TriColor Heron In Flight

I was out early this AM and was tracking some birds flying across the harbor when this tri-colored heron flew across my path. I have taken then at rest and was surprised at how nice it looked. The sun was rising behind me and caught the heron from the back. The one negative was that I had my ISO pshed upto 800 because I had started shooting a bit earlier when the lighting was a bit dimmer. The shot is a bit noisier than I would have liked, but the beauty of the bird is still visible.

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Let me be the first to say awesome !

Wow-lovely shot!

Great shot Keith. Love the warm morning color on this flier.

Thanks Blue, Ptten and Reyno for the looks and comments. They are appreciated.

Great shot, the blurred water makes a perfect backdrop making him really stand out and the light is superb.

Even at ISO800, the beauty of this bird is apparent.
Nice capture, Keith.

make a nice change from the GBH a very nice in flight shot .
Rob.

Very nice good light and color

Lovely colour and lighting Keith.Thanks for sharing.

For an inflight shot like this I assume you're tracking along with the bird, yes? How do you get the focus so crisp on the bird without endless hunting?

Foolish questions perhaps but honestly all of my shots are sationary subjects.

The location where this was take is perfect for these types of shots. The sun is right behind me and I can see the birds well before he arrives where I can get decent shots. I set the camera for servo focus, Use the central focusing point, (with CF-4 set for * focus, (thumb) controls focus, use a high shutter speed. Then I track the bird and start firing a burst of shots when he is in focus. I pan along with him...This was a burst of about 5 shots. The pan starts before the firing of the shots....The back light helps alot.

I hope this helps...Also many thanks to all that have commented and looked.

Gorgeous bird, great capture.

Fantabulous shot of a beautiful heron. Top notch as usual Keith.

Fabulous lighting, shows the bird off wonderfully. Good job with this one.