bed and takes a piece of ox heart down to their favorite feeding ground. A small clear area of dirt between a row of trees. Placing the meat on the ground, Robyn walks away as the big guys glide from the tree top, line up on their breakfast and bingo... brekky is served.
Depending on wind conditions, the birds will sometimes take a long, low, slow glide into the target, but as the wind increases they tend to change their approach often over flying the target at around 20 feet, then when directly above, folding their wings in and plummeting vertically down to almost ground level before pulling out of their dive inches above the meat, grabbing it and flying off.
You would think that photography these guys then would be simple, but its not. When they glide into the meat they are low and the background is cluttered and distracting, when they dive onto the target and your working at such close range it is almost impossible to keep them in frame. Even with the best autofocus and a frame rate of 8 shots per second, a good day may yield one passable shot... Ah well there is always tomorrow.
Pictured above is one of the early morning diners, a Whistling Kite, who along with his/her partner land in a nearby tree and Whistle until Robyn gets out of bed and takes a piece of ox heart down to their favorite feeding ground. A small clear area of dirt between a row of trees. Placing the meat on the ground, Robyn walks away as the big guys glide from the tree top, line up on their breakfast and bingo... brekky is served.
Depending on wind conditions, the birds will sometimes take a long, low, slow glide into the target, but as the wind increases they tend to change their approach often over flying the target at around 20 feet, then when directly above, folding their wings in and plummeting vertically down to almost ground level before pulling out of their dive inches above the meat, grabbing it and flying off.
You would think that photography these guys then would be simple, but its not. When they glide into the meat they are low and the background is cluttered and distracting, when they dive onto the target and your working at such close range it is almost impossible to keep them in frame. Even with the best autofocus and a frame rate of 8 shots per second, a good day may yield one passable shot... Ah well there is always tomorrow.
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