A Double Delkin Card Miracle Thanks to Carlotta Grenier

Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM Lens in Stock

Steve Elkins of Bedford Camera asked me to let you know that he has one Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM lens in stock with your name on it. Act fast and remember to use the BIRDSASART code at checkout for 3% back on your credit card and free second-day air Fed-Ex. Huge thanks to Sanjeev Nagrath who grabbed a Canon RF 600mm f/4 IS L lens from Bedfords on Friday and used the BIRDSASART code at checkout!

What’s Up?

I got to Nickerson very early on Friday morning and had some more fun with the red-light sunrise stuff. While doing Ring-Billed Gulls and oystercatchers, I noticed a larger gull with long wings — a Lesser Black-backed Gull. I made some fine images of the handsome bird in the red light, and once the sun rose, moved around to shoot the formerly very rare gull front-lit in the golden early morning light. It was likely the same individual that I had photographed with Sanjeev on Thursday morning. With a NW wind on both mornings, the bird spent most of its time angling away from the light and looking to the west. The trick was to get the bird square to the sensor with a decent head angle. I succeeded doing that on both mornings, but most of Thursday’s images will be deleted on the second edit as the light was much harsher.

Today is Saturday 20 August 2022. The forecast for Lido Beach is for more light winds from the west. With mostly cloudy skies, the morning should be more productive. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about two hours to prepare (including the time spent on the one image optimization) and makes one hundred forty-nine 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 to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

Time is Running Out

Many folks are scheduled to join me at either Nickerson or JBWR in the next two weeks for an In-the-Field session or two. The first window for doing shorebirds at the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge has closed. The second window is from 24-26 August.As above, I have a private client on the 26th. See the additional details below. Muhammad Arif enjoyed three In-the-Field sessions and made lots of great images with his R5. I hope to share some of them with you here soon. Carlotta Grenier came for her third session recently and Sanjeev Nagrath learned a ton during his three Nickerson Beach sessions. Sandy Brown will be flying in from Seattle for an afternoon at Nickerson and a morning at JBWR.

Clockwise from the upper left corner back around to the center: Wilson’s Phalarope, JBWR; just fledged Common Tern, Nickerson; Black Skimmer, adult skimming, Nickerson; Black Skimmer killing tiny skimmer chick, Nickerson; American Oystercatcher foraging at sunrise, Nickerson; Common Tern chick swallowing baby bluefish, Nickerson; Short-billed Dowitcher, juvenile, double overhead wing stretch, JBWR; Black Skimmers, predawn flock blur, Nickerson; Black Skimmer, 10-day old chick, Nickerson. Click on the card to view a larger version. Nickerson Beach/East Pond JBWR composite

Nickerson Beach/East Pond at Jamaica Bay (JBWR) In-the Field Workshops

Both Nickerson Beach and the East Pond at JBWR offer some of the best midsummer bird photography on the planet. Hundreds of pairs or Black Skimmers and Common Terns along with dozens of pairs of American Oystercatchers breed at Nickerson each season so there are lots of chicks of all sizes and handsome fledged young birds to photograph. Provided that the water levels are low, hundreds of young shorebirds in their handsome fresh juvenile plumages stop by the pond each August on their way south.

Nickerson often reveals nature at it rawest, most basic level. Most days we get to photograph all sorts of dramatic behaviors ranging from skimmers and terns fishing and feeding (and tending) their young. There are often chances to shoot a variety of predatory encounters — gulls eating large skimmer chicks, skimmers attacking (and sometimes killing) skimmer babies, and Peregrine Falcons hunting. And rarely, if we are lucky, Peregrine Falcons catching! Consider joining me to learn a ton both about bird photography and the birds.

I head south on 31 August and should be back home on 1 September (barring anything unforeseen). I am offering In-the-Field sessions at both Nickerson Beach and the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. If you are interested, please get in touch via e-mail or text me at 863-221-2372.

The Delkin card near the spot where Carlotta Grenier found it

A Double Delkin Card Miracle Thanks to Carlotta Grenier

As noted here previously, when I reached into my pocket for the Delkin Devices 160GB BLACK CFexpress Type A Memory Card at brunch-time on August 14th, I came up empty. I searched the car for the missing card. I searched the AirBnB. I made an hour round-trip from Valley Stream to the Whole Foods Market in Garden City I had visited earlier in the day in hopes of finding the card on the floor near the register. That had worked for me once before. But no luck this time. When I got back to Nickerson at 5:30 that day, I searched the parking lot around the spot I had pulled into 12 hours before. I expected that the card would come back to me, but it seemed that it was not to be.

