Stick Marsh Better Than Expected! Join Me Soon!

What’s Up?

Monday dawned slightly foggy and very still here at ILE. I saw the large sandhill colts and the baby crane with their respective parents. The young eagle was in the nest tree with one of the adults. I created a foggy Osprey silhouette from my SUV with the big lens on the BLUBB. I saw something huge in the North Field. It looked about as big as a Volkswagen. As I got closer, I saw that it was a displaying Wild Turkey tom. He was not very cooperative … After that, I was not feeling very inspired, so I headed home at about 7:40am to do the blooming sunflowers in our backyard butterfly garden. I used the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 II lens with the 2X TC — I should have gone with the 1.4X TC, and the a1. I used my lightweight tripod set-up, the Flex-shooter Mini with the no longer available Induro GIT 204 tripod. As expected, I got some nice ones and will share the best of those here soon.

Today is Tuesday 3 May 2022. I am meeting an In-the-Field client at Stick Marsh at 6:45am. The weather for Fellsmere is looking decent: partly to mostly cloudy with an ESE breeze. Anar is heading back home to California on Friday and was anxious to get some instruction on both her 200-600/a1 rig and bird photography, especially birds in flight. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about 90 minutes to prepare and makes fifty-three days in a row with a new one.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

Click on the composite image to enjoy the incredible quality of the hi-res JPEG. Clockwise from upper left back around to the center: spoonbill with mangrove background; spoonbill head and shoulders portrait; spoonbill braking to land; spoonbill dramatic landing pose; adult Black-crowned Night-Heron; spoonbill with nesting material; Great Egret returning to nest; incoming spoonbill; and Limpkin landing.

Stick Marsh In-the-Field Sessions

6:45 to 9:15am: $250.00/person

Two 1/2 hours of intensive flight photography instruction: $250/person. Cheap! If you are interested, please contact me ASAP via e-mail and we can set up a session or two based on the weather forecast. The weather is looking fine for this Thursday and all of the following week beginning on Monday. Though photography on Sunday morning was not as good as the best days last April, it was quite excellent; I created 2230 images and kept 112 after the first edit! As I am not sure how long the action will last, the sooner the better.

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS Lens

BAA friend Robert Peltz is offering a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS lens (the original IS version) in near-like new condition with a very few blemishes on the lens foot for a very low $1699.00. The sale includes the lens trunk, the rear lens cover, the front lens cover, the lens strap, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.

Contact Bob via e-mail.

The 300mm f/2.8 lenses have long been the favorite of the world’s best hawks in flight photographers, often with the 1.4X TC. As a workhorse lens, they do well with both TCs including the 2X teleconverter. I loved my Canon 300 f/2.8s. Right now, the lack of this easily hand holdable super sharp lens is the biggest hole in the Sony lens line-up. The newer Canon version sells new right now for $6099.00. Both lenses would do well with an R5 or an R3 and one of the EF/RF adapters. But you can save a chunk of bucks by grabbing Bob’s lens today. artie

Canon EF Extender 1.4X III

BAA friend Robert Peltz is offering a Canon EF Extender 1.4X III in like-new condition for a very low $239.00. The sale includes the front and rear lens covers, the lens pouch, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.

Please contact Bob via e-mail.

As regular readers know, TCs are so important to what I do that I always travel with three 1.4X teleconverters and two 2X teleconverters. (Note: they do fail on occasion …) artie

Canon EF Extender 2X III

BAA friend Robert Peltz is offering a Canon EF Extender 2X III in like-new condition for a very low $249.00. The sale includes the front and rear lens covers, the lens pouch, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.

Please contact Bob via e-mail.

As regular readers know, TCs are so important to what I do that I always travel with three 1.4X teleconverters and two 2X teleconverters. (Note: they do fail on occasion …) artie

This image was created on 1 May 2022 at Stick Marsh. I used the hand held Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 280mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. The exposure was determined via Zebras. ISO 3200: 1/2000 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:00:22am just after sunrise with a cloud blocking the sun. Tracking: Zone AF/C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Roseate Spoonbill landing with marsh in background

It Was a Long Time Coming

I had had the feeling for quite some time that the new Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens with either teleconverter would be deadly at Stick Marsh. But with the late nesting season, several mornings with a NW wind when I stayed home, my trip to the GNPA EXPO, and then COVID, I never had the chance to try it. Until Sunday past. It was as deadly as I thought it would be. The lens is relatively tiny, the zoom mechanism is fast and sure, and AF is much improved from the original version.

