I just thought that members might like to see this image. It was taken in the late 70's on film - I only wish that I had had digital technology for this session. The nest site was in a forest in Finland, with rather subdued light levels and I could only shoot with an ISO of 200, so many of the images were unsharp. Still, it was an unforgetable experiance and this was the most successful, and relatively sharp, image. The nest is very difficult to find as it is almost impossible to watch the bird back to the site from where it was feeding at the lakeside - it just meant two days of 'cold searching' the forest floor once a direction had been ascertained. The site was finally found about a 1/4 mile from the lake. All photography was from a carefully introduced hide (blind) with the eggs hatching on the third day. The chicks feed in the vicinity of the nest for a few hours, and occasionally brooded, but are then led away down to the lake were they feed until they are eventually able to fly.
Camera Nikon F3 with a 200mm lens Film (remember what that was?) Fuji 100 pushed to 200 ISO Exp about 1/50 at f8
Wow, this is a wonderful image, and well worth all the hard work it took to capture it. The composition is great and the head angles of all 4 birds are good. I like seeing the parent stepping over the log to get back to the chicks. Good exposure control. Thanks for posting this!
Great find and well done in this difficult setting. It's also great to know you were very careful in order not to disturb the nesting birds, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comments, Axel. In order to even attempt nest photography you have to 'do your homework' and really understand the birds you are photographing and any problems entailed, otherwise you will not succeed and the birds will be ill at ease and not behaving naturally so it would be pointless disturbing them. I can assure you I have had a very long apprenticeship! Hides are introduced very carefully, depending on the situation, with the birds reactions being monitored very carefully from afare to make sure they are not stressed in any way. Any negative reaction from the birds means the attempt would be aborted.
Melvin
Spotted Redshank and chicks
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