Friday morning was not too good for photography. I had hoped to photograph the crane colt family crossing the canal. But instead of the cranes appearing, a car with two fishermen appeared and parked right at the point, right where I had seen them cross twice. So I messed around with some vultures, found the surviving tiny crane chick (that continued to be mega-shy), and searched in vain for the caracaras. Then I drove back to the South Peninsula to check on the crane colt family. The two adults were there with Orangey Colt. Gray Colt was not with them. I hoped that it was out in the marsh by itself but feared the worst …<\/p>\n
I headed down on Friday afternoon to check on the crane family but did not find them on either side of the canal. With the east wind, prospects were not good but when I made a u-turn I came upon a tame Limpkin. I stayed with the bird for thirty minutes of blue-water background head-shots and eventually got a few images of the bird calling — there call is like a screaming person being tortured. With prospects dim, I almost headed home. But the sky looked promising for a sunset, so I drove around a bit. Again, the caracaras had disappeared. I went back to the South Peninsula to check on the missing colt. As I approached their favorite area, I saw the two adults walking toward me with one colt. Bummer. But then the second colt appeared from behind one of the adults. I was glad for the birds. And for me.<\/p>\n
While an east wind on a sunny afternoon is terrible for traditional front-lit bird photography, it is great for flight silhouettes. I drove the two minutes to the new, low Osprey neat and enjoyed two red-sky landing sequences. So what began as a somewhat dismal day turned out to be a great day with a spectacular finish …<\/p>\n
\n| \n | This image was also created on 29 MAR 2020. For this one I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f\/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens<\/a> (at 220mm) and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital camera body.<\/a> ISO 1000. Exposure determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1\/500 sec. at f\/6.3 in Manual mode; I went for lots of Zebras on the white sky. AWB at 8:18am on a suddenly cloudy morning. <\/p>\n Tracking Flexible Spot M AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed superbly. <\/p>\n |