Will it be Willets?
| 7 imagesThe Willet is not a particularly common bird here in Colorado. This year, probably thanks to the sandy, muddy shores that line all of Cherry Creek (an unusual thing in and of itself), Willet’s are here in record numbers.
Nature Photography 
Very nice. Were these taken with your 100-400 alone or with a 1.4x TC added?
Just the 100-400. I own the Kenko 1.4x DGX Pro, however it doesn’t work all that well, even in good light. The image quality with the Kenko added is bad enough that it isn’t worth the effort, either.
All my shots for 2013 are just with the 100-400 plain. I’ve just honed my skill in using camo, creeping up, and waiting for the birds to come to me. Most of these shots are within a few feet of the MFD, usually from a very low perspective.
It looks like you were laying in the sand at or below their level — how did you shoot from this perspective?
Yeah, I was laying flat in the sand. I set my camera up on a Gitzo GT3532LS tripod, with the legs set up so they lay flat. The tripod has no center pole, so its possible. I have a Jobu Pro 2 gimbal type head attached, to which the lens (and camera) is attached via a lens plate. The camera sits up off the ground by a little less than a foot with that setup. At a convenient eye level when laying on the ground. The whole setup…tripod, gimbal, and camera, are wrapped in LensCoat RealTree HD camoflage.
Wow, thanks for the details. That is some set-up.
Welcome. I may put together an article explaining how I get my shots, with photos showing the various tripod setups and areas I photograph at.
Super shots of these guys with a very interesting perspective.
Glad you like the perspective. That is one of the key factors of my work…that low perspective, soft, blurry backgrounds.