Shooting Tree Swallows in Flight

So how the heck do you shoot something like this? It's not quite as hard as you might think.

You do need a DSLR. It would help if you have a lens that focuses pretty quickly but many consumer-level lenses should be good enough. You also need a flash. If you can find a pond or body of water in or near a park you're halfway to finding tree swallows. Normally for shooting birds in flight you'd want a nice sunny day because otherwise you'll get backlighting from the clouds and end up shooting a bunch of dark silhouettes. The day I shot this it was actually cloudy but it was okay because I had a vantage point where I could shoot down at the birdies as they circled around a pond. The clouds ended up providing a nice even look without too much contrast. Sun or clouds you should use your flash because it will help to emphasize the swallows' iridescent feathers and give a nice sparkle to their eyes. Set your flash for TTL BL (consult the manual). Then set the shutter speed of your camera to at least 1/800th of a second.

Okay, now comes the tricky part.

Start trying to shoot the tree swallows as they dart around in circles. Repeat until insane. You can shoot swallows this way but it's very time-consuming and takes a lot of practice. Luckily there's a much easier method that follows solidly in an important time-honoured tradition of nature photography.

You can cheat!

Where was that swallow heading when I shot that first image? He was heading here.


That's him on the left. In the first shot he was coming in for a landing. The same is true in these.



So if you can find a tree branch or bird house that the swallows have made their own, all you need to do is get them as they're coming and going from that spot. This provides a reference point for your focus and makes things a lot easier than just trying to nail a shot in free space. Let me also emphasize that since you're just cropping judiciously this method isn't really cheating. You're not cloning anything out of the image -- a no-no in nature photography.

Go out and try this yourself. But do remember this method only makes things easier. If it was really easy it wouldn't be any fun.

Where Toronto Does Get Ripped Off....

I'm always saying that such and such an animal is all over Toronto, that we're lucky to have so many [insert wildlife here]. But when it comes to hummingbirds, we're like the rest of eastern North America: we stink. Because out of the dozen or so species of hummingbirds in North America we get exactly...one.

Yes, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, a female in this particular case. The males are even harder to find - you can spot them by the reddish-ruby on their throat (see how this works?) - and by this time of year they've left for their wintering grounds on the Yucatan Peninsula. The females will follow very soon, so if you want to see some stragglers move fast.

If you want a picture of a hummingbird, your best bet is a feeder in the backyard. You can also hang a feeder in a local park. Either way you may have to wait a long time. As far as technique you really are better off shooting hummingbirds with flash to freeze the wing motion since the wings move at about fifty beats a second. You can see in this shot (without flash sadly) that the tail feathers vibrate too; a flash should give the tail feathers a much crisper look. If you shoot without flash, make sure you set your shutter speed as high as you can, at least to 1/800th of a second.

Hinterland Who's Who

I'm hoping you can guess this is a chipmunk. I only mentioned
Hinterland Who's Who because for some reason when I see a chipmunk, it always reminds me of those annoying commercials with the melancholy music that I used to see when I was a kid. And apologies to our international readers, because that's a one hundred percent Canadian-only pop reference.

Like my posting of the red squirrel and the bunny rabbit, this shot is for cuteness value only. I will say if you want a great pic of a squirrel or chipmunk use flash if you can, because their fur will look that much more glossy and colourful. This shot could certainly have been improved if I'd used flash, which I didn't.

Black-Capped Chickadee on Hollyhock

These tiny birds seem to be to more common to the east of Toronto (why I couldn't guess) but you can find them most anywhere. If you've never seen one you might be surprised just how small they are. Highly inquisitive, and usually quite tame, they'll follow you around if you walk through their territory and also eat right out of your hand. Remember though, as with any kind of wildlife you really shouldn't feed them.

Theoretically, because these are tiny birds they should have tiny little bird brains, yet I've seen them identify a hawk from half a mile or more. They'll raise a huge racket as a warning, and often they'll spot a hawk before I can. After all, as a flock they have a set of eyes looking in every direction at once. Without practice most people couldn't ID a hawk from half a mile, so these little guys aren't as stupid as you might think.

The Ludicrously Hard to Photograph Kingfisher

If you go to most any sort of reasonably-sized pond in a Toronto park there will usually be a Kingfisher there in the summer, and where there's one there's usually two, because its mate won't be far. They aren't that small, but they're fast - really fast - and also incredibly quick, and they just don't like coming anywhere close to where people are. It's not uncommon that you can be somewhere near a pond and see the Kingfishers flying all over the place, only to find they instantly disappear when you advance to the pond's edge. It's very annoying.

How quick are Kingfishers? At a park in Vaughn (is that Toronto?--close enough) there's a blind beside a rather isolated pond, constructed so visitors won't disturb any nesting birds. This blind consists of a ten foot wooden wall with some viewing ports cut in, and it's right beside the pond. When I first saw it I guessed that the Kingfisher I could already hear would probably sometimes land on top of the blind to use it as a vantage point to look for fish below. They aren't called Kingfishers for nothing.

