The Limpkin (and other wildlife)

[Harryb]

Hi you'll,

I was walking the other day and I ran into my neighborhood's resident limpkin. Its one of our more uncommon birds and doesn't get the same press as herons and egrets. It was named for its odd limping gait. Its 26-28 inches long and has a wing span of 42 inches. Its favorite food is snails but will settle for other crustaceans and frogs. It has a loud wailing scream that Hollywood found cool and used it in the soundtracks of the early Tarzan movies.

Here's the limpkin searching for lunch. You can see by the ground around it that it has been a busy limpkin.

Harry

[Harryb]

having found a snack the limpkin uses its long selnder bill to open it

[Harryb]

now open its chow time. As Andy says "its all about the food".

[John Mueller]

having found a snack the limpkin uses its long selnder bill to open it
Great capture Harry:thumb
Care to share your settings?
John

[Harryb]

Great capture Harry:thumb
Care to share your settings?
John
Hey John,

Thanks for taking the time to comment. My settings with my D100 and 80-400 lens were: ISO 320 (the limpkin was in shadows and he was moving so I needed to keep the shutter speed up); aperture priority; exposure compensation +.07ev (he's a fairly dark fellow and was in shadows); matrix metering; 1/400 sec at f7.1; white balance cloudy (adjusted in Capture 4.1 by setting a grey point); in camera noise reduction and sharpening off and tone comp set to less contrast; color mode was Adobe RGB

Harry

[Andy]

su-weeeeeeeeeeeet!

[GREAPER]

Those are very nice Harry, thanks for sharing them. You are building quite a colection of quality birds.

We dont get this guy up here on the north coast

[wxwax]

Harry, really nice job saving that first shot. I could tell he was in the shadows and the backlight is pretty powerful. But you did a great job lightning his head and neck and making them sharp. Looks great. :thumb

[Dee]

Here's the limpkin searching for lunch. You can see by the ground around it that it has been a busy limpkin.

Next you should get a kyack and paddle around these ponds -- opps, forgot about the gators!

I love the series showing the hunt and success for lunch.

[jwear]

great set Harry [i ordered the lens today] but if you follow up on above, you may get some great gator shots but take the close up glass :rofl

[Harryb]

su-weeeeeeeeeeeet!
thank you.

Harry

[Harryb]

Those are very nice Harry, thanks for sharing them. You are building quite a colection of quality birds.

Thanks. Living in Florida makes it kind of easy to coolect bird shots.

We dont get this guy up here on the north coast
We don't get limpkins down here too often either. Usually they are very shy and don't let folks get too close. Fortunately the pond by our nature trail is chock full of the limpkin's favorite food and its close to the trail so this guy has gotten used to having humans close by.

Harry

[Andy]

Usually they are very shy and don't let folks get too close.
Harry

h, you 've learned to sneak up on critters?

[Harryb]

h, you 've learned to sneak up on critters?
Actually yes. It was part of one of my workshops at the Wildlife and Birding Festival. You never look at their eyes, approach on a zig zag (they don't have great depth perception and it will appear that you are not walking towards them), and approach slowly. I was helped here because the limpkin was a lot like you, once you guys are feeding nothing else matters.

I also cheated by putting on my limpkin costume. :rofl

Harry

[Harryb]

Harry, really nice job saving that first shot. I could tell he was in the shadows and the backlight is pretty powerful. But you did a great job lightning his head and neck and making them sharp. Looks great. :thumb
Thank you for the kind comments. This is where my recent workshop with Ron Reznick paid off. Prior to the workshop I would have blown the exposure and would have had to do some layer masks to bring out the shadows and a lot of noise along with it too.

Harry

[Andy]

Actually yes. It was part of one of my workshops at the Wildlife and Birding Festival. You never look at their eyes, approach on a zig zag (they don't have great depth perception and it will appear that you are not walking towards them), and approach slowly. I was helped here because the limpkin was a lot like you, once you guys are feeding nothing else matters.

I also cheated by putting on my limpkin costume. :rofl

Harry

hearing that costume remark, i went back and looked at some pics from some of our shoots in nyc. strangely enough, i found this:

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/12589992-L.jpg

[John Mueller]

hearing that costume remark, i went back and looked at some pics from some of our shoots in nyc. strangely enough, i found this:

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/12589992-S.jpg
This is one of the best shots Ive seen of Harry.Only in NYC.
:roll:roll:roll:roll:rofl :rofl :rofl

[fish]

:heh
hearing that costume remark, i went back and looked at some pics from some of our shoots in nyc. strangely enough, i found this:

[Harryb]

Next you should get a kyack and paddle around these ponds -- opps, forgot about the gators!

I love the series showing the hunt and success for lunch.
I'm staying on dry land for awhile. I took a wildlife cruise this weekend and between the dark skies and the rocking of the boat got some really lousy shots. :cry

Glad you enjoyed the pics.

Harry

[wxwax]

hearing that costume remark, i went back and looked at some pics from some of our shoots in nyc. strangely enough, i found this:

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/12589992-S.jpg
:roll :rofl :thumb

Excellent!

[Harryb]

great set Harry [i ordered the lens today] but if you follow up on above, you may get some great gator shots but take the close up glass :rofl
just a little bit of guile and stupidity :wink

Harry

[Harryb]

harry

[Harryb]

the famous flying pig incident

[wxwax]

the famous flying pig incident
:rofl :rofl :rofl

[Trish323]

Nice Capture! I give you 100% credit, Harry, for teaching me the names of the birds....Using a name is so much better than me saying "the brown one...:dunno

[ginger_55]

Great shots, Harry! I especially like the one of you and your "catch" in the New York subway, I assume that is where it is. Classic shot.

And the serious bird shot is good, too.

ginger

[Harryb]

Good seeing you over here. Glad you liked the pic.

Harry

[John Mueller]

Hey Harry,was #22 A shot of Andy in Times Square?
:rofl :rofl :rofl :thumb

[Harryb]

[QUOTE=ginger_55]Great shots, Harry! I especially like the one of you and your "catch" in the New York subway, I assume that is where it is. Classic shot.

Thanks but I may have to get all of Andy's pics of me away from that man. I never should have told him about Mask Pro.


And the serious bird shot is good, too.

Thank you.

Harry

[Andy]

[QUOTE=ginger_55]
Thanks but I may have to get all of Andy's pics of me away from that man.



Harry

harry always shoots with a friend. here he is in nyc's times square

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/12621536-L.jpg

[pathfinder]

harry always shoots with a friend. here he is in nyc's times square

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/12621536-L.jpg

What a great picture.

[Andy]

What a great picture.

thanks pathfinder :D here he is without the bird. it's one of my fave shots also. appreciate the comment!

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/3111862-L.jpg

[fish]

This thread is heading to Wide Angle. Any last words? :D

[wxwax]

What a great picture.

I agree, that's a wonderful shot. The things I notice are the rich colors, the great light on Harry's face, the blurring cabs against his stillness. Even tho you used it for a goof, Andy, the strength of the original shines thru.

[fish]

i really don't know why...:huh

[Andy]

i really don't know why...:huh

:yikes

i do so love this

[Trish323]

Hey Harry,
Seems like it is a wonderful place with super nice people and many familiar faces!.. I just need to learn the "lay of the land"