Phoenix Farewell, for now ... And Life Goes On.

Stuff

I woke just before the alarm on Saturday morning at 2:50am. I showered, finished packing my bags, filled the tank, made a quick stop at Southwest curbside check-in, returned my rental car, took the shuttle to Terminal 4, enjoyed TSA pre-check, and was at the gate early. The nonstop flight to Orlando was fast and uneventful but very bumpy. My bags came out quickly and I was home at 2:06pm eastern time.

Life Goes On …

They say that for a plane to crash, about a dozen things have to go wrong in just the right order. When I got home I took a nice nap. I decided to take a swim despite the fact that the pool temps had dropped eight degrees during the two weeks that I was gone. I got in the pool at 5pm. My rehab had gone great and I was feeling better overall physically than I had in probably four or five decades, maybe more. I swam my 50 lengths, a bit more than half a mile. I forgot to bring my bathrobe and a big towel out to the deck so instead of getting in my robe on the pool deck and drying off a bit, I was anxious to get to my bedroom for my robe. I stripped in the hallway outside of my bedroom and left my suit and my snorkeling caps and my booties and my snorkeling vest and my shirt in a big wet pile on the tile in the hall. I got into my robe and dried off a bit, grabbed the wet pile, and took it to the dryer where I grabbed my favorite large green towel. I never turned on the hallway light. I was getting ready to do my physical therapy exercises, still feeling great. I head to my bedroom to get dressed. As I turned, I slipped on the wet puddle left by the swim stuff. I crashed hard on my left arm and heard a large crack. At best, I knew that I had messed up my left shoulder pretty badly. But I did not have any sharp pain and was able to lift my arm directly overhead so I knew that I had not dislocated my shoulder or broken my collar bone.

I called Amy Novotny, the physiotherapist who had helped me so much over the past ten weeks, and was lucky to get her. She advised 20 minutes of ice alternating with an hour off and urged me to keep the shoulder joint moving while blowing up my balloons. I did that but the shoulder has tightened up tremendously with some accompanying pain as expected. By 9:00pm the range of motion in my left shoulder was severely restricted. I will be off to bed soon. If I have not damaged any rotator cuff muscles — I do not think that I have — I should be good to go in short order. Time will tell.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention and use your BIRDSASART coupon code for your online order. Patrick Sparkman saved $350 on a recent purchase!

The Streak

Today makes two hundred twenty-three days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 30 minutes to prepare. With all of my upcoming free time (or not…), the plan right now is to try to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

The Used Gear Page

Action on the Used Gear Page recently has been fantastic. You can see all current listings here.

Canon EOS 40D/EF 28-135mm IS Zoom Lens Kit (with extras)

David Solis is offering a Canon EOS 40D/EF 28-135 mm IS USM kit with both items in excellent condition for the amazing low price of $349.00. With the camera body the sale includes the original box, the front body cap, LCD screen protectors, and one Delkin 16 GB (60 MB/s, 450x) compact flash card. With the lens the sale includes the front lens cap, the lens hood — EW-78B II — in good condition, a B+W 72mm 010 (UV) filter, a Tiffen 72mm circular polarizer filter, a Tarmac soft pouch 3-filter holder, the user manuals, the EOS Digital Solution Disk, four Canon BP-511A camera batteries, two Canon CG-580 battery chargers, the interface & video cables, a new Canon camera strap, and the BG-E2n battery grip, the 6-AA-battery magazine — BGM-E2 — as an alternative to using two camera batteries, and insured ground shipping via UPS to U.S. addresses only. Photos are available on request. Your purchase will not ship until your check clears the bank.

Please contact David via e-mail or phone at 1-(505) 699-4968 (Mountain time Zone). No text messages please.