So - thinking I was smart - I took a position behind the blind, camera at the ready. Sure enough, not even ten minutes later, a Kingfisher lands on top of the wall, just six feet away from me. But before I could actually take a shot, boom! It saw me and was gone. So when I say these guys are quick I mean they're quick.

I've heard various tips on photographing Kingfishers that aren't entirely ethical, so I won't share any of those. I'll just say if you want to get a shot of one, especially flying, you have to keep at it, fire off as many shots as you can, and just basically hope you get lucky. That's all you have sometimes.

The Kingfisher below is a female based on the dash of red on its chest, Kingfishers being one of the few birds where the female is more colourful than the male. I shot it at Area 51.

The Greatest Great Egret of Them All

Okay, okay, I promise to post no more shots of Great Egrets for awhile or make any more Great Egret puns unless I meet one that talks and/or kidnaps me. But this was too much to pass up, a flight shot of the same Egret in High Park seen perching below in Part II. Like their close cousins the Blue Heron, these birds are easy pickin's for flight shots because they glide in a nice straight line at relatively low speed and because with wings spread they really are big targets.

Click the image to get a better view.

An Even Greater Great Egret

How typical: the animal world of the city is reading my blog and after I post a B minus shot of a Great Egret and whine and wail about how hard they are to find, and woo hoo hoo, sure enough, just a short while later I go to High Park again and there are three egrets, flying around, pretty much providing a photo op. And much more clearly here you can be sure this is indeed a genuine Great Egret and not the 'white morph' of the Great Blue Heron because the black legs of the egret are clearly visible. Click to enlarge.

PHOTO TIP: Just like with swans, the white feathers of the Great Egret reflect a huge amount of light which means they can be hard to expose, especially if you want to balance with the background. With swans I say use the spot meter function of your camera, but Egrets are so slight and thin it can be hard to keep them centered all the time. Instead, if you see an Egret you're probably better off adjusting your exposure compensation down about one and two-third to two full stops.

Toronto Coyotes

Toronto Coyotes doesn't seem as obvious a connection, as, I don't know, say, Toronto Blue Jays, but there are coyotes in Toronto and I ran into a small pack of them recently in, yes, Area 51. Remember, this is a park area literally only a stone's throw from the intersection of a major highway and street, right in the middle of the city.

Here's the one I think was leader of the pack:


This was pretty early in the morning and it's interesting to note that while coyotes were originally diurnal, that is day animals, they've become nocturnal in response to living near humans. Coyotes are so good at adapting to human habitation in fact that they're one of the few animals whose population has increased when they've come in widespread contact with us. It's believed many major North American cities have as many as several thousand coyotes living within their borders, though I'm unaware of any study of this type with regard to Toronto.

I saw three coyotes in total. Here we see the straggler:


Like his or her pals, this coyote spent quite a while hovering close to see what I'd do next. When they saw that I was just going to take their picture, they went on their merry way.


And though this is pure speculation, I think you can tell which of these coyotes is the dominant one by looking at the eyes. Here's a closeup of the straggler:


Now check out the closeup of the coyote I think was the leader, excusing the poorer quality because he was farther away:


Again, it is pure speculation and perhaps it's my imagination, but while the eyes of the coyote straggler look worried and a little afraid, the eyes of this other coyote don't look scared at all. So I think that's the boss...

My best tip for spotting a coyote: go out very early in the morning.

Who Was Icarus, Anyway?

Those of you who are absolutely overeducated will know Icarus was the guy from Greek myth who made his own set of wings but flew too close to the sun  with them. The result was the wax in the wings melted and he, um...crashed and died.

Here's a Cedar Waxwing, not to be confused with the slightly larger and harder to find Bohemian Waxwing. And yes, there is waxy stuff on their secondary wings the purpose of which is still a mystery. I'm pretty sure these birds don't crash on sunny days though.

Or maybe they do...Cedar Waxwings eat so much fruit they some times get drunk from eating overly ripe, fermented berries. MADD should step in right away.

A Moth Welcome to Eat My Clothes

In keeping with our recent spate of bug shots, here's the quite beautiful Ctenucha virginica, also known as a Virginia Ctenucha.


These are daytime moths that can be found from Virginia (hence the name) all the way up through Ontario and parts west. This one was within a stone's throw of the East Don River. Click on the photograph to enlarge this guy, because he looks pretty cool.

Ischnura verticalis with a Drop of Water

Yes, this is an example of Ischnura verticalis, commonly known as a blue green damselfly. And no, I didn't know the scientific Latin name before I looked it up.

If you want to get a shot of these or see them flitting around try most any park or area that has a pond or marsh. They're predators, so if you're really lucky you can see them eating other little bugs.

I'm not sure how this guy got a big drop of water hanging off him because it wasn't raining, but it made for a cool shot.

Man's Most Deadly Enemy

With only a camera, flash and tripod I faced down this dread beast. The bane of all Canadians...

Yup. It's a mosquito. A male by the looks of him, because he's pretty big. All pumped up on steroids and possibly West Nile Virus. Try to avoid these and wear lots of deet and bright clothing.

And remember, if you go camping, exactly one mosquito will end up inside your tent and buzz around your ear as you try to sleep. This is actually in the Canadian constitution, so don't blame the mosquitoes for that. They have to do it.

CORRECTION:

Ahem...

After further consultation with our vast and highly paid staff here at Toronto Wildlife, it seems that this is not a mosquito at all but a Chironomid, or what's commonly known as a midge fly. In case you had any doubt about our high ethical standards, now you know: if we make a mistake we admit it. The male part of the identification was correct.

FYI, mosquitoes and midge flies are apparently often hard to distinguish, so my original guess, or mistake, can perhaps be forgiven.

American Goldfinch

Here's another species I see all over Toronto in the summertime that most people (I think) never notice because they think every bird flying by must be a pigeon or sparrow. If you have a fair-sized backyard I guarantee goldfinches pass through from time to time.

This is a male. The females are also yellow but a duller shade. Look for goldfinches especially in the Don Valley river area.

Black-Crowned Night-Heron

I'm no bird psychologist, but I'm pretty sure this black-crowned night-heron wasn't overjoyed to see me. I caught him waiting for some unwary fish to go by at a small stretch of white water along the Don River. Perhaps he thought I was there for fish too.

Night-herons BTW are the most common herons in the world and can be found on five of the...let me count my fingers...seven continents. If you want an image of a heron they're a good bet because they aren't nearly as skittish as Great Blue Herons. That doesn't mean you can run at them while yelling however. Always be discreet and deliberate when approaching any kind of bird.

Buying Camera Equipment on the Net

I touched on this in a previous post about where to buy camera equipment in Toronto, but I've gotten other questions about buying gear (especially used) from the US.

Let me point out again, you pay no duty whatever on camera equipment purchased from the US and shipped to Canada. You will have to pay PST and GST and cover the exchange of course but when it comes to used equipment you'll still usually save cash, and sometimes quite a lot of cash, by buying stateside.

If you're worried about buying used, it's actually a much better value for your money than buying new. Almost all my lenses and most of my cameras were bought used. A used lens works just as well as a new one.

As far as specific outlets, I'd recommend both B&H Photo and Adorama who are both honest and quite conservative when it comes to their grading system on equipment. Check them out.

Punching Above His Weight

Sure, maybe I'm paranoid, but as I snapped this guy's picture I swear he kept looking in my direction every time the shutter fired, just as you see here. I've seen wasps do this before, which is interesting because this little Argid Sawfly is actually related to the wasp family.

Taken at the Don Valley Brickworks, which is yes, near the Don River.

Click to enlarge and really see the compound eye.

Emergency Ditch

Yes, I'm behind a little. Here's a Common Goldeneye found off the Leslie Street Spit in April, almost certainly on his way farther north.

I have lots of images of these guys and when they land they always look like they're crashing. It must be the big eye. A lesson for all you budding animators out there.

Let me also emphasize (as I have before), if you're using a tripod the chances of getting a flight shot will be greatly reduced. You just can't react quickly enough. If you have a 500mm or 600mm lens then of course you need a tripod. But if not, try to leave that sucker at home.

Solitary Sandpiper

Okay, now I'm really being a wiseguy.

There are actually several species of Sandpiper, and they all look very similar. They're not easy to tell apart. Even experts have trouble and I'm not really an expert.

One variety is the Spotted Sandpiper. I'm pretty sure that's what we're seeing here, but there's also another species called the Solitary Sandpiper. These don't really spend all their time alone, they're just more solitary than other sandpipers. And while I am pretty sure that this is a Spotted Sandpiper (because, um, of the spots) he is alone.

Which makes him a solitary Sandpiper. Get it?

I apologize.

Daring Daytime Burglar

Like the image from another recent post, this was taken quite literally on the banks of the Don River. This raccoon, I suspect quite young, was out in the middle of day, which is something you don't often see. There was nothing else in this tree that I could detect, so I guess he was just goofing around.

Many years ago while jogging I surprised a raccoon very early in the morning and in a complete panic it attempted to climb a nearby No Parking sign. With a lot of slipping and sliding it actually succeeded...and ended up right at my eye level. Not great as escape plans go.

Tree Swallow with an Attitude

Yes, the swallows have returned...er, well, actually they returned a few weeks ago and I just forgot to post this picture. And no, they don't just return to San Juan Capistrano.

This specimen (a male I think) clearly seems to think it's superior to me. This is surprising because I've often noted that swallows don't seem too bright: they spend the whole day basically chasing each other in circles. That's all day, every day. Yet somehow, I'm the low guy.