Thanks for your quick response to my question. This will certainly give me a good starting point. I think we have a few others having the same problem and I look forward to seeing what others have learned.

Congrats on downloading your great pics. The coast is a pretty hard place to take photos because the light changes so much. Have you tried taking bracketed pictures yet? I would have liked seeing your 2nd picture using that method. Welcome to the Hog and keep posting.

Great pics using a heavy lens like yours. I just upgraded to a 7D2 and have been having problems with BIF. I had my old 7D pretty well tuned in using my 300mm canon lens, but the new 7D2 has to many focus options for me to figure out. Can you tell me what settings you are using to take such excellent pictures?

Just got my 6D and like it, have a 7D also but wanted a full frame camera. Most impressive feature so far is its ability to shoot at 25,600 ISO. Have always wanted to take more bird pictures in flight using a high speed. The 6D also allows me to use my 17-40mm for landscape pictures. I do not know why but my EF 17-40mm 1:4 L
never worked very well on my 7D, I even sent it back to Canon for
calibration ($150) but it did not improve. This lens on my new
6D works very well. I took the opportunity to get the kit lens that comes with this camera, the EF 24-105mm 1:4 L IS, because it is almost half the price if you buy it with the camera. So far I am not thrilled with the new HDR function which I had high hopes for. The multiple exposure feature is really cool and I think can make some pretty interesting pictures. Do not plan on using the gps very much. The iPhone remote feature is pretty basic and not very functional.

Welcome back to my favorite photographer on this site. Have always loved your pictures and continue to try and get some within distance range of yours. Finally bought a 7D but still have my inexpensive 75-300mm IS lens on it. Took this picture last week in Eastern Oregon on frozen Klamath Lake. Cannot compare to yours but I am getting closer, you continue to be my inspiration.

Eagle

Was in the same spot you are until a few weeks ago. I finally upgraded from my T2i to a 7D. Bought a refurbished one from Adorama for$1279. Have been reading on this site how everyone who has the 7D loves it and next month Canon is doing a free firmware upgrade which will make it and even better. I still have my T2i and the only reason I went to the 7D was for its increased speed. I take mostly pictures of birds which means the more frames I get the more I can pick from. So far I am still learning the 7D but the pictures I got from the T2i certainly are comparable. Before you do anything, buy the new Canon EF 40mm 2.8 lens and try it on your T2i. It is only $199 and is now my favorite even compared to my L series lens. Good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

Great shot. Agree that you have to download the picture to fully appreciate it.

Excellent shots of hard to take pictures.

Nice picture of these hard to get birds. I have taken 400 pictures of the guys over a 2 hour setting and the hardest part is going over all those pictures and coming out with a few that look ok. Congratulations on a job well done.

You have ruined us with your other wonderful pictures, so it is a Nay. It does not speak to me with a clear voice on what it really is. More of a picture that captured a moment to remember for you only. I can understand you wanting to get the two subjects you like in one picture but a better one is still out there.

Terrific selection of colors. Perhaps summer is starting in Oregon. Keep up the good work.

Very nice pics of a wonderful bird. Something I found out recently is that if you download your pictures others can see what camera you used and the settings the picture was taken with. This has helped me in finding out what some of the better UH people use. I do use windows 7.

Awesome pictures of a Female Least Bittern. The birds that spend most of there time in marshes are hard to get pictures of, so you must have been thrilled to get these shots. A pretty common bird in our area is the Virginia Rail but I have never seen one because they are also a marsh bird. People are starting to lure them out by playing there song on there I-pods. Doesn't sound right to me. Also thank you for allowing us to download your pictures so we can get a better view of them.

Do not know what Canon website you have been looking at but mine says that the refurbished 5D Mk II is out of stock and has been for months now since it is such a good deal. I have been waiting for some to come up so I can buy one, they have no such thing as a wait list so I check a few times a week. Like Gator's experience, I have bought refurbished things from them and they are like new including the same warranty as new.

I really like them. Your camera settings are exactly what I use for this type of shot and think it is a good one. A better picture of this bird is one that is flying right at you which gives you a better feel on how big these guys are. They have a 9 foot wingspand which is amazing. Forget the Eagle and go back and get some more Pelican shots. How many postings have you seen of White Pelican's? My experience with panning is that the more shots I take the better chance I have of one coming out, seems to be about a 20 or 30 to 1. I changed the background in the enclosed shot because I think it's color was being pick up in the birds. Keep up the good work, you are on the right track.

White Pelicans