Post #198 - Whimbrel meets Canyon Wren,

Wow - Tropical Birding responsibilities have kept me busy since my last entry a month ago! My Upper Texas Coast tour piled up 250 species when the Hill Country extension was included, and my South Florida Birding with a Camera© installment found most of the Sunshine State specialties plus Antillean Nighthawk, Shiny Cowbird, Black Noddy, and Black-faced Grassquit. Running back-to-back nine-day tours took a lot of planning and energy, but both ventures unfolded perfectly. I'll be tweaking the itineraries based on my experiences on this go-round, and I'll be sure to link the finalized versions when they're done.

I've been swamped with trip reports these last few days, so I have limited appetite for additional writing at the moment. Fortunately, I captured a nice panel of photographs before I left for Florida and Texas, and I'll use this post to share those with you. Canyon Wren is a new species for my photo collection, and the Whimbrel images represent a huge upgrade from anything I previously had of that elegant species.

Let's start with this Whimbrel. Getting super low really makes the bird look like giant, right?! This bird was on a slightly-raised tidal ridge, so I think I was shooting up on him from the low trough I'd assumed. The soft background is a distantly breaking wave.

Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II
1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 800

Let's start with this Whimbrel. Getting super low really makes the bird look like giant, right?! This bird was on a slightly-raised tidal ridge, so I think I was shooting up on him from the low trough I'd assumed. The soft background is a distantly breaking wave.

Let's jump to the Canyon Wren for a moment. Given numerous intersections with the species in AZ, NM, UT, and CO, it's kinda funny that my first decent photograph of this Southwestern speciality came from outside San Jose, CA where it very unusual. This individual had been eBirded from a local park for weeks, so I went to look for it knowing it would be a Santa Clara County bird even if it didn't cooperate for photos (fortunately, it did). This favored perch featured several dried poops, so I used an old rag to scrub them off while he rotated through others. Who needs Photoshop when it can be done in the field, right? I was a bit nervous I wouldn't be able to freeze the pulsating beak in the cloudy conditions, but ISO 3200 did the trick. I'm not usually one for lat-light results, but the super-sharp details made this a keeper. 

Canyon Wren - Catherpes mexicanus
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/1250 at f/5.6, ISO 3200

Returning to our Whimbrel friend, I liked this frame because the subject is almost perfectly isolated from the surroundings. Some might want more habitat context, but there wasn't much of that to be found in this wide, sandy expanse. This is also about the best example of direct eye contact that I have in my collection. 

Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 1250

This next frame represents the same wren as above. I was really happy with this result because the direct sunlight helped to bring out the colors on the bird and the rock. I liked the lichen so much that I went with a wide crop to included a lot of it.

Canon Wren - Catherpes mexicanus
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/3200 at f/7.1, ISO 1250

We'll close with a third Whimbrel shot. The other two images showed the subject closely, so I decided to back off a bit for this frame. Minus the reflection, I think I could be convinced he was walking across the sky. It's really hard to use negative space effectively in the Bay Area areas since buildings, people, dogs, bridges, trash, and all manner of other man-made distractions inevitably work their way into the background, so I was really happy with this result. Getting low delivers again!

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/2500 at f/5.6, ISO 1000

Five keeper frames from two individual birds on two different days - can't argue with those results! That's it for now. Cheers!