The White Storks of Racconigi

Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 1/6400 f/5.6, iso 800, handheld. Racconigi, Italy.

I discovered the Racconigi Park (http://www.cicogneracconigi.it) a while ago, when my longest lens was the Sigma 180mm Macro. Since then, it has become one of my favourite places for bird photography.

The park was created in 1985 by the ornithologist Bruno Vaschetti and the LIPU (Italian association for protection of birds) to reintroduce the White Stork in Italy. Now, there are tens of White Storks that nests here, and the parks hosts many other species of birds (in particular ducks and geese); some of them live in captivity in the smaller ponds, while a large pond hosts many wild species that regularly visits the park (mallards, herons, stilts and many other species). Every photographer, both skilled professionals and beginness, have many opportunities: the professional with super-tele lenses can photograph the wildlife from a large, well built hide, while the beginners with short lenses or even digicams can easily take photos of the many tame ducks in the small ponds.

The many beautiful birds are not the only positive aspect of the Racconigi Park. The park is always open: you can visit it even in winter, to photograph the birds between ice and snow; you can visit with sun, rain or snow to photograph the birds in every season and every weather condition. Even more important, the owners of the park (Bruno and his family) are always very kind!

I've taken this photo during one of my (many) workshops at Racconigi. I loaned the 600 f/4 one of my "students" so I was photographing with my other tele lens - the small, light and versatile Canon 100-400 L IS. Being used to the 600, I find this lens extremely easy to handhold, and its fast AF, combined to IS and push-pull desing, makes it the ideal choice for flight shots. When I bought it, I din't like the push-pull - if you are used to the traditional ring-zoom design, you need some time to get used, initially it feels quite awkward. It has it pros and cons - the most negative aspects are that you have to lock the lens when you carry it around, otherwise it extends, and it makes a bit difficult to compose precisely the photo. On the other hand, it is extremely fast to frame the bird at 100 and then to zoom at 400mm to take the shot: this is a great help for flight shots. I've tried other tele zooms with ring desing and, even though they are great for static subject, they does not allow fast zooming for action as the 100-400.

Here, I used ISO 800 because I was photographing some ducks in shade and, when I saw the stork in flight, I didn't have time to change any setting. Anyway, it is not a problem with a Canon camera ;-), and the super fast shutter speeds helped to froze the motion (by the way, if I had had time to change the settings here I'd have use ISO 400, and I'd have selected AFPS, even though MFPS worked well). I have taken a burst of three shots and they are all in sharp focus, thanks to the fast AF of the 100-400, but this image is the only one with the other two storks and the nest into background. The nest is nearly 4-5 meters from the stork in flight, so of course it is out of focus at f/5.6, but I like it as is - it gives more depth to the image, and it adds some environment.

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