Some friends and I headed to the Winnipeg area a few weekends back to photograph the migrating birds coming through. We ended up spending an afternoon at Fort Whyte Alive (in Winnipeg, Manitoba) on the way back home - a great park with lots of birds and great habitat. While I love shooting at Fort Whyte, they don't exactly have photographers in mind with thier hours of operation (9am to 5pm). A few of my friends had to hit the road early in the afternoon to be back to Dryden for dinner, while I opted to stick around longer. I had watched some Wood Ducks landing in a small pond right off the edge of the main parking lot and I wanted to try for some take-off / landing. The pond is completely walled in by tall, dense reeds except for a 6 or 8 foot wide window were the pond comes up against the road into the parking lot, so I opted to move the car to beside the gap so I could shoot out the window of my “rolling blind”. I got several good shots of four pairs of Wood Ducks (all still in non-breeding / transitional plumage) moving around in the pond. While I was watching, I dragonfly crashed into the water in front me at the front edge of the pond. It started buzzing and making interesting patterns in the water, so I refocussed my lens to snap a few pictures of it. A bit of movement caught me eye, and I just about pee-ed my pants when I saw a Virginia Rail pop his head out of the wall of reeds on my left. The rail then ran out, grabbed the dragonfly and kept on trucking right through to the wall of reeds on my right on the other side of the gap. I got a few shots off, but with an 800mm mounted (+ extension tube) and the bird passing so close, the rail more than filled the frame! Hoping he might return and reveal himself again, I switched to my shorter 400mm and just waited. I was very excited when after 10 or 15 minutes I could see a bit of movement through the base of the reeds, but much to my surprise, out popped a Sora Rail!! Almost as soon as I started shooting, I detected more movement on the other side of the gap where the Virginia Rail had originally come from and was gobsmacked when out popped a second Sora!!! (this one pictured - just transitioning out of juvenile plumage).
The Soras were in and out of the reeds for about 30 seconds at a time about every 10 or 15 minutes for the next 2 hours. The Virginia Rail also came back once, but he didn't like to leave the cover of the reeds, so I only managed a few shots of him, none of which I am over-joyed with. I figured I was happy with the shots I had gotten, so nothing would be lost if I tried to get even closer. I put on a 70-200 zoom and lay in the mud at the edge of the pond, about 4 or 5 feet from a gap in the edge of the reeds were the birds had been emerging and waited – sure enough one of the Soras returned and gave me a few more great shots from only a few feet away. The second time (since I repositioned) a Sora returned was the exact time someone from the park staff walked up behind me to tell me it was 5pm and they were closing up for the night and I had to go...
What a super habitat image, Jeff. I'm surprised at 44 views and no comments. Everyone has his or her own standards regarding photoshop clean up. I personally never alter my subject but if there is a distracting element in the background, then I deal with it. In this image, the diagonal reed behind the bird distracts me because it is bright and also because every other one is vertical. Were this image mine, I'd remove it with Artie's "Protect and defend" followed by Quick masking it out. Otherwise, I find this to be interesting, unique and it held my attention for a long look.
Jeff, I enjoyed your story very much...thanks for the write-up! Nice image, and I lke the HA of the Sora. Perfect shooting angle too, as any lower would have put the reed stupms in the way of the subject. I find the image a bit magenta-ish overall, and I would remove the small pin-catchlight in the eye (the reflection on the eye is very nice).
BTW, depending on your own ethics, rails often respond quite well to recordings (especially Virginia Rail)...used judisciously of course...
Super shot of an elusive bird. I've never seen one that wasn't partially hidden in the reeds, much less at this close distance. Your perseverance paid off. I don't think I would have noticed the diagonal reed, but since Grace mentioned it I keep going back to it, and agree it could be removed. I also wish the larger bright reed weren't right behind the head, but don't think it's worth altering. Ditto Daniel's comment about shooting angle -- it makes for lovely reflections in the water, and good placement of the bird relative to the reeds. Very nicely done.
Great bird and pose. Always good to get those hard to see in the "open" birds. I like the habitat included in the image, especially the dead vegetation still visible under the water as well as the reed stumps popping out.
I am not sure about the crop, I might like to see a little taken off the bottom and added to the top, and maybe a little off the right side?
Last edited by Dan Walker; 10-14-2011 at 02:24 PM.
Reason: I can't spell
The Elusive Sora Rail
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