Uploads from ~andre, tagged dive, with geodata

Gone fishing

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 22:39:54 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton

Some seagulls still catch their food the old fashioned way - diving into the water instead of a dumpster.

Entry point

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:12:18 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

This is the first time I got a tern just breaking the water.

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:36:48 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Mountsberg Conservation Area, Ontario

I love watching Caspian terns fish. They fly steadily a few meters above the surface and just when you think you got their rhythm, they pause for a second and then drop into the water so fast that it's really hard to keep up with them.

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:36:49 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Mountsberg Conservation Area, Ontario

I wish this shot would be captured just a fraction of a second earlier, but some things you just don't get to choose.

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:36:49 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Mountsberg Conservation Area, Ontario

Terns are either not very efficient at fishing or they eat fish before they resurface - I watched this tern dive a few times and I saw him only once with a fish.

Underwater-to-air tern

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:12:18 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Every time I watch terns, I'm amazed at how much they have to work for every little fish they catch. They fly constantly back and forth along the shore, dive every few minutes and quite often come back to the surface with nothing in their bills. This is one of those times when the tern jumped out of the water empty-handed.

Nose dive

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:12:18 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

It's easier to catch a tern nose-dive at the beginning of their drop - the focus is still there even if the AF point slipped off the tern. It's much harder to track them in mid-fall or closer to the water - they drop down really, really fast.

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:15:22 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Mountsberg Conservation Area, Ontario

The kingfisher was sitting on the branch, looking at the water and I figured that he will dive in any moment now. I switched to manual focus and the waiting game began. In about five minutes the kingfisher jumped off the branch and fell like a rock into the water. I was hoping to catch him near the surface, which I did, but the reflection of the sky was just too strong. The kingfisher jumped out of the water with a little fish in his beak.

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:14:48 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Colonel Samuel Smith Park, Toronto

Terns resemble seagulls, but they are nothing like seagulls when it comes to flying. A fishing tern flies non-stop along the shoreline and moves quite fast. Terns are slower than swallows, but nevertheless it takes some effort and skill to track them in the air. It becomes the whole different game when they drop from the sky to grab a fish and the closer they dive, the more difficult it is to track them. This shot is taken just a couple of meters from his dive point. I am yet hoping to catch one at this distance and close to the surface.

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 21:10:19 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 23:40:41 -0800

~andre posted a photo:

It's fairly easy to capture a long-tailed duck to pop out of the water - I just have to spot it underwater and track it to the surface. It's much more difficult to anticipate when a duck decides to dive.

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:06:54 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Long-tail duck diving in calm water

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:06:46 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Long-tailed duck diving in calm water

Pop!

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:57:49 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

A long-tailed duck popping up to the surface

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:57:57 -0700

~andre posted a photo:

Long dive

nobody@flickr.com (~andre) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:07:33 -0800

~andre posted a photo:

The water was clear today and, in hindsight, I should have used a polarizer to capture long tail ducks swimming underwater. Interestingly enough, it turns out they spread a bit their wings when diving and turn them into flippers. A couple of days later I tried again, this time with a polarizer.