Grey Pelican in flight!

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Shot this at Kokkare Bellur this weekend under harsh light conditions...

Camera Model Canon EOS 40D
Shooting Date/Time 11/1/2009 3:34:23 PM
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/2000
Av( Aperture Value ) 7.1
ISO Speed 400
Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal Length 320.0 mm

[Bibhav Behera]

That is a lovely image. but why did u use ISO 400? the shutter speed was already at 1/2000... that has brought in noise. You can use this image as a calender or as a postcard.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

ISO 400 at 40D is ok, provided you get the exposure right. I have shot at that ISO when I had the 40D. Pelican's are tricky to expose, as the whites get easily blown out. While gliding, one can get away with slightly slower shutter speeds of about 1/1000, but the landing pose demands shutter speeds of around 1/2000 to freeze the feathers.

In this case, I would have gone for an aperture narrower than 7.1 as it becomes difficult to capture the near and farther wing and the eyes. That means ISO 400, f8 or f9.

In this image, the dark areas as less. Typically, you will find noise in the shadow ie. the dark areas like the under parts of the wings. There will be slight difference in noise in the dark areas, but not much, if you use ISO 200.

I like the composition. The feathers in the near wings are sharp.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice composition. The diagonal wing spread in nice. Agree that a narrower aperture would have helped to got the wing tips in focus as well.

Are there lot of birds at Kokkare Bellur?

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Mrudul - Kokkare in kannada means Storks, Bellur is the name of the village. Since most of the Storks chose to migrate to this place, the name Kokkare Bellur (Village of Storks). The migration has just begun until last weekend there were over 100's of pelicans, in couple of weeks you will get to see Painted Storks, Ibis as well. Other birds around the village that I sighted were common ones like Rollers, Drango's, Dove's Woodpeckers and so on. Best time to visit is Dec to Jan, by end of Jan all these storks will migrate to some other countries. This place is not a bird sanctuary but the pelicans and storks like freely in the village nesting on trees & on roof of some houses.
This place is off blore-mysore highway, just before Muddur i think 3 kms before Muddur on your left, from highway it is about 12-13 kms inside, roads are good so no problems.

[Mrudul Godbole]

I had heard about the place, but have not been there before, so wanted to know if there were lot of birds there now. Thanks for the information.