A GBH in Pennsylvania

pathfinder

Nobody has whined more than me about how difficult and frustrating it can be to shoot GBHs in the mid-west. SO Nightingale and I were driving around Lake Ligonier in Pennsylvania last weekend, when she sees a GBH in a creek. SO I jumped out of the car with my trusty 20D and a super telephoto 135mm lens that I had with me, and grabbed one frame.....




Some times you're the bug, and some times you're the windshield:D :dunno

Harryb

Good capture PF. He heard you coming but you were too quick for him.

Awais Yaqub

very cool Bif

Ric Grupe

That 135's a good one! I've never been able to get that kind of nicely saturated shot of a GBH.

saurora

Nice!!!! Unusual shot of the bird, love the way you can see his own shadow across the wing. Nice landscape BG, and the saturation is excellent!!! :saurora

Dick on Aruba

pathfinder wrote:

...SO I jumped out of the car with my trusty 20D...

...and what a great shot it is! I understand fully you exitement by seeing the "rare".

Next time, do a bit less jumping, maybe you get a couple of frames more by not scaring the GBH away.

Thanks for sharing.

Dick.

pathfinder

Thanks everyone for the nice comments.

Usually I find 400mm is not enough for GBHs locally, and here I only had a 135 to use.

I actually shot 5 frames, but the first four were all out of focus as my 20D was trying to catch up with the 5 frames a sec frame rate I was shooting at. Like Dick said, I was so excited I blew the first few frames!!

I never was able to get that close to it again later, either.

dbaker1221

Good for you. Great shot . As soon as I saw the sky in the photo my first thought was "i'd have purple fringe" & then "my car would stilll be in gear & be rolling away!"

You guys are gods & I am nothing.

gluwater

Isn't this the exact situation you got the Tamron 200-500 for? Great shot using what you had and I just wish I was there to see you running after the GBH .

pathfinder

NIck, you trap me in my own words:D

Kathy and I went to Ligonier Pa for Fort Ligonier Days, which is a re-enactment of the battle of Fort Ligonier during the French and Indian Wars. I was not planning on shooting any wildlife, so I took a 5D and a 24-105, and a 20D with a 135 and a 70-200. Period. The 135 just happened to be on the 20D when I pulled over. The Tammy 200-500 was left at home with all my other stuff. Just goes to show how hard it is to predict which lens you will want when you travel.

The funny thing is that usually when GBHs loft, they bank and fly directly away from me. But the creek was way below the dam it was draining from, and the wind was coming over the top of the dam, so that as the GBH lofted into the wind, it ended up flying almost directly towards me. Not what I was expecting. As I admitted, ashamedly, I got only one good frame in focus. But I can say, it is the first time I ever got a GBH with less than 400mm:D

raptorcaptor

Nice bif pathfinder!