Sandpipers, Grand Pre, Nova Scotia
Taken years ago at the end of East Long Island Road in North Grand Pre. Tens of thousands of Sandpipers had been sleeping on the beach below the dyke facing Boot Island when a falcon appeared and started to dive on them. Once the flock took off the falcon flew straight through it and snagged several Sandpipers. I remember the sound of their wings was like the wind, and the motion of the cloud they formed was really something to see as it billowed and flexed in response to the attack of the falcon. After the falcon had left with its meal, the flock settled down on the shore again.
The mudflats of the upper Bay of Fundy is a great place to photograph masses of Sandpipers as they feed in preparation for their fall migration. Only once have I been in the right place at the right time to see this happening.
This was taken before the arrival of the falcon with a Nikon F3 and a borrowed Nikon 500mm f/4 P lens. Swiveling the camera around for a minute, seeking an interesting composition that wouldn't look like a drab lumpy carpet, I spotted this rock with two birds asleep on top and another pair in front. I thought it a bit unusual that the rock sat in the middle of an area of bare ground, almost as if the birds were avoiding it for some reason.
This is an image from an Ektachrome 400 slide copied with a Nikon D3500 camera, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens fitted with a Nikon 4T close-up lens, with a Sigma 1.6x achromatic close-up lens on the 4T. The slide carrier from a Spiratone Bello-Dupliscope was mounted on the Sigma. Lighting was provided by a 5000k LED bulb in a small goose-neck table lamp. A large ground glass screen was placed between the lamp and the slide carrier.
D3500-CC-DSC0178K
Sandpipers, Grand Pre, Nova Scotia
Taken years ago at the end of East Long Island Road in North Grand Pre. Tens of thousands of Sandpipers had been sleeping on the beach below the dyke facing Boot Island when a falcon appeared and started to dive on them. Once the flock took off the falcon flew straight through it and snagged several Sandpipers. I remember the sound of their wings was like the wind, and the motion of the cloud they formed was really something to see as it billowed and flexed in response to the attack of the falcon. After the falcon had left with its meal, the flock settled down on the shore again.
The mudflats of the upper Bay of Fundy is a great place to photograph masses of Sandpipers as they feed in preparation for their fall migration. Only once have I been in the right place at the right time to see this happening.
This was taken before the arrival of the falcon with a Nikon F3 and a borrowed Nikon 500mm f/4 P lens. Swiveling the camera around for a minute, seeking an interesting composition that wouldn't look like a drab lumpy carpet, I spotted this rock with two birds asleep on top and another pair in front. I thought it a bit unusual that the rock sat in the middle of an area of bare ground, almost as if the birds were avoiding it for some reason.
This is an image from an Ektachrome 400 slide copied with a Nikon D3500 camera, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens fitted with a Nikon 4T close-up lens, with a Sigma 1.6x achromatic close-up lens on the 4T. The slide carrier from a Spiratone Bello-Dupliscope was mounted on the Sigma. Lighting was provided by a 5000k LED bulb in a small goose-neck table lamp. A large ground glass screen was placed between the lamp and the slide carrier.
D3500-CC-DSC0178K