birding

Thank you.

No method really. I used to take my camera almost everywhere I thought I might see wildlife. Now days I'm a little pickier, especially if the light is poor. Occasionally I'll see something and think "if only I had my camera" but not that often. I've taken 100s of thousands of photos and almost all are garbage as photography goes, but it's nice to have a record of what you've seen. and it's good practice for when the moment arrives.

In this case I was walking the dogs by our local river. It was early evening, the sun was low in the sky and with only a little cloud the light was warm and strong. I was watching the kite skirting over the reeds. They used to be very rare here, so I was pleased to see it. Kites are good to photograph in flight as they are big, contrasty and relatively slow moving, and they like to turn with their primaries well spread. I saw it dive into the reeds and then come out with a big fish carcass that fell apart as it took off. leaving it with the head. The crow came out of the willows on the opposite bank and chased it for a good few minutes before the kite dropped the head in the river, so no one got it in the end. They were at the right height for the sun to be almost level with them, which really helped pick the feathers out on the crow. I'd say they were 50ft away at closest. The difference good light made here was being able to push the shutter speed and aperture. That lens is noticeably sharper at f/7.1 than f/5.6 and 1/1600s was really useful in pinning the shot. I probably took 50 shots and it was just one of those moments where they almost all had something of interest in them. Right place, right time.