Those Dam Birds

[NorthernFocus]

A photographer on another forum posts photos this time of year of wading birds exhibiting very unique behavior. Large egrets and herons normally fish by wading along the bank and snatching up small fish. But there is a place here in SC where they have learned to hang out below a large dam and look for relatively large fish that have been stunned on the journey through the turbines. The herons/egrets then fly out and with their long necks/beaks they snatch the birds from the deep water. Sometimes they pause briefly just above the surface by flapping and flailing their legs in the water.

I visited the location yesterday. Unfortunately the weather was heavily overcast with fog/misty drizzle. I only had one shot at a bird exhibiting the described behavior and that immediately after I arrived in extremely poor light. But I did git a couple of documentary quality shots. I also grabbed a few flybys but the best images of the day were static shots of herons along the bank.

1) Great egret dancing on water just after snatching a fish from the surface. 1/1000s, f5.6, ISO3200



2)



3) Returning to its perch after breakfast. 1/800s, f5.6, ISO3200



4) BIF with the face of the dam as BG. With predictable, consistent BG lighting and the cloud cover varying a good bit, I switched to auto ISO which is a rare thing for me to do. 1/800s, f5.6, ISO2000



And with slightly more light I grabbed some GBH shots with the river surface as BG.

5) Would have been perfect if he was standing on top of the rock rather than behind it.



6) A square crop seemed to fit better on this one. 1/400s, f5.6, ISO900(note on auto ISO the camera picks values that aren't available to set manually when configured for 1/3 stop increments)



7) Stand up guy. 1/800s, f5.6, ISO1800

[terrib]

That dam light! Those Blue Heron shots are wonderful! Love the pose and angle on the last one.

[madcrow]

Awesome series, for bad light, you did brilliantly well. #6 my favourite.

[RandyRFJP]

All great shots. Thanks for posting them.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Tronhard]

I really admire your series and the contextual commentary. Great images and thank you for sharing!

[NorthernFocus]

Glad you folks enjoyed the post and thanks for commenting. No.6 is my favorite also. Perhaps my favorite shot of the past several weeks. I love a clean BG.