Surf Pigeon....

[dankearl]

Pigeon Guillemot
Taken this morning at Haystack Rock on the Oregon coast at the first Minus tide of the summer.
For those not familiar, these off shore nesting birds are hundreds of yards or miles out most time but 2 or 3 times a year
the tides get low enough to have a chance if you get good light and weather which has to occur at
low tide at 8 am, a very low chance.
The only chance to get these birds like these and Murres in flight.
They are Rockets!
Degree of difficulty is very high, hand holding and shooting while standing in Oregon coast surf.
This is the best photography that I do, the most challenging and fun!

D500, 500pf (You don't see big lens doing this, sorry Sony and Canon). f5.6, 1/4000, iso450
PP in Capture, Affinity

pg1800.jpg

[Colin Driscoll]

Small wings, plump body they would need to be fast to stay airborne.
Terrific shot and does sound like a fun challenge.

[Arthur Morris]

Superb beyond belief. Loe the flight pose, the soft light, the red feet, the killer underwing detail, and the BKGR. The SONY 2-6 would do just fine.

with love, a

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Dan, nice work. As Artie said,,, superb. Love the angle of the bird showing the underside of the wings and the red feet. Thank you for sharing.

[Bill Dix]

Amazing. Wonderful flight pose with full wing spread; nice surf BG. I remember a few of your posts from Haystack Rock last year. Great shots all. I imagine you were stoked when you saw this in the camera.

[John Mack]

Great pose on this one. Framing is bang on. Nice how the wing tips curl up.

[arash_hazeghi]

You can do this with a light 600 from a boat too...but is is a tough shot.

Nice panning with full wing span against the wakes, excellent light. It's lacking in IQ a bit, I imagine it was a good size crop. the 500PF has one Achilles hill-it is too short for shots like this one.

TFS