Canon 7D and Canon EF 200-400 F4 IS in Cairns

Cairns is just a little more than 2 hours flight away from Brisbane. In October we took a week off and flew to Cairns for a holiday. It was not a dedicated photographic trip but I had taken the camera gear along. As mentioned elsewhere in my previous blogs the 200-400 f4 is lens and attached 7d body with a grip and a couple of extra batteries and spare cards along with my back pack style lens case weigh just a shade under 7 kgs, the allowed carry on baggage. The lens case is airline compatible and easily fits under the front seat or in the overhead storage, with the carrying harness and the belt it is very easy on my back and the camera gear too.

It was spring [ remember we are in the Southern Hemisphere] and the weather pleasant.

We were mainly on a holiday but the birds were everywhere and the temptation of carrying the camera along on or morning and evening walks along the sea shore was hard to resist.

I had promised Monica that I wouldn’t be loitering with the camera and lens at the ready waiting for an opportunity to arise but only if there was a real easy opportunity I would pull out the gear from the bag and shoot and I knew there would be enough of them.

One afternoon the tide timing was right. It was just after high tide and the water had just started receding. Variety of shorebirds could be seen feeding on the mudflats but they were not accessible.  Suddenly a pair of Royal Spoonbills [Platalea regia ] flew in and landed on the waters edge and immediately commenced feeding walking along the water’s edge. They were walking in the same direction we were heading. The light was good. I pulled out the gear from the bag and mounted it on my trusty monopod. The Spoonbills were walking pretty fast moving their heads from side to side in a sweeping motion with their beaks open.

Luckily it was late afternoon and not many people around. This particular walk is very popular with the locals and the tourists [ of which there are plenty in Cairns] and it is not unusual for some kids to come and chase the birds away while their parents are proudly watching them from a distance. I have even had elderly people walk their dogs between me and the birds I was photographing and scare the birds away and last but not least, Smart phone/tablet photographers, seeing a guy with some serious gear photographing birds, would be very keen to capture a piece of the action and to get a close-up and unthinkingly just walk upto the birds with the phone/ tablets held in front of them. Now the birds being birds were not aware of their good intentions and would promptly fly away to safer environs leaving me with my heavy gear sitting in the sand and staring at the empty beach.

This afternoon I was lucky. Only the Spoonbills were very active and steadily kept walking as they fed along the waterline. I had to change my position every few seconds as they walked past me, I would, without disturbing them, move ahead and get into position shooting till they again passed me. I knew this would last only a few minutes and this stretch of sand was only a couple of hundred metres long and shortly they would be heading on to the mud flats that were out of bounds.

I had kept the camera on AI servo. Well I got a few good photos of them in action. I had reached the end of the sandy stretch and the spoonbills were heading away from me. I was sitting there contemplating my next move, just looking around to see if there was anything else to shoot before I packed my gear away. The part I hate most is packing the gear away or pulling it out.  Once it is packed away I am reluctant to pull it it out without a really good reason. As I was sitting there I suddenly noticed movement to my right and there was a pair of birds flying. Now squatting down in the sand I was not exactly prepared for BIF [ bird in flight ] photography but I reacted instantly and tried to find the birds in the viewfinder. Eventually found them and grabbed a few shots. The birds turned out to be Beach Stone Curlews [Esacus magnirostris] .