Another trip to Smith Oaks Rookery at High Island

[Shadow]

Thanks, Sid for the invite.

[Patticake]

Love your shots Bruce!!!

Patti

[lhdvies]

Good detailed shots Bruce!!

[houtex01]

Very nice Bruce...going to try to make it over there one evening next week...

Ron

[Will Rountree]

Pretty shots! Need to get there next week or so!

[ttusa]

Beautiful clarity in #1!

[jfoureyes]

Another fine series Bruce!

[Shadow]

Thanks, all. Sid and I had a great time out there. Most of the Egret mating had already happened, and many birds were tending to their eggs. The previous week, there was more mating and nest building action. The Spoonbills are supposed to be mating next. Skeeters were more populous, but not too bad. More people on the platforms, but workable still. Most of these were done at 500mm with the 300 F4 / TC-17E converter. It is still very sharp (especially stopped down 2/3 stop or more), but doesn't work as well as the TC-14E for continuous AF for in-flight shooting. It is FAR better than the TC-20E, which was meant for F2.8 super teles. I'll have to go back out there to see the baby Egrets soon.

[corralup]

Congrats on the 1.7TC!!! I'm loving this! Thanks for your personal invite too! I got your message. I'll get back over there soon enough.

[tech1961]

Very nice series Bruce. I like #2 the best.

[Stephen P]

Love that breeding plumage and the spoonbills are awesome!

[Tim T]

Very nice series Bruce. Looks like you and Sid had some good photo op's. Love the spoonbill flight shots. My only suggestion would be to add some noise reduction on some of them.

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Tim T

Very nice series Bruce. Looks like you and Sid had some good photo op's. Love the spoonbill flight shots. My only suggestion would be to add some noise reduction on some of them.

Thanks, all. Tim, some of these were at or after sunset, so they will be noisy on a D300 at shutter speeds for in-flight @ F6.7 or F8. The last Egret was ISO 3200 and cropped. I'll have to work on some more and post 'em up... It was fun watching Sid try to keep Spoonbills in the frame with his 500mm F4 as they buzzed us... Next time, I'll use the straight 300mm for those shots. Seems to be the right length for it.....

[Glassman]

I think they are all fantastic. I can't pick one favorite. I have topaz denoise 3 and ran one of your photos with noise in it and think it did a good job. I used the default settings. I hope you don't mind

[Shadow]

Thanks, Billy. Looks great. I'll have to get a bit more sophisticated with my PP! Not bad for extreme conditions. If I'd taken the time and used a tripod, I could have brought down the ISO quite a bit for this shot.