SEARCHING IMPRESSIONS OF LIFE: bird of prey

It's in my blood.
Since I was given my first camera, when I was a little kid, I have always been fascinated by capturing in a shot what my eyes were seeing around me. The beauty of nature or the smile of a friend, an event or an emotion... Precious pearls to be framed in a photo. Whether freezing a movement or moving the stillness, looking at normality through a different angle or portraying the exceptional, I can choose different perspectives, I can catch reality. I think this passion is in my blood, I inherited it from my Grandpa and then from my Dad, and it has always had a great influence in my life. Come and follow me in my journey searching impressions of life.

Showing posts with label bird of prey. Show all posts

Sunday, July 31, 2016

On the Black Grouse Lek - part 2

Three months... yes, three months! I can't believe I left so much time pass between part one and part two of this post! What a shame... :(

24mm f/5.0 1/100sec ISO800 +3.33

Anyway, I am going to show you now probably the most interesting part of the courtship, the actual fights.

While the mating display I told you about in the previous part continues for most of the time, once in a while a more serious action takes place, especially when females come to visit the lek.

560mm f/5.6 1/1250sec ISO800 +1.33

560mm f/5.6 1/500sec ISO3200 +0.67

400mm f/6.3 1/640sec ISO6400 +0.67

The confrontations go from just facing each other without really "attacking", to jumping towards the adversary trying to find an opening.

400mm f/5.6 1/1600sec ISO1250 +1.33

And then... ATTACK!

400mm f/5.6 1/640sec ISO640 +0.67

400mm f/5.0 1/400sec ISO3200 +0.67

400mm f/6.3 1/400sec ISO3200 +0.67

Everything is very fast and it's quite difficult to clearly see what's happening in those few seconds. Only when I look at the pictures, later, after coming back home, I can see the drama of the action, the fierce look and the strength the birds put in the fight. Feathers fly in the air and for a short but very intense time, the two birds fight in the air, almost as if they were dancing.

400mm f/6.3 1/1000sec ISO2000 +1

400mm f/5.6 1/1250sec ISO800 +1.33

400mm f/5.0 1/400sec ISO3200 +0.67

Shots have been taken throughout a period of four days, in different weather, as you can see from the colors and the light conditions.

400mm f/7.1 1/800sec ISO2500 +0.67

400mm f/5.6 1/800sec ISO2500 +0.67

And then, suddenly, everybody fly away... a small bird of prey arrived in the distance... better be far, you never know. It was almost time, anyway, for the birds to stop their mating activity for the day.

722mm f/8.0 1/320sec ISO6400 -0.67

The four days spent photographing these beautiful birds have been an awesome experience that I hope to repeat one day. If you enjoyed the shots, you might enjoy also the story I published on MAPTIA:

https://maptia.com/frazgu64/stories/fight-dance

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Waiting for the Bearded Vulture

The Bearded vulture is a magnificent bird that is luckily regaining possess of the Italian Alps. He usually feeds on carcasses of dead animals, but rather than eating meat, his diet is mainly bone marrow. It lets the bones fall on the rocks down below to break them and eat the marrow inside.

Hoping to spot, and photograph, the Bearded vulture, Gipeto in Italian, yesterday I went with some friends to a location in the Piemonte Alps. Unfortunately the wind was extremely strong and that was probably the reason the bird of prey did not show up.

Wind was particularly strong, especially as soon as we arrived...

But the trip was not totally "useless": the location was great and while waiting we were able to spot other animals worth shooting with our cameras – not to mention the "polenta and spezzatino" we had as a late lunch, when we got down to the village.

Some Chamois were looking for grass on the rocks, where there was less deposit of snow, showing their ability to climb very steep areas.

800mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO500 +1

800mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO1250 +1

800mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO2000 +1.33

800mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO1250 +1.33

800mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO320 +1

800mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO800 +1.33

Also, an Alpine chough kept flying over our heads to get down every so often, looking for food. This bird has a yellow beak and bright red feet and is very similar to the less common Red-billed chough, that has both bill and feet red.

294mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO500 +1

540mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO500 +1

And before we could even realize it, a large male Alpine ibex approached us from behind the big rock structure where we had stopped, and we were able to enjoy such a wonderful close encounter, for the few minutes the animal stayed in the area before disappearing from our sight. Both Chamois and Ibex are beautiful with their thick fur during the winter season; they will shed with the approaching of spring.

400mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO1250 +1.33

381mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO500 +1.33

533mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO1600 +1

533mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO1250

381mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO800

Both the mammals and the Chough (this one especially) are pretty dark and taking pictures of them against the white of the snow requires compensation of exposure done in a proper way. Finding the right balance is key, in order not to have too much black for the animals and not loose all the detail of the snow at the same time.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Golden Eagle

Last year, in December, I went to Sweden with the goal of taking some dramatic shots of the majestic Golden Eagle. I had a great experience, even though the bad weather conditions and not that much luck, prevented me from coming back home with the great pictures I was hoping.

