The Art of Taking Off

Couple days ago Skittles and I were walking around Windsor lake and, for a change, had lots of opportunities to work on my bird techniques. There were Pelicans, Seagulls, and little black birds with red eyes that drop under the water in one spot and pop out a couple minutes later somewhere on the other end of the lake (ok, that's an exaggeration).

This sequence of shots of the pelican taking off intrigues me in general, but also when you consider those long legs disappear somewhere once the bird is in full flight...

I heard a commotion and turned to see him (her?) prepping to fly off. By the time I got the camera up and put the focus point on him he'd gotten this far into the air.


He got a full down-stroke in and I managed to catch his wings at their peak:


Then I got lucky and caught him in mid-push. Something about this shot appeals to me...


And of course, this is my favorite "In Flight" shot, even though he's flying away from me.


The whole morning, every bird I caught was flying away. I have a ton of butt shots, but it was still a great outing.

If you're a bird aficionado you'll point out the last shot is not the same bird. And you'd be right. This bird's butt shot was the best of the whole morning, and I figure legs tuck in pretty much the same on all these guys, so in the name of beauty, a little artistic license was allowed...