Monday, January 18, 2010

The Twa Corbies


Sometimes when you try to get a good picture of a bird from a distance you have great success. That's just what happened with the photo I showed you yesterday. And then there are other times when things just don't work out so well, no matter how hard you try.

On the same day that I got a pretty decent picture of a robin from very far away I saw a flock of crows in the air above the forest. I happened to be standing at the edge of a meadow, and I heard their loud ugly calls before I ever saw them. They soon came flying from the north far over the treetops.

The problem was that they only came to the very edge of the trees. They were also moving very fast. I tried to chase them with the camera, but they were just too quick for me to catch up with. And anyone who has used a camera more than a few times knows that you'll never get a good shot while the camera is moving wildly about.


If they had only come from behind the treetops just a little bit more, I would have had them! They circled about three times right at the wrong edge of the trees, so I really didn't have a good opportunity to get anything good this time. I felt as if they were teasing me.

Crows are very intelligent birds, so it's very possible they were avoiding me in some way. I did finally get this last bad shot of this straggler. He circled back around my way twice more, but this time a little more out in the open. I guess he was trying to give me a charity shot. Or maybe he was just teasing me some more.

We don't always get the perfect pictures we want, but the experiences we get from trying are excellent. Watching those crows fly will be something I'll never forget; maybe because it was so frustrating trying to get at least one good photo, or maybe because it was such a wonderful experience getting to study crows so closely for the very first time.

Until Tomorrow...



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14 comments:

  1. You are SO right. I should save a good bit of money now that I've gone digital; sometimes you shoot 10-20 pictures trying to get "that one shot" (this gets expensive when using a film camera dont'cha know :o) I have had pretty good success capturing the horses running and playing by positioning the camera ahead of what I'm shooting, then snapping when they come into view, of course that's not foolproof either.

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  2. It is difficult to capture not only a flying crow, anything that is flying tests my skill.

    But my luck was good yesterday, I got something different.

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  3. i really don't like crows, there are a bazillion of them around here and they always chase the pretty birds away.

    have a great day ratty...hugz!

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  4. Oh, I tried it several times ,got few good ones, but half of the time, I ended up frustrated! Grr... I agree, Ratty, very difficult to capture flying birds!

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  5. Oh I couldn't agree more. Even though I may get frustrated when I don't get the shot I want, it's always so much fun trying.

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  6. I know crows are too smart for their own good. They can be real pests. But I like how sleek they look, and they are big enough to be impressive. Nice try... I'm sure you'll get one or two caught in your camera soon enough!

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  7. Anything that moves is hard to get a good picture of, I think. You should see me trying to take pictures of these cats. The minute I think I have a good shot, they walk off just as I click the camera. Very frustration but also challenging to get a good one.

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  8. Totally in agreement with you about trying to snap a good picture of flying bird! I'm pretty sure you'll caught one soon.

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  9. I has been virtually impossible for me to get any decent shots of a bird. I think I have one in my files. I think you do very well with your bird shots.

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  10. I have learned that very thing from photography, Ratty...you get 2 or 3 bad shots for every excellent one. But that makes the successful shots that much more exciting and appreciated, right?

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  11. oh, I understand so well what you mean Ratty, I get to experience what you feel a lot of times as well :) But then, the good ones always make us feel forgetting the bad ones :)

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  12. Catching birds in flight takes a lot of patience and fortitude, but I have no doubts you will master it. Jen's tip is a good one, get in front of the bird with your lens and let it fly into the frame. That's how I captured the hawk the other day.

    I love the title of your post, two crows is very fitting. I first heard The Three Ravens version in Alaska since there are so many ravens there. I'm surprised no one else mentioned it.

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  13. Thank you all very much for your comments! Before I answer a few questions, I want to continue my comment game today. Ping! I'll give you the word "Preposterousness". All you have to do is mention that word, any way you want, in my next post, and I'll leave a link to your blog at the end of a post very soon after. That's it. Now I think I'll answer a few of your questions!
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    @The Retired One
    I generally get enough flying bird pictures now, but you're right, it is satisfying to get them after so many tries. It has actually become easy as long as they fly out into the open, but these crows weren't cooperating.
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    @SquirrelQueen
    I don't have very much trouble getting flying bird pictures now, but those crows just weren't coming from behind the trees. I was mostly just trying to demonstrate a typical problem of photography.

    Thanks for noticing my title! I'm surprised no one else seemed notice it either. I thought maybe somebody would at least do a search for the strange title. Everyone else must be too busy right now for some of the little nonsense things I like to throw in. I thought the story of the two crows was very fitting.

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  14. preposterousness? That's quite preposterous.

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