Posted by Nick Mckeown on April 26, 2012 at 3:41 AM
D7000 500mm f4 ISO 400 1/200s at f8 from car as hide on bean bag.
There is a Black Grouse lek at the side of a minor road near me and last Sunday I got there at 5.00am and sat and watched them from my car until 8.30am. What a spectacle! The sun didn't hit the field until well after 7.00am (it comes up behind Ben Nevis at this location!)so this shot is unlit but I think gives it more of a mood to the shot. It is cropped quite a bit. All C+C warmly welcomed and many thanks for your comments on my previous pictures.
Nick.
Posted by David Taylor on April 26, 2012 at 8:37 AM
I lek this a lot, Nick. Well worth the early start.
Posted by Barry Southon on April 26, 2012 at 9:02 AM
Nick
A very interesting subject and well worth an early start, do they boom the same as the Prairie Chickens do in their mating ritual? I'm viewing on my iPad and I enlarged the large version still further on the screen the detail revealed is even greater.
Just personal pref I like them large and showing plenty of detail.
Posted by David Sewell on April 26, 2012 at 12:48 PM
Well caught, Nick, and well worth the early rise just to see this. It does look a bit grainy in places, so I am assuming that this is a crop? Great piece of natural history.
David
Posted by Nick Mckeown on April 26, 2012 at 1:02 PM
Thanks folks.
@ Barry...they don't boom its more of a bubbling hiss and they very often leap up into the air. At one point three females were herded into the middle of the lek and the big boys fought over them.
@ David S......it is quite a crop as this pair were at the far end of the lekking ground. I am hoping to get some more shots this weekend, hopefully larger in frame.
Discussion
9 repliesThere is a Black Grouse lek at the side of a minor road near me and last Sunday I got there at 5.00am and sat and watched them from my car until 8.30am. What a spectacle! The sun didn't hit the field until well after 7.00am (it comes up behind Ben Nevis at this location!)so this shot is unlit but I think gives it more of a mood to the shot. It is cropped quite a bit. All C+C warmly welcomed and many thanks for your comments on my previous pictures.
Nick.
A very interesting subject and well worth an early start, do they boom the same as the Prairie Chickens do in their mating ritual? I'm viewing on my iPad and I enlarged the large version still further on the screen the detail revealed is even greater.
Just personal pref I like them large and showing plenty of detail.
David
@ Barry...they don't boom its more of a bubbling hiss and they very often leap up into the air. At one point three females were herded into the middle of the lek and the big boys fought over them.
@ David S......it is quite a crop as this pair were at the far end of the lekking ground. I am hoping to get some more shots this weekend, hopefully larger in frame.
Nick.
Keith.
Matt