Advice for egret in flight

[chauncey]

I take a lot of Egret images waiting for them to fly...I want the BIF series to photo-merge. Anyway, I'm sitting there waiting and clicking...getting this



He then has a moment of indiscretion, he takes a dump and I start to laugh, losing him in the viewfinder and my series shot is gone.
Moral of story...if they take a dump, they are gonna take off.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful photo.. More patience they may be more active earlier or later in the day

[Cantab]

A very nice shot. The white bird against the dark background works well.

[Ken Curtis]

Best advice I've heard on any subject today.

[kaneohebud]

Chauncey:
You are absolutely correct. Most birds I have observed and shot relieve themselves immediately before taking off. I've found the best way to keep from cricking your neck is to set up on a tripod, dial in your focus, set your camera for high speed multi-shot and use a good quality remote trigger like a Pocket Wizard. Then you can observe the bird without having to keep your eye locked to the viewfinder. When the bird dumps, hold down the trigger and you'll get half a dozen sharp photos as they raise their wings and leave the branch. Good luck.

[jprzybyla]

Hello Chauncey, regarding birds in flight and your thread. One thing I have observed in my bird photography is that before a bird takes flight it crouches and leaps into the air. As you approach a bird if it begins to crouch most likely it will fly so then set your camera to the setting needed for birds in flight.

[chauncey]

I should have know what was coming because it happened before...



with this coming


.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful images.. 6 egrets in flight!

[Cantab]

.

Chauncey, in your original post you referred to making a photo-merge of a BIF series. I wasn't certain I knew what you meant but I assume this last image is the merged one. It looks very nice and is an interesting study of flight.

Two questions:
How many frames per second were you shooting?
Did you do the merging manually by cutting and pasting or is there a more automated way of doing it? (Always assuming my assumption that this photo is the final product of a merge.)