On the Defensive
| 5 imagesI headed out to Cherry Creek yesterday after work. First time I’d really had a chance in the last couple of weeks. I had originally planned to photograph wildlife at sunset, however I noticed a fairly large flock of Snowy Egrets hanging out in the treetops. I’d never seen anything like it before…usually the Snowys are fairly well hidden, mostly solitary, and require a bit of hunting to find. While walking around the Cottonwood Creek area (which is right next to the large fields of grass and cattail where the deer tend to come out at night), I apparently encroached upon the territory of a rather protective little Spotted Sandpiper. Given the specific call pattern, I believe it was trying to protect it’s nest (something I hope to get a glimpse of today, and maybe some eggs or babies.) This tiny little sandpiper was incredibly brave, and often came within 10 feet…too close to even photograph.
A Spotted Sandpiper defends his territory with a rapid, high pitched lilting chirp.
Depending on which direction I moved, and how far, I was able to narrow down exactly what his territory was. He would fly a certain direction and out a certain distance, I assume in order to “draw me off” or “distract” me. After a bit of trial and error, I managed to “train” the persistent little guy to move to exactly where I wanted him, resulting in some wonderful shots of him standing on these vibrant green mats of some kind of aquatic moss in the last bits of daylight. I’ll be posting those photos in the next gallery.
Spotted Sandpiper Portrait
Nature Photography 
Wonderful photos
Thanks, Nora! 🙂
Great work Jon! If I may make some constructive criticism, you might want to work on the head angles… A head perfectly parallel to you is acceptable, like in the last picture. The subject slightly looking away is not good though (I typically send those straight to the trash). That is the case for a good half of the pictures above. The ideal is 3-5 degrees towards you. Again, I don’t mean to be rude, just to help 🙂 By the way, I am leading an instructional photography tour to Botswana and the Victoria Falls next year. Wanna join?
Thanks Steven. I do know about HA, however when the bird is running back and forth, popping it’s head up and down constantly, never to stand still for more than about half a second, you get what you can take. 😉
In almost all of these photos, HA is either parallel or a few degrees towards the camera (or more, in a couple). I think there is only one shot where it is maybe a degree or two back (the one with a lot of foliage). You might be noticing that the body angle and feet are actually pointed a bit back in a few of the shots…but even in those, HA itself is still either parallel or forward. (Sorry, just had to respond to the note that half the photos had a bad HA!)
I don’t really trash much of my work, unless there is obvious lack of focus, camera shake, or something like that. Disk space is ultra cheap. Also keep in mind, this was at sunset, and most of these shots are at ISO 1600 or higher with shutter speeds as low as 1/200th of a second (i.e. the softness in the vertical shot is because he was popping his head up and down constantly…that was the sharpest shot out of that particular sequence.) I usually try to keep my shutter speed with fast, small birds like this higher, 1/1000s or faster, but again…take what you can get.
I’d love to join one of your IPTs, but at $10k a pop, I’ll have to weigh that one carefully. There are some IPTs that Art Morris runs that I would like to do, and they run in the same price range. Definitely something I want to take advantage of, and I’d like to have the right kind of equipment before I spend that kind of money as well (the 7D is a great little camera, but its AF system and noise performance are definitely lacking.)
Agreed, I exaggerated. My apologies.
Regarding the price of my IPT, you have to look at comparables. Artie offers a $13k African safari in Tanzania. Tanzania is a bit cheaper than Botswana, but Botswana is more geared towards luxury safari, which translates into less vehicles on the trails. It is not very fun when you have six vehicles going after the same lion… Artie is a great guy by the way. I apprenticed with him multiple times in the past. Anyway, those trips are expensive indeed because of the location and the financial risks linked to the organization of the trip. With a $3k delta, you could buy the 5D mark III 😉
I live in the Tampa Bay area and Alafia Banks offers one of the very best site for Spoonbills photography. Keep an eye open as I will soon be announcing a workshop over there. The price will be a lot more affordable too 🙂
Thanks for the info. I am definitely interested in some tours. I only have about a year and a half of bird photography under my belt, and not quite four years of photography experience in total. It is actually one of my longer term goals to become a professional (you can’t imagine how much I’d like to extract myself from corporate America and enjoy nature for a living!! Sadly, it’s paying the bills right now, including the money that pays for my equipment…)
I don’t figure I’ll really have the skill for another five years…not the kind of skill or recognition that I think people expect from an instructor, anyway. I still learn something new every day, and every time I head out I make it a point to observe, recognize any mistakes, and improve.
Anyway, it would be interesting to see how these things are done, learn some things along the way, and bank the knowledge for some time in the future when I can start something similar myself (although I think I’d stick to more domestic locations, and maybe locations in Canada…I don’t know the first thing about a safari…)
Jon, I thought along those lines for a long time: invest in expensive equipment first, then look for high end tours, etc… Having been there, done that, my best advice is to look for an affordable good instructional tour instead of aiming straight at a tour over $10k and ending up not doing anything for a long while.
You will learn A LOT even during a 3-5 days tour. Nothing replaces the in-the-field learning close to a great instructor. This will speed up your learning curve! I have seen people learning really fast once in the field with proper mentoring. I remember that doctor who came having rented out a 600mm. He did not know how to shoot in manual mode, or how to go about taking pictures of birds in flight and much more. On the last day of the tour, he ended up with the best birds in flight photographs of the entire group!!
Leaving a corporate job is a very tough choice though. It is quite a different ballgame to have your own business with bills piling up. BUT, if you persistent and motivated, ANYTHING is possible.
Terrific shots of these guys!
Beautiful. Especially the last one, the portrait of the head!
Thanks, Sue! In the head shot, you can actually see me reflected in its eye. That particular version is a bit dark, I’ll see if I can upload a better version where my reflection is a bit clearer. I forgot to bring my teleconverter, however next time I get a chance, I’m going to see if I can get a detailed shot of me reflected in a birds eye.
Great shots Jon – loving your new lens, no?
Absolutely loving it! 🙂 I was worried I’d regret spending so much money on something like that…but haven’t felt one moment of regret so far. Probably the best purchase I’ll ever make for my photography.
Spotted Sandpipers are pretty little birds. Wonderful close-ups of them… great clarity, Jon. Thanks!
Aye, they are lovely little beauties. I particularly love the fact that many of their spots are actually little hearts. 😉 Thanks for the comment!
Jon, I just looked again and, indeed, little hearts! How cool is that? Thanks for pointing that out. Birds are wonderful creatures.
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