White-throated dipper sesssion

[PeHa]

This bird may not look much and certainly not like a waterfowl but it swims and dives while looking for food in the icy rapids. It's also Norways national bird. I was following them for some hours today, climbing along the rapids, it's quite a fascinating bird (and so is the environment ).

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[Phocal]

Cool shots and interesting information about the bird, it doesn't look like a bird that would I think swam on a regular basis. It's small size and the white with dark feathers makes for a difficult bird to capture and expose for.

 

[PeHa]

Cool shots and interesting information about the bird, it doesn't look like a bird that would I think swam on a regular basis. It's small size and the white with dark feathers makes for a difficult bird to capture and expose for.

Thanks! You're right, it doesn't look like a swimming&diving bird and it's the only species within its order (passerines) that can. It was an enjoyable shooting trekking along the rapids, climbing to get pass fallen trees, bushes and ice areas (some similar issues to gator shooting I guess thou you don't need to care about ice ). And I would say m43 is the perfect kind of equipment for it, no need to lug around with heavier stuff.

 

[TNcasual]

There are actually five species of dipper. They all live in and around cool mountain streams. And, yes, they are the only swimming passerines.

 

[Phocal]

Thanks! You're right, it doesn't look like a swimming&diving bird and it's the only species within its order (passerines) that can. It was an enjoyable shooting trekking along the rapids, climbing to get pass fallen trees, bushes and ice areas (some similar issues to gator shooting I guess thou you don't need to care about ice ). And I would say m43 is the perfect kind of equipment for it, no need to lug around with heavier stuff.

I am glad I don't have ice to contend with, left that a while ago when I moved from the Pacific Northwest to Texas.

Sounds like a really interesting bird and one that would be a lot of fun watching and photographing. I have to agree about m4/3 being the perfect kit, it's one of the main reason I switched. I have to ask, what lens/es were you using?

Edit - I clicked thru and saw that it was the 300/4

 

[PeHa]

Edit - I clicked thru and saw that it was the 300/4

Yes, I still have and adore the FT 150 (also with extenders) but for birds, especially small ones, the extra reach with the 300&1.4 TC is really valuable. However, when I look at the images here, I should have complemented with a couple of widefield shots of the landscape.... well, next time

 

[PeHa]

There are actually five species of dipper. They all live in and around cool mountain streams. And, yes, they are the only swimming passerines.

You're absolutely right! Checked in wikipedia. And the White-throated seems to be the only dipper in Europe.

 

[TNcasual]

Seeing a dipper in the Rocky Mountains is one of the most memorable bird sightings I have ever had. It's just fun to watch them feed in the cold mountain water.

 

[PeHa]

Seeing a dipper in the Rocky Mountains is one of the most memorable birds sightings I have ever had. It's just fun to watch them feed in the cold mountain water.

Agree on that too Fun to watch and following them (normally just one or a couple in the same place) gets you, or at least me, hooked. But it's not that easy to carry that feeling on to the images. Seven or eight years ago I took a lot of images of dippers and made a collage that I thought was great and expected a lot of positive response but just had some yawns... Well, well, now I just enjoy the photographing, it was great fun yesterday!

 

[Danny.]

What a neat little bird and very interesting behavior. Very well taken and its one I've never seen posted before on the net. 10 out of 10.

All the best and thanks for the post. You learn something new every day.

Danny.

 

[Clicka]

Dippers are great little birds to watch in action. I caught one of our American dippers fishing in a local stream a couple years back. 75-300@300 + em5 so not the best kit to catch such a quick little bird in dim light.
I enjoyed your shots of his European cousin.

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[PeHa]

Dippers are great little birds to watch in action. I caught one of our American dippers fishing in a local stream a couple years back. 75-300@300 + em5 so not the best kit to catch such a quick little bird in dim light.
I enjoyed your shots of his European cousin.

Good to see the american version, it's obvious that they're related, nice photos of that food catch You're right that the light can be dim which makes action imaging hard. I kept ISO down to prioritize low noise, next time I'll probably accept higher ISOs to save more of the diving and flying scenes.
This was actually my first real photo trial with the E-M1 mk II so I experimented with features like Pro Cap to get action scenes but just filled the buffer and locked the camera... will take some settings work and learning...