As my hikes/backpacks tend to take me along mountain streams I\'ve had opportunities to watch American Dippers in action, but only once have I come close to capturing their technique photographically. This sequence was taken in Sept 2008 along Big Pine Creek in California\'s eastern Sierra Nevada using the 40D/100-400 IS on a BushHawk mount. Due to the fading light and the Dipper\'s quickness I had to use ISOs 1250 and 1600 and an aperture of f5.6. I used a bit of noise removal in Paint Shop Pro X2, but the pics were much cleaner than I expected. C and C welcome.
1
Still somewhat dry --
2
About to take the plunge --
3
Braving the torrent --
4
You can see its nictitating (thanks to TIM KUHN for the typo correction ) membrane as it plunges in the water --
5
In a somewhat calmer spot --
6
And after all that effort, what does it end up with? A single red ant --
It hardly seemed worth it.
Fascinating to watch, though...
As my hikes/backpacks tend to take me along mountain streams I\'ve had opportunities to watch American Dippers in action, but only once have I come close to capturing their technique photographically. This sequence was taken in Sept 2008 along Big Pine Creek in California\'s eastern Sierra Nevada using the 40D/100-400 IS on a BushHawk mount. Due to the fading light and the Dipper\'s quickness I had to use ISOs 1250 and 1600 and an aperture of f5.6. I used a bit of noise removal in Paint Shop Pro X2, but the pics were much cleaner than I expected. C and C welcome.
1
Still somewhat dry --
2
About to take the plunge --
3
Braving the torrent --
4
You can see its nictating membrane as it plunges in the water --
5
In a somewhat calmer spot --
6
And after all that effort, what does it end up with? A single red ant --
It hardly seemed worth it.
Fascinating to watch, though...
Steve
Nov 04, 2009 at 11:29 PM
Previous versions of trailhiker's message #7734666 « American Dipper at Work (6x) »
) membrane as it plunges in the water --
