Birds in Flight

A few days ago I decided to try my hand at photographing birds in flight. Shelley Lake in Raleigh has an apparently permanent complement of ducks (no doubt because people feed them, though they probably shouldn't). However, the ducks spend almost all of their time in the water. I found that there were quite a few sea gulls around. They have steadily moved inland, allegedly finding sustenance in the trash around restaurants. I've certainly seen a lot of gulls in parking lots where bits of fish and bread are dropped by careless humans. Too bad the birds don't clean up the paper waste.

Anyway, I parked myself near the shore, and was eventually rewarded with flybys. One of the first shots that I liked was a rear view. It's not typically what one would hope for, but even with the bird's head hidden I like the forms and colors.

Momentary distraction - dog being walked by a couple, contrasts of color and tone.

Hunting for fish, but I didn't see a catch.

Looks ready to grab something as soon as it lands, but it just settled in the water and closed its beak.

Soaring overhead. They move fast, this is going to take some practice!

This looked like a surprise air attack. A few of them landed, but they all took off again a moment later and flew to a different part of the lake.

Reconnaissance angle.

Posed on a post, showing off an amazing blue eye.

Like sitting ducks? Well, they don't exactly sit there, they keep cruising in and out of the patches of light near a bridge.

One last forlorn creature, in what I thought looked like an uninviting environment (but really was pretty mild).

[All photos EF 300/2.8L IS II + Extender 2X III, yielding 600mm f/5.6]

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