Shorebird Lessons...

Stuff

Again I spent a good part of Friday re-arranging and doing third edits on trip image folders with lots more of the same in store for Saturday. I made a lot of progress–deleting many thousands of images kept on the first round of editing (picking keepers) but still have a ton of work left. This blog post, which took me about 1 1/2 hours to assemble, is the 169th in a row. It was published just before 5:30am on Saturday, June 27, 2015. I fly to Newark tomorrow to meet up with denise for our red-eye flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. I start packing seriously today.

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Thanks a Stack! June has been a Great Month.

The last two weeks have been quite rewarding. Thanks a stack to the many who used our B&H links for purchases large and small. Right now I am working closely with my B&H rep to have four 400 DO and two 100-400 II BAA Affiliate orders expedited. It has been nearly impossible to come by a 400 DO II. I am hoping that my efforts pay dividends fairly soon…. The supply of 100-400IIs has been much more steady with availability every week to ten days.

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Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few weeks we have sold nearly everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. You can see the complete listings here. Do know that Steve Leimberg’s 400 DO sold instantly as predicted…. Todays items should sell quickly as well.

Two New Listings

Used Canon EF 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens

Jean Thomas is offering a used Canon EF 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 L IS in like-new condition for $699 including insured shipping via Fed Ex or UPS Ground to US addresses. The sale also includes the original tough fabric case, the strap, the original box, the front and rear caps, the lens hood, and the tripod ring. Your gear will be shipped only after your check clears.

Please contact Jean via e-mail or by phone at 954-632-5822 (EST). Photos of the lens and accessories are available upon request.

The 100-400 is a versatile intermediate telephoto zoom lens with 1,000+ uses. It makes a great starter lens especially for folks who do general nature and wildlife in addition to birds. I’ve sold 100s of images made with a 1-4 and denise loved hers for many years forsaking it only recently for the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. Jean’s 100-400 in like new condition ties the lowest-ever price for this item. artie

Used Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Lens

Sale Pending within 2 hours!

Jean Thomas is also offering the original version of the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens in excellent condition for the low price of $649. The sale includes insured shipping via Fed Ex or UPS Ground to US addresses, the tough fabric case, the original box, the front and rear caps, the lens hood, and the tripod ring. Your gear will be shipped only after your check clears.

Please contact Jean via e-mail or by phone at 954-632-5822 (EST). Photos of the lens and accessories are available upon request.

Teamed with a 7D II and a 1.4X II or III TC the original 70-200 L IS lens would make a great starter lens for someone who lives near tame birds; think Florida or California. I used this lens for birds for many years, at Fort DeSoto with the old 50D, for Bosque blast-off blurs, and at Maya’s dance recitals. And you cannot beat the low price. artie

This image was created last August at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY with the tripod-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 1000. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/320 sec. at f/9. AWB. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand (by necessity)/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Being restricted to the center AF point (ply the four expanded points) can present challenges; here the AF point was on a spot just this side of the bird’s eye… Thus, the eye in the original is a bit softer than I would have liked. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Semipalmated Sandpiper in fresh juvenal plumage

Shorebird Lessons

North American shorebirds are relatively small birds in one of several families including the sandpipers, oystercatchers, avocets and stilts, and plovers. The sandpiper family includes the small sandpipers collectively known as the “peeps,” phalaropes, godwits, yellowlegs, curlews, snipe, woodcock, and dowitchers. Many of them love running around in the mud or wet sand looking for food. Others prefer grassier habitats. Some love open beaches. Most feed on small invertebrates, small mollusks and snails, and a variety or usually aquatic insects and worms. Some like Ruddy Turnstone may resort to scavenging. I have seen them feeding on French fries at Daytona Beach and picking away at large dead fish.

When I began birding in 1976 they quickly became my favorite bird family. Do understand that many birds of the shore like gulls, terns, skimmers, ducks, pelicans, and others are not correctly noted as being shorebirds.

It is often easier to age a shorebird, that is, to tell if it is a juvenile bird or an adult, than it is to identify it as to species. The bird in today’s featured photograph is a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper. Adults in August have splotchy feather patterns that give the birds a worn, uneven look. Juveniles like this bird have a nice edging or fringe on each feather giving the bird a neatly patterned look. Semipalmated Sandpiper is one of the five regularly occurring North American peeps. It has black or very dark greenish legs and a fairly straight, fairly stout medium length bill (on average) with somewhat of a blob at the tip. The wings and tail are approximately the same length. Keep these tips in mind as you try to identify some of the additional shorebird species that I will be posting.

What Bugs Me?

While I love almost everything about this image, there are two things that bug me. They are closely related…. If you think that you know what they are, please do leave a comment.

Shorebirds, Beautiful Beachcombers

This, my first book, is perfect for anyone who wishes to learn about shorebirds (without being overwhelmed by the difficult identification problems). In addition to sharing lots of simple ID tips I cover the basics of shorebird biology and ecology including migration, breeding, and feeding habits. The book is illustrated with 70 of my images and 26 more by some of the world’s best nature photographers. We only have a very few boxes of this classic left; when they are gone it will be used copies only on Amazon or eBay only. Click here to order your copy. In most of North American southbound shorebird migration begins in earnest in a very few days with failed nesters leaving their arctic and sub-arctic nesting grounds and heading south. In July they these birds will always be worn, molting adults.

The strange thing is that when I lived in New York, I never knew about this amazing and consistently productive location.

Nickerson Beach/JBWR (possibly…)/Black Skimmer/Oystercatcher/migrant shorebird IPT: August 13-16, 2015. 3 1/2 DAYS: $1399.

Meet and greet on the evening of WED August 12. Limit 10/Openings 3.

Most of our seven photo sessions will be spent at Nickerson beach photographing the nesting Black Skimmers. In flight, sometimes battling. Carrying fish. Chicks of varying sizes from a very few just-hatched to lots of fledglings. It is likely that we will get to see some Great Black-backed Gulls preying on the juvenile skimmers. They swallow them whole. There will be lots of gulls to photograph as well as some Common Terns. Locally breeding shorebird species include American Oystercatcher–pretty much guaranteed, Willet, which is likely, and Piping Plover, which is probable but we need to get lucky with those to get close….

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office and arranging to leave your deposit of $499. I hope to see you there.

JBWR?

If local conditions are ideal we may visit Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge to photograph southbound migrant shorebirds on one or possibly two mornings. Even if we do not visit JBWR we should get some good chances with the migrant shorebirds at the beach, especially Sanderling and Semipalmated Plover. Red Knot and others are possible.

As you can see, the oystercatchers are quite tame at Nickerson. And we will get you up early and we will stay out late.

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge In-the-field Instructional Photo Workshop/Scouting Session. August 12, 2015. Morning only: $250. Cheap!

The tide will be pretty good at the East Pond…. If I learn that conditions there are un-photographable we will do Nickerson Beach as a back-up. This will work either as an add-on for out of town folks coming for the IPT above or as a stand alone session. Either way, you will, as always, learn a ton. And we might even get some good images.

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Typos

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