I went kayaking on Tuesday in the Skagit river estuary, which is one of my favorite activities. As a bonus, sometimes there are some nice images to be had. All three images below are taken with the Z9 and the 400mm f/4.5 lens. The third image has been processed in several Photoshop filters (primarily Topaz Simplify), but gives a sense of the environment surrounding the estuary.
After receiving some excellent advice on these pages regarding kayak based photography, I finally summoned the resolve to entrust expensive camera equipment to my paddling skills or lack thereof. Wished I had done it years ago!
These little guys are plentiful around the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, NZ where I live.
Alistair1 wrote:
Fluttering Shearwater on the Waitemata.
After receiving some excellent advice on these pages regarding kayak based photography, I finally summoned the resolve to entrust expensive camera equipment to my paddling skills or lack thereof. Wished I had done it years ago!
These little guys are plentiful around the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, NZ where I live.
Seems this Fluttering Shearwater does not feel threatened by you being around it in your kayak, as it is flying in your direction for something it sees. What did it spot in the water? I love these sequences that describe behavior, that a tell a story.
Just found this link (as a cited reference inside Wiki's description of the Fluttering Shearwater).
This site (in the link below) is specific to birds of New Zealand. It describes the feeding tactics used by the Fluttering Shearwater that you photographed. Fascinating!
Making use of a rare sunny day, I went over to the Stillaquamish River a couple days ago, to check in on a Great Blue Heron rookery across the river. I don't think any eggs have been laid yet, but there was some nest repair going on, as well as jockeying for best nest sites (eagles have preyed on some of these nests in the past). These images were taken with the Z9, the 400mm f/4.5, and the 1.4x TC:
Seems it does not feel threatened by you being around it in your kayak, as it is flying in your direction for something it sees. No? What did it spot in the water? I love these sequences that describe behavior, that a tell a story.
Just found this link (as a cited reference inside Wiki's description of the Fluttering Shearwater.... I like Wikipedia!).
This site (in the link below) is specific to the birds of New Zealand. It describes the feeding tactics used by the Fluttering Shearwater that you photographed! Fascinating!
Thanks very much for you generous comments. Yes, like a lot of seabirds, they seem to accept a kayak and its paddler as a fellow sea creature and of little threat. It makes them super easy to photograph. They congregate in large flocks of hundreds or even thousands, floating on the surface of the sea. It is possible to quietly float among them and get very close as long as you don't paddle much which can disturb them.
They then move as a flock to follow the school of fish they are targeting. Their movement is done in an orderly sequence as they each need a bit if space to take off and this creates wonderful opportunities for takeoff sequences:
And by positioning one's kayak where it is anticipated the flock will move, great opportunities for approach shots present.
WRT the feeding behavior, it seemed to follow something of a food chain event. Schools of small fish or Krill were being pursued by larger fish ( Kawhai I suspect). Gulls, Shearwater and other species are attracted to the splashing the Kawhai make as they take take the Krill. You can see a gull hovering as a Kawhai surfaces and grabs a Krill bottom left:
The action attracts other birds too including these White Fronted Terns and various gull species:
This sequence gives us a slightly better view of the Krill jumping (lower left) to avoid the Kawhai over which a somewhat feckless gull is hovering:
I would like to claim credit for capturing action such as this but it is mostly down to the camera, much of the time I don't see it until I get the files off of the card! Of course when it comes to the truly feckless foragers in action on the water, the gull is in good company.
Thanks again for your interest in the story and your kind comments.
Edit: The only downside I have found to the kayak is that its movement can add to motion blur and a slightly higher shutter speed is needed. For example the takeoff sequence above is shot at 1/2500 which would have been enough from land but has introduced some movement blur into a couple of the shots. The AF is spot in though.
Thanks for the description of being among them in your kayak and the paddle. I'll bet if you frequent that area enough they'll begin accepting that paddle movement too.
This has to be a blast! Healthy ecosystem too. And this Z 400 f4.5 lens you all like so muich seems perfect for such a situation.
Before now, I was not familiar with this group of birds. Last night I thought it occurred to me why they were named shearwaters. So I asked google this morning. Scrolling down just a bit.... and there's the derivation of the name. From the 17th century too!
