Five Photographers, Five Spoonbills, and Three Sea Lions

Change Your Life

Roseate Spoonbill and/or Baby Sandhill Crane In-the-Field Instruction

Join me for one, two, or three mornings of Roseate Spoonbill photography on April 6, 7, and or 8. I have room for you at the Vero Lake Estates AirBnB from April 5, 6, and 7. Baby cranes at Indian Lake Estates would be do-able on the mornings of April 6 and 7. If interested, please contact me immediately e-mail or by text to 863-221-2372 for a price quote. Out of town folks might wish to arrange a flight to Melbourne (airport pick-up is possible). Riding with me is also possible.

Your Call

Which is the strongest of the five very excellent spoonbill images? Why did you make your choice?

What’s Up?

On Monday morning artie and the three ladies had a wonderful morning photographing the two baby cranes on the South Peninsula at ILE. On Tuesday morning we let the AirBnB at 5:15 and headed to Merritt Island NWR in Titusville in hopes of a glorious red sunrise like the one I shared with Jim Dolgin several years ago. Instead, we were fogged out. Once it got light we traversed Black Point Wildlife Drive twice and saw fewer birds than I’d ever seen in my previous three dozen trips. On our second time around, we had our best chance with a perched adult Green Heron. Other than that there was only a smattering of Snowy and Reddish Egrets, Great Blue and Little Blue Heron, along with a kingfisher and an Anhinga or two and a smattering of shorebirds.

Today is Wednesday 2 April 2025. We are headed back to Stick Marsh for the first group’s last shot at the spoonbills. Judy and Colleen head home this afternoon. It’s been great. Multiple IPT veteran Carolyn Johnson, her daughter Marni, her granddaughter Katie, and two cousins from Virginia will be getting to the AirBnb today at varying times and joining me for three mornings of spoonbill photography. Whatever you opt to do, I hope that you too choose to have a wonderful day. Do remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie, The Work.Com.

If an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, 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 earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

Used Induro GIT 505 XL Tripod Bargain

Price reduced $50.00 on 2 April 2025

Your truly, Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, is offering a rarely used Induro Stealth GIT 505XXL in like new condition for $475 (was $525.00). This is the monster of all tripods. It offers maximum strength and rigidity and can support 88.2 pounds of gear with ease. It stands 81.3″ tall with the legs fully extended. It is perfect for folks desiring maximum stability in windy conditions, those working from a fixed position with very slow shutter speeds, and in situations where you need to ge very tall such as when working a tree nest possibly while standing on a ladder. This is not a tripod that you want to be carrying around in the field unless you are Superman. The sale includes only the legs and insured ground shipping to your lower 48 address. Please contact artie via e-mail. I could not find a single one for sale anywhere in the world. I paid B&H $802.50 for it when purchased new in 2021.

Sony Alpha 1 (a-1) Mirrorless Camera Body

Used Gear Page regular, IPT veteran, and dear BAA friend Bill Schneider is offering a Sony a-1 (ILCE-1) mirrorless camera body (Firmware v1.32) in like-new condition for a ridiculously low $3,498.00. The sale includes the original product box and everything that came in it, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. As this was Bill’s back-up a-1, it was used only rarely.

Please contact Bill via e-mail or by phone at 1-262-269-8628 (Eastern time zone).

I used Sony a-1 bodies as my workhorse cameras for three years. They produce stunning 51MP files with vivid natural colors. The AF system is science-fiction-like. They are rugged and dependable and 30 frames per second is nothing to sneeze at. With a brand new a-1 ii going for $6498.00, you can save $3000.00 by grabbing Bill’s pretty much as good as new copy ASAP. Currently, B&H is offering a used a-1 in 9+ (like-new condition) for $4,507.95. That makes Bill’s a- an absolute steal. artie

This image was created on 28 March 2025 on the 2025 Stick March Extended IPT by multiple IPT veteran Vasili Chernishof. Seated on a pillow on a jetty rock, he used the hand held Canon RF 100-300mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens with the Canon Extender RF 1.4x (at 280mm) and the remarkable Canon EOS R1 Mirrorless Camera. ISO 8000: 1/2500 sec at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:27:6am on a cloudy morning. Image #1: Roseate Spoonbill touching down Image courtesy of and copyright 2025: Vasili Chernishof Image Optimization by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Touch Down!

Kudos to Vasili for nailing this spoonbill just as it was about to land. I love the soft light, the swept back wings, the feet just touching the rocks, and the rocks themselves. Kudos also for zooming out to 280mm to ensure getting the whole bird in the frame.

Vasili’s Mistake

Vasili should have listened to his teacher. I told him to leave the 1.4X TC off for early morning/low light flight photography. Had he listened, he could have been at 280mm at f/4 at ISO 4000 or, even better, at 280mm at f/2.8 at ISO 2000. That said, the image is quite lovely. Note that there would have been pretty much no difference in the depth of field at f/2.8 as compared to f/4.

