Stalking

Gallery: AvianPosted February 19, 201278 views7 comments

American Bitterns are one of the best stalkers, IMO, in the avian world. Aided with excellent colors and feather patterns for camouflage, they blend in beautifully with their native habitat. I was fortunate in spotting 3 bitterns at the refuge a few days ago and of all the images taken I think I like this one the best.

Larger version available, "Thanks" for stopping!

canon 7D
canon 600mm f4.L IS USM
F/8 1/60 ISO 125
auto window beanbag rest, CS5, LR3, NIK's suite

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by wade pettitt on February 19, 2012 at 12:03 PM

Craig, great shot of a bittern in its environment. I like the raised foot and stalking pose you mentioned.

Registered on May 6, 2009, 184 Posts, 471 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on February 19, 2012 at 4:55 PM

Even with the 600, don't know how you got so close. Great shot.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on February 19, 2012 at 8:25 PM

love this, Craig, really cool comp, great pose and dof. I think the oof foreground stuff is minimal and not an issue for me. I think you have pretty consistently exceptional technique in terms of getting good images with a beanbag and slow shutter speeds, but that notwithstanding, I'm curious why you kept the ISO so low here, (IMO the 7D can handle 400 with no issues at all and can go higher if things go well)?

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on February 20, 2012 at 3:21 PM

Great close-up - makes me feel like I'm right down in the swamp.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on February 20, 2012 at 4:17 PM

This is IMHO a very neat photo! I wish I had gotten this sharpness with my hunting coopers hawk photo. The eye in focus makes the image really stand out. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on February 20, 2012 at 5:21 PM

Amazing to be able to get this close to a bittern, I just saw my first one last month and they certainly do blend in, another photographer kept on pointing him out in the reeds and it still had a hard time at first spotting it, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on February 20, 2012 at 11:31 PM

I like this a lot Craig, the raised foot adds the tension to it, the oof reed left isn't ideal but that's where these guys live.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments