I have already posted a couple of photos from the Ron Barker Hide at the Martin Mere reserve of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, but the birds that kept me there were two kestrels hunting near the hide.
The male came to hunt to the north of the hide, over a small reedbed beside the sluice and the rough grass field where some of the Trust's Old English longhorn cattle spend the winter. I got a nice view when he perched in a tree overlooking the reeds, and my first decent shot when he flew a little closer.
Of course I wanted photos of the kestrel hovering as it hunted: it's been more than 30 years since I got any and kestrels are not as common as they were then. This is one of the better attempts.
I was not very satisfied with these shots. I wanted a high shutter speed to keep the wings relatively sharp, but the kestrel was not very close, so even with my 500mm and TC1.4 on my D300s the images needed so much cropping, that the background was rather noisy, even at 320 ISO.
Finally when the light had almost gone, the little falcon came closer and settled on the fence.
I decided to go back and try again two days later, this time sticking to the camera's base ISO; reasoning that the kestrel's head would stay sharp even if the wings were blurred. I had quite a long wait before the kestrel came close and the light was not good, but I prefer these results. The settings were 1/250s at 200 ISO.
The sequence was curtailed when the female kestrel decided that the male was getting too close to her territory, so she chased him off. Photos of her are in my next thread.
Alan
The male came to hunt to the north of the hide, over a small reedbed beside the sluice and the rough grass field where some of the Trust's Old English longhorn cattle spend the winter. I got a nice view when he perched in a tree overlooking the reeds, and my first decent shot when he flew a little closer.
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Of course I wanted photos of the kestrel hovering as it hunted: it's been more than 30 years since I got any and kestrels are not as common as they were then. This is one of the better attempts.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
I was not very satisfied with these shots. I wanted a high shutter speed to keep the wings relatively sharp, but the kestrel was not very close, so even with my 500mm and TC1.4 on my D300s the images needed so much cropping, that the background was rather noisy, even at 320 ISO.
Finally when the light had almost gone, the little falcon came closer and settled on the fence.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
I decided to go back and try again two days later, this time sticking to the camera's base ISO; reasoning that the kestrel's head would stay sharp even if the wings were blurred. I had quite a long wait before the kestrel came close and the light was not good, but I prefer these results. The settings were 1/250s at 200 ISO.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
The sequence was curtailed when the female kestrel decided that the male was getting too close to her territory, so she chased him off. Photos of her are in my next thread.
Alan
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