… How about flying with a tail that is longer than your body?
Check out this wonderful bird I found Tuesday at Prairie State Park, in southwest Missouri … the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus). When he/she flies, he seems to struggle to stay airborne, always flying in a “dipping” motion, due to the length/weight of such a long tail! In recent years, I have seen a few of these amazing birds near my rural home. A check of several bird ID books indicate that we are on the very edge of where this south-central bird is normally found. In any case, I have not been able to grab any really close images of this bird. That is, until my recent visit to Prairie State Park. As we were leaving to drive home, one flew next to the car and landed in a tree that was along the road. Stopping the car, the bird was not threatened by my presence, so I remained in the car and shot several images of this beauty. Unfortunately, the sky was laden with white clouds, making a poor background. But beggars can’t be choosers! Here are a couple of images I made of this guy:
Amazing birds, aren’t they?!
Image Technical Information:
- Canon 1D Mark 3 body, with Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens + Canon 1.4x teleconverter
- ISO 320
- Av mode: f/16 @ 1/200 sec.
- Exposure Compensation: + 1 2/3 (to correct for bright cloudy background)