Hoopoe retake

The second try at the Hoopoe site was more fruitful than the first. There were an idea of taking some good photos of the bird coming to the nest or going from the nest. I wouldn´t say that I was sure that I would be successful but I would certainly try to improve what I did the last time.

I knew the area and thought I had a clear idea about the best camera settings for the job. The hide would be moved a few centimeters forward to give me a clearer view of the approach from the left that both Hoopoes had used last time.

It is always funny when you expect something and everything is turned upside down at an initial stage. A big group of Starlings arrived just at the very beginning and that made the Hoopoes moving in from the right so I missed the two first approaches but as soon as the Starlings went away they started to use the left approach again.

The teleconverter was soon removed from the camera setup. This was done because of two things, one that the sharpness will be better without it but also that the focus speed will be quicker. The downside is that I need to crop the pictures more but I am not going to print any of the pictures so that isn´t actually an issue.

The frame rate for the D800 isn´t as good as the D700, which I had thought of bringing into the hide. It was still in the car which made me angry when I started to look thru the pictures, while still being in the hide. Many times the wings were covering the face of the bird and that is due to the slower frame rate most of the times. I had to start trying to either start the photo series, I usually took 3 to 4 photos each time, earlier or later. Soon I started to get some decent shots but I wasn´t able to take any of the Hoopoe flying straight towards me. I just saw this in-flight once and at that time I had started to pack my gear to get ready to go leave.

The pictures here are some of the best that I took this time. I personally think they are pretty good even if many might look the same when you show them like this.

Still I hope you enjoy them.

Photo Gallery: Hoopoe retake