This image was created on 29 March on the 2025 Stick March Extended IPT. Seated on a pillow atop a sturdy plastic milk crate, I used the hand held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. ISO 1250. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel; 1/2000 sec. at f/2.8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect: AWB at 7:34:32am on a partly cloudy morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Image #2: Roseate Spoonbill turning in flight Image 2025 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Always Go For The Higher Bird!

There are often two or three or four incoming spoonbills at a given moment. My advice is that folks always pick the higher bird. Why? It is always easy to determine the flight path of the typically low-flying spoonbills. On the other hand, birds approached the tiny spit of land that are 20 40 feet in the air are far more likely to twist and turn in flight as they make their final approach. Like the bird in Image #2.

My Mistake

I absolutely should have been at 1/3200 second at ISO 2000. The result of this error was a bit of motion blur on the spoonbills head.

This image was created on 29 March by Anita North on the 2025 Stick March Extended IPT. Lying in the grass on her back, she used the hand held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. ISO 1250. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel; 1/400 sec. at f/2.8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect: AWB at 7:16:39am on a partly cloudy morning. Tracking Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Image #3: Roseate Spoonbill with vine for nest Image courtesy of and copyright 2025 Anita North Image optimization by Anita North

Lying on Her Back?

Yes, Anita North often lies flat on her back on the ground with here feet pointed toward the subject to create stunning low-perspective images. She often winds up covered with bug bites and her technique would not work for most folks as it requires great core strength and bending your neck awkwardly to get your eye to the viewfinder. But the super-low perspectives are a great way to reduce clutter and produce intimate portraits of birds and animals. The strand of vine and the perfect head angle here make for a superb image.

This image was created by Judy Stepenaskie on 30 March on the 2025 Stick March Extended IPT. Seated on a pillow atop a sturdy plastic milk crate, she used the Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Z Lens (Black, Canon RF) with the Canon Extender RF 1.4x and the impressive Canon EOS R6 Mark II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined using the in viewfinder histogram and confirmed after evaluation of blinkies on the JPEG. AWB at 8:04:06m on a cloudy morning. ISO 2000: 1/3200 sec. at f/4. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #4: Roseate Spoonbill taking flight Image Courtesy of and Copyright 2025: Judy Stepenaskie Image Optimization by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Bingo!

Both Judy and the r6 ii did a fine job that led to this lovely image of a spoonbill taking flight. that without pre-capture! Way to go Judy.

No mistakes with this one.

This image was created by Colleen O’Connor on 30 March on the 2025 Stick March Extended IPT. Seated on a pillow atop a sturdy plastic milk crate, she used the Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Z Lens (White, Canon RF) with the Canon Extender RF 1.4x and the Canon EOS R5 Mark II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined using the in viewfinder histogram and confirmed after evaluation of blinkies on the JPEG. AWB at 7:57:04am on a cloudy morning. ISO 1250: 1/2000 sec. at f/4. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #5: Roseate Spoonbill landing Image Courtesy of and Copyright 2025: Colleen O’Connor Image Optimization by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Nailed by the R5 ii

Kudos to Colleen who arrived in San Diego last January without a clue. She has worked hard to master the basics of bird photography in a relatively short time.

Colleen’s Error

Colleen made the exact same mistake with this image that I made with Image #3; she should have been at 1/3200 sec. at ISO 2000 in the low light.

This image was created by Colleen O’Connor on 13 January 2025 on the San Diego Extended IPT. Standing at full height by the bridge club, she used the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens with the Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R and the Canon EOS R5 Mark II Mirrorless Camera. Evaluative metering +0.7 stops. AUTO ISO sent ISO 1250; 1/3200. sec. at f/5.6. AWB at 9:39:11am on a cloudy morning. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #6: California Sea Lions in breaking wave — one jumping Image Courtesy of and Copyright 2025: Colleen O’Connor Image Optimization by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Why Not Spoonbills?

Colleen made this amazing image on the San Diego IPT this past January. As she did not stay with the group in the AirBnB, I did not get to see or optimize it before doing the blog post that featured images from the rest of the group. I was 100% sure that I had run it on the blog but was 100% wrong so I decided to add it to today’s post. With apologies.

Photographing the jumping sea lions is a huge challenge as you never know when one will jump. Getting the right exposure is a huge challenge as one second you might have a sea lion — a dark subject, in the dark face of a breaking wave and an instant later have the same animal in the bright white of a breaking wave. I suggested to the group that they try Shutter Priority mode with AUTO ISO with the Exposure Compensation (EC) set to +2/3 stop noting that it would be the best option in an almost impossible exposure situation. Colleen listened to my advice and nailed the shot.

Typos

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