See what you missed

[GonzoBernelli]

Target Aquired



Target in Trouble



DEEP Trouble



Tenderizing



Gulp

[Tim T]

Great shot Gonzo. That is one big crawfish. I was very nice to meet you today. Hope to see more of your shots.

[roundedout]

Holy Smokes - Nice! What a hunter! Crawdad! Great shots and sequences!

[GonzoBernelli]

Good meeting you and Laura today Tim. I guess if we want a better turnout we'll need to announce the "party" a week or more in advance.

[popawalker]

Nice Gonzo, I know y'all had fun.

[laura.rossi]

Hi Gonzo,
very nice photos....I'll have to wait one week to see mines..
it was a pleasure to meet you and Tim and Keith and his friends!
I think my next trip will be to Bolivar flats, as Tim suggested...

[Capt. Ray]

Wow, two different food captures at BBSP today. Great series Gonzo. Did you get any spider shots?

I didn't wake up till almost 9 AM and figured it was to late to make the trek out there. Maybe next time.

[GonzoBernelli]

I don't "do" spiders in any way! (Except, perhaps, with the sole of my shoe). When the orb weavers appeared over the path to the north end of 40 acre lake (at face level, no less, and after Laura's shreek) I decided to head over to Elm Lake and was rewarded with the sequence above.

[agillette]

Those were great photos. Next time i may tag along. Specially if it's on the weekends.

Regards,

AG

[Hanky]

May I ask your aprox. dist. to subject and what equipment used? I can't get closer than 1k yards without spooking. Great pictures, thanks for sharing. h

[Jay Henley]

Great shots.... that is a neat place. I am ready to go back. I nearly walked into one of those huge spiders. I think cap'n Ray did when he tried to walk off the trail to get gator shot.

[zeroendless]

nice catch, BBSP sure is full of food for them waders. Cajun Crawlfish, catfish, frog to snakes...

[GonzoBernelli]

Hanky,
There seem to be 2 GWE's calling Elm Lake home - the female (?) is really skittish and will leave as soon as she detects movement or sees the big black hole pointed her way. The male (residual tendrils of breeding plumage remaining) is much more tolerant of movement and camera gear. I got really lucky with that egret - the male. I was hiding behind some bushes, with a view through a small gap. I must have worked the bird for almost 45 minutes. While fiddling with exposures, dodging spiders <shudders>, I missed several other captures of food and the resultant "flips", but whatever they were were almost too small to see.

D2X, tripod, 70-200G, TC17, HSC (3216x2136), 1/250 @ f9, 340mm, EV -1.3

Range to bird would be about 75 feet (+/- 20). Pretty much at the maximum range and resolution for a decent picture. These are about a 20% crop of the frame recorded, They look "OK" here but my not print up too well - I'll find out later in the week.

I shot the sequence in "continuous" mode, but missed the downward stroke of the thrust. What I did learn from the experience, that may help you and others, is this:

(1) when searching, the egret is complete frozon, with just the eyes moving or maybe the neck moving very slowly
(2) just before the egret strikes, he does some small head movements, I call them
"jiggies", as it does that to establish parallax to get an accurate range to the target.
(3) immediately before the strike, it freezes again. This is where you start shooting in continuous mode
(4) a) the bird will loose interest and turn away as something larger/tastier catches its interest
(4) b) This will the start of another, perhaps lengthy, search mode (4) c) You get lucky and get the shots. Egrets are super fast on the strike, because it happened between "target sighted" and the next frame..... If only I had started the sequence 1/4 second sooner, I might have captured the white streak of the neck lancing down <could-a, would-a, should-a>

Oh yeah, for "sneaking up" on them
1) No aftershave, just scentless deodorant
2) Clothing that blends with the background - brown pants for tree-trunks and patterned greenish shirt to blend with the greenery
3) As soon as you see a bird, slow down and if the bird moves its head, freeze. Their eyesight is keyed to movement, but if you don't move you will be "invisible"
4) Place cover whenever possible between you and the target
5) When setting up, try to hide behind shrubs or trees and just peek the lens around the end or through a gap

Hope this helps you.

[Hanky]

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your advise.

[TXhummer2]

WoW!