Fledgling Great Blue Herons
There is a large Great Blue Heron colony close to home, and yesterday I got a bunch of shots of the new babies. They have learned to fly now and many of them have come down from their treetop nests to the ponds trying to do a little fishing.
These photos are for #featheredfriday hosted by @melinda010100.
I've been talking for a while now about how I am downsizing from my full-frame DSLR to a micro four thirds system. Trying to capture birds has been one of the greatest challenges.
The image quality is honestly not the same as I can get from my Nikon D750, but if I don't show them to you side by side, perhaps I can get away with it? In other words, the small camera may be good enough, I'm still not sure.
My biggest problem has been with capturing birds in flight. I just can't get the little mirrorless camera to focus fast enough and my success rate with shooting flying birds has been just about zero. Below I've managed to get a bird displaying its wings.
And finally, this heron had enough of my nonsense and flew away. The capture I made was basically a fluke as the bird flew through the zone of focus and I clicked at the right time by sheer luck. My EM5 Mk2 refuses to work with continuous auto focus, and I'm still keeping my big camera until I can work this out. I'm not complaining though, I still liked some of the shots I got, I just know there would be many more keepers when shooting with my Nikon.
Ok, that's more than enough camera-nerd talk... I hope you enjoyed the birds, thanks very much for looking! All photos were taken yesterday by me, @keithboone.
That bird really got big when it spread its wings!
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Yes, they have a wingspan of four feet or more.
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Lovely to see this year's heron babies! Good luck getting your camera situation figured out to your satisfaction.
Yes, they're basically full-grown now but still a little awkward compared to the adults. I notice they only take short flights so far. The camera thing will get resolved eventually, I just can't handle my big gear anymore without pulling muscles but I hate to give it up.
Gorgeous one & beautiful captures! ;)
Thank you very much!
These are my favorite birds. Thanks so much for sharing the images, which BTW look great!
I do love the big birds like herons and owls and of course, eagles. Fortunately, I can often capture them all in one location! :-)
Still pretty good shots by i got to say your other photos were more sharp :)
Yeah, I know what you mean. It's tough to make a micro 4/3 do what a full-frame camera can do. Still, it's the in-flight shots that I just can't do with the small camera. I'm still working on this... gives me something to do! :-)
Lovely shots with your new camera. Great minds think alike..we both picked the Great Blue Heron for #featheredfriday
Yeah, you have the great mind, I just copied you :-)
Haha, Keith. That’s sweet to say- I like to think we both have it. 😊
Howdy sir keith! Those are great shots I think anyway! They're pretty stunning actually, accidental or not. lol.
Thank you! It was only the last one that was accidental, the one with the bird flying.
Wow i have never seen baby great blues before. Great shots.
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