Red-winged Blackbird Singing Before Sunrise.

When waiting for a Sunrise at one of the Wildlife Refuges I go to, I like looking around in the grasses and plants to see if I can find some birds that are early risers, waiting to be photographed. They do not seem to be as skiddish as they are later in the day. Sometimes you can get quite close. It also seems they are singing or chirping more early in the morning so they are easier to find. The only problem is lack of light. I do not want to use a flash and blast them with light, rather get a natural early morning look. So I have to use a fairly high ISO to get sharp images and deal with some noise in the image later. Usually in Adobe Camera Raw, I can clean up most of the noise. It is fun to get some images with a different look to show their behavior.

All images captured with a Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO MkI, with a Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, Handheld.

 

And a couple of others.