Lynn and I were fortunate to be able to cruise the Caribbean once again earlier this month. I love watching birds and wildlife and trying to make photographs of their behavior. On this trip we both saw something for the first time.
On more than one occasion, birds followed our ship and dove for fish right along side.
Brown Booby
There were mostly Brown Boobies with a few Masked Boobies mixed in.
Masked Booby
Flying Fish were also plentiful along our route and the ship’s wake seemed to scare them up as we passed.
Flying Fish
A closer look at the Flying Fish
Photographing the birds catching fish wasn’t easy. You have to track a bird (at high magnification) as it moves just above the water and focus / shoot continuously – then hope you catch the right moment before your camera buffer runs out. I managed to get a few frames although the quality is not high. This is probably the best one.
Just before the catch
I was using a new camera (Olympus E-M1 II) for the bird / fish photos. The frame rate and continuous focus capabilities really helped. There’s a new “Pro Capture” mode on this that I couldn’t use (didn’t have the right lens). It captures frames with the shutter button pressed half way and saves them with a final frame when fully pressed. It would have made this use case easier. I’m looking forward to seeing how the camera works in other situations.
We also saw Magnificent Frigatebirds. They seem pretty common in the Caribbean – mostly in the harbors. I’ve only seen a few here in Florida, along both coasts
Female Magnificent Frigatebird
Cruise directors plan interesting things for passengers to do while at sea but these may not appeal to everyone. It’s good to have an alternative activity available like wildlife observation and photography when you’re looking for something fun to do.
I’m collecting other photos from the trip in this album on Flickr. And I have several other blog posts that feature photography from cruise ships. If you’re interested, see this link: https://edrosack.com/category/photo-ops-categorized-by-place/cruise-ships/
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Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
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