Feuding Herons

So there I was at the Wildfowl Reserve trying out my Sigma 170-500 and K5 when two herons flew in and started fighting. The bigger one won! I don't know my herons; was this a male/female domestic?

Hope you like them. Postprocessing was Levels and Contrast using Elements 10.

F10 1/2500 ISO3200 430mm

[IMG]http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc379/daphnejohn/Pentax%20User/one.jpg[/IMG]

F10 1/2500 ISO3200 430mm

[IMG]http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc379/daphnejohn/Pentax%20User/two.jpg[/IMG]

F10 1/2500 ISO4000 430mm

[IMG]http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc379/daphnejohn/Pentax%20User/three.jpg[/IMG]

F10 1/2500 ISO4000 430mm

[IMG]http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc379/daphnejohn/Pentax%20User/four.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks for looking. C&Cs welcome.

John

Fab pics and what a wonderful thing to see. Seems to me you kept your cool, focus is lovely. really enjoyed looking at these

Clare

That was a great opportunity and you've captured some really interesting shots.

Excellent sharp shots at 3200ISO/4000ISO as well.

I've never seen Herons fighting, there are often more than one
on a lake and I've seen them chase one another in flight. I've
seen a swan chasing a Heron, but the Heron just flew off.

I'm nor sure about the sex..... their heads are different,
one is just light grey the other white and dark grey, that
obviously means something?

Nicely done .. some good action shots.

If somebody had told me a few years back that we would be able to shoot at ISO 4000 with very little noise on a APS-C body I would have laughed at them.

Great shots! You really captured some magnificent wildlife drama here And it is really amazing how well the K5 deals with high iso. Thank you for sharing these images!

Bjørn

Superb sharp shots and great subject !

Right place at the right time there, cracking shot,s.

Jealousy is a terrible thing

I guess I will learn to live with it - great shots

Wow what a great set! I have never seen herons fighting.

They live in a heronry normally and are fairly social in my experience - we have a small colony in a park around the corner, sadly almost impossible to photograph due to it's position.

It looks like it could be a juvenile and an adult as both males and females have identical markings in my experience.

Great captures John - definitely in the right place at the right time. Really sharp and frame-filling - well executed!

Regards

Nice stuff.

I pretty sure the one of the left is a Juvenile (it lacks the black markings on the head) and the full adult may be putting it in its place.

Three words A - Ma - Zing. Well done.

That's a great capture there, it's great being in the right place at the right time and with the camera setup ready to go!

You've just reminded me that it's time to sort my heron shots out for my webpage and whilst I do have a shot of one heron chasing off another I'm jealous of your ones here actually showing them fighting!

The only criticism I have is that I know you have a zoom lens, so pulling it back a bit would have helped to get all those massive wings in the frame. Whilst it's easy enough to say, I do know how difficult it is to remember that in the heat of the moment!

Using F10 has definately helped here and is really making me think about experimenting with my settings more. Even though I know the K-5 is great at higher ISOs I keep trying not to go there if I can trying to maintain the quality at the lower settings, maybe I should be more bold!

Damn good John, damn good!

A fabulous set. Very well done.