Today's words start with K

Steve Cavigliano

Hello All,

Sorry for the Sesame Street title....LOL

I had such good luck and such a good time shooting at Coyote Hills last Friday, I decided to do it again today. Got there a little earlier this time and I saw a Kestral in the same tree where I saw a Merlin last week. Same lousy twigs and branches too :rofl So I won't bore you with butt shots and twigs.

I climbed up to the ridge and every bird I saw was just too far away. I spent 30 minutes waiting (which for me is like a month....lol) and gave up. I started coming down the trail and I saw a good looking White-Tailed Kite, sitting in a tree, whose eye was very nicely lit. Decent start, thought I, and I hoped my good fortune would continue.



He took off and circled a few times. Not close enough and never at a good angle to the light, but ya takes what ya gets....lol




While I was shooting the Kite, I noticed a Kestral land in another tree nearby. I was able to get pretty close and I was able to lay a couple of megapixels on him :lol3



Question was, could my new combo AF fast enough to catch this little guy in flight? And, could the old 1/2 blind dewd even find this little guy in the VF if he did take off?



While not as sharp as what I had hoped for, I was stunned that I got him at all....LOL He started hunting on the slope and did that Kite/Kestral hover thing with his tail feathers spread. It was pretty kewl but he was small and right at the edge of my reach.




These are pretty much 100% crops. Again, I am amazed that the lens+TC did so well on the AF.

He flew to another tree and I continued down the trail to the parking lot. As I was sitting by my car, taking a break I saw what looked like a Kestral on the roof beams of a picnic area. He kept ducking down, so I went over to check him out. The reason he kept bending down was evident once I got a full view of him.



He was keeping an eye on me, but didn't let me distract him from his meal. Kind of like Andy :lol



Well another good couple of hours at Coyote Hills. Man, I love this place....LOL I had a feeling it was going to be a lucky day when I saw these rabbit's feet....LOL


OK, so what if they were still connected to the rabbit? ;-)

Hope you enjoyed my little story and I hope you enjoy my pictures of birds that begin with the letter K :

Thanks for looking, C&C's always appreciated,

Steve

dallas

Looks to me like the half blind dewd, did a great job of getting the birdies in his VF. As I said in my last comments to you......keep hanging out there; I wish I were busy enough to have to stop and rest. Very nice, thanks for sharing.

ehughes

Awesome Steve, great Kestral pics.. I'm pretty sure I've never even seen a kite like that when it wasn't flying...

Andy

yummy.

rutt

These are really nice. I don't think I've ever seen an actual kite and always wondered what they looked like.

GREAPER

The Kestrel in flight is wonderful.

Nice set.

Michael Allen

Nice series, thanks for sharing.

Thusie

Really wonderful! Love the Kestrel shots, wow.

ginger_55

Wonderful shooting, Steve.

With same lens, I am not sure my AF would have worked soon enough. I really should get the Tamron. I toped my Canon extender, and it works, but maybe I am just slow.

On the bird coming towards you, they are just plain hard, I have theory on that, but I don't know what one does when they are completely in the air.

Love the rabbits foot! I think you only need one, if he doesn't mind, you could send me the other.

ginger

Harryb

Hey Steve,

Those are knock-out shots. Not bad for an old dude. I see a few wall hangers in there. The bunny rabbit was cute too. Some of the kestrel flight shots show the effects of the aggressive cropping. You need to get some more reach so you don't have to do all that cropping.

Dee

Fisherman bring bait
You guys need to start carrying bird food with you! Here mousy, mousy :

Steve Cavigliano

dallas wrote:

Looks to me like the half blind dewd, did a great job of getting the birdies in his VF. As I said in my last comments to you......keep hanging out there; I wish I were busy enough to have to stop and rest. Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Thanks Dallas

I even impressed myself....lol Being busy wasn't why I was resting. The climb up the hill was about a 30 degree incline, on scree (crumbled rock/shale/limestone). Not to mention that I am over weight (or under height ), out of shape, old and a smoker to boot....lol I was wishing I had brought a Sherpa carrying oxygen....lol

Thanks for your very nice comments

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

ehughes wrote:

Awesome Steve, great Kestral pics.. I'm pretty sure I've never even seen a kite like that when it wasn't flying...

Thanks Ed

This place is loaded with big and small raptors. For a comparison at the Baylands, which has lots of waterfowl, I usually only see 3 or 4 raptors per visit. At this place you can see that many in the sky at the same time. Both times I have been there, I have seen Kites dive bombing Redtails. Too far up and not fast enough to catch the moment of contact

Anyhow, my point is that if the family is looking for a place to see lots of raptors and water fowl, this place may be worth your drive :

Thanks for your comments,

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Andy wrote:

yummy.

Thanks Andy



Steve

Steve Cavigliano

rutt wrote:

These are really nice. I don't think I've ever seen an actual kite and always wondered what they looked like.

Thanks Rutt,

I agree that those Kites are very cool looking birds. With those darkly shadowed reddish brown eyes and white and gray feathers, they are very pretty birds. They are also fairly small, but they are fearless.

Glad you liked the shots and thank you for commenting,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

GREAPER wrote:

The Kestrel in flight is wonderful.

Nice set.

Thanks Brian

As Harry points out, those shots are beyond the edge....lol I wouldn't have posted them normally, but I was so impressed with getting those shots that I had to share :

Thanks for your comments,

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Michael Allen wrote:

Nice series, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for looking Michael

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Thusie wrote:

Really wonderful! Love the Kestrel shots, wow.

Thanks Thusie

Yep, those Kestrels are among my favorite raptors to shoot. They are smart, so colorful and also as cute as a bird of prey can be ...lol

Thank you for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

ginger_55 wrote:

Wonderful shooting, Steve.

With same lens, I am not sure my AF would have worked soon enough. I really should get the Tamron. I toped my Canon extender, and it works, but maybe I am just slow.

On the bird coming towards you, they are just plain hard, I have theory on that, but I don't know what one does when they are completely in the air.

Love the rabbits foot! I think you only need one, if he doesn't mind, you could send me the other.

ginger

Thanks Ginger

Yeah, I think you should give the Tamron a try one of these days. No taping and it works with any lens. It will slow the AF down and it gets lost easier in a clear sky that w/o the TC mounted. But it does give you almost 250mms more reach and with high shutter speeds, it's not to tough to handhold this combo down to 1/500 or so. Shooting with a TC does take time to get comfy with. You won't be as quick on the draw (focus lock) as without. So you may miss some shots. But I think it's a decent trade off for the extra reach you get

I've always found subjects coming straight towards me to be tough too. With or without a TC mounted. I think that the predictive focus has a tough time judging where the subject will be next. Unlike shots from the side Too technical for me, but I agree with your experience.

You can have the other rabbit's foot if I can catch him....

Thanks for your comments,
Steve

bfjr

no doubt
enjoyed images and words, very well done

Rohirrim

Well done Steve. As Harry mentioned the first couple have the dreaded crop haze. Those damn Birds just never want to be up close :cry.

Very nice series though, looks like you've foudn a great spot to shoot.