Saturday, March 17, 2012

American Coot at Middle Creek WMA: Camera Critters

The American Coot is often mistaken for a duck, but is actually a member or the rail family.  I have seen these birds quite frequently at Meadow Grounds Lake in Fulton County near McConnellsburg, Pa. and at Middle Creek WMA on the Lebanon-Lancaster County line near Kleinfeltersville, Pa.  It is possible to photograph a large variety of waterfowl at Middle Creek during the spring migration although it is often difficult to get close enough to obtain exceptional portraits of the birds--even when using the big prime lenses.  I did get a few photographs of American Coot on my March 7th trip.

American Coot: Canon 7D-500mmF4  ISO 400 1/500sec, f4-
Coots Interacting: Canon 7D-500mmF4  ISO 400 1/500sec, f4-
Even though the ranges are often long and the waterfowl somewhat shy, a morning at Middle Creek during the spring migration is usually time well spent.

For more Camera Critters photographs, click Here!



Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

10 comments:

Cheryl said...

Gorgeous shots of the Coots. Was a little surprised to see the ISO at 400. Still hung up on the old film days.

eileeninmd said...

Cool shots of the Coot!

Tatjana Parkacheva said...

Excellent and beautiful photos.

Regards and best wishes

Anonymous said...

Great shots!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful lighting on the coot pictures; love the one of the coots interacting.

V.L. Locey said...

Beautiful shots of the coots, Willard!

spike said...

Such beautiful pics of the birds . I like bird watching, seeing all the different ones out there. I hunt deer at www.peartreegameranch.com in Texas. I sure do like bird watching, very peaceful, and exciting.

TF said...

Lovely pictures! I really love the red eyes of Coots. They stand out against their dark heads. I read your comment on a forum about the noise performance of your 7D. You mentioned that when it was new you would get good shots at ISO 800, but now you don't keep it higher than ISO 400. Do you still face this issue? I have exactly the same problem. All my photos seem more noisier than before (nearly 2 years ago). There is significant loss of detail even at ISO 400 with proper exposure. I'm not sure if I should send it to Canon to get it fixed it or not.

Willard said...

Tausif,

I don't think my camera has gotten worse, it is just that I have gotten more critical of it and do not like the amount of noise and lack of detail at ISO 800.

Mine does perform well at 400 ISO and I can tell very little if any difference between it and ISO 100. I think I would have Canon check it, especially if this is happening with multiple lenses.

TF said...

Hi Willard, thanks for replying! I think I'll have my camera checked by Canon guys. I like your blog... inspires me to have one too :).