Cormorant flight shots at eye level

Flight photography with Nikon 200-500 VR

With regular reports of bittern being seen at Carlton Marsh near Barnsley, I thought I’d chance it to see if it would put in an appearance for ne. However, as I suspected, there was no sign of this elusive bird, but I did manage a few cormorant flight shots so not an entirely wasted trip. I think it’s fair to say that all my previous flight shots of cormorant have been against the sky, but here, I managed to get some eye level images with trees in the background for a very different shot. The light was pretty grim but for a brief moment, the clouds parted and the low afternoon sun squeezed through as this obliging bird did a fly past like an RAF jet.  If I’m honest though, my love affair with the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 VR became slightly tarnished today as I experienced slow or lack of AF performance in the low light and with the 1.4x converter attached. It would be intreresting to know how the 500mm f/4 VR lens would have performed under the same conditions.