Not to sound bitter but...

raptorcaptor

...had this Least Bittern fly right in front of me and only just managed to get a few snapshots.

BigAl

You certainly nailed the first one!

gluwater

Considering the small size of these guys and how they take off like shot out of a cannon, I think these are great Glenn. Beautiful little bird aren't they.

Maestro

And the few you got, are great!

dbaker1221

good captures Glenn

Albert Dickson

The Wyatt Earp of BIFs
Nice Shootin Wyatt!

ShepsMom

Ohhh don't beat yourself up, your first image is amazing. I can see how it might be frustrating not to capture the moment. But all considered, you did great!

destes

, the first one is fantastic. The reeds give the picture a great 3D effect. I do have a question though. Are you using manual focus on these? I seem to have a hard time getting the auto-focus to concetrate on what I want, the camera won't read my mind . The fact that the bird is razor sharp, and the reeds in the forground are just starting to go out of focus, makes me wonder if I should be using the auto-focus less when I shoot.

jwear

not just the shooting but in so cal we do not see this bird very often --great job Glenn

raptorcaptor

BigAl wrote:

You certainly nailed the first one!

Thanks Al! I was surprised to find that I had managed to get anything at all, as it happened so fast and the reeds were making it difficult to get focus lock.

raptorcaptor

gluwater wrote:

Considering the small size of these guys and how they take off like shot out of a cannon, I think these are great Glenn. Beautiful little bird aren't they.

Thanks Nick! This is the first time that my wife and I have seen these birds in the wild.

raptorcaptor

Maestro wrote:

And the few you got, are great!

Thanks Maestro!

raptorcaptor

dbaker1221 wrote:

good captures Glenn

Thanks Dave!

raptorcaptor

Albert Dickson wrote:

Nice Shootin Wyatt!

That's exactly what happened! Luckily I had my drive set to highspeed shootin!

raptorcaptor

ShepsMom wrote:

Ohhh don't beat yourself up, your first image is amazing. I can see how it might be frustrating not to capture the moment. But all considered, you did great!

Thanks!

raptorcaptor

destes wrote:

, the first one is fantastic. The reeds give the picture a great 3D effect. I do have a question though. Are you using manual focus on these? I seem to have a hard time getting the auto-focus to concetrate on what I want, the camera won't read my mind . The fact that the bird is razor sharp, and the reeds in the forground are just starting to go out of focus, makes me wonder if I should be using the auto-focus less when I shoot.

No I was using center point auto-focus, and I had a hard time getting focus lock. I was manually pre-focusing right as he/she took off. I basically got lucky with the first one.

raptorcaptor

jwear wrote:

not just the shooting but in so cal we do not see this bird very often --great job Glenn

Thanks Jeff! Maybe I will have another chance with this guy!