The 40D was Denise Ippolito’s favorite camera body. She rued the day that she sold it to get the original 7D. The 40D has an excellent AF system and produces clean 10.1 megapixel files. The 28-135 was the forerunner of the two versions of the 24-105L IS zooms. I used my 28-135 for many years to create a variety of B-roll images, most notably was one of a baby Common Raven in a nest below the roadway of a bridge in Nome, AK. Several folks held my ankles as I hung over the side to get the image. This kit would make a great starter rig for photographers of any age. artie

Booking.Com

Several folks on the Spoonbill IPTs used the Booking.Com link below and got great rates and saved a handsome $25.00 in the process. If you too would like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and to earn a $25 reward on your first booking. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of folks whom I see in the field, and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This image was created at the Gilbert Water Ranch Riparian Preserve in Gilbert Arizona on the morning of March 9, 2018. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III, and the Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering +2/3 stop as framed: 1/160 sec. at f6.3 in Manual mode. Cloudy WB at 7:26am on a cloudy bright morning. One AF point above and one to the left of the center AF point/d-9 Shutter Button AF. The selected AF point right on the base of the bird’s open bill, right on the same plane as the bird’s eye. AF Focus peaking Fine-tune +4. Pied-billed Grebe calling

Phoenix Farewell, for now …

On my last morning in Phoenix, I went to Gilbert hoping to get some good images of Pied-billed Grebe and drake Ruddy Duck in breeding plumage. Several of the former and one of the latter had been hanging out in the same spot. One out of two ain’t bad. I love the soft light here and the soft, watercolor background offset by the sharpness of the bird’s feathers. I kept an even dozen grebe images but this one with the bird calling was my favorite by far. All of the images were created in Manual mode with the bird set against a variety of backgrounds ranging from reflected white sky to reflected dark green vegetation. The correct exposure for the bird did not change with as the bird swam in and out of the different backgrounds as the light was constant. There will be a follow-up blog post on this topic using these images.

Registering for an IPT

To register for any of the IPTs below call Jim or Jen in the office at 863-692-0906 from Monday morning through Friday lunch with your credit card in hand to leave your $500 non-refundable deposit. Balances may not be paid by credit card so you will be asked to send a check for your balance along with the signed paperwork that you will find here.

Great Egrets in breeding plumage are quite beautiful

Gatorland IPT #1. Sunrise: 7:25am, Sunset: 7:40pm

3 1/2 DAYs: THURS 22 March through and including the morning of SUN 25 MAR. $1599. Limit 5 photographers.

(2 1/2 DAY option) FRI 23 March through and including the morning of SUN 25 MAR. $1199.

Must purchase Gatorland Photographers Pass. Click here for details. All early entry. Late stays Friday and Saturday. Thursday late-stay is under discussion. Gatorland IPT #1 is best for killer breeding plumage Great Egrets. With chicks. Also Wood Stork and Cattle Egret. Surprisingly, there are already more than a few Snowy Egrets and Tricolored Herons in breeding plumage! Learn to get the right exposure, flight photography techniques, my secret Gatorland spots, how to see the best situations (nobody is better at that than me), and how to make great images in extremely cluttered situations.

Tame birds in breeding plumage are great fun.

Gatorland IPT #2. Sunrise: 6:48am. Sunset: 7:58pm.

3 1/2 DAYs: THURS 26 APR through and including the morning of SUN 29 APR. $1599. Limit 5 photographers.

(2 1/2 DAY option) FRI 27 APR through and including the morning of SUN 29 APR. $1199.

Must purchase Gatorland Photographers Pass. Click here for details. All early entry. Late stays Friday and Saturday. Thursday late-stay is under discussion. Gatorland IPT #2 should have lots of chicks, and lots of birds in breeding plumage. We will get to photograph Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, and Wood Stork. The Cattle Egrets in full breeding plumage will be present in good numbers. Learn my Gatorland strategy, to get the right exposure, flight photography techniques, my secret Gatorland spots, how to see the best situations (nobody is better at that than me), and how to make great images in extremely cluttered situations.

Large Tricolored Heron chicks (lower left) are to die for!

Gatorland #3. Sunrise: 6:33am. Sunset: 8:10pm.

3 1/2 DAYs: THURS 17 MAY through and including the morning of SUN 20 MAY. $1599. Limit 5 photographers.

(2 1/2 DAY option) FRI 18 MAY through and including the morning of SUN 20 MAY. $1199.

Must purchase Gatorland Photographers Pass. Click here for details. All early entry. Late stays Friday and Saturday. Thursday late-stay is under discussion. Gatorland IPT #3 is best for medium sized chicks of the following species: Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret, and Tricolored Heron. Head portraits of handsome fledged Great Egrets are pretty much guaranteed. Learn to get the right exposure, flight photography techniques, my secret Gatorland spots, how to see the best situations (nobody is better at that than me), and how to make great images in extremely cluttered situations.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my (stupendous) efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).