Back to Racconigi

During the past Holidays Denise allowed me to take a "day off" and go out for some nature photography. It was quite a long time since my previous visit to Racconigi natural preserve and so I decided to go there.

The day was not particularly great, still I was able to see a few species for the first time: the Hawfinch, the Curlew, the Eurasian penduline tit and the Brambling. In particular, the Curlew was something I wanted to capture in a photo, but unfortunately they never got close enough for a good shot. I had to crop quite a bit and that didn't help to have pictures with a good definition. However, the light of the sunset was really nice and gave a warm touch to the images I took.

             800mm f/8.0 1/800sec ISO 640 +1

             800mm f/8.0 1/1250sec ISO 640 +1

             800mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO 640 +1

             800mm f/8.0 1/800sec ISO 640 +1

             800mm f/8.0 1/1250sec ISO 640 +1

             560mm f/5.6 1/640sec ISO 800 +1

             560mm f/5.6 1/500sec ISO 800 +1

             800mm f/8.0 1/640sec ISO 800 +1

             560mm f/5.6 1/400sec ISO 800 +1

             800mm f/8.0 1/250sec ISO 800 +1

Love Is in the Air

I know, I am behind with the editing of my photos. That's because when I am out in the field I can't stop shooting, and when I get home I have multiple cards worth of shots to go through... good, but bad at the same time...

So, while the Black-winged Stilts have already laid their eggs, here are, in this third installment on this species, some shots taken a few weeks ago still during the mating season. We have seen the fights in my previous post and here is the mating ritual. Females have a brown back while males are black. The colors of the head are not distinctive of sexes and vary from bird to bird.

When the female is ready she lowers her head, keeping the body in a straight position and waits. Sometimes the male is not interested and doesn't respond, otherwise he goes around her a couple of times before finally getting onto her back. After the mating, male and female exchange a tender caress, beak to beak, one next to the other.

I can't wait to see the cute little stilts which will be born soon!

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III f/6.3 1/2500sec ISO 400

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III f/6.3 1/2500sec ISO 400

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO 640

When I Met the King

I had planned to post some images of wonderful autumn colors – even though, because of rain and bad weather, I haven't had the opportunity to shoot too much – but the visit to the wetland area of Racconigi and the encounter I had there last Saturday made me change plans.

The nice sunny day convinced me to try and go to the natural preserve of Racconigi, the center created in 1985 to reintroduce the white stork, which had stopped nesting in Italy since the eighteenth century. The success of the people who worked at this project has made this area a sanctuary for a lot of species of birds.

The two and a half hours it took to drive there were worth it, since I have been able to take my first pictures of the common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). The sun was setting and the light was great. The little and fast bird posed for us a couple of times, with different light conditions and I tried to take the best out of it.  The kingfisher was waiting for fish to pass by, resting on a branch quite far from us, but we knew there was a good possibility it would get closer, on a couple of single branches coming out of the water, just in front of where we were hiding (apparently that bird fishing there does it often). And in fact, that happened twice; the second time it actually came to swallow the fish just caught. 

I tried to keep a fast shutter speed and so I pushed a little the ISO. I knew I might get some grain, but that is always preferable to a blurry photo. I got just enough to get a decent output, considering I was not well balanced and shooting hand-held. But to be the first shots at this wonderful bird, I am very happy with the results!

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM@400mm f/8.0 1/640 sec ISO 800

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM@400mm f/8.0 1/640 sec ISO 800

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM@400mm f/10.0 1/800 sec ISO 800

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM@400mm f/10.0 1/800 sec ISO 800

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM@400mm f/10.0 1/800 sec ISO 800

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM@400mm f/5.6 1/250 sec ISO 800

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM@400mm f/5.6 1/250 sec ISO 800

If you are interested in knowing more about the Centro Cicogne e Anatidi di Racconigi, please visit the link section.