Least Bittern

[Michael Lloyd]

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (Texas)
7/22/08

Camera Make = Canon
Camera Model = Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/250 second = 0.004 second
ISO Speed Ratings = 800
Original Date/Time = 2008:07:22 17:34:56
Flash = Flash did not fire
Focal Length = 840/1 mm = 840 mm

[David Billingsley]

Michael,

Nice shot of Least Bittern. A friend of mine got shots of them at Anahuac last week. We were planning to go Wednesday but the Dollie weather interfered.

Have a blessed day - dave b.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Lucky for you to see one in an open, unfortunately it chose a rather unattractive environment to do so. The head angle is not ideal. Is this a big crop?

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hey, this is my territory! You have to have my permission. (just kidding). Although I usually go to the Brazoria or San Bernard National Wildlife Refuges, or the Surfside or Quintana wetlands, if I want bittern images Anahuac is the place to be. I think I know where the image was taken. My problem is I find the birds in the reeds, or across deep water filled moats that are at least 30-40 feet away. The fact that you caught the bird away from the vegetation is good. I would also like to know how large the crop was. The background, though allowing a full view of the bird, is very distracting, and the position of the branches, especially the one jutting up to the bird's bill, is less than ideal. In my experience, the sharpness of the bird is pretty good. The softness of the feathers, and the small size of the bird seem to cause problems for me. Overall a good job.
David: I may have met you at Anahuac NWR, a month or so ago. If you told a guy that clapper rails are found in salt water and king in freshwater, that was me. I had to swap out the names in my BirdForum Gallery of these birds. I guess posting my photo in Introductions, which I didn't do, was probably a good idea. Later~Bill

[Michael Lloyd]

Crop- Not much... In the original there's about an inch above the bird and about 1/2 the width of the bird to the left that was cropped off.

David- Is your friends name Tim? One of the guys over on Texas Photo Forum shot there and got some images of the same bird. At least I think it was the same bird. Tim (from TPF) is the reason I know where Anahuac NWR is. I usually run down to Aransas NWE or Brazos Bend SP. I was coming back from Venice, LA and I decided to stop there.