Jason G. Harrison
10-26-2009, 09:31 AM
After a few attempts after finding this location of Le Conte's Sparrows in a vast section of Native Prairie grasses, I set up before sunrise hoping to get some decent shots of them. In my previous attempts, I came later in the morning and found them very low in the 5' tall grasses, thus offering very difficult shooting conditions as I could never quite get a clear view of them.
I chose this day due to the temps and sun. That night before this shoot, the temps dropped to 35 degrees. I knew that the birds would want to warm up in the morning sunshine and when they do that they often times get much higher on the grasses to catch the warming rays of light. It paid off.
Sometime after sunrise, I saw a handful of Le Conte's Sparrows mixed in with several Savannah Sparrows all getting their morning dose of golden sunlight. This particular shot was a quick grab. I was shooting with my 600VR with the 1.4tc as some of the shots were a bit distant. I saw this one bird fly in much closer and he landed on this stem of grass. This is a full frame shot. I know not the best comp, but with the swaying grass from it just landing on it and the fact I thought it was going to fly off real quick, I just started firing away, and got a few.
Some may think the BG is way too busy...and it is busy...but at least for me, this is a very wide open shot for this species of sparrow. They are normally way deep in the cover...and I felt very luck to have gotten these.
http://www.jasongharrison.com/images/4496_signed2_S.jpg
Taken with a D300, 600VR, 1.4tc, f/6.3, ISO 400, 1/500th ss, +.3 EV
Hope you enjoyed.
I chose this day due to the temps and sun. That night before this shoot, the temps dropped to 35 degrees. I knew that the birds would want to warm up in the morning sunshine and when they do that they often times get much higher on the grasses to catch the warming rays of light. It paid off.
Sometime after sunrise, I saw a handful of Le Conte's Sparrows mixed in with several Savannah Sparrows all getting their morning dose of golden sunlight. This particular shot was a quick grab. I was shooting with my 600VR with the 1.4tc as some of the shots were a bit distant. I saw this one bird fly in much closer and he landed on this stem of grass. This is a full frame shot. I know not the best comp, but with the swaying grass from it just landing on it and the fact I thought it was going to fly off real quick, I just started firing away, and got a few.
Some may think the BG is way too busy...and it is busy...but at least for me, this is a very wide open shot for this species of sparrow. They are normally way deep in the cover...and I felt very luck to have gotten these.
http://www.jasongharrison.com/images/4496_signed2_S.jpg
Taken with a D300, 600VR, 1.4tc, f/6.3, ISO 400, 1/500th ss, +.3 EV
Hope you enjoyed.