{"id":12894,"date":"2014-01-08T06:10:34","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T13:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=12894"},"modified":"2025-09-05T16:12:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T21:12:35","slug":"marbled-godwit-blur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/08\/marbled-godwit-blur\/","title":{"rendered":"Marbled Godwit Blur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MarbledMarbled Godwit in flight – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The day after Christmas I posted a Barn Owl<\/a> image where the wings of the owl were blurred due to low light\u00a0combined with a slow shutter speed and mentioned at the end of that post that the Barn Owl blur was a “happy accident”.<\/p>\n

This morning I wanted to share another “happy accident” of this Marbled Godwit blur in flight taken along the Gulf of Mexico<\/a><\/span> in coastal Florida.<\/p>\n

Unlike the Barn Owl image where I had low light and foggy conditions whereas for the Marbled Godwit I had “sweet light” as I photographed the shorebird foraging along the water’s edge. Because the bird was close I had changed my aperture to f7.1 to get enough sharpness and I had decreased my ISO to 160 to capture as much feather detail as possible.<\/p>\n

What I didn’t see outside of my viewfinder was a couple of beach walkers approaching\u00a0myself and the Marbled Godwit who instead of walking around the photographer laying in the sand with a big lens pointed at the bird decided to walk close enough to the godwit that they flushed my subject.<\/p>\n

I only had a split second after I realized the bird was going to take flight which didn’t allow me enough time to increase my ISO which would have also increased my shutter speed that would have frozen the wing action.<\/p>\n

Typically with birds in flight I prefer to have my shutter speed at 1\/1500 or above but in this case I only had 1\/640.<\/p>\n

Still, I like how the head, bill, and\u00a0eyes are sharp in this Marbled Godwit image and\u00a0had an appealing\u00a0blur of the wings. The Marbled Godwit’s\u00a0wing position\u00a0is similar to the wing position of my Barn Owl too.<\/p>\n

The Godwit in good light, the Barn Owl in low light and\u00a0both with slow shutters speeds and a pleasing blur.<\/p>\n

Yes, another “happy accident”.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Marbled Godwit photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

See a neat Burrowing Owl Blur here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning I wanted to share another “happy accident” of this Marbled Godwit blur in flight taken along the Gulf of Mexico in coastal Florida. 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Godwit had been feeding on the mudflats of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto's north beach.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Marbled Godwit and shadow, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/marbled-godwit-mia-mcpherson-3637.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/marbled-godwit-mia-mcpherson-3637.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/marbled-godwit-mia-mcpherson-3637.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/marbled-godwit-mia-mcpherson-3637.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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I wouldn't have it any other way.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Resting Marbled Godwit, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/marbled-godwit-resting-mia-mcpherson-3259.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/marbled-godwit-resting-mia-mcpherson-3259.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/marbled-godwit-resting-mia-mcpherson-3259.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/marbled-godwit-resting-mia-mcpherson-3259.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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