Finally After Two Years - Belted Kingfisher

[Booswalia]

I had a great paddle this morning at Cass's Pond. It's a small pond that winds it's way into some reeds and then into a deep stream that's treed on both sides. (Saw lots of fish in there)

For two years now I've been trying to photograph a Kingfisher with not very much luck at all. Well this morning my luck changed...

This was the first shot I took... typically I can get about this close before they start laughing at me and take off.
http://www.sonnys.ca/freds/birds/king-fisher-stump.jpg


Then I got closer... This is the female.
http://www.sonnys.ca/freds/birds/king-fisher3.jpg


A little while later I managed to get very close to the male...
http://www.sonnys.ca/freds/birds/king-fisher2.jpg


And then got even closer to him...
http://www.sonnys.ca/freds/birds/king-fisher.jpg


and a couple of ducks for good luck...
http://www.sonnys.ca/freds/birds/duck-couple.jpg


And I really like these bouquets that stick out of the water...
http://www.sonnys.ca/freds/stump-boquet.jpg


A very enjoyable morning, I must say.

[canonloader]

Very nice shots here Shirley, but the you have the male and female mixed up. It's the female that's the more colorful one with these guys. The male only has the grey breast plate. Really nice shots though. :)

[Booswalia]

Very nice shots here Shirley, but the you have the male and female mixed up. It's the female that's the more colorful one with these guys. The male only has the grey breast plate. Really nice shots though. :)

You're so right. I'll go fix that...

[hTr]

OUTSTANDING, Kingfisher shots

[TenaCJed]

Very nice shots indeed. I normally see them flying on the other side of the pond at one of the locations I go to on foot. That looks like a nice area and a good are for different types of birds. I really like the 2nd and 3rd shots the best.

[rsbob]

Great job on the Kingfishers, they can be sooo frustrating!!

[Reigh Higgins]

Great shots ! Thanks for sharing.

[pttenn]

Wow-what beautiful shots--I can't believe you got that close! What a neat area you have to boat in and get shots! Do you mind sharing what kind of boat you use? I've been afraid of getting my lenses wet with a canoe or kayak..
Karen

[Cooper911]

These are incredible shots of the King. You were very close indeed. Good work.

[TRM]

wow! very nice. congrats on the capture.

[MikeI]

Fantastic! Those guys are either very wary, or ultra paranoid! I have tried for months to get some decent shots with no luck. Congrats on the conquest!!!

[snowyowl13]

Well done ! Great shots. I'm still trying to get these guys. Maybe you'll bring me luck tomorrow morning.

[Sindri Skulason]

Outstanding shots. Very well done. :-)

[Booswalia]

Thank you everyone for your nice comments. I'm so glad I got this canoe. I wondered if I would actually use it but to be honest I can't stop!!! Nothing better than getting out in the early early morning when the wind is very still and just paddlin' into bird territory.

Karen, I'm using an Old Town Pack canoe.
http://www.sonnys.ca/freds/canoe.jpg

It only weighs 33 pounds so I can lift it on and off the car myself. It's a solo canoe and for me that's the only way I would have it. I can't swim and I don't trust other people in a canoe with me so this way I know I can trust myself. I only go to places that are fairly calm and shallow and have not had any accidents yet. ...knock on wood.

[pttenn]

Wow-nice set-up there and thanks for the picture! I wondered how you did it. I'm by myself also so this might be the answer for me too. It's not tippy?? The canoe must throw off the fear of man when you get close to the birds or something. Well done on those shots!
Karen

[canonloader]

I went with my brother in our canoe, to our county park wetlands, outside of town. I thought the ducks and herons would let us get close. Nope, didn't work that way for us. As soon as they saw us, they were out of there. Maybe they thought we were an alligator. :)

[Booswalia]

As far as canoes go, I really don't know if it's tippy. This is my first canoe and I don't find it very tippy. My paddle strokes are getting better and I can be virtually silent now while paddling. I think this really with helps getting close to wildlife. I also keep my equipment in a pelican case when I'm not using it, ...just in case.

[kenyc]

WOW, EXCELLENT!

3 and 4 are outstanding!

