alanpeterson

Into the Wind

With a wind blowing from the southwest off of Humboldt Bay, this kite turns to face the setting winter sun while looking for voles in Arcata Marsh....
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With a wind blowing from the southwest off of Humboldt Bay, this kite turns to face the setting winter sun while looking for voles in Arcata Marsh.
Read less

NIKON D800

settings

Aperture f/8 ISO 800 Shutter 1/2500 Focal Length 800/1

upload_date

Dec, 2015

Views

1020

Likes

+124

Awards

People's Choice in kites Photo Challenge

Winner in Fantastic Wings Photo Challenge

Peer Award

+25

Superb Composition

+10

Top Choice

Absolute Masterpiece

Magnificent Capture

Superior Skill

All Star

Outstanding Creativity

Virtuoso

Genius

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Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

A Barn Swallow feeding its fledglings at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.

As a Gentoo Penguin chick wakes up from a nap, its parent bends over for a feeding.

A young Northern Harrier patrols the freshwater ponds at Arcata Marsh as the sun sets.

A Chinstrap Penguin cares for its chicks on a rookery above Orne Harbor along the Antarctic Peninsula.

A Short-eared Owl at sunset in Arcata Bottoms

An Anna's Hummingbird is startled by a passing bee.

Rays of sun piercing the fog in a spruce forest at Patrick's Point State Park.

The forests in Trinidad, California reach right up to the edges of the oceanside bluffs. As the sun sets over the pacific, the branches are bathed in

A Mallard quacks at an approaching Greater Yellowlegs as the sun sets at Arcata Marsh's brackish pond.

A Great Egret swallowing a fry in the McDaniel Slough tidal wetlands at Arcata Marsh

Sun beams in the fog at Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.

An Osprey was perched on a tree over the path that lead back to my car at Clear Lake, California. I thought it would fly away as I walked under it, bu

A Short-eared Owl takes off after an unsuccessful dive while hunting at dusk in the Mad River Slough Wildlife Area.

The Great Gray Owl visiting Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park perches on the fence near the road and scans the embankment for voles.

A harbor seal sits on a rock, shrouded by the coastal fog on Trinidad State Beach.

Hugo (top) and Olaf (bottom) from a portrait shoot for the HumCats cat art festival.

One Short-eared Owl trying to steal a vole from another at Arcata Bottoms.

Another Wood Duck drake has visited Sequoia Park.

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I photographed these seals from a cliff. They reminded me of sardines in a can. by josephleduc

Wer liebt, hat das Leben verstanden, wer geliebt wird, der lebt! by romymauersberger

I captured this great moment where two penguins appear to be holding hands or flippers while looking at the Cape Town. by WorldPix

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at "Mount Trashmore" at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, a wild area that was able to be restored from a condemned landfill. It is now a grassy plateau overlooking freshwater ponds and Humboldt Bay, and this kite has been returning there to hunt every so often since it was a juvenile.

Time

I shot this photo just after 4PM. During the shorter winter days, that is around when the California vole becomes active for its evening foraging session, and when the White-tailed Kites begin to search the grasslands for a meal.

Lighting

Only natural light is at play here. There was broken cloud cover at the time, and the sun was shining through a gap in the clouds to directly illuminate the kite.

Equipment

This was taken on a Nikon D800 with a Sigma 300-800mm zoom, handheld.

Inspiration

On my first visit to the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, I was captivated by an aerial battle between two White-tailed Kites that were having a territorial dispute. When I began pursuing wildlife filmmaking, I kept returning to watch them hunt and get into scuffles with other raptors, and I ended up following a population of them for a year to make a documentary short. This kite is one of two children raised by the pair that nested in the pines at the marsh three years ago, and it still returns to its old hunting grounds occasionally.

Editing

I made basic adjustments to the color balance and contrast curve, then cropped the image for composition.

In my camera bag

For photographing birds, I almost exclusively use the Sigma 300-800mm zoom mounted on a Nikon D800. Unless I'm going to be shooting a stationary or slow-moving subject, I find that shooting handheld allows me to track fast/erratic subjects better than when using a tripod.

Feedback

Learning about prey activity helps a lot with photographing predators. By watching the raptors around Humboldt Bay hunt, I've become familiar enough with the voles' activity that I can often predict when and where I'll be able to get a good view of the kites, harriers and owls that hunt them. As long as there is plentiful prey, White-tailed Kites will often return to the same areas to hunt, and are usually willing to come much closer to a photographer that's already waiting quietly nearby when they arrive at their hunting grounds.

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alanpeterson

alanpeterson

Into the Wind