This week I travelled with a friend who especially likes kookaburras, when I got home a visitor to lirralirra had emailed about kookas so I thought I’d share a favourite image I took of a young kookaburra posing in the late afternoon light.
Laughing Kookaburra
Canon 7D, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 100, focal length 400mm
I’d been hoping to find a young kookaburra to photograph all season but despite hearing plenty of them practising their laughs I didn’t find one until a recent trip to Canberra. I especially liked the lighting and the way the breeze was gently ruffling its soft feathers. Kookaburras perch and pounce and capture prey with their strong bills before returning to a perch to consume their catch.
Brown Falcon
Canon 5D Mk III, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/1250, f/6.3, EV +1, ISO 400, focal length 400mm
I had my first chance this week to take a handful of images of birds in flight with the new 5DIII and I can’t wait to have better opportunities. The Brown Falcon’s feet and curved talons are massive, ideal for striking and holding prey while its hooked bill is ideal for tearing flesh. Previous posts including Lord Howe Island tropicbirds and Gale force gulls, feature images of birds in flight that I took with the 7D. I’m hoping my ‘keeper’ rate with the 5DIII will be a lot higher than with the 7D.
Brown Falcon
Canon 5D Mk III, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/1250, f/6.3, EV +1, ISO 400, focal length 400mm
I prefer to catpure images of birds on natural perches but there is something about this old fence that appeals to me. I’m not a fan of barbed wire but the colours of the ancient post, the seed heads and grey sky are all represented in the colouring of the falcon giving the image a kind of unity.
Happy birding, Kim
PS The Equipment page has been updated to include the 5D Mark III and various other items.
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