800+ Images of the Same Bird ... Right Down the Barrel. Practice Fishing. And the Rocky Point

Your Favorite?

Please leave a comment letting us know which of today’s three featured images you like best, and why you made your choice.

What’ Up?

It is 11:30am on Sunday 27 June 2021. Clemens Van der Werf and I are headed up to Jacksonville Florida for the Mini-IPT. We are both excited. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

This blog post took about an hour to prepare and makes 182 consecutive days with a new one. Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords and is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great if you opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to save 3% at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And doing so always earns my great appreciation.

Please Remember

With income from IPTs now close to zero, please, if you enjoy and learn from the blog, remember to use one of my two affiliate programs when purchasing new gear. Doing so just might make it possible for me to avoid having to try to get a job as a Walmart greeter and will not cost you a single penny more. And if you use Bedfords and remember to enter the BIRDSASART code at checkout, you will save 3% on every order and enjoy free second-day air shipping. In these crazy times — I am out at least forty to sixty thousand dollars so far due to COVID 19 (with lots more to come) — remembering to use my B&H link or to shop at Bedfords will help me out a ton and be greatly appreciated. Overseas folks who cannot order from the US because of import fees, duties, and taxes, are invited to help out by clicking here to leave a blog thank you gift if they see fit.

New and Better Bedfords Discount Policy!

You can now save 3% on all of your Bedfords photo gear purchases by entering the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout. Your discount will be applied to your pre-tax total. In addition, by using the code you will get 2nd day air shipping via Fed Ex.

Grab a Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III and save $14.99. Purchase a Canon EOS R5 and your discount will be $116.97. Purchase a Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and save a remarkable $389.94! Your Bedford’s purchase no longer needs to be greater than $1,000.00 for you to receive a discount. The more you spend, the more you save.

Money Saving Reminder

Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would enjoy free second-day air shipping, your best bet is to click here, place an order with Bedfords, and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If an item is out of stock, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592 (Central time). Be sure to mention the BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order to save 3% and enjoy free 2nd-day air shipping. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The wait lists at the big stores can be a year or longer for the hard to get items. Steve will surely get you your gear long before that. For the past year, he has been helping BAA Blog folks get their hands on items like the SONY a9 ii, the SONY 200-600 G OSS lens, the Canon EOS R5, the Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is personable, helpful, and eager to please.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs (remember those?) and dozens of photographers 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

Click on the screen capture to enlarge. Image #1: Photo Mechanic screen capture of 28 juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron head shots

800+ Images of a Single Bird

Late on the cloudy afternoon of 28 May I created more than 800 images of this handsome young night-heron. I had photographed the same bird– just out of the nest — about ten days before. The last time I had photographed a juvie BCNH was on film at Big John’s Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY probably in the late 1980s. Anyhoo, I made a zillion head portraits and kept 28. I still have no clue which of those above is the strongest. When I was going through the MAY 2021 folder, it was the different images that jumped out at me. BTW, I still need to do a final edit on that folder …

This image was created on 28 May 2021 at a rookery in North Tampa. While seated, I used the Induro GIT 304L/ Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted-Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1000. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/125 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:45pm on a very cloudy afternoon. Wide/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #2: Black-crowned Night Heron juvenile

Right Down the Barrel?

Though this bird is not quite looking right down the lens barrel, images like this one, where we can see both eyes in sharp focus, can often be quite appealing. As long as the eyes are razor sharp, it does not bother me at all the distal end of the bill is softly focused, well beyond the depth-of-field. At 840mm, no aperture would provide enough d-o-f to render the entire bill sharp.

This image was created on 28 May 2021 at a rookery in North Tampa. While seated, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 326mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 2000. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/500 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:51 pm on a very cloudy afternoon. Wide/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #3: Black-crowned Night Heron juvenile catching dead fish

Practice Fishing

This young bird was not venturing more than a few dozen yards away from its nest in the bushes on the nearby rookery island. It would come into the shallowest part of the pond to practice fishing. Here, it is in the process of catching a small, very dead fish. It promptly swallowed the its “prey” and looked quite happy with its accomplishment.

The diet of this species is quite varied and consists mostly of fish. In addition they will partake of crustaceans, aquatic insects, frogs, snakes, clams, mussels, rodents, and carrion. At times, they will feast on eggs and young birds, and can cause big problems in tern colonies. At Great Gull Island, NY, they shot a Black-crowned Night Heron; it had 27 Common Tern chicks in its stomach!

This image was created on 28 May 2021 at a rookery in North Tampa. While seated, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 3200. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/500 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:55 pm on a very cloudy afternoon. Wide/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Image #4: Black-crowned Night Heron juvenile hunting in the rocks

The Rocky Point

At the southern end of the rookery pond, there was a small point surrounded by a small barrier of rocks –limestone, I think. Many of the young birds would land on the rocks and hang out for a while. I made this image as the very tame bird looked for tidbits near the rocks.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.