Avocet Landing

[Grant Yang]

Today there was a lot of activity at the Palo Alto Baylands. A group of six avocets was making quite a ruckus fighting among themselves. It gave me lots of opportunities for flight shots. Here's one of my favorites from the day.



A77, 70-400 @250mm, ISO 400, 1/1000

Let me know if I oversaturated the blues.

[Alexander Krebs]

Hi, I would love to see the bird a bit bigger in the frame … so why not extend your zoom to maximum or at least 100mm more?
All other parts the color seems ok to me. The pose is also nice.
Cheers


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[Grant Yang]

The reason I wasn't zoomed in was because the focusing on the lens was having a hard time keeping up at 400mm. Zooming out a little improved the chances that the images came out sharp on a pixel level. I probably could have zoomed in more on this shot though.

[Alexander Krebs]

Maybe you can crop in a bit?


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[Grant Yang]

Here's a closer crop for comparison:

[Bill Dix]

Lovely Avocet in breeding plumage, and nice landing pose. I could imagine a slight crop from the OP, but like to see some space around the bird in flight. Yes, the blues may be just a bit oversaturated for my taste. My biggest wish would be for the bird to be angled a little toward you.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice landing pose and I like the open beak. good exposure. the details are a bit soft

original crop was too loose and the repost is too tight, I would go for something in between with more room in front of the bird

TFS

[Grant Yang]

Thanks for the crops suggestions Ari. Hopefully third times the charm. I fired up PSE and added a little bit of smart sharpening to bring out the details. Also bumped midtone contrast just a little bit.

[Alexander Krebs]

Hello, yes this is the crop I meant. Much better.


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[Diane Miller]

Very nice catch! The last crop works best for me!

Where in the Baylands is the best shooting? From Embarcadero Road, or are there trails that are better? It's a place I've been meaning to check out. Low tide??

[Grant Yang]

Hi Diane,

It really depends on which species you're after, and also where the birds are that day. Recently the Embarcadero Road area has been very productive for stilts and avocets. I find that the best shooting occurs at lower tides, when the birds congregate by Harriet Mundy Marsh. You can get really close to them and get a nice pov. During breeding season they seem much more tolerant of people as well. This shot was taken from that location. Here you can also catch the birds flying in from other areas of the Baylands. They tend to approach left to right in my experience, and you'll get a heads up as they call on their way in.

It is also worth checking the boat dock at the end of the trail. In low tides and usually in the evenings, the birds will congregate on the mudflats across from the dock. You can get nice flight opportunities as they fly across the water. In this location, you'd ideally need a much longer lens. I find my a77 at 400mm is too short for most of the flight opportunities. A 600 and extender or 800 would afford some very nice opportunities.

In less ideal times, the birds have been in the slough or along the trails. It's harder to shoot them here, because you're generally restricted to shooting from above, and the birds are more skittish. When the birds aren't at Harriet Mundy, I think that the better choice is to head over to the Shoreline side of the park. In the Shoreline Lake, you'll get insanely close to pied bill grebes, and have a good shot at hairy grebes as well. There are also surf scoters that get fairly close along with common goldeneyes and occasionally bufflehead. Shoreline also has some extremely people tolerant Anna's hummingbirds.

I don't think really low tides are all that great for shooting, because it makes for poor muddy backgrounds. High tides are also a little difficult because the birds tend to be further away. However, if you're after clapper rails, they are much easier to see at high tides as it floods them out of their usual hiding spots. Unfortunately, the boardwalk where they are most frequently seen has been closed, as it has deteriorated over time to the point where it is no unsafe.

I hope that helps, let me know if you have any additional questions.

Grant

Edit: I forgot to mention. There are currently a pair of super cooperative greater scaup in the duck pond. The first day I saw them, they were quite skittish, but since then they have started acting just like mallards. As soon as you get out of your car, they (and all the other ducks) will make a beeline for you. Usually I avoid the duckpond like the plague, because of the smell, but they're worth checking out.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Grant! I need to make a run down there some day soon, but won't have time for a couple of weeks. I've been mobbed by ducks before -- much harder to shoot than the wild ones!