KAC

[bromm]

Shirley, these are GREAT captures of this very contrary bird. You have me beaten into the dust on the BKF. You just wait till I have some free time ;). Awesome job.:D

Karen, as long as you get a reasonably wide canoe, and keep low in it, they are quite stable. Getting in and out are the most tippy times as your weight shifts as you get higher and lean over the side. Leaning over the side and grabbing both sides to distribute your weight evenly as you carefully enter or exit the canoe works well. Having someone hold it while you climb in and out works even better ;), but is not always feasable. Do some reading on canoeing basics and I'm sure you'll have no problems.

[downywp]

Wow Great shots of the Kingfisher, these are so hard to get good shots of - Excellent work! :-)

[Gary Fairhead]

Nice series here and the third image.......is a Killer shot...I wish it was mine!! Very nice!!

[cannylad]

I can only echo everyones comments, outstanding.

[lensmen]

Shirely

You must be very proud that your efforts & patience paid off. :-)

Personally, i loved this shot.

http://www.sonnys.ca/freds/birds/king-fisher.jpg

[wtaccord]

Beautiful shots! I really like #3 but they are all great.

[DonE]

Very nice shots of a bird that I can never get that close to.

[StarDog]

Shirley
Super series! Thanks for the background. Bob

[pttenn]

Karen, as long as you get a reasonably wide canoe, and keep low in it, they are quite stable. Getting in and out are the most tippy times as your weight shifts as you get higher and lean over the side. Leaning over the side and grabbing both sides to distribute your weight evenly as you carefully enter or exit the canoe works well. Having someone hold it while you climb in and out works even better ;), but is not always feasable. Do some reading on canoeing basics and I'm sure you'll have no problems.[/quote]

I have canoe'd (sp?) a fair amount in the past, and canoes always seem unsteady to me (as compared to a rowboat). Not worried about tipping over per se (I can swim well) but with $2500 worth of camera and lens(es) or more it becomes a bit more problematic. I saw a picture once of a guy in a canoe with a tripod he had built on to the frame. That looked like a good idea. Anyway I think, like Shirley, it would be great to approach birds from the water plus the pleasure of getting out. Lots of rivers around here. :)
Karen

[Stephen Stephen]

Wonderful close-ups Shirley! Congratulations.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Well done! Congrats on these!

[Booswalia]

Thanks for all the nice compliments. I'm really glad that people enjoyed these shots.

I have canoe'd (sp?) a fair amount in the past, and canoes always seem unsteady to me (as compared to a rowboat). Not worried about tipping over per se (I can swim well) but with $2500 worth of camera and lens(es) or more it becomes a bit more problematic. I saw a picture once of a guy in a canoe with a tripod he had built on to the frame. That looked like a good idea. Anyway I think, like Shirley, it would be great to approach birds from the water plus the pleasure of getting out. Lots of rivers around here. :)
Karen

If you're really concerned about it tipping you can always put stabilizer floats on it. You can pretty much stand up in it with those one. They have a really nice here...
http://www.canoegear.com/catalog/home.php?cat=53

[lowcrust]

COngrats, very nice. I especially like the second shot.

[Bill Boehme]

Shirley, congratulations on these great close-up kingfisher shots. I am so-o-o-o-o envious.

[Mike R]

Nice shots, I like the detail visible in 2,3,&4

[Samdiver74]

Congrats on the capture, they are stunning. My only beef would be Pic 5 the Horizon is off, need to level it out. other than that it is great

[dancad]

Wow, shot #3 is hard to beat as far as Kingfishers go!! The fourth one is nice too, but I prefer the exposure on the branches in the 3rd - hence my pick as favorite here. Well done!

[rrdjserv@earthlink.net]

I got within 100 yards of one once. These are excellent! --Rick

[Booswalia]

Thanks to all who have commented.

Congrats on the capture, they are stunning. My only beef would be Pic 5 the Horizon is off, need to level it out. other than that it is great

Thanks Sam. Actually I did straighten it. I think it just looks crooked because of that tree stump and the reflection it's creating. The waterline is actually above that.

[Bill Boehme]

My only beef would be Pic 5 the Horizon is off, need to level it out. other than that it is great

I would say that you can't use a curved shoreline to determine horizontal.

[Mr. E]

real nice shots! I really should get over my fear of drowning my equipment and take it with me on my kayak. How did the sex change go?

[Booswalia]

real nice shots! I really should get over my fear of drowning my equipment and take it with me on my kayak. How did the sex change go?

I found that where birds are, it's usually pretty shallow and there's no wakes to worry about. If you're careful and use common sense it's not that risky. That said, accidents do happen. :confused:
The sex change went smoothly. The Kingfishers didn't even notice. :)

[Samdiver74]

I would say that you can't use a curved shoreline to determine horizontal.

Regardless there is something not right with it, to my eye and it looks off.
I don't know it is the reflection of the reeds/grass is not perpendicular or what but the pic looks off horizontally, it is probably one of those optical illusions.
there are a number of things I looked at in the pic to try and determine if orientation was off, trees, Reeds/grass, water reflection, the Ducks, the reeds and their reflection. It still looks like it is sloping up to the right.

[Bill Boehme]

Regardless there is something not right with it, to my eye and it looks off.
I don't know it is the reflection of the reeds/grass is not perpendicular or what but the pic looks off horizontally, it is probably one of those optical illusions.
there are a number of things I looked at in the pic to try and determine if orientation was off, trees, Reeds/grass, water reflection, the Ducks, the reeds and their reflection. It still looks like it is sloping up to the right.

Allan, you make a very good point about determining vertical when you don't have any other way of ascertaining where is local level ... in fact, the method that you mention would be about the most accurate way of determining orientation if you have a scene with very still water where there are good reflections.

To me, the picture seemed to be quite well leveled, but sometimes a rough eyeball check can be deceptive so I found an easily identifiable point and its easily identified reflection to compare their alignment. If the image were perfectly leveled, then the two points ought to both lie along the same vertical line. The results showed that the error was 4 pixels horizontal while the vertical displacement between the two points was something greater than 200 pixels (I didn't go to the trouble of trying to get an exact count). This means that the vertical orientation error may be as great as 1.1 degree. In some situations this would call for rotating the image to fix the problem. I guess that it did not bother me in this case because there were no true vertical objects sticking out of the water such as pier posts.

Shirley,
With you permission, I would like to post a marked up copy of the image showing where I measured the vertical alignment.

[Bill Boehme]

Allan,
It turns out that I was looking at the picture of the stump bouquet and yo were commenting on the one above it with the ducks. In that case, there are too many ripples on the water to get a clear reflection, but one could probably assume that the clumps of grass are more or less vertical and do an eyeball rotation. I agree that it could be rotated clockwise a tiny amount.

[AJ Montgomery]

Congrats on the shots, I know how skittish they are.

[Booswalia]

Shirley,
With you permission, I would like to post a marked up copy of the image showing where I measured the vertical alignment.

Feel free.


Congrats on the shots, I know how skittish they are.

Thanks AJ.

[canonloader]

The fastest and easiest way to level an image is to use the Measure Tool, found in the Eyedropper flyout menu. Start on something in the image you know is vertical or horizontal, or should be. Click and drag from side to side or top to bottom of it and let go. Now go to Images/Rotate Canvas/Arbitrary and the angle is already set for you. Just click OK and it's done for you, no more trial and error. ;)

[Bill Boehme]

Feel free.
Thanks AJ.

Thank you, I will post what I did for illustration purposes, but ...

The fastest and easiest way to level an image is to use the Measure Tool, found in the Eyedropper flyout menu. Start on something in the image you know is vertical or horizontal, or should be. Click and drag from side to side or top to bottom of it and let go. Now go to Images/Rotate Canvas/Arbitrary and the angle is already set for you. Just click OK and it's done for you, no more trial and error. ;)

... it appears that I just learned something new that will save me a bunch of time -- Thanks, Mitch.

[EdV]

Very nice Shirley. I can rarely get to stage 1 with the Kingfishers. Stage 2 is an almost unique experience. And I've never got to the Stage 3 or 4 close-up.

Well done!

[John Deakin]

Yup, canoes do the trick Shirley :) I use mine often here in South Africa too, although we do have hides close by where we are fortunate to get both malachite and pied kingfishers most days and giant KF's on our local river. A great set of images you have here so well captured, john

[cool breeze]

What a great series. I wonder which lens set up you used?

[ajosteve]

Great shots....being in a canoe hunting birds would be loads of fun..I always wanted to buy one...now I live in the desert and it would be hard to paddle in the sand. steve

[Airedale1]

Great job Shirley. I love the 3rd image.