[Itsed65]

I got lucky today and caught this perched bald eagle in Northern California. A pretty rare sight.

Nor Cal Bald Eagle by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Itsed65

I see guys doing that out here too, but I don't think I have ever seen anyone catch anything. What kind of fish do you pull out of the surf?

No idea in FL. Here in MA it's usually stripers and bluefish. I don't surf fish, but a friend of mine does. Although lately he's just been fishing the Cape Cod Canal.

[M_Six]

Nice Bald Eagle shot, Ed. I saw two swirling around each other right by the Daytona Speedway last week. No chance to stop and grab pics, though.

[Itsed65]

Taking pictures of ducks is kind of like shooting the moon for me. If you see them, you have to take a picture!

A male and female American Wigeon

The Wigeons by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Nice wigeons Ed. I too believe in shooting whatever is in front of me.

Here's a red-tail hawk, too far away, but the miracle of the 100% crop yields a decent shot with the 7D2:

100% Crop by dcstep, on Flickr

[Itsed65]

Gotta love that autofocos Dave!


Kite in the Wind by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[M_Six]

^^^Killer shots, Ed and DC. Where do you guys find the time to shoot so much?

[Itsed65]

Originally Posted by M_Six

^^^Killer shots, Ed and DC. Where do you guys find the time to shoot so much?

Thanks Mark! I had last week off and tried to get out every day. I also try to get out at least once a weekend, and weather permitting hit my local park a few times a week. I'm single, and have no family obligations either, so I guess that helps too

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by Itsed65

Thanks Mark! I had last week off and tried to get out every day. I also try to get out at least once a weekend, and weather permitting hit my local park a few times a week. I'm single, and have no family obligations either, so I guess that helps too

By local park, what do you mean? I head to the local state park and I see nothing. The only animals I ever see are the ones that walk up to my front door (deer, small birds, stray cats)

[Itsed65]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

By local park, what do you mean? I head to the local state park and I see nothing. The only animals I ever see are the ones that walk up to my front door (deer, small birds, stray cats)

We have a local municipal park with a series of trails right along the bay here. That's where I get a lot of the white-tailed kite shots, along with some ducks. That one is two miles from my house.

Within 30 minutes of my house, I have tons of parks to pick from within our East Bay Regional Park system, some of them quite large with marshland, lakes, and bay access and those are where I usually get the larger raptor shots, and ducks more exotic than our local mallards, along with deer, foxes, coyotes, etc.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by M_Six

^^^Killer shots, Ed and DC. Where do you guys find the time to shoot so much?

I've got a state park 10-minutes from my house. I took the latest hawk shot by going out for about an hour before sunset and sitting and watching that one hawk, hoping it'd fly. I do that two or three evenings a week and then go out most Saturday morning for three or four hours. The park has deer, coyote, bunnies, prairie dogs, many water birds, eagles and other raptors and lots of little peepers. We also get great sunrises and sunsets.

Going back over and over, you'll learn where the birds and animals will be at certain times of day and maximize your effectiveness. Persistence leads to "luck."

Here's a shot before sunrise last Saturday. I parked at a spot where I know, from years of experience, that the white-tail deer tend to (not every day, but often) jump the fence in the mornings. I was having my coffee and an energy bar when this guy casually walked up, jumped the fence and paid me no mind. ISO 3200, BTW:

Big Buck Jumps Fence by dcstep, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Itsed65

Gotta love that autofocos Dave!

I couldn't live without it.

I'm mystified to see all the complaining about the 7D MkII's AF. Mine is every bit as good as my 5D MkIII and maybe even better. I think that too many people think that you can turn on all those AF points, point the camera in the general direction of a bird and get a sharp shot. It's more like shooting squirrels in the head with a single-shot .22. I use single-point or single-point expanded and a custom program with the sensitivities at the max. It's up to me to get the point on the bird's head and not give the body a chance to focus on the background.

Dave

[Itsed65]

I think the 7D2 beats the 5D3, and even my 1DIV.

Although the 1D is certainly no slouch! I actually had it set up on my gimbal rig for this shot as I parked it in front of the marsh to relax for a couple of hours last week. This harrier caused quite a stir with the ducks as it cruised over the marsh, but I think it found a land based critter in the grass.

Spotted! by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Itsed65

I think the 7D2 beats the 5D3, and even my 1DIV.

Great shot. Hunting Harriers are one of the toughest shots there is because the fly so low and there's almost always both foreground and background that could throw the AF off. You nailed this one.

I tried a 1D X for a couple of weeks and the only time it was better was with teleconverters attached, where the AF speed change was hardly noticeable. At f/8.0, the 7D2 and the 5D3 slow down to impossible speeds for anything moving very fast.

Talk about fast, I've driven along side harriers and clocked them at between 25 and 30-mph.

I'm leaving in ten-minutes to try to shoot harriers. Over the last few weeks, I witnessed one attacking ring-necked pheasants, both on the fly and on the ground. All were too far away, or on the wrong side of the light and they never actually caught a pheasant as I watched. My dream is to catch a shot, in good light, with harrier striking a pheasant in mid-air. Fingers crossed...

Dave

[Itsed65]

Could be a great shot! Good luck

[Itsed65]

Splash Down by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[dcstep]

This is not the harrier catching a pheasant that I've been hoping for, but I was very happy with my brief, one-hour foray out into the park. I caught this guy twice, eating a vole, shot a perched juvenile Coopper's Hawk and caught a young American Kestrel posing. Not bad for a quick spin after work and before an evening meeting that was scheduled:

Out Of The Grass! by dcstep, on Flickr

[M_Six]

Nice. Was that a big crop or was he really that close?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Nice. Was that a big crop or was he really that close?

Around a 30% crop, to get rid of a bunch of grass on the left.

[Itsed65]

Nicely done Dave

[Itsed65]

This is kind of hazy, but I had never seen this before at the Sacramento NWR. Two eagles and two hawks hanging out, watching the geese. I was about a mile away from these trees, as they are not on the road where I could get any closer, and our air quality has been dangerously bad for the last week due to an non-moving high pressure ridge which makes any kind of long range telephoto work soft and blurry.

Predator Trees by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[Itsed65]

I caught up with my kite friend today (not great conditions)

Kite Flying by lennycarl08, on Flickr