Eldar said:
DominoDude said:
Eldar said:
This is a very rare visitor on these shores. We´ve been lucky to have one couple nesting by a river close to where I live. I got up at 6am this morning and headed out, with a couple of "lunatic" comments from my wife. 0C/32F and a cold breeze made it a chilling experience. The bird appeared a number of times and I have lots of shots. Finally it decided to sit down in the sun and I could get my ISO sufficiently down to benefit from the 5DSR resolution. It lives on the other side of the river, where access is impossible, so a lot of cropping was required.
5DSR, 600mm f4L IS II + 2xIII extender. 1/400s, f/9.0, ISO200
Great shot of the female Kingfisher, Eldar!
If you're lucky they'll nest at least one more time and you could get great shots of the young ones as they start to dart around. I'm guessing the riverside on the other side consists of light clay and sand and that's why they've decided to dig out their nest there.
I haven't looked yet in the BIF-section, but any luck getting BIF shots with that lens+extender combination? With their speed and typical flight behaviour I can imagine that is a bit of a nightmare...
Thanks DominoDude.
I was not sure how to determine the sex, but I suppose then that the male has the darker bill.
No, BIF with this lens combo (5DSR with 600 f4L IS II + 2xIII extender) is almost theoretically impossible, with only one AF point, unless it is a cory bustard or a slow gliding eagle.
The problem with this nesting place, exactly as you described it, is that the river is a bit too wide to get acceptable shots with anything less than 840mm. So the only chance I have is to find a place where it goes for a steady dive for fish. Then I can set focus manually and use the 1DX-II at full throttle. I was considering getting a floating hide, but that is still just a thought.
Here is a Red Breasted Merganser, from the same trip.
1DX-II, 600mm f4L IS II + 1.4xIII extender. 1/250s, f/5.6, ISO2500
First, the Red breasted Merganser is superb, both as a photo and as a bird. Don't think we have that one here.
Yes, female Kingfishers have the lower bill orange during nesting season, except for the outer part. Male's are all black, both upper and lower. Young ones look like the males, but have grey feet.
I have a similar place that I found late last year; a creek that widens and where the water slows down. I have been able to see the holes in the river bank from across the other side, but it is something like 30-40m across to the far side. Finding a suitable shooting location is hard and the sun will only hit that river bank during early hours. I only have my 400/5.6L on crop sensor to shoot with so everything must be in harmony for successful photos. I have walked up and down the creek for 3-4kilometers looking for dead tree branches sticking up from the water or bare branches hanging out over the water - all places where the adults could be imagined to rest while looking out for fish.
A photographer friend has even gone so far as to dragging his own tree stump (a sizeable piece of wood) to a place close to the sea where he has shoved the stump down near reeds, and at a known distance he has also placed a beach chair in the water - slightly obscured in the reeds - so that he can sit down in the water and know exactly where the bird will perch, and the distance can be preset on the lens. Then he just have to wait for Kingfishers.
Good luck with yours, Eldar! I bet your wife still will have plenty of opportunities to call you crazy before you get just the shot you want from your Kingfisher - they are tough to shoot, but worth it.
