This Black Neck Stilt was imaged just after the Spoonbill at Echo Pond in the very southern part of the Everglades just inside Flamingo City. Echo Pond is recovering after a devastating hurricane nearly wiped this tiny outpost and some of the glades off of the map. It looks like a bomb went off, to put it mildly. But it is much improved over just a year or two ago when I was last there. The two birds were playing and eating just about 70 feet away and kept creeping further over my way. I was very pleased to get an image of both these birds, the Spoonie and this Stilt. this Stilt was 1 of 6 slowly walking around and looking for small fish to eat. My wife was able to get some images of them too with the Canon 5D and the 100-400 lens. We had a great time on our last full afternoon and night at this location. If you are ever able to go here, do so!
Specs for those who want to know: Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Shooting Date/Time 2/14/2009 14:42:11, Shutter Speed 1/8000Sec. Av(Aperture Value) F6.3, Evaluative metering, Exposure Compensation -1, ISO 400, Lens: EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM. On the Gitzo Tripod with the Wimberley 2 Head. ! of only 6 images made when it came close enough. I was able to keep 2 that I was pleased with. Cropped for a 8x10 print. And about 40% of frame left here.
I know the crop is quite a bit and it is not the best image of a BNS. The noise in the background is because I do not have or know how to use noise reduction software. But it is a start for me. I will continue to improve and learn. Thanks for looking here folks.
Real nice image. Good comp and color. Whites seem a bit hot but Florida sun is tough. Try Neat Image for the noise. It couldn't be simpler to use and does a great job. I think you can get a free trial.
Grady, my wife and I went on a birding/photographic trip to Costa Rica in January. My carry lens on the various hikes through the cloud and rain forest was a Canon 300mm f.4 L IS with a 1.4x extender. Many images were taken with 800 ISO w/wo flash of small birds in low light. I heavily cropped many images in PS, resulting in noisy backgrounds. I took the advice of people on this site and purchased Neat Image. It was quite easy to learn (even for an old guy) and I couldn't be more pleased with the images.
Nice BNS image by the way. I have several from Costa Rica but the background is a very unattractive river bank.
Good low angle Grady and I love the red eye contact. One of my favorite species but not easy to photograph. Lovely detail and I think you did well with the exposure. Thanks for sharing.
First Black Neck Stilt
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