Widely called pigeons, the rock dove is common in the wilds around here, as well as on the public squares and boulevards of local urban areas. Their distinguishing colouration appears to be that there isn't one, as they come in a wide variety of colours and patterns. This one is a member of a local to Ladner flock that annually nests under wharves along the river and most notably the large public wharf where this one and it's similarly patterned mate were doing some nest maintenance work last week. The regular comings and goings with pine needles gave me repeated opportunities to swing and shoot as they flitted past into their dive underneath the wharf. Canon 7D MII,Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III, ISO 800, f/8, 1/500.
Very nice in flight shot. I like the wing angle and the clouds in the sky make for a pleasing bg. You might try raising the shadows on the breast and tail feathers a bit. 1/500, f8 are unusual settings for a bif. In general one would use a higher ss, lower f/stop.
Thanks for the input John and Jonathan. I agree on the camera settings comments, which I normally wouldn't use for that shot, but I had been shooting birds standing on the rail when this flight shot happened along and just swung on it. I was actually surprised at the clarity of the wings with that SS. I was able to pull up a little more detail in the dark areas but wasn't able to get much more out of the brightest whites on the right wing.
rock dove
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