photoartflightRing-Billed Gull On Ice
Posted on December 14, 2019
I photographed this Ring-billed Gull (2nd Winter plumage) as it was foraging for food on the ice at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, in Oceanville NJ. This series was from a few years ago. I am cleaning / organizing my arrays of hard disks to remove files to free up more storage space. I liked the featured image because the Gull looked like it was lonely on it’s own little ice island. It then continued to move around the ice behind the small ice island looking for food. I usually do not photograph Gulls, but thought this Gull was interesting because of the ice and the little ice island in the clear water. All images taken with 400mm Canon f/4 DO lens.
This ice almost looks like the gull is walking on water
Birds Of A Feather Not Flocking Together
Posted on March 4, 2019
While I was photographing the Snow Geese I noticed this group of birds in the foreground. I thought it was an interesting combination with the Canada Geese, a pair of Ducks and the lone Gull. The other 4 were asleep and it looked like the Gull was keeping watch over them.
Ring-billed Gull Stacked Teleconverter test
Posted on March 3, 2016
When it is a slow day finding subjects, sometimes I try different ways to photograph my subjects. This day was very quiet and the Ducks were really far out on the lake. Not to much was flying by and even the Canada Geese were gone. Quite often the wildlife is quite far out in the water or on the far shore. This Ring-billed Gull landed on a duck box giving me a subject. It stayed for a while so I thought I would try stacking teleconverters. I used 1.4x and a 2x teleconverter on my 300mm f/4 lens. The 1.4x adds 1 stop. The 2x adds 2 more stops. So that combination brought me up to f/11 at 840mm and with a 1.3x crop body, 35mm equivalent is 1092mm. Being a photographer for so long, using teleconverters in the early days, I always used to add 1 or 2 stops when shooting with teleconverters. Now with teleconverters being much better I usually only add 1 stop, so I was shooting at f/16 with this combo. But using stacked teleconverters I probably should have added 2 stops to go to f/16. Even so it came out quite sharp. Good for static subjects.
Ring-billed Gull’s Breakfast
Posted on February 29, 2016
This ring-billed Gull kept flapping a few feet out of the water then diving into the water fishing for food. After watching it for a while I realized it had gotten a large carp and was eating it. It was a ways out on the lake and I only brought my 300mm f/4 because of its close focusing ability for ice bubbles. I used a 2x teleconverter for some, a 1.4x teleconverter for others and to get even closer I stacked the 2x teleconverter with the 1.4x teleconverter and stopped down to f/16 for a few. It was fun to watch.
Ring-billed Gull Diving
Posted on February 28, 2016
I was photographing this one Ring-billed Gull working an area. At first I watched it get a very large carp. Then it kept going after more meals by going up in the air a few feet then diving back into the lake. I was a little ways away and I thought a pano view looked more interesting. Below is a series of images showing the dive.
Ring-billed Gull Finding Breakfast
Posted on January 3, 2015
We found this Ring-billed Gull moving around on this small island. I liked the bird’s reflection in the water. All of a sudden it pulled up this crab for breakfast.
