Learning animal behavior and biology

As I delve more into wildlife photography, I have learned that one of the important aspects of this type of photography is studying and learning animal behavior.  This can be done through books, online articles, or even better, sitting and observing the wildlife in the field over time.  The past several days of photographing has given me more insight into bird behavior, and I expect to learn even more from Artie and from observation over the next year.

One of the difficult skills of bird photography that I am working on is capturing birds in flight with their wings spread and feathers visible.  When birds take off from a perch, they often defecate prior to flight.  This gives me and other photographers a forewarning and allows us to get the camera ready for action. In the shot below, I saw exactly that and could prepare.

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 300mm, f/6.3, 1/1000 sec, ISO 1600, hand-held

Fortunately, morning time is when ospreys also fish for their morning meal.  I’ve heard and seen the splash as they dive into the lake for a fish, but I have yet to capture it with the camera.  Yesterday we were lucky enough to see one flying overhead, carrying a large fish to its nest.

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 200mm, f/6.3, 1/1000 sec, ISO 1250, hand-held

Artie stressed the importance of photographing the osprey with the fish as soon as possible after capture since these birds bite off the fish’s head quickly after landing.  As you can see below, I was a bit late in the meal for this shot.  🙂

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 390mm, f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 1600, hand-held

As promised, here are a few images of the sandhill crane tending to her nest.  The few times I observed the crane off its nest were early in the morning just as the sun rose and when its mate arrived.

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 200mm, f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 500, on tripod

Since the crane did not switch places with its mate on this occasion, it nestled back down on the eggs, giving us 2-3 minutes of time to photograph these beauties.  Prior to sitting down, however, it tended to the eggs by turning them over.

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 200mm, f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 500, on tripod

As the crane settles into its nest, it often rests its head on its body while keeping a watchful eye on its surroundings.  The lines and curves of the bird’s body make for great up-close shots.

 Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 500mm, f/13, 1/500 sec, ISO 2000, hand-held

Week one of my Year with Artie is almost over.  It has been filled with a great introduction to bird photography at Lake Weohyakapka in Indian Lake Estates.  Tomorrow, we will set off on a great European adventure for the next 6 weeks. I will try to post as often as I can when I have internet access to share what we are seeing.  It might be some rough iPhone shots, but I will be going to parts of Europe that most of us will never see…above the Arctic circle!

Take care,

Amy

To learn more advanced tips on bird photography, please visit Artie’s blog:  Birds As Art Blog