Attempting to photograph a bird that is flying in to a crowd of other birds can often be an auto-focus challenge for our camera gear. This article shares a selection of 15 consecutive photographs of a drake Black Duck flying in to a crowd of other ducks situated on a frozen harbour.

The more that I have been using my OM-D E-M1X’s Bird Detection AI subject tracking, the more comfortable that I am using this technology in these types of challenging situations.

The photographs featured in this article were captured handheld using an OM-D E-M1X fitted with an M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS zoom along with the M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter. All images were captured at an equivalent field-of-view (efov) of 1120 mm, using Bird Detection AI subject tracking..

Let’s have a look at this series of 15 consecutive photographs. It starts with the drake Black Duck flying by itself, then slowing down and flying in to a crowd of other ducks. The subject bird was approximately 50 to 56 metres (~164 to 184 feet) distant from my shooting position.

Our thanks to one of our readers (Glen Fox) for identifying the duck in these photographs as a drake Black Duck. We made a correction to the original article.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

The bird photography settings that I use were outlined in a previous article. Another earlier article provided some Bird Detection AI tips.

For my style of handheld bird photography the OM-D E-M1X along with my M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 zoom and M.Zuiko teleconverters (i.e. MC-14 and MC-20) have proven to be perfect for my needs. I am continually amazed at the flexibility and performance that this equipment provides. Technology like Pro Capture and Bird Detection AI further expands ‘what is possible’ when I’m out photographing birds.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear and technology as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. Crops are noted as appropriate.

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