Shorebirds

This gallery is the home of various waterfowl. Gulls, Sandpipers, Plovers and many others will be found here. Their primary habitats are obviously around bodies of water and particularly at the edges of shorelines and lakes.

Ring Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Eastwood Lake, Dayton, Ohio Adventure is worthwhile in itself." - Amelia Earhart Birding via car is a different take on wildlife observation. Some locations and situations may call for this to occur like when driving past an elongated lake. Slowing to an idle, I looked out to see mallards and gulls at the waters' edge. They were all out of focal reach except for this lone gull on a rock. I reach for my telephoto zoom lens attached to the camera in the passenger seat. If you think ahead, then all the settings should be dialed and ready. Putting the car in park several feet away with the driver's side facing the shorebird. A couple of minutes and shots later, and the late afternoon light worked out to create this image. © 2020 Ryan L. Taylor Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Ring-Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Eastwood Lake, Dayton, Ohio "No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings." - William Blake Birds in flight! The perfect challenge for a bird or wildlife photographer. For this day, the bland grey skies meant light was hard to come by. I stabilized the DSLR on a carbon fiber tripod mounted with a swinging gimbal head that allows for smooth panning and tilting. A gimbal makes for more fluid motions when focus tracking a fast subject such as this gull in flight. Camera settings are an interesting topic regarding birds in flight. Obviously a fast shutter speed is a must, and in this case I used 1/800 on this fairly large bird. Smaller birds will require something greater than 1/1000, even up to 1/2000 or more for ones like hummingbirds. The faster shutter means less light is pouring in the camera sensor, so to keep an even exposure I used f/9 for wide and sharp middle aperture, as well as ISO 250. The tripod really helped keep ISO levels down and allowed for a higher f-stop number, as the widest ones introduce softness on my lens. © 2019 Ryan L. Taylor Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Ring-Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Carriage Hill Metropark, Dayton, Ohio “Nothing is invented, for it's written in nature first.” - Antoni Gaudí If you've ever been to a large lake, beach or parking lot. You have more than likely seen this gull. They often congregate in large numbers and will circle around foraging for food. These gulls are omnivores and have been known to steal other birds' food when opportunities arise. Their name is derived from the black band around their beak. I find them quite easy to spot due to their crow-size and fairly slow moving flight patterns. Gulls are very fascinating to observe as I have seen flocks of hundreds resting near beaches. While they are of least concern population-wise, during the 19th century it was common to hunt them for their plumage. Fortunately plumage hunting has essentially become illegal since then. Carriage Hill has a nicely sized pond/lake where I found a single gull present among Canada Geese and many Mallards. I had this one in flight as it sweeped from right to left. Birds in flight pose a different type of camera settings generally from other photos. Things like Al Servo focus tracking, continuous mode shutter mode, and higher shutter speed in general come into play. Kind of like throwing a frisbee, you want to follow through. What I mean is to follow the bird with your lens as they move around. This isn't the time for blind pot shots. © 2018 Ryan L. Taylor Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Ring-Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Carriage Hill Metropark, Dayton, Ohio © 2018 Ryan L. Taylor Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Ring-Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Carriage Hill Metropark, Dayton, Ohio © 2018 Ryan L. Taylor Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Ring-Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Buck Creek State Park, Springfield, Ohio "The afternoon knows what the morning never expected." The Golden Hour appears to make almost any image more interesting and powerful. The transformation of a blue sky and sunny day into this warm colored dusk. My attention for this beautiful evening was torn between the setting sun and this massive flock of gulls near the beach side. I managed to approach them rather close and zoomed in with my large telephoto lens. The flock seemed to congregate in this spot near the water for the night, as some flew above and landed on nearby buoys. My intent with this image was to show the scale and number of birds present here. The extra special detail became the background bird raising its' wings, perhaps in protest of my shutter capture. © 2018 Ryan L. Taylor Photography. All Rights Reserved.

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