Clark’s Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii) and Fish

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The diversity and relative abundance of wildlife here in Northern California is one of the many qualities of this area that attracted me to call this location home. With the thought of “abundance” in mind I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend with family sharing good food and creating lasting memories. Even at this time of year birds have their feasts, rather than being feasted on, as is evident in this photo of a Clark’s Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii) holding a fish in it’s beak. I got a chance to enjoy this moment on my last Sea Otter Photo Tour (the next one is on January 23rd, 2010).

Clark

This photo was taken at a focal length of 840mm (600mm + 1.4x TC) and I was very happy to have still had space to capture the birds reflection in the foreground. Taking a closer look at the photo (see below) you can see a very unhappy fish and some added detail of water droplets on the feathers of the Grebe. While this isn’t quite a 1:1 crop you can really see how much detail resides in 20+ megapixel image. I have to admit I still get a little giddy when I zoom in on a photo like this. The lack of film grain is something I still enjoy quite a bit in my wildlife photographs.

Western Grebe and Fish (Aechmophorus occidentalis)

Clark

Technorati Tags: Clark’s Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii, wildlife, photography, Photo Tour, Stock Photo

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Posted by Jim on 11.30.2009 at 2:06 am
Tagged: California, Locations, Monterey, Photography, Stock Photo, Wildlife , Photography, Stock Photos, Wildlife

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Amit

Hi tell me what is Abstract photography

Nermal

Everyone's going on about the bird... what type of fish was it? :)

Jeremy Hall

Beautiful capture with the catch of the day. Love it!

anntorrence

Jim,

I think you have a much more unusual Clark's grebe there. White, not black, around the eye; orange bill; lighter back are all diagnostic. We see them often in Utah, not so common in coastal CA, I would guess. Lucky find!

jimgoldstein

Ann after a bit of review I'm pretty sure this is a Western Grebe with Winter plumage. http://sdakotabirds.com/diffids/western_clarks_...

Another view from a member of the photo tour... note darker feathers on the other side of the head around the eye. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eliya/4087150576/i...

Roberta

Spectacular details on this. Makes me wish I had a good kicking lens like that! ;-) Can I assume you use mirror lock up with that great of length?

jimgoldstein

Wildlife is almost always too quick to use mirror lock up. In this instance no mirror lock up was used to track the quick action and because I was on a rocking/moving boat. I relied on a very quick shutter speed to ensure sharpness.