Wilson's Storm Petrel

Gallery: AvianPosted August 2, 2014102 views4 comments

These guys are pretty substantial migrants. They breed on remote islands of the Antarctic and Sub-Antactic and find their way as far north as the Gulf of Maine during our summer in their non-breeding season. Remarkable journey, as is evident from the condition of it's feathers in this image. Again I'll run a risk of publishing another image of a dark pelagic bird, but this is such a cool bird I'll hazard the beating.

Thanks for looking, and I'd appreciate your thoughts on the image.

From a fishing boat.

Gulf of Maine, USA.

D3s
500mm f/4
1/2500s @ f/8
ISO 1600
+1/3 EV
Manual Exposure
Handheld

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 2, 2014 at 4:42 PM

Nice, Chuck. That's kind of a crazy looking leg position and the bird is pretty dark against the light water, but it works for me. I think people give dark subjects short shrift because you actually have to stop and look at them for a few seconds to let your eyes adjust before the details start popping out.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on August 2, 2014 at 5:26 PM

Chuck,
Like the photo, and it may be my monitor, but the bird's face seems fairly dark to me.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on August 2, 2014 at 6:46 PM

I"m glad you posted this. I remember trying to photograph storm-petrels back in the days of film, and how difficult they were as subjects. I would br happy to have something this nice from my long-ago days of pelagics off NJ.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on August 4, 2014 at 8:44 PM

I really like the pose on this Charles and can see why they are hard to expose properly. I think this image would have benefited from using a fill flash.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments