03 September 2019

Impromptu Birds in Flight Photography Session Woodbridge Island

After another few miserable days (for birds in flight photography) the weather was great this morning, with no wind. I quickly took advantage of this opportunity and was not disappointed.

Glossy ibis in flight
The second  last image is my first image of a glossy ibis flying over Woodbridge Island. I have never seen them here in more than six years. Was indeed very happy to get at least one reasonable image of one of the visiting birds - and promptly added the glossy ibis to my Woodbridge Island Bird species Index.

Birds in flight (from the top)
  • Cape shoveler duck
  • Common / European starling
  • Cape teal duck
  • Cape shoveler duck
  • Glossy ibis
  • Red-knobbed coots

Lightroom Post-Processing

All images processed in Adobe Lightroom 8. Converted from RAW to JPG. Lens profile correction. Minor colour correction. Sharpness and noise reduction applied.

Cape Town Location
Milnerton Lagoon Woodbridge Island, Cape Town. Over the Diep River flowing past the Milnerton Golf Course

Equipment (Birds In Flight / Action Photography)
  • Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR camera body
  • Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens
  • SanDisk Extreme 64GB 120MB/s CF Card

Manual Mode Settings
  • Shutter speed: 1/3200s - 1/4000s
  • Aperture: f/5.6
  • Focal length 400mm
  • Auto-ISO (ISO 320 - 1000)
  • Continuous shooting mode (10 fps) / AI Servo
  • AI Servo / AF Mode Option (Large / Wide Zone AF / Case 1)
  • Lens AF On / No IS / Handheld

(Click to enlarge)
Common starling in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island
Common starling in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island

Cape teal duck in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island
Cape teal duck in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island

Cape shoveler duck in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island
Cape shoveler duck in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island

Glossy Ibis in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island
Glossy Ibis in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island


Red-knobbed coots sprinting down the Diep River, Woodbridge Island

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