Black-tailed Godwit Mission Accomplished

Screw-up

I was so happy to get the last blog post published once we got to Grimsey that I did not notice that I messed up the image code numbers. The real Image #2 was posted well after the fact. It is well worth going back to take a look. Here.

Your Call?

Which of today’s two featured images do you think is the strongest? Why?

What’s Up?

It has been dreary and usually drizzling or rainy since we got to Grimsey Island. There are a zillion puffins, lots of Razorbills, kittiwakes, murres, and guillemots. There are many species of breeding shorebirds including Red-necked Phalarope, Purple Sandpiper, and Eurasian Golden-Plover. And lots of Common Eider families. And I am sure that I am forgetting some good stuff. As there is tons of flight photography and the light as been low, I used the 400mm f/2.8 lens for the first two sessions, Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. While I am fine handholding that lens at Fort DeSoto for general bird photography with occasional flight (both of those often while seated), handholding it for extended flight photography with fast and erratic subjects like puffins is simply too much. The extensor tendon at the top of my right forearm was burning by midmorning on Saturday. That afternoon I concentrated on perched puffins and flying Northern Fulmars with the tripod-mounted 600mm f/4. For our next flight photography session, I will give the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II lens (often with the 1.4X TC) a go as it is much lighter. Grimsey photos soon.

This just in: the rain quit on Sunday and our morning session lasted from 7:00am til 1:30 pm! We would have stayed out longer but the sun came out!

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

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This image was created on 12 July 2023 near Reykjavik, Iceland. Standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1000. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/3200 sec. at f/4 (wide open). AWB at 5:37:00am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version. Image #1: Black-tailed Godwit landing on nesting grounds

Most Wanted

I have many fine images of Marbled Godwit. I have lots of good stuff on Hudsonian Godwit. The best of those from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Unfortunately, they are all on film. I have one decent film image of a Bar-tailed Godwit from Nome, AK. I visited Iceland more than a decade ago and made a few distant, not very good images of Black-tailed Godwit, but none that I cared for. Until Wednesday morning.

When we exited the bus on sunny, crisp and cool Tuesday morning, a gorgeous male black-tailed was sitting atop a stone pillar. It took off long before I got set The leader explained that the best chances as we walked the marsh would be with godwits flying and calling above the marsh. The more I practice handholding the Sony 600mm f/4, the better I get at finding the bird in flight and keeping it in the middle of the frame. Arash Hazeghi and I write a lot about do just that just in the new flight guide, coming soon. Anyhoo, Image #1, with the marsh-green rather than the blue sky background, was the best of the lot.

This image was also created on 12 July 2023 near Reykjavik, Iceland. Again, standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 800. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/3200 sec. at f/4 (wide open). AWB at 7:10:08am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version. Image #2: Black-tailed Godwit on stone lookout pillar

Back on the Pillar

As we returned to the bus after our 45-minute walk, we were delighted to find the same godwit back on its lookout post. A local resident was walking his dog as we walked up a rise to get into position and he stopped briefly. We said “good morning” and he just stared at us as we photographed the bird. After I made a few images (including Image #2), I went to add the 1.4X TC. As I was doing that, he walked toward the bird which of course flew away. I figured that he was taking his dog down the hill for its daily walk around the marsh. But after a short descent, he turned right and returned to his home just a few yards away. As he could just as easily walked to our right without disturbing the bird, it seemed pretty obvious to the group that he flushed the bird intentionally to spoil our otherwise great morning.

Typos

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