Locker785

Super-Telephoto

One of Lorna's favorite things to do in the summer is to paddle out to One Tree Island to pick raspberries. Tycho and I usually get tired of berry picking pretty quickly so we walk around the island a few times. Last summer while we were waiting I tried taking pictures of the gulls that were flying around and had a lot of fun. I was able to get one picture that I was pretty happy with. But overall my 70-200mm didn't have enough reach.

A grey Bonaparte's Gull with a black head flying in front of a blue background of water and sky.

Over the next several months I waffled between getting the Tamron 100-500mm lens, the Fuji 150-600mm, and not being worthy of such a fancy piece of kit. Then, on a whim (i.e. when you've been considering buying something for months and you notice that it happens to be deeply discounted), I ordered the Fuji.

Last Sunday morning I rode my bike the short distance to Graveyard Beach for the lenses first adventure.

Blue Redline bicycle leaning against driftwood on a rocky beach

Before I had a chance to take off my bright yellow cycling jacket the pair of geese that was hanging out on the beach spotted me and flew away. After I was dressed in less conspicuous colors I got my camera set up and walked towards the water to see if I could find some birds to take pictures off. It turned out that there was a group of Harlequin Ducks swimming just behind some rocks where I couldn't see them, but they could hear me. Fortunately my camera was ready and I was able to snap a few photos as they flew away.

Two female and two male Harlequin ducks shortly after takeoff Two female and two male Harlequin ducks shortly flying just above the water


'Robotbill' by Jakob Vala

This site is part of the Robot Friends webring.