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Really big Bird with Bigma

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Robert Gotschall

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OK so I'm envious of the Eagle shots. Thought some of you might like to see what it takes to be a Big Bird. This is a California Condor, largest bird in North America. Note tags on wings.

Taken in Big Sur Ca. With Bigma 1/3000 at 5.6 iso 800

 
--Holy @#%$ That is one big bird! I bet he casts a massive shadow.

--Mark Moen.
 
You can google condor and get more info. Some Big Sur news about NESTING condors (I really doubt that they will release location info for this)-

http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/condors.html

Another place is Pinnacles National Monument. I've seen them there as a few came in for roosting in the evening.

http://www.nps.gov/pinn/naturescience/condors.htm

And yes, they are big. To see a raven near a Golden Eagle in the air, you think, wow, that eagle is big! And then to have a condor come across above the eagle, well, never thought I'd see a Golden Eagle look small but the condor did it.

--
Dan Daniel



http://dandaniel.zenfolio.com/
WSSA #180PX
 
Every one of these poor creatures (about 40 of them currently lives in this specific area of Big Sur) have the tags with antennas (can be seen clearly on the photo below) so they can be tracked all the time. I don't even know how they manage to fly...

Photos taken with istDs and FA 80-320 @ ISO800



Another take of the same bird:



And another condor:



--------
Andy
 
Mark in BC said:
--Holy @#%$ That is one big bird! I bet he casts a massive shadow.

--Mark Moen.
Click to expand...
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That's how I found him. On a road trip up to Monterey, I rounded a curve in and saw a crowd of people parked along side the road then there were the shadows. About a dozen all told either circling or landing and perched in a tree. I was so excited I could barely talk. It was a lifer for me. Wish I could have gotten a better background.
 
Martin Hellman said:
As a glider pilot I love soaring birds, both seeing them in the air
and in photos. So, thanks for this one. California condors are so
rare that I wonder how you found it. Was it a chance encounter or is
there a known nest and, if so, how hard was it to get to and is it
off limits to the public?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...
I knew that they were around somewhere but I found a flock of them, around a dozen circling right along side the road or perched in the tree. I was amazed. So were the dozen or so drivers that pulled over at the bend.

I was using a 1.4 telextender and the fog was rolling in which should I think account for the slight softness. But knowing full well the advantages of a prime lens I was very happy to have a zoom that rare day when I had too much lens.

According to Sibley they are sometimes mistaken for small aircraft.





bob
 
fwcetus said:
That is a beautiful vulture shot...

The timing was perfect.
Click to expand...
I blush:) There are several aspects of the shot that I don't like but this is a rare bird and usually you only get to see Eagles and things do this so it scored points for behavior. And while I really like the timing I wish I'd kept my head up for the face plant that followed.

One took off over my head and I felt like ducking, like when you are at the end of a runway and a plane takes off.
 
--

K10D, Sig 17-70, DA 55-300, FA 50/1.4 "Billy Bass", M 400/5.6 "the Great Truncheon"
 
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