In April, I went to visit Conny again, this time to photograph the Black Grouse during the mating season. Since the birds stop fighting around 9:00am, the rest of the day was available to focus on different species, and I asked Conny to stay in the eagle hide to try again and shoot this wonderful bird.

So every day, after a one-hour drive back from the lek to the house, and after having some breakfast, I was going to the eagle hide to spend the afternoon there.

Unfortunately, the first three days passed with no eagle showing up: the following day was going to be my last chance and I was preparing myself "psychologically" to get home once again without the eagle shot.

On the fourth day I arrived to the hide as usual, after passing the first hours in the early morning with Conny at the Black Grouse lek. Some time passed without anything special happening, but then, finally some luck: I saw a shadow passing over the hide, a glimpse of the Golden Eagle, and it landed on the trees nearby. I took some shots with the second camera placed on the side of the hide while the eagle flew, over my head, to land again, but this time just in front of the hide. The dominant male, an old eagle that had been visiting the site for many years.

400mm f/5.6 1/1000sec ISO320 +1

400mm f/5.6 1/1250sec ISO320 +1

The majestic bird was very close, just a few meters from me. I am glad I had placed there the 5D MkIII, set in silent mode – I do not know what would have been its reaction from hearing a normal shutter sound. I was moving my lens extremely slowly, not to scare the eagle and I was able to admire and photograph that bird for almost 50 minutes: just the eagle and myself.

No fights between birds, dramatic shots in the snow or contest winning pictures, I know, but such a close encounter with the Golden Eagle was really special.

800mm f/8.0 1/320sec ISO1000

800mm f/8.0 1/640sec ISO1000

560mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO640 -0.33

800mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO1000

400mm f/8.0 1/2000sec ISO1000

200mm f/6.3 1/250sec ISO640

560mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO640

200mm f/6.3 1/1000sec ISO640

200mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO640

560mm f/6.3 1/250sec ISO640

Sunday, July 6, 2014

A Nice Surprise

Last week I went back to visit the colony of Lesser kestrel that I had spent some time with time ago (you can see the post here: http://searchimpressions-life.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-day-with-lesser-kestrel.html). I hope to be able to post some of the new shots soon, but in the meantime I would like to share a few photos I took of another bird that was a nice unexpected surprise.

While I was watching the kestrels I noticed another falcon that at first looked like one of the others, but it was much darker. It flew low in front of me and stopped on a wire nearby. Once I framed it with my camera I had confirmation of what I thought: a Red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus). This was a young male as I could see from the plumage of the wings not completely dark. A beautiful bird.

A male of Lesser kestrel came and pushed him away a couple of times until the Red-footed falcon flew away.

The shots have some noise because unfortunately the bird was far from me and I had to crop quite a bit, but I am happy with this capture.

EOS 1D X – Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840mm f/10 1/3200sec ISO 1000

EOS 1D X – Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840mm f/10 1/4000sec ISO 1000

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

A Day with the Lesser Kestrel

Birds of prey are among my favorites. Elegant, strong and fast... but not always so easy to capture with your camera!

I have been recently able to spend a full day observing a particular species of these birds, the Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) and the 12 hours spent in the hide have been rich with excitement, discovery and strong emotions. I didn't know about this falcon until now and it's been a surprise to learn that they nest in colonies of many individuals and they do that easily in areas where man is present, often nesting on roofs of buildings.

It looks very much like the Common Kestrel, but it's smaller and it has light-colored talons, while the other falcon has black ones like many of the other raptors. It preys insects – the Italian name "grillaio" (grillo = cricket) comes probably from that – but also small animals like reptiles, birds and mice.

The Lesser Kestrel winters in Africa and some Asian regions and luckily migrates to our region to nest so we are fortunate to be able to admire such a beautiful bird.

I had this post in the drafts for ages and in fact my last post was so old! It's high time I decided to stop editing photos and finally post again. Thank you for your patience!

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/3200sec ISO 1000

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/7.1 1/1250sec ISO 800

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/7.1 1/4000sec ISO 800

During the day I have been able to observe males and females hunting, mating and fighting. Most of the times the preys were mice and only once I saw a male coming back with a big Mole Cricket. The nests were mainly under the roof tiles.
Some of the fights were pretty strong and in a couple of occasions the birds kept fighting in the air while falling off the roof.

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/7.1 1/2500sec ISO 800

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/2000sec ISO 800

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/9.0 1/4000sec ISO 1000

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/7.1 1/4000sec ISO 800

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/7.1 1/2500sec ISO 800

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @400mm f/8.0 1/2500sec ISO 1000

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/7.1 1/1600sec ISO 1000

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/10.0 1/3200sec ISO 1000

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/10.0 1/1250sec ISO 1000

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/9.0 1/1000sec ISO 1000

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/7.1 1/5000sec ISO 1000

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/9.0 1/1250sec ISO 1000