All are invited to critique this image. What do you like? What don’t you like?

This image was also created on 1 May 2022 at Stick Marsh. While seated, I used the hand held 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 640. The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2000 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the raw exposure was a bit too bright (but the WHITEs were easily recovered during the raw conversion as all of the OvExp pixels were in the GREEN channel). AWB at 8:44:14am on a by then sunny morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed very well. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #2: Roseate Spoonbill tight incoming flight pano crop

Clipped But Too Good to Trash

With the incredible AF system of the a1 it is not uncommon to keep firing when a bird in flight gets relatively close, too close to fit into the frame. Yet the images are often razor sharp on the eye. There are lots of time where I will execute a “cut-rather-than-clip” crop as I did with Image #2 above. What do you think of my tight flight pano crop?

This all-new card includes images created on my JAN 2022 visit to San Diego. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

The 2022/23 San Diego Brown Pelicans (and more!) IPTs

San Diego IPT #1. 3 1/2 DAYS: WED 21 DEC thru the morning session on Saturday 24 DEC 2022. $2099.00. Deposit: $699.00. Limit: 6 photographers.

San Diego IPT #2. 4 1/2 DAYS: SAT 7 JAN thru the morning session on WED 11 JAN 2023: $2699.00. Deposit: $699.00. Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 4.

San Diego IPT #3: 3 1/2 DAYS: FRI 20 JAN thru the morning session on MON 23 JAN 2023: $2099.00. Deposit: $699.00.

Please e-mail for information on personalized pre- and post-IPT sessions.

Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s (nesting) and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Ducks; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, Northern Shoveler and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heermann’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others are possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals and California Sea Lions (both depending on the current regulations and restrictions). And as you can see by studying the IPT cards, there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well. Not to mention a ton of excellent flight photography opportunities and instruction.

Please note: where permitted and on occasion, ducks and gulls may be attracted (or re-located) with offerings of grains or healthy bread.

San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects, including and especially the Pacific race of California Brown Pelican. With annual visits spanning more than four decades, I have lots of photographic experience there … Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

Learning Exposure, Whether You Like It Or Not

Whether you like it or not, we will be beating the subject of exposure like a dead horse. In every new situation, you will hear my thoughts on the exposure situation along with my thoughts on both Nikon and Canon histograms and SONY Zebras. Whether you like it or not, you will learn to work in manual mode and to get the right exposure every time as long as a bird gives you ten seconds with the light constant. (Or two seconds with SONY zebras…) And you will learn what to do when the light is changing constantly. What you learn about exposure is one of the great takeaways on every IPT.

Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT, there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

It Ain’t Just Pelicans

With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography as well, often with 70-200mm lenses! And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication. You will be guided as to how to make the best of those opportunities. And depending on the weather and local conditions and tides, there are a variety of other fabulous photo chances available in and around San Diego.

Did I mention that there are lots of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter? Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

The San Diego Details

These IPTs will include four or five 3-hour morning photo sessions, three or four 1 1/2-hour afternoon photo sessions, and three or four working brunches that will include image review and Photoshop sessions. On rare cloudy days, we may — at the leader’s discretion, stay out in the morning for a long session and skip that afternoon. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility. And so that we can get some sleep, dinners will be on your own as well. In the extremely unlikely event that Goldfish Point is closed due to local ordinance (or whimsy) — that has never happened in the past fifty years, I will of course do my very best to maximize our photographic opportunities.

A $599 deposit is required to hold your slot for one of the 2022/23 San Diego IPTs. You can send a check (made out to “BIRDS AS ART”) to us here: BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 3385, or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, is due three months before the trip.

San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects, including and especially the Pacific race of California Brown Pelican. With annual visits spanning more than four decades, I have lots of photographic experience there … Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance for both big international trips and US-based IPTs is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality travel insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check or running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance, be sure to read the fine print carefully even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

Variety is surely the spice of life in San Diego. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

Getting Up Early and Staying Out Late

On all BIRDS AS ART IPTS including and especially the San Diego IPT, we get into the field early to take advantage of unique and often spectacular lighting conditions and we stay out late to maximize the chances of killer light and glorious sunset silhouette situations. We often arrive at the cliffs a full hour before anyone else shows up to check out the landscape and seascape opportunities.

Typos

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