A fellow birder, my friend Ted Grussing, has a small skiff and invited me out for a birding session on Lake Pleasant in Arizona. It was wonderful as it was a target rich environment. You can get close approaching from the water versus trying to get in position coming from land.

Gear

I gotta tell you I was happy with the images I was able to make. We had three people in the boat and any movement rocks the boat just a bit. Plus we were often slowly cruising past the birds. My OM System OM 1 camera was outfitted with the OM 150-600mm f/5.0-6.3 lens. Despite all the boat movement, and hand-holding the camera, images came out quite sharp. Stabilization works well somewhere around 7-8 stops for hand-holding even at long zoom .

green heron photos
Screen grab of a few select photos of a green heron watching for a predator flying by while letting it know it wouldn’t be an easy target. While I don’t mind making a nice avian portrait I really like behavior images.

The OM 1 also has high frame rates available which enabled showing bird behavior in sequence. Above see a Green Heron that was concerned with a threat from above. It was watching and flailing its wings during the flyby. I have a number of “taking flight” sequences where wing positions are exposed in all their glory. I’ll process a few of those and share in another article.

Birds

Below find a few different species captured during the morning outing. I worked with frame rates between 20 and 120 frames per second. When using 120 FPS be ready to spend a bit of time culling images but you will capture behavior that’s pretty amazing. Use 120 FPS judiciously with care!

My base camera settings are floating ISO with 1/2000th second shutter speed in Shutter Priority mode.

This eagle was perched high up on the cliff side. ISO 5000 f/6.2 1/2000th sec 449mm, with equivalent Full Frame field of view 850mm.
great white egret photo
Great white egret. ISO 250 f/5.7 1/2000th sec 250mm, with equivalent Full Frame field of view 500mm.
Green heron in the perfect morning light as the sun just popped up on the horizon. ISO 1600 f/5.9 1/2000th sec 314mm, with equivalent Full Frame field of view 629mm.
double crested cormorant takes flight photo
A double crested cormorant blasts off from the water as it takes flight. ISO 800 f/5.7 1/2000th sec 262mm, with equivalent Full Frame field of view 525mm.

My friend Ted

ted grussing photographer boating
Ted at the helm of his skiff while we speed across the lake in search of new avian prey for our lenses.

For more on Grussing’s work you can check him out here. Ted also supplies imagery for local magazines and media as well as supporting the non-profit International Raptor and Falconry Center.

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob

** Here’s a link to the more current OM 1 Mark II camera as the newer features are helpful and it’s only $200 more than a new OM 1. Here’s a link to my reviews of the OM 1 Mark II and the OM 150-600mm lens.