photoartflightBlack Skimmer Skimming Along
Posted on October 13, 2016
This shot is a good example showing how Skimmers feed. Gliding along the surface of the water. When they get something their head & beak tilt down. It is fun to watch a few working an area. Going back and forth, giving you lots of photo opportunities.
Black Skimmer Skimming Along
Posted on July 21, 2016
We went to the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ. We were hoping to see the usual Herons & Egrets, Ospreys, Hopefully Bald Eagles, Harriers,Oyster Catchers, etc. There are also Black Skimmers but usually they seem to be quite far out when they are skimming along feeding. I was photographing some Great Egrets when 2 Black Skimmers flew by feeding close to shore. They went back and forth a couple of times before moving on. Here are 2 from the series.
More Black Skimmers From Brigantine
Posted on September 8, 2014
I got a chance to go over more files from our last visit to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division, in Oceanville, NJ. On our last visit we had the opportunity to photograph lots of Black Skimmers, fairly close by.
Black Skimmers at Brigantine
Posted on August 31, 2014
I was photographing Little Egrets along the drive when 2 Black Skimmers came down the channel. They kept working the area going back and worth and then there were 4 working the area.The 4 kept working the same area for a while and then on the next pass there were 7. They stayed for about 15 minutes giving me a large window of time to photograph Skimmers fishing and close low fly-bys. It was the best chance I have had to photograph Black Skimmers fishing and close fly-bys.
Black Skimmer Fly By, Pulling Up in a Turn. Canon EOS1 MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/6.3, 1/320 sec, +0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Black Skimmer Fly By. Canon EOS1 MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/6.3, 1/500 sec, +0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Black Skimmer Flying By, Turning, Cutting the Water with Tip of Beak. Canon EOS1 MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/6.3, 1/500 sec, +0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Black Skimmers Coming In. Canon EOS1 MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/6.3, 1/400 sec, +0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Black Skimmers in Rough Surf
Posted on June 13, 2014
Some more photos of Black Skimmers showing them working and fishing in the rough surf. I am used to seeing them fish in fairly calm waters, so these seemed like a treat to see them working in a different environment than I am used to. Some of the waves coming in were quite rough, but they were just out there cutting through the water in-between the waves.
Black Skimmer “Skimming” in the rough surf. Canon EOS1D MkIV, 400mm f/4 DO IS, Canon 1.4X teleconverter, f/8, 1/1250 sec, ISO 400
Pulling up with the wave
Looking down
Photo showing Black Skimmer “hitting” something in the water. The large red and black bill is knife-thin and the lower mandible is longer than the upper. The bird drags the lower bill through the water as it flies along, hoping to catch fish. The head goes down and back somewhat when it does hit something, but not always a fish.
Showing how Black Skimmers “Skim” the water for their food.
In the Foam
Black Skimmer with beck hitting something or a fish in the water.
Black Skimmer climbing from the surf to go around again.
Three Shot Panorama with 400mm & 1.4X Teleconverter to show Waves. Shot as a burst so waves somewhat lined up for the panorama.
Black Skimmers at Nickerson Beach
Posted on June 10, 2014
Nickerson Beach was an interesting spot for bird photography. Having large groups of Black Skimmers, Common Terns and Oystercatchers. I like photographing Black Skimmers, but where I usually find them, the main group might have 50 – 70 birds, here at Nickerson Beach it was probably about 500 or so. They were off to one side of the roped off protected area to the left of the entrance. It was fun to see a group that large all of a sudden take off in such a large group. I only had my 400mm with a 1.4X teleconverter on at the time so I was only getting a small group out of the extremely large group flying by in waves. Next time I will be more prepared and have a wide angle zoom for these type of shots.
More Fighting Black Skimmers
Posted on June 3, 2014
I finished working on the rest of the files from Nickerson Beach of the Fighting Black Skimmers in Flight. This whole sequence lasted only about 4 seconds, if that. Here are a select few from 35 shots taken.
Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO Lens f/4 IS, w/ Canon 1.4X Series III Teleconverter, f/8 @ 1/1600 sec ISO 400, +0.33 exposure compensation, handheld. (Effective focal length with 1.3 crop camera body, 400mm lens & 1.4X Teleconverter = 728mm)
Black Skimmers – In Flight Fighting
Posted on June 2, 2014
A friend invited me to go to Nickerson Beach in Long Island, which is known for large groups of nesting Common Terns, Black Skimmers and Oystercatchers and I was not disappointed. Also has a large group of Laughing Gulls (the Gulls with black heads). There are 2 main roped off areas for the nesting birds and we went to the one on the left. The birds are also active on the sand dunes, beach and in the rough surf. There was plenty of photo opportunities in all locations with a lot activity and at this time we saw quite a few Oystercatcher chicks. There were also many mating Common Terns. It is best to get there early for the best time to photograph the birds when it is not crowded and the birds are active. For detail shots of the birds nesting on the ground, bring your longest lens. It is fun to see and photograph the Black Skimmers and Common Terns fishing in the rough surf. Birds in flight photography is pretty much non stop all the while I was there. I have a large amount of images to go through, almost 3,000 files, but here is 1 image to start. I will post a full series of the fighting images tomorrow to show illustrate the story. Thanks again Bun for taking me along!
Black Skimmer Panorama
Posted on June 1, 2014
Work has kept me away from posting new blogs lately, but I am back with a panorama made from 9 images taken at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division, in Oceanville NJ. We went down to look for Ospreys and Black Skimmers and we found both. The Ospreys were all over the refuge and quite active. We got quite a few photos, but we did not find the Black Skimmers until we got near the end of the Wildlife Drive. They were just resting there in a large group. We decided to keep an eye on them for later in the day and see if they would be fishing. When we first found them, I decided to shoot a series of handheld shots to make a long thin panorama showing the large group while they were still there in large numbers. Doing this is fairly easy, but change to manual exposure so the exposures are consistent and make sure if you are not using a tripod, to keep the images level and lined up with plenty of overlapping between images. I assembled the panorama manually in Photoshop, but you can also let Photoshop make them for you or use a program like PT Gui. I keep a couple of Terns and Black-headed Gulls in the shot to keep balance. I tried counting a few times, but I kept getting a different count each time, but there is about 75 in this group. I used a Canon EOS 1D MkIV, with a Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, with a Canon 1.4X Series III Teleconverter, f/8 @ 1/1600 sec, ISO 400.
photoartflight 