Hunting Among the Water Lilys

It was not until I saw the shots I took, that the strength of the Squacco heron during hunting showed up so clearly. The bird walks over the Water lily leaves looking for its preys, very slowly, scanning the water, then suddenly springs into incredible action. That's the best moment to shoot to take very dynamic pictures. Also, since the weight of the bird tends to make it sink while walking on the floating leaves, you can predict when this heron will spread the wings to "stay up" and that is also another moment when you fire your shots. The mating season is a good moment because it brings a very colorful plumage and also the beak is colored of a bright blue, and that makes the photos more interesting.

I took pictures during two different moments with different conditions in the setting and lighting. The first time the Water lilys were all in bloom giving the setting a wonderful look. The light was harsh, though, because it was midday. The second time it was early morning, so the light was nicer, but it was later in the season and the flowers were almost all gone. Both times there were multiple challenges. I had to keep a fast shutter speed to freeze the bird's movement and at the same time a narrow aperture was needed to keep the subject in focus: Especially when the bird was springing towards the camera, the focus was very critical. The light was source of other problems, but also of opportunity. The harsh light of midday created often a back-lit effect with very interesting results. The high contrasts, however, requested some post processing work to balance the white of the wings vs the rest of the colors.

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/1000sec ISO 320

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/1250sec ISO 320

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/1250sec ISO 320

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/1250sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/2500sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/2000sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/1600sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/2500sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/2500sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/3200sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @490mm f/8.0 1/3200sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @490mm f/8.0 1/2500sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @490mm f/8.0 1/2500sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/2500sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @560mm f/8.0 1/2500sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @533mm f/8.0 1/3200sec ISO 800

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 200-400 mm f/4L IS USM EXT @533mm f/8.0 1/3200sec ISO 800

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

Reflections

Before posting the third installment on the Black-winged stilts, a photo I shot a few months ago but that had been almost forgotten in the draft folder. I actually like this shot very much, but I was trying to alternate subjects when I started posting pictures of the Great Egret and I left it there by mistake.

This one was shot at sunset, just after the sun had gone below the horizon, with very little light. The bird had stayed far until that moment, when it finally flew closer to my position and I was able to take a few shots before it got too dark to shoot. I tried to capture the last remaining warm brush strokes from the setting sun and include the wonderful reflection in the steady water. Post processing helped bringing out the colors from the original shot that came out quite dark.

                     EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III@840mm f/6.3 1/800sec ISO 500

Fight!

During the mating season it's common to see Black-winged Stilts fight for a female or for territory. Confrontations do not last very long but are sometimes pretty rough, with males hitting the adversaries with their long legs, or beaks, sometimes trying to drown the other bird – or that anyway is what it seemed when I was taking pictures of some groups of birds fighting. A female is often nearby, watching, waiting for the final response and see who's the winner. But sometimes, probably when there are couples already formed, you can see couple vs couple, when both male and female attack or defend their area from the other birds.

Everything happens very quickly, with the birds often "jumping" very high and it is not easy sometimes to keep them within the frame or to freeze the movements perfectly. Here are a few shots taken during the fights.

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/5.6 1/2000sec ISO 500

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/5.6 1/2000sec 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 f/5.6 1/1600sec ISO 640

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

The Knights

That's the Italian name of this elegant bird: Cavaliere d'Italia, the Knight of Italy. I must confess I don't know the origin of this name, but indeed the bird looks like a tall knight with its long legs and black and white colors. 

The Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is the specific subspecies living in Italy and Europe, and also in Asia and Africa, but there are other subspecies living in other continents and in fact I have some shots of the "same" bird taken in California as well (will show in another post later). I even found out there is one living just in Hawaii, the Hawaiian Stilt.

I hadn't taken a photo of this bird yet, so I decided to go to Racconigi right during the mating season. Many couples of birds are coming back from Africa and stop at this wetland to nest, and I was able to take hundreds of shots of the birds feeding in the shallow water, fighting for their territory and mating.

The legs of the Black-winged Stilt are extremely long vs the size of the body and are a distinctive element of this bird. The silhouette of the Cavaliere d'Italia is very elegant and I love to look at them especially when they fly and keep their legs parallel to the body and stretched out.

Here is a first batch of shots, mainly portraits. I'll share more pictures during the upcoming days showing the territorial fights and other behaviors, and I hope to go back when the eggs etch to try and shoot the newly born chickens.

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/5.6 1/4000sec 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 @840 mm f/5.6 1/4000sec 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/5.6 1/2500sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/5.6 1/2500sec 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 f/6.3 1/1250sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

                    EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm 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 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 @840 mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 640

             EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/5.6 1/1600sec ISO 500

The Cormorant

The Cormorant is a fast, extremely skilled fish-eating bird that might appear not particularly pleasant from a distance, but that I found extremely beautiful when you take a closer look. The shades of blue in the plumage, the strong wings, the face shape and colors... and when it dries its wings, it's really wonderful.

After fishing underwater, the bird dries its wings in the sun. This one landed... well... water-landed in the marsh canal where I was hiding and spent quite some time, first shaking the water off its plumage and then drying its wings open in the sun. That is when you realize how big the Cormorant is: in a few shots I even had to remove the teleconverter from my telephoto, in order to keep the whole bird inside the frame.

The light was wonderful and I tried to freeze the movement of the wings and the water drops flying off the bird. I wanted to take the moment when the wings were pushed forward so that the light would better go through the feathers.

              EOS 5D Mark III – EF400mm f/2.8L IS USM +1.4x III@560mm f/7.1 1/800sec ISO 320

              EOS 5D Mark III – EF400mm f/2.8L IS USM +1.4x III@560mm f/7.1 1/800sec ISO 320

              EOS 5D Mark III – EF400mm f/2.8L IS USM +1.4x III@560mm f/7.1 1/800sec ISO 320

 I entered one of these photos in THE OPEN photo contest so, if you like it, I thank you in advance for voting it! Go to the link at the top of the column on the left and click the heart!