Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are a few from this past weekend. All photos taken at a local freshwater wetland, Jasper Co., SC. Temp was 57 degrees, clear skies around 11:00 am 2/26/06. D70, Sigma 180mm macro, SB800 on fill.

Five foot juvenile

Big one

Coot

Lesser yellowlegs

No crop on the gator shots

Cheers,
WK

These are excellent shots. Which Sigma 180 do you have? I have an older f/5.6, but I really want the f/3.5 EX.

>>Lesser yellowlegs

This appears to be a Greater Yellowlegs. The lesser generally has a bill that is shorter or equal to the length of the head. Furthermore the bill doesn't upturn in the lesser and the bill of a lesser is generally all dark.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Thanks Chris. The lens is the EX f3.5 version. I'm planning to get a more appropriate lens for this sort of photography (300 f2.8 AF-S, 80-400VR, or a big Sigma like the 50-500 "bigma" ) so I've been practicing with the 180mm a little. It's currently the longest lens I have. I love it for macro work, but it's not so great for bird shots.

I've compared this yellowlegs to several photos and I'm still not convinced of its identity. It let me approach fairly closely so I went with lesser. I read the greater yellowlegs is much more skittish.

Thanks Chris. The lens is the EX f3.5 version.

That is a very nice lens. I considered getting either that lens of the Minolta 200 f/4 macro, but I am having trouble justifying buying another macro lens. I doubt I would use it very often. But you can't have too many good lenses,.....can you?

I'm planning to get a more appropriate lens for this sort of photography (300 f2.8 AF-S, 80-400VR, or a big Sigma like the 50-500 "bigma" )

I recently bought a used Sigma 500 f/4.5 APO from KEH.com for around the same price as the Bigma. I thought about buying a new Bigma instead, but decided I would mostly use it at 500 and the extra 1/2 stop would be nice to have.
Certainly worth looking for.

I really love this lens, although it is a BEAST! By itself it weighs almost 7 lbs. Part of the problem with big heavy lenses is getting them stabilized to shoot with.

Sure, with patience and luck and a good 300 you can get some shots, but a 500 really makes a huge difference, and faster is always better, IMHO.

I know Canon makes a very nice 100-400 IS L series lens. I suspect the Nikon 80-400VR is equally nice. I've seen a lot of very good bird shots with the Canon lens.

The new Tamron 200-500 gets really good reviews as well.

I've compared this yellowlegs to several photos and I'm still not convinced of its identity. It let me approach fairly closely so I went with lesser. I read the greater yellowlegs is much more skittish.

The key is the bill.

Lesser - short bill (less than the length of the head), bill is mostly dark, bill doesn't turn up
Greater - bill longer than head, bicolored, bill slightly upcurved

Here's a gloomy overcast shot of some beachpipers with the 500 4.5 handheld.

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Wow, that 500/4.5 seems to be very capable in the right hands. Great shot and hand held as well! I don't think I'd be able to get consistently good results handholding a 7-pound lens. I really like the option of no tripod for my style of shooting so I am probably going to go with the 80-400VR or 300/2.8 AF-S. With the latter, I can get 765mm with the 1.5x "digifactor" plus a 1.7x TC (lose only 1 f-stop of light), and have a rig that would be pretty manageable to hand hold in the field. The only drawback is the price. The 80-400mm is a few grand less.

OK, I guess my bird is just a really laid back greater yellowlegs then. Thanks for the id.