The First Miracle

Three days later, Carlotta Grenier joined me for a third In-the-Field session, a morning at Nickerson. She sat in the shade near the concession tables to get out of her surf booties and put on dry shoes and socks. Then she walked toward the ladies room. The next thing that I know, sh is walking toward my car waving something. “I found it! I found your card!” How in the world she ever spotted the card will forever be beyond me.

I was amazed, but not surprised.

The wrecked Delkin card

The Card, However …

The card, however, had seen better days. A lot better. I had never walked by the spot where Carlotta found it, so I have no idea how it got there. It was obvious that the card had been run over by multiple vehicles, if not by several M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks. I was glad that the card came back to me, but had already given up hope of ever seeing the images. Once I saw the condition of the card, all hope disappeared. The black metal cover was peeled back, held in place by some sort of rubber adhesive.

I called Scott Clark at Delkin and described the condition of the card. Since it seemed that the severely damaged card would clearly not fit in a card reader, Delkin would not be able to attempt to recover the images. Scott suggested that a data recovery outfit might be able to remove the chip and recover the images. He sent me the info. I quickly decided that I was not going to spend $765.00 to recover the images.

This image was created on 14 August 2022 at Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. While seated on damp sand, I used the flattened, no-longer available except from BIRDS AS ART, Induro GIT 304L tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). Shutter Priority at zero. The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with Exposure Compensation on the thumb dial. AUTO ISO set ISO 160. 1/800 sec. at f/8 (wide open). When evaluated in RawDigger, it was determined that the raw file exposure was dead-solid perfect. AWB at 6:17:55 am what would become a clear morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Black Skimmer with wings raised backlit at sunrise

The Second Miracle

Throwing caution to the wind, I carefully tore the metal cover off the card, rubbed away the rubber cement, and stuck what was left of the card into the reader. The 1347 images downloaded perfectly on the first attempt. The image above was the best of those.

To help facilitate card usage in almost any environment, as well as keeping your content safe, Delkin has built its BLACK Series with a rugged design that is waterproof and shockproof, as well as resistant to temperature extremes. In order to further enhance reliability and functionality, the BLACK Series is protected by a lifetime warranty and a 48-hour replacement guarantee upon registration with Delkin.

Delkin 48-Hour Replacement Guarantee

Delkin BLACK memory cards come with a premium 48-hour replacement guarantee in addition to their lifetime warranty policy. Delkin will replace any non-working card within 48 hours or less (not including weekends), prior to receiving your non-working card. You can also replace your card over the counter at any authorized Delkin BLACK reseller. To activate your BLACK card’s free replacement program and lifetime warranty, simply register your card online with Delkin.

Delkin Devices 160GB BLACK CFexpress Type A Memory Card

Read Speed: Maximum: 880 MB/s
Write Speed: Maximum: 790 MB/s

Sony 160GB CFexpress Type A TOUGH Memory Card

Read Speed Maximum: 800 MB/s
Write Speed Maximum: 700 MB/s

The Delkin 160GB BLACK CFexpress Type A Memory Card reads 10% faster than the comparable Sony card, and writes 13% faster. In addition, with Delkin you get a virtually indestructible card that comes with a lifetime 48-hour replacement guarantee. And I do not think that you want to run over your Sony card with a tank.

All Delkin Black cards are incredibly rugged and come with the 48-hour replacement guarantee. Find the right Delkin card for your camera in the BAA Online Store here.

Why Delkin Cards?

Whether I am photographing on a bucket-list trip to Snow Hill Island in Antarctica (via Russian icebreaker), or shooting Sandhill Cranes down by the lake near my home, I use and depend only on Delkin cards. Not only does Delkin make a great product, but they also stand behind their stuff (though that is rarely necessary).

I was very lucky to meet Alan Parry (then of Delkin) a zillion years ago at a NANPA meeting, actually in 2001. That was the very dawn of my digital age and I have been using Delkin cards from Day One. Delkin cards are as dependable as they get. I have put Delkin cards in the washing machine without a problem. I have even dropped them in saltwater with the same results. Once at Point Pelee my card spent about 8 hours in a plastic trash bag at a Chinese Restaurant filled with cooking fat, house special fried rice, and spare rib bones. Really. (Management kept insisting that they did not have the card but I persisted until they searched through the trash and found it.) Once I got my hands on the card, I brushed it off and was able to download my killer Red-headed Woodpecker and Baltimore Oriole images without a problem. Really. Just so you know, Delkin cards are made in the USA, right there in Poway, CA.

No matter how poorly you treat your Delkin card, the manufacturer will replace it free of charge. And they will do their very best to recover any images on the card. And they are pretty darned good at that.

Typos

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