Brown Booby in Arkansas

A few weeks ago, I found out that there was a Brown Booby in Arkansas. So I made the 5.5 hour drive to see it since I felt like it was a once in a lifetime chance to see this bird this close to home. The local fisherman that found it was giving boat rides to see it much closer. As we were walking to the bank, the boat was leaving with one of our Oklahoma bird friends. We could see it from the boat ramp, but it was about 1/4 mile away. I wish I could have gotten some close flying shots but when it was our turn in the boat, it stayed perched the entire time.

I was using a 7D mark II, Canon 500mm v1 and a Canon 1.4x teleconverter v3.

Great story of a chase. Glad you saw it.

About the picture. Was it from the boat or taken from the bank 1/4 mile away? Did you have to crop a lot or did all that lens put you right on it? It's tack sharp so guessing at 1/250 you were on a tripod from the bank.

Lovely shot of this bird. Background and light are very nice, badams.

It was taken in the boat, handheld. I handhold nearly all the time. It is cropped, but not much.

At one point, we were probably 20ft - 25ft away from the bird. He asked how close I would like to be and I said my lens won't focus any closer than 15ft, I didn't expect he would get me close to that.

What a great opportunity and a great shot; good for you.

Boy is he ever out of his home range! Good for you for getting such a great shot!

Excellent,all around shot,Bill!
Congrats!

Congrats, I'd say the drive was well worth it. You might have to buy a burger for your intelligence officer

I gave the fisherman a calendar I made for next year (he wouldn't accept money for gas, etc). There was also a Arkansas Wildlife Biologist there doing creel surveys so I gave him a calendar too. Last year I started giving out calendars to anyone that let me see rare birds at their house, etc and it seemed to go over really well so I'm doing it again this year.

Great photo of a very lost bird.

Awesome shot.