Alectoris ckuckar

Alectoris ckuckar

During our visit to the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounion (August 2008) we noticed a colony of rock partridges foraging for food right out of the temple’s wall. The birds were accustomed to human presence; they didn’t fly away or try to hide – although they always kept a distance of several meters from us and our cameras. It was a very windy day and everything was moving, the grass, the feathers of the birds (see third photo) and us, so I decided to use the D300 and raise the ISO to 640 to ensure high shutter speeds. The use of the 80-200 mm f/2.8 zoom lens was a must for two reasons: first to gain some reach and second to use it at f/4.5 which yields excellent results in terms of sharpness. It was one of those occasions that the average camera with an average lens will only give you average (if not unacceptable) results. We felt sorry for not having the 300 mm f/2.8 with us, it would make some really nice portraits of the birds. The two birds shown in the fourth photo, very close to the cliff, make a nice contrast with their earth-like colours against the blue of the Aegean Sea.

Photos by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: AF Nikkor ED 80-200 mm f/2.8 D @ 200 mm
Sensitivity: ISO640
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/640 sec - f/4.5, Aperture priority
Flash: none
Image: edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.