A Snowy Egret In Flight And An Update On My Issues With Photo Gear – Feathered Photography

At this point I’m a little discouraged.

A trip to Bear River MBR yesterday morning wasn’t very productive. Many birds are becoming harder to find and it was one of those days when something always went wrong when I had a chance at photos that might stand out. I took quite a few shots but very few of them caught my eye.

I had more opportunities with Snowy Egrets than any other species. This one was swooping in to land amongst other egrets and I got several photos with its body and wings tipped toward me, which provided a good look at all of the bird’s dorsal surfaces. I like the white bird against the dark blue of the water.

I think it’s a pretty good photo but I have better.

As can be seen in this photo, some adult Snowy egrets, in addition to their “golden slippers”, have the same gold/yellow color along the back side of their tarsi. But during breeding season their legs are solidly black and their feet typically become more brightly colored, making their golden slippers stand out even more.

In previous posts I promised an update on my recent issues with photo gear.

• My problems with soft photos may or may not be completely resolved. After cleaning my lens, teleconverter and camera (including all 60 gold electrical contact points) and swapping one 1.4 teleconverter for another (I have two), I believe I’m getting significantly more sharp shots than I was before. More testing is required to confirm.
• The photos of the juvenile Cooper’s Hawk I ‘lost’ due to a malfunctioning memory card are probably toast. My friend Ray Taggart at Pixel’s Foto and Frame was able to retrieve the lost RAW files from my bad card but the retrieval process somehow corrupted the files so that they can’t be opened in any software program either of us has, including Photoshop. They’re still in Canon’s CR3 RAW file format but they simply refuse to open.
• Yes, I purchased a new CFexpress memory card. Except in an emergency, the old one is now officially retired.

So that’s where things stand at the moment. I need an attitude adjustment so I’m hoping that my next photo excursion provides more birds and properly functioning equipment.

Ron