I had waited until late in the afternoon to photograph Arctic Terns in flight (likely the southern most breding pair in North America) and of course, just as I set up atop the dunes, the wind switched and the birds flight path completely re-oriented away from the light.
I watched as the male continually chased the least terns nesting adjacent to the Arctic Tern nest in order to steal their prey they were bringing in.
Fortunately one of the least terns finally had enough and set of in a rather high speed chase which brought both the least tern and the arctic tern into the light.
I locked them as they came in and squeezed off two frames as they turned toward me...this being the better of the two,
Nikon D300, 500 AFS~VR, ISO 640, f9, 1/2000, NearUniWB preset, CW metering +.7 EV compensation
Reminds me of a World War II dogfight Jim! It'd be nice if there were separation between the two birds, but I'd take this frame any day. I'd also like to see a little more detail in the black of the Arctic Tern. Really nice job!
For me, this is a truly astounding image. For the action captured, for its great beauty, and for the fact that these two species are rarely seen in the same neighborhood. Great juxtaposition and very sharp. Just fantastic. May we assume that this is from a horizontal ORIG?
Where was the image created?
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I've been permitted to shoot in the dunes / breeding colony there the past two years for a number of reasons, first and foremost to document the resurgence of the tern brreing colony and also to proved the 100+ images we used at the Flight Path show at Plimoth Plantation.
There are currently 2000+ pairs of common tern breeding, 700+ pairs of least terns...and two pairs of arctics which have decided to breed in one of the dune blowouts, right among a group of approximately 35 least tern nests. As far as we know, these two pairs of artic terns are the southerly most breeders in all of North America.
It's a rather nice, isolated place to shoot :).
I'm glad that you enjoyed the image..I was thrilled to capture it.
Congratulations. Interaction between two or more birds is always interesting, but this is more than interesting or just good. I wish I had taken it. :D Someone asked you about if it was a horizontal photo cropped into vertical, if it's not, you have been even more succesful.
Hey Jim, Thanks for the additional info. That is still one amazing image.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Fantastic image Jim, it looks like one of those images coming from aircraft shows but much better, of course. Love the banking pose, the simmetry of the pose in both birds and the asymmetry of the heads. One to be proud of.
Awesome Jim, this is one of my favorite Tern images ever.
The only question I have is did you make changes your settings to get good AF results with your D300 now? If I remember correctly you couldn't get your D300 bodies to AF in the open sky right?
I've found that the D300 works really well for BIF WITH NO TC MOUNTED ON THE LENS.
Once the TC goes on, the ability to acquire quickly enough goes right down the tubes IMHO...and that observation in based upon shooting two brand new ones side by side extensively for a month and half, and finding this to be consistent.
In wide open skies, I am shooting 50 pt dymanic...no auto or 3D.
What makes the image even more attractive for me is the fact the birds are superimposed...gives the feeling of the Least Tern as incoming (almost looming) rather than just chasing from behind. Very, very cool...and deserving of all the accolades!!
I've Had ENOUGH!
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