Not a Baby Barracuda ...

What’s Up?

With the forecast of clear skies and a wind from the southeast, my plan was to shoot flight off one of the ladders we brought. It was a great plan, but there was a gentle breeze from the west (of all places!!!) That had the birds returning with fish landing away from us. When I came down off the ladder, Donna Bourdon and I photographed a lovely Royal Tern chick sleeping on the face of the dune bathed in early morning light. With its eye wide open.

After that, it was on to plan B. I worked at 1200 from three steps up on the ladder to be at eye level with the birds on the top of the dune. It was hot and when the wind died, even hotter. We decided to grit it out until ten am. But just before that, the wind switched to the east so we stayed an extra forty minutes with the birds landing right at us, lit nicely from below by the light reflected off the white sand beach. It was our best photography of the day. Then it was on to an air-conditioned AirBnB and brunch!

With another wind against sun afternoon, I discovered a really neat back-lit situation with terns flaring to land backlit against the shade face of the dune. Everyone partook.

Today is Saturday 17 July, the last full day of the IPT. We are heading to the beach at 5:30am. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, we hope that you too have a great day.

Remember that you can find some great photo accessories (and necessities!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks like me, who spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And it works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

This blog post took more than an hour to prepare and makes 202 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, and greatly appreciated if you would 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

This image was created on 15 July 2021 on the second afternoon of the second JAX IPT. While standing, 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 640. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/4000 sec. at f/8 (stopped down 2/3-stop) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:28pm on a sunny afternoon. Wide AF-C/Bird-Eye/Face Detection AF was active at the moment of exposure and performed well by painting the bird’s face with dancing, Zone-like AF points. Click on the image to view a larger version Royal Tern with fish for young

Not a Baby Barracuda …

What can I say? I saw those big teeth and thought barracuda. Thanks to David Policansky for placing it in the mackerel/tuna family (Genus Scomberomorus.) Heck, I did think that it was a pelagic (fast swimming, ocean-going) fish. David thinks that it is one of the three common species of Spanish Mackerel that are common from Florida to Virginia and are found as far north as Cape Cod.

Screen Capture of the same bird/same fish eight minutes later

Where’s My Chick?

As the season progresses and the chicks spread out on the beach, the adults returning with fish have a very hard time finding their own young. This bird was flying around for at least eight minutes without finding junior. On Friday morning we had one tern with a cutlassfish more than a foot longing flying circles over the colony for at least fifteen minutes.

Designing and Creating Pleasing and Dramatic Natural History Images A Video Webinar: $30 by electronic download Order your copy by clicking here.

Designing and Creating Pleasing and Dramatic Natural History Images

A Video Webinar

In this 1 hour 28 minute plus video you will learn and be inspired. We cover everything from the very basics to the fine points. After a brief bio, the topics include Behavior, Action, Diagonal Lines, and the Cuteness Factor; Birds in Flight — The Holy Grail of Bird Photography; Mis-Framing!; Basic Image Design/HORIZONTALS: Get the subject out of the center of the frame. Basic Image Design/VERTICALS: The center of the frame is generally fine; The Importance of BACKGROUND; Isolating the Subject; Other Elements of Composition; On Getting Low; Going Wide for Bird-scapes; Super-tight!; Working in Sunny Conditions; Working in Cloudy Conditions; Working in Foggy Conditions; Working in the Shade; Working in Bad Weather; Creating Back-lit Images; Creating Silhouettes; and Creating Pleasing Blurs.

Each segment of the program consists of an average of about 15 images that will drive home the points being made, educate you, and inspire. The instructions and advice, given clearly and concisely, are based on my near-38 years of experience photographing birds with telephoto and super-telephoto lenses. And on several decades of creating educational blog posts.

This presentation is based on the webinar that I did for the South Shore Camera Club in April. You can find some of the comments below along with comments from two of the folks who viewed the webinar the night before the DeSoto IPT began.

You can order your copy of Designing and Creating Pleasing and Dramatic Natural History Images/A Video Webinar by clicking here or by calling Jim with your credit card in hand at 863-692-0906.

Typos

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