Vernon Chalmers Photography: Birds and Butterfly with Canon EOS 7D Mark II

15 October 2025

Birds and Butterfly with Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Mainly birding with the ever-green Canon EOS 7D Mark II / EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens

Yellow-Billed Duck in Flight : Above Woodbridge Island

"Yellow-billed-duck: against the mystiblue of Table Mountain - between wingbeat and wind, a reassurance towards a focussed path of presence." - Vernon Chalmers

Shooting at 400mm with the Canon EOS 7D Mark II (APS-C) body

Some blue sky and a moderate south-easterly wind with rain forecasted for later - that was my challenge, but I know from experience that this pairing would deliver even with full cloud cover. Again, I went for my regular photography hike, down the Diep River, Woodbridge Island, right up to the edge of the Table Bay Nature Reserve.

I just feel so confident with body and lens in my hands - this is what I wrote on my profile on Birdlife South Africa's Facebook Group about using the Canon EF 400mm f/5/6L USM lens:

“Fifteen years of birding, flowers and butterflies with the same lens - yet its presence and functionality is never the same. The Canon EF 400 f/5.6L USM doesn’t just render 'birds in flight', frame after frame; it renders my own becoming." - Vernon Chalmers

Along the way I had the usual birds and was very exiting to see the terns back - that could potentially they are here after spotting some fish - or perhaps they just came round investigating. Seeing that we went through an extensive period of birdlife due to the polluted river. Also, I've spotted the most Egyptian geese I have ever seen in one morning. A bonus was the many grey herons perched and in-flight along the Diep River and the Table Bay reserve.

Birds in Flight / Perched Birds List