Digiscoping Madness!

Well, I think I'm getting the hang of this digiscoping thing. Today's gray sky, dense clouds and wind didn't help my cause any, but despite the challenges I'm making progress. Today's watch platform was the roof of Kodak's building 9-- EMT duty again prevented me from joining the other watchers on the macadam below. Too bad, because there were some school children out on a field trip expressly to see Mariah and Kaver. I'll bet a spotting scope would have been handy for them to use:

Nevertheless, I heard they had a rousing good time, including a look at Mariah stooping on some prey in the gorge, and flying right in front of the kids assembled on the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge. From the sound of things, we've made some new young fans out of these students.

For me, the action began even before I could get my gear set up. Hardly had I emerged onto the roof from the stair tower than both Mariah and Kaver leapt off the Kodak tower and went into a synchronized power dive over the the Kodak Visitor Parking Lot! I was too far away to see the chase, but they both came rocketing up on the south side of the office complex and neither had anything clutched in their talons. I dove into my bag for my camera, and managed a couple of shots of Mariah as she flew nearby:



Kaver continued flying out over the city, and after making brief sport of chasing a hawk he landed on the First Federal building. Mariah, meanwhile, landed on the A in the KODAK sign:


I took this as a good omen, deployed my scope and camera adapter, and started shooting. Despite my best attempts to find a spot sheltered from the wind, it continued to be a problem throughout my watch. I suspect there's no help for it given the local weather conditions, but it does make getting a steady shot harder. Nevertheless, perseverence won the day:


I continued to shoot pictures of her until she suddenly took off. I got a nice shot of talons and tail just as she was leaving my field of view:


I decided to change my vantage point while she flew around the area. I lined up on the nest box to see what kind of shots I'll be able to get when the eyases start branching:

Just imagine that with 5 eyases hopping around and testing their wings!

Anyway, after some time, Kaver flew back and landed on Camera 1's mounting arm. Mariah joined him a few minutes later, atop the Camera 1 mount:


I can't tell if they took any notice of me, but you might think so from the look on Mariah's face:


Kaver, too, looked inquisitive:


I spent the rest of the watch playing with the digiscope, trying different settings-- Macro mode; Landscape mode; burst shooting vs. single shots with the self timer; different exposure compensation. I changed the lens adapter too, shortening the barrel to see if I could eliminate some of the vignetting. Mariah flew off, headed around the back of the tower, and I didn't see where she landed. Undaunted, I focused my lens on Kaver and kept shooting. Here are some of the better pictures for your perusal:

This one's not the clearest, but he was calling a bit, and I liked his expression:


Isn't he a handsome tiercel? Here are a few more...


I backed off the zoom a bit to get this shot:


Back to a tight frame for the finish as Kaver seemingly trains his hunter's gaze upon me:


Wretched lighting didn't help, but I think the shots are passable. With some brighter light these could have been even better, since I could be shooting with faster shutter speeds, which would help stop the action and minimize blurring from wind and the bird's movements. I have plenty of time to look forward to that kind of work, though. The best part of falcon photographing season hasn't even begun yet!