California Quail

A California quail stands next to a flowering bush, Arastradero Preserve, Palo Alto, CA
A California quail stands next to a flowering bush, Arastradero Preserve, Palo Alto, CA. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 EV: 1/160 sec. at f/5.6

The California quail is a very common bird, but one that is difficult to photograph. I usually only see them scampering from underneath one bush to the next, or flushing from a bush with a great commotion (and giving me a heart attack!) if I approach too closely. If there are other people around making any kind of noise, you can forget about any kind of photo. The only shots I have gotten in the past are of a quail streaking off into the forest.

A couple of weeks ago, I lucked upon one poking around for food on the ground out in the open. It was after sunset, and getting dark quickly. I was alone and trying to move quietly, hoping to see some wildlife before they saw me. When I rounded the corner and saw the quail, my heart skipped a beat and I silently lowered my tripod and prepared my camera.

It is then that I made a classic photographer mistake: I failed to recheck all of my camera settings from my previous shots. I had just been shooting a small song bird on a branch, surrounded by bright white sky. This required an exposure compensation of + 1 2/3 stops, in order to prevent the bird from being rendered as a dark silhouette. As soon as I saw the quail, I readjusted all the other important settings (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) but failed to realize I was over exposing. Luckily the magic of shooting in RAW format saved me, and I was able to recover any blown highlights. However, if I had exposed using a lower compensation (probably +1/3 or +2/3 would have worked here), I could have shot faster than the very slow 1/160 seconds that I used here. Thankfully I had locked down the gimbal head and the quail granted me with a brief over-the-shoulder glance, and I was able to come away with a decent shot.

This shot reaffirmed an old lesson – always know your settings. Sometimes if one setting is off, your images may be ruined, and it is not always immediately apparent from the camera’s LCD. I know wildlife photographers who always reset their cameras to a basic setup whenever they are finished photographing a particular subject. This is especially important in situations with varying light conditions. I know I’ll be following that lesson in the future!

Lazuli Bunting

A lazuli bunting perches on a branch in the sun, singing, Arastradero Preserve, Palo Alto, CA
A lazuli bunting perches on a branch in the sun, singing, Arastradero Preserve, Palo Alto, CA. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering 0 EV: 1/2000 sec. at f/7.1

Last week I spent the evening in Arastradero Preserve in Palo Alto in order to photograph Lazuli Buntings as they returned to the Bay Area for the summer. I hiked for a while through grassy hills spotted with oak trees, past wet marshy areas, and through dark oak woodland, still not seeing any of the buntings. I stopped and played their call on my iPhone. From every direction, dozens of voices answered my call. I then realized that I had been surrounded by buntings all day, I just had not recognized their bird song.

It was as though a veil had been lifted, and I started seeing them everywhere. As the sun started to drop to the west, I saw many buntings move to the treetops, hoping to sing out to the world in those last rays of the day.

A lazuli bunting perches on a branch in the sun, Arastradero Preserve, Palo Alto, CA
A lazuli bunting perches on a branch in the sun, Arastradero Preserve, Palo Alto, CA. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering 0 EV: 1/2000 sec. at f/7.1

By the end of the day, I had my target species in the bag, plus a few other surprises.

White-brested Nuthatch

A white-breasted nuthatch clings upside down to the trunk of a tree as it hunts for insects
A white-breasted nuthatch clings upside down to the trunk of a tree as it hunts for insects. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering 0 EV: 1/1000 sec. at f/8

Usually if I’m out photographing birds and I know I’ll be hiking several miles, I take along my smaller 100-400mm zoom lens instead of the gigantic 800mm. The 800 alone weighs 9 pounds, which feels like 50 after a couple of miles. I broke my rule on the day I captured this nuthatch, because I didn’t want to compromise on this day – I was hiking through Arastradero Preserve in Palo Alto, which is a great place to see a wide variety of birds. I’d been there before with my “hiking” lens, but the whole time I kept thinking in my head, “If only I had my big lens!” This time I was giving myself no excuses.

As I set off into the hills, the weight of the lens, camera, and gimbal head weighed heavily on my shoulders. “It will be worth it,” I kept telling myself. I was hoping to see a coyote, as I had on other occasions. Armed with my big lens, I was excited to see what I could capture. No coyotes that day – in fact, even the bird activity seemed rather low. I stopped for a few shots of acorn woodpeckers, flying from tree to tree and squawking at each other.

As I was watching the woodpeckers, a couple of white-breasted nuthatches landed on the tree closest to me and started foraging up and down the tree trunk looking for insects. Unfortunately, they were very fast, practically running up and down the trunk, and disappearing around the back side just as I’d get one in focus. Were they playing games with me? I watched one snatch a spider from within the tree bark, but he was too high in the branches to make a good photo. Finally, my patience paid off. One the nuthatches came around to my side of the tree, perched upside down, and proceeded to call out. A few clicks later and I knew I had it.

So were the tired legs, sweat, and shoulder pain worth the photos that day? I would say yes, even though I got very few keepers from the day. The legs recovered, the sweat dried, and the shoulder pain faded, but my photos will be there forever.

White-tailed Kite Attack

After perching in the wrong spot, a red-shouldered hawk is dive-bombed by a white-tailed kite
After perching in the wrong spot, a red-shouldered hawk is dive-bombed by a white-tailed kite. Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3: 1/4000 sec. at f/7.1

Occasionally raptors invade each others personal space, be it to encroach on their hunting ground or perch too close to a nest. They can engage in aerial battles, sometimes in dramatic fashion. Such was the scene I witnessed recently when a red-shouldered hawk perched on a tree, and a white-tailed kite didn’t like it very much.

I was alerted to the commotion by the screams of the kite, as it dive-bombed the hawk to drive it away from its perch. I was hand-holding my 100-400mm zoom lens at the moment, so I turned and ran straight toward the group of trees in order to get in better range. I didn’t worry about sneaking, because I figured both birds were probably too preoccupied to care about my approach.

After perching in the wrong spot, a red-shouldered hawk is dive-bombed by a white-tailed kite
After perching in the wrong spot, a red-shouldered hawk is dive-bombed by a white-tailed kite. Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3: 1/3200 sec. at f/7.1

The kite swooped down on the hawk about five or six times, each dive causing the hawk to fly straight up and wheel over upside down to avoid the kite (who was quite a bit smaller than the hawk). Finally, the hawk gave up the flew away over the horizon. The kite also disappeared from view, presumably to return to a nearby nest or favorite perch. As soon as the commotion began, all other birds in the area disappeared to let these two birds of prey battle it out alone. After the fight was over, the entire forest was eerily quiet.

Copyright 2017 Hank Christensen