Quote:

Hey Dick,

Very nice photo of the the woodpecker. How close do you get when photographing birds? Also, when you talk about your technique, it seems that you go to them via an indirect route...how slowly are you normally traveling when you do this?



Thanks, James! I think I was about 25' away from that Pileated, using the 80-200 with 1.4x TC. That's about as close as I can get as it seems their comfort zone under the best of circumstances is about 25-30 ft.

What I generally do is to walk diagonally, sometimes having to zig-zag, taking fairly slow and deliberate steps in a smooth walking motion. I keep any free hand in a pocket and avoid any quick head motions as the 'flash' from skin or any light object alerts them and sometimes will cause flight. The crunch of footsteps on dry leaves is unavoidable and not usually a problem with steady and smooth steps but the 'snap' of a dry twig is. A lot of it is just 'feel' for what the particular animal will let me get away with!

Here's a shot of me and one of my 'buck buddies', who had recently lost his antlers:



And one of the shots from that particular encounter. I had to back the 80-200 off to 145mm:



The same buck again this Winter, sporting a new rack, about 3/4th mile from where the one above was taken. He's not a tame deer by any means!! I later saw him running away from another photographer! 160mm with the 70-200VR.



I'm no expert tracker or stalker by any means but just some of the things I've learned from others and years of 'messing around' in the woods.

Best regards,

Dick:)

Every day is a good day.