In the Field

Bad Day to be a Blue Grouse. Findlay Creek, BC, Canada. May 15, 2005.

It was just starting to drizzle and I was heading home from an early morning of shooting when I almost tripped over this adult Cooper's Hawk that was feasting on a recently deceased Blue Grouse. I had noticed the "brown object" on the trail from a distance but I assumed it was just a broken branch and didn't give it a second look (until I was about 15 metres away). When I did notice the hawk it was sitting motionless and just glaring at me! I immediately plunked my camera and tripod down and froze. After about 5 minutes the hawk seemed to decide I wasn't a threat and it resumed feasting. And I started shooting...

It was heavily overcast and lightly raining when I shot this image. And...the limiting factor was definitely LIGHT (or, more correctly, finding enough of it). I had to resort to using very slow shutter speeds. Fortunately, I had a sturdy tripod with me and my lens had Vibration-Reduction (VR) technology integrated into its design. But, I still had to time my shots to when the bird was absolutely motionless - image stabilization/vibration reduction only "dampens" movement associated with the CAMERA and does nothing to stop the movement of your subject.

Behind the Camera

Bad Day to be a Blue Grouse. Findlay Creek, BC, Canada. May 15, 2005.

Digital Capture; Compressed RAW (NEF) format; ISO 100.

Nikon D2X with Nikon 200-400 mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR lens @ 400 mm (600 mm equivalent with digital conversion factor) supported on Gitzo 1348 carbon fibre tripod with Wimberley head. VR turned to "On" and in "Normal" mode.

1/25s @ f4; -0.3 stop exposure compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

Bad Day to be a Blue Grouse. Findlay Creek, BC, Canada. May 15, 2005.

Details to follow.

Conservation

Bad Day to be a Blue Grouse. Findlay Creek, BC, Canada. May 15, 2005.

Information to follow.