7D Mark ii and 100-400 mark ii review Day 2: Eagles

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Kent Jarrett

When I first got to my Eagles, the skies were blue. I started off with the Canon 7D Mark ii and Canon 100-400 mark ii hand held, and the Canon 1DX + 500 on my gimbal.

The Canon 7D Mark ii is a little slower to grab focus in on the bird in flight, but tracks WAY better than my old Canon 7D’s (I had 2).

I then switched bodies and lenses, so of course the light condition had changed by then. Light fell apart around 1 when clouds rolled in. Heavy cloud cover until 3:30,,, so the best part of the day was crap.

7D Mark ii + 100-400 mark ii

Canon 1DX + 100-400 mark iiTry to ignore the skies, both birds where shot handheld, full-frame and same edit script (Actions)

What is your first impression? More to come on this field testing! This is only Day 2.

Few more Canon 7D MKii + Canon 100-400mm IS MKii to chew on.

Heavy Crop, but getting closer to catching the talon to talon shot!

What do you think so far?

Enjoy what you read and the photos? Subscribe to be notified of future posts via email by either clicking the Follow button at the bottom or the Subscribe section on the right! Feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

7D Mark ii and 100-400 mark ii review Day 1: Pheasants

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Kent Jarrett

Let me start off by saying it is WAY too early to jump to any conclusions about my new combination of a Canon 7D Mark ii and a Canon 100-400mm IS mark ii. I have 15 days to keep or return it. This morning I headed out in 3 degrees, -20 wind chill looking for a one of my Snowy Owls. I figured if I could catch on a pole or post I could do a side by side comparison. No luck on the Snowy Owls, but I did find 14 Male Pheasants.

Pheasants aren’t native to Illinois or even America. They were introduced from Asia into the United States as a game bird, they took hold and strived!

I was going to strip off all info and have you guess which camera took which photo, but I’ll do that later.

Pheasants with the new Canon 7D mark ii + 100-400mm IS mark ii These are farm raised in pens and then released into a state park for hunters. This poor guy doesn’t have any tail feathers! I am guessing they were picked off from other birds in the pen, but maybe he froze his a$$ off 🙂 Couple from the trusty Canon 1DX and 500mm f4 IS Prime.

I am headed to the river to see how this combination handle my Eagles and birds in flight. I was going to micro adjust the pair, but after today I am going to wait on that step.

What do you think so far?

Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

American Pelicans

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Kent Jarrett

You never really know what you might find when you stalk the banks of the mighty Mississippi. During one of my recent eagle trips I was pleasantly please when a group of eight American White Pelicans showed up.

I was like “cool” I dont have any full frame in flight white pelican shots. It wasn’t until I watched them devour every fish that was near the lock, and the eagles all left the area to roost in the trees. (bummer)!

Lots of people take their dogs on walks around Smith Island, just North of the Lock & Dam 14. I was getting the eye from this Bettendorf Bulldog!

with several days of sub zero tempatures, I am lookign forward to field testing new gear this weekend. I picked up a 7D mark ii paired with the new 100-400 IS mark ii. I will be doing a detailed review on this blog as soon as I get enough field time for an honest review.

Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

In Flight Collision!

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Kent Jarrett

Until today I had always thought that hummingbirds were the only birds that can fly backwards or upside down.

Today at Lock and Dam 14 on the Mississippi River I witnessed and documented an in air collision between two adult eagles. I have been trying to get a full frame talon to talon grab, this was really close and maybe more rare.

Two eagles were circling looking for fish forgot to check their airspace and ran into each other. The impact completely rolled the top eagle over in mid air. He went into a free fall before he could right himself and then continued on with his day of fishing.

Even though I clipped some wings in the series, still pretty cool!

Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

Snowy Owls of Central Illinois

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Kent Jarrett

My good friends and fellow photographers Rick Small, Brian Shults out in the Smoky Mountains name the big whitetail bucks. Faye Sykes and Bill Lea name most of the known black bears. Only fitting since I don’t have a national park in my backyard I try and name a few of my “finds”.

Now that I have spend more time with my snowy owls they have unique features and behaviors and have decided I would name the Snowy Owls of Central Illinois.

Meet LP Paulie:Sorry for the heavy crop but it is the only usable image of Paulie I have. Paulie is the most famous of our central Illinois Owls and has been hanging around El Paso for going on 3 weeks. He hangs out in the MIDDLE of two larges squares and I have yet to catch him closer a road than a third of a mile. Paulie is a second year young male. He doesn’t even like cars to stop let alone when people get out of their cars. Please respect these owls and stay in your cars and use spotting scopes and binoculars!

I have chatted with the two landowners where Paulie hangs out. They have found half eaten rabbits, all kinds of dead birds, and owl pellets everywhere. Paulie is healthy, strong and growing! Please let’s keep it that way.

Which brings me to MC Beauty:

We lost a young man this summer to a drunk driver. Michael Collins, in honor of him a group has started #MCStrong. To go along with that and to honor him, and because this bird is somewhere in McLean County; I have named this male snowy owl MC Beauty.

After talking with several farmers in the area this is Beauty’s third winter in our area. The local birders and photographers have sworn to try and keep Beauty off of eBird and so far, knock on wood we have. Beauty is used to cars and farm machines. As long as you stay in your cars you will be able to enjoy him at a much closer distance. Beauty is a 3 year Male. Next year he should be completely white!

There are two more female owls hanging out near Minonk. I believe one of them to be a returning female from last year after talking to my bird guys that drives 90-100 miles a day birding. I just have been having too much fun with my eagles and these two owls to drive farther North to photograph the Minonk Owls.

Barbie:

Barbie is a first year female snowy owl. I named her Barbie because the dark feathers on the females are called barring or barred.

I was a little disappoint to learn that last season’s Snowy Owls in Lee County didn’t just happen. Let me try to explain. The Illinois Department Of Natural Resources captured over 30 Snowy owls from O’Hare and Mid Way airports and moved them a safe distance to Lee County. I thought this was the first good flat open land with plenty of feed and they just stopped there. Wrong they were planted!

Rainy and crappy light today, and yet I feel compelled to go check on Paulie and Beauty. Tomorrow back on Eagles, Monday back to work.

Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

Kent Jarrett Photography

Nature & Wildlife Photographer

Author Archives: Kent Jarrett

7D Mark ii and 100-400 mark ii review Day 2: Eagles

7D Mark ii and 100-400 mark ii review Day 1: Pheasants

American Pelicans

In Flight Collision!

Snowy Owls of Central Illinois