joanr wrote:
Lovely series, Steve--Rotator cuff all better? Sure looks like it.
Joan, I'm still trying to take it easy with my right shoulder, so I propped up the BushHawk on a fence as I still can't hold the rig for extended periods of time like I used to. Seems like I tore the rotator cuff possibly years ago and didn't know it, so the muscles around the tear compensated for the injury. I don't need surgery as I'm not in any pain, and it happened so long ago that they really can't fix it back to the way it was. So I''m doing physical therapy to strengthen what's left -- which apparently isn't much, judging from the MRI. I had to buy a new 100-400 -- LONG story, I'll tell you about it one of these days -- but it needs calibration, so I'm using the 500 f4 exclusively until I run the lens through FoCal, a computer-based software program that calibrates lens to camera.
eyelaser wrote:
Super shots that really show their size relative to one another.
Eric
Thanks Eric! And I was lucky in that there was good light that day, so I had a high shutter speed yet an aperture large enough so both birds were in-focus -- even though they were both pretty much the same distance from my lens. One of these days I'll remember to use the 7D's video mode; I think it would work great for behavioral series like this.
trenchmonkey wrote:
Great shots, Steve Pesky bastards!
You're so right Will -- pesky AND cheeky! The "unkindness" numbered about 10 ravens and they just wouldn't stop harrassing the poor guy, even, er, "escorting" him out of the area. Just glad I screeched a U-ie to see him before they got to him!
danjacquitaylo wrote:
Love them WTK. Excellent captures Steve.
Dan
Thanks Dan, I love 'em too. Wish there were more of 'em here in my area, I just may have to go check out Conrad's harem up in the Bay Area one of these days...
David Leask wrote:
Super interaction Steve, well captured.
David
Thanks David! It was fun to watch -- though I wish the WTK would have been more aggressive against the ravens -- and I'm learning never to leave home without my " 7D/500 f4 on the BushHawk" rig!
Thanks Rob. Totally fortuitous on my getting this guy; they're not exactly common around here on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, so when I saw him...*SCREECH! and pull a U-turn* I had no choice!
morris wrote:
The second is quite an image and you handled a huge exposure challenge. The last is a beauty.
Morris
Thanks Morris! You're right about that 2nd one, the black raven and white WTK aren't the easiest things to pull out in the same frame, but the sun was strong and behind me, so that certainly helped...
dalite wrote:
Great sequence. I'd say the kite sure was hanging on.
He sure was! If it were me I would have fallen off, or at least bent the branch over... Amazing that they can grasp a thing as slender as that branch (and it was a bit windy to boot) yet still look, well, elegant...
Pretty cool interaction Steve, the Kite sure does look perturbed
I thought it was a "murder" but upon checking I see that applies to a flock of Crow not Ravens
Pesky bastards! 
numbered about 10 ravens and they just wouldn't stop harrassing the poor guy, even, er, "escorting" him out of the area. Just glad I screeched a U-ie to see him before they got to him! 
