Had a great time again this year leading workshops and field trips for Galveston’s FeatherFest. Friday’s field trip was to Bolivar Flats, my home away from home in the world of bird photography, to work on low-level photography “at a bird’s-eye view”. We had a full class as this trip sold out early. We left at 6:00 a.m. and got to the flats about 7:00 a.m. and were met with low tide, wind and partly sunny sky’s with lots of clouds mixed in. Made for some challenging lighting conditions with the sun popping in/out periodically.
We started by taking some silhouette shots of Willets and moved on to some Marbled Godwits and Terns. Several groups of Brown Pelicans made for some good flight shots. It was a target rich environment. There were large flocks of Terns near the jetty that would launch periodically but we couldn’t see any Avocets. Ended up scouting the area further down the shoreline to try to find some other photo op’s. Still no Avocets but did spot a couple of American Oystercatchers. However, they took off before the group could get there.
We did get a nice surprise when a Reddish Egret landed right in front of us and started dancing around while fishing. He arrived right on time and was worth the price that I had to pay his agent ;) He caught two fish with the last one being a good size catch. Another Reddish Egret then showed up and they chased each other around and put on quite a show. When it was time to leave, a few of the ladies didn’t want to go, which was a good sign that they were having a good time.
Ended up being a great outing with everyone getting an opportunity to see lots of shorebirds. Had much better luck with the tide/number of birds compared to last year. The participants got covered in sand/salt water as seen in the group photo. Thanks to everyone that attended this year and to Phil for helping out. I’m looking forward to doing it again next year.
My photos were taken with a Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head.
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400. evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400. evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400. evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400. evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F7.1, ISO 400. evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/400 sec @ F11, ISO 400. evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm
