Shorebirds of Cape Cod (lots)

[CyberDyneSystems]

This past weekend Scottes and I went to out Monomoy Wildlife Reserve on the Cape.

The spot is beautifull, essentially a giant set of sand bars that have sprouted into barrier island with beach grass covered dunes and endless stretches of smooth sand beach.

Scottes and I seem to have a slightly different recollection of the early parts of the day though. Perhaps it is his sunburn talking (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41190) :wink:

I didn't do much but listen to Scottes Complain for a while. Things like "This sand sucks" and "This sun sucks" and "This wind sucks" and "Where all are the *$@%$@ birds?" .. I recall rolling my eyes and gently agreeing with a sigh .. "This is an inhospitable environment"

That seemed to quiet Scottes down for a while.

Between Scottes' breaks taken every 50 yards or so for a cigarette, "power drink" or snickers bar.. we finally covered the distance to a sand bar that was in fact South West..

It was very close to High tide at first.. and few of the "peeps' were in site.

The bar extended at this time under less than knee deep water very far out to where diving terns could be seen.

The shore was literally alive with minnows.. in water so shallow that on our approach the surface barely 1/2" deep boiled with there attempts to flee our shadows.

I think Scottes is correct about the Lens Vs. Tern wing position as I got plenty with the wings up :wink:

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa87v&noresize=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa87z&noresize=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa870&noresize=1

I did get a few with the wings down too, must have been using the 100-400mm then; :wink:

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa88y&noresize=1


But for me the highlight was the pipers and plovers.
After the trek to the tip of the sand bar, the tide had started it's journey down the sand and the pipers made there appearance to get some of the goodies being exposed on the shore.

A Wring Necked Plover;

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa887&noresize=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa88s&noresize=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa888&noresize=1

More pipers :)

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa88f&noresize=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa882&noresize=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yfa87w&noresize=1

[Scottes]

I didn't do much but listen to Scottes Complain for a while. Things like "This sand sucks" and "This sun sucks" and "This wind sucks" and "Where all are the *$@%$@ birds?" .. I recall rolling my eyes and gently agreeing with a sigh .. "This is an inhospitable environment"

Yeah, that's pretty close to how it went. I thought you were just looking up for birds when you said that.
ROFLMAO!

Between Scottes' breaks taken every 50 yards or so for a cigarette, "power drink" or snickers bar.. we finally covered the distance to a sand bar that was in fact South East..

HEY! Now that's not very accurate at all. NOT AT ALL.

It was the North Point. :wink:



Great pics. The ring neck pulling up the gummy worm is precious.

And that second tern! Nice!!


I may just have to post all my peep pictures so I can tell the rest of the story from my viewpoint. Your viewpoint seems skewed a bit.
:wink:

[ssim]

WOW. Some great shots there CDS. I've tried shooting them a few times and man are they fast.

Just be lucky there wasn't a Tim Hortons near by or that would have slowed you down even more.

[eric1]

nice ones CDS, and a good story to boot. liked the sand pipers best.

[boomer1959]

Very Very Nice. All of them CDS. Good Job :D :D

[CyberDyneSystems]

WOW. Some great shots there CDS. I've tried shooting them a few times and man are they fast.

Just be lucky there wasn't a Tim Hortons near by or that would have slowed you down even more.

Starbucks, Sheldon, Starbucks... in fact Scott carries his own 8)

[cmM]

CDS, awesome pic...again.

Your in-flight pics are very sharp, and your plover and piper pics are awesome.

Weather is getting kind of nasty around here, so I think the birds are gonna leave soon. That sucks :(

[marie]

absolutely beautiful shots Cyber

8) :)

[CyberDyneSystems]

Thanks guys..

At first Scott and I were a little nervous as we could see very little signs of the shore-birds.

But when they came out.. they came out in huge quantities and numbers...


I have a few more types of pipers and plovers that I'll upload some examples of soon.

[JZaun]

Wow CDS they are great, I was gonna pick a favorite but couldn't :? They are all too good. !!

JZ

[PacAce]

Nice shots, CDS! They'll all very nice. :)

BTW, thanks for posting them the size and compression you had them at. So even though there were quite a lot of them, I was able to get them downloaded without having to wait forever on my dial-up. Really appreicated that. :D

[cindavphoto]

I love #6 and 7. And 9 (I think) with the birds reflection. Looks like you guys had a good day and a good time.

[Molydood]

CDS, brilliant as usual.
I am curious as to your interest in birds, is it just becuase you (and Scottes) like birds, or is it purely the technical challenge of capturing something as diffcult as this?
Or perhaps a bit of both.
Or perhaps you just like trudging around in sand and mud, and moaning about the weather ;-)
Martin

[Scottes]

I am curious as to your interest in birds, is it just becuase you (and Scottes) like birds, or is it purely the technical challenge of capturing something as diffcult as this?
Or perhaps a bit of both.
Or perhaps you just like trudging around in sand and mud, and moaning about the weather ;-)

I guess, then, that you could say it's a bit of both.

CDS likes birds & the challenge & trudging in sand and mud.
I like moaning about the weather, the wind, and the sun.

:D :D :D


At least for me, a lot has to do with the beauty of a bird in flight, some of the challenges involved, and the fact that I'm just used to the shore. I spent 37 years living within 1/2 mile of the ocean, only recently moving 14 miles from the ocean. If you've never experienced it, trust me when I say that there's nothing like the smell and sensation of a nice sea breeze on a warm day. My wife cried when we moved inland - a mere 14 miles.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Tanx Jerry,
************
PacAce.. I have started uploading at 500 wide.. for several ereasons.. bandwidth, limit the use of the images to anyone who'd nab them, and in fact because for some reason aANY image on fotopic now gets "squashed" down to 500 wide here in the forum :(

This of course makes images look like crap..

So rather than fight it.. I'm going with the flow.
*************

Cinnamon
Thanks,. yes it was a lot of fun! :)
*************

Molydood,
Nice to see your hanging around :)

My own interst goes back to before I could talk.. my Father is a bit of a naturalist with ornithology being a particular interest. So I have been exposed to it from day one.

Once I got my first digital.. it was no time at all before all I wanted to do with it was photograph birds... I just find them to be some of the most fascinating and beautifull creatures on the planet.

There is definately something to be said for the thrill of the stalk and hunt.. :wink:

[LazyPhotographer]

Super images... and those guys are hard to capture!

[Molydood]

Scottes,
perhaps you share a lot with Leonardi da Vinci, he also loved the movement of birds in flight, and spent a lot of time examining their dynamics, and grace. His eyesight was good enough to distinguish the detail of the birds muscle movements so they say, although not in the same category as your 100-400 I imagine ;-)

CDs,
yep, thanks, I'm hanging around for the time being :-)
I usually get bored of things by now too, maybe this one will become one of those permanent hobby things :roll:

Martin

[Chris1le]

Just been looking at yours and Scottes shoeline pics. They look great as usual. If it wasn't over 3000 miles away I'd like to come over there and shoot some birds with ya. :D Looks like a good time.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Chris,.. anytime you can make it to the East coast.. give me a ring.

[Scottes]

Just been looking at yours and Scottes shoeline pics. They look great as usual. If it wasn't over 3000 miles away I'd like to come over there and shoot some birds with ya. :D Looks like a good time.

CDS and I always manage to have a good time.

Except for the times I'm prone to whine about the sun, wind, sand, or weather. But I promise to be better. :)


I ditto CDS's comment though. If you can make it, give us a call. I just found some site that says that New England has "more than 3,000 miles of coastline, estuaries, and islands. " CDS and I live within an hour of about 1/3 of that. We should be able to find something to shoot. :-)

[robekert]

CDS,
These captures are great......I take it you used the 1D MkII?

The reason that I ask is that there seems to be a perception/assumption circulating that the 1D MkII cannot render details when photographing "whites". This does not seem to be the case with your shots. The whites exhibit some good detail, as much as the midtones and shadows of the shots.

Cheers,
Rob

[CyberDyneSystems]

CDS,
These captures are great......I take it you used the 1D MkII?

The reason that I ask is that there seems to be a perception/assumption circulating that the 1D MkII cannot render details when photographing "whites". This does not seem to be the case with your shots. The whites exhibit some good detail, as much as the midtones and shadows of the shots.

Cheers,
Rob

Rob.. I have not heard this perception as a common opinion.. in fact, I don't think I've heard it before.. EXCEPT.. from me :)

I did have an immense amount of trouble with the MkII with bwhites.. in fact with exposure in general. The first few weeks I had it it seemed infinately more difficult to achieve top notch exposure than the 10D.

The fact of the matter is you have to pay much more attention to highlights, histograms etc.. with the MkII. Really. It took some time to get the hang of it.. abut I;m still not as confident with the MkII on tricky high contrast subjects.

Bottom line.. to any one with this perception... I';d have to say this.

The detail is in the whites,... if you don't blow them out.

And that's the tricky part :)

[KartGirlsMom]

Those are so cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Moppie]

Beautiful photos!

Can I ask how friendly your plovers are?
We have a native species here that can be just a little to friendly.
So friendly that Iv got close enough to one to take what are almost macro shots. (I would post them, but they are so close ther'e out of focus :oops: )

[CyberDyneSystems]

Nothing so freindly as that Moppie :(

No thse fella's were pretty timid.. I had to wait quite some time to get close. I'd say the closest I ever got was about 8 - 10 feet. (3 meters or so)

[LazyPhotographer]

The fact of the matter is you have to pay much more attention to highlights, histograms etc.. with the MkII.

What's a histogram? :shock: