What I'll Miss While I Am On the Road Again: Part I

What’s Up?

Jim and I, very, very early. We left for Orlando Airport at 3:29am for my 7:15am flight to Seattle. I have a perfect just-under two-hour layover and am scheduled to arrive in Anchorage at 3:15pm local time. I will be staying the night and driving down to Homer on Wednesday.

Folks who own or who purchase the BAA Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide are invited to shoot me an e-mail with proof of purchase to learn the exact location of the very photographable eagle nest featured in this and other recent blog posts.

Today is Tuesday 15 February 2022. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took less than an hour to prepare and makes 93 days in a row with a new one.

You can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) 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 who, like me, 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 when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

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, 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.

Wanting a Nikon Z9?

If you are hot to get a Nikon Z9, your best bet is almost surely to go with Bedfords. Tip: joining Nikon Professional Services and getting your NPS number to Steve Elkins will get advance you to the top of the list!

Brand New and As-Good-As-Ever Bedfords BAA Discount Policy

Folks who have fallen in love with Bedfords can now use the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout to enjoy a post-purchase, 3% off-statement credit (excluding taxes and shipping charges) on orders paid with a credit card. The 3% credit will be refunded to the card you used for your purchase. Be sure, also, to check the box for free shipping to enjoy free Second Day Air Fed-Ex. This offer does not apply to purchases of Classes, Gift Cards, or to any prior purchases.

Money Saving Reminder

Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would like to enjoy getting 3% back on your credit card along with free 2nd Day Air Fed-Ex 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 check the box for Free Shipping. That will automatically upgrade to free 2nd Day Air Fed-Ex. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The waitlists 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 a 1, 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.

Packing Your Photo Gear for Air Travel

I finished packing my two checked bags, my Think Tank roller, and my Think Tank Urban disguise on Monday afternoon, way ahead of my usual schedule. I was thrilled to be able to get everything into the smaller of my two Think Tanks rollers, the Airport InternationalTM V2.0 rolling bag (AIRB).

I place the three lens hoods in one of my checked bags. The 600mm f/4 goes into the center of the AIRB without a cover. The 200-600 G lens and 70-200mm f/2.8 II go into hockey socks with the ends sewn shut, gifts from many years ago. I place one of the zooms on either side of the 600. Everything else goes into one or two Carhartt Men’s Knit Cuffed Beanies. One of my a1 bodies has the batter grip, the other does not. Each is placed in double beanies. I am traveling with three 1.4X TCs and two 2X TCs, each protected with a single beanie. Each of the four extra batteries is placed in a single hat. Remember that you cannot place lithium batteries in a checked bag. The last item that I slip in is the Delkin CF Memory Tote with my extra flash cards and a one of my three SanDisk 4TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2back up drives 🙂 One goes in my camera bag, one in my laptop bag, and one in a checked bag. Yes, Now I have locked the barn.

Amazingly, everything above fit comfortably in the bag that weighed in at only 35 1/2 pounds. The carry-on limit for US flights is 40 pounds. Do remember that I remove and discard all of the padded dividers. You can learn all about the Think Tank bags, receive a free gift when you purchase at least $50 of gear, and enjoy free ground shipping and the best customer service in the industry by clicking here.

Carhartt Men’s Knit Cuffed Beanie

Most folks know that I have been protecting my gear with Carhartt Watch Caps for decades. They are far less costly than the LensCoat stuff, offer far more protection in terms of absorbing shock during travel by air or by car, and better protection against moisture as well. I double the hats for my camera bodies. You can buy thinner, cheaper watch caps, but they simply do not do the job. Best of all, the beanies come in 17 colors; well-organized folks can color-code their gear by using one color for TCs, a different one for camera bodies, etc., etc., etc.

When rain threatens, I make sure to have an extra cap in my fanny pack. If it starts to drizzle or rain, I simply place the beanie over my camera body. They are thick and in addition, they repel the raindrops. I have never had a problem with a lens in the rain. Camera bodies, you ask? Well yes. But never when protected by a Carhartt beanie 🙂

Important Note

As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small percentage when you purchase from Amazon after using any of the Amazon links on the blog (including the logo-link immediately above). My link works with Amazon Prime and using it will not cost you a single cent. Huge thanks, BTW 🙂

Please Remember Also

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 (still!) save 3% on every order and enjoy free second-day air shipping. In these crazy times — I lost about fifty thousand dollars in income due to COVID 19 — 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.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs 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. If you are desperate, you can try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message and shoot me a text if I do not pick up.

This image was created on 11 February 2022 down by the lake at ILE> Standing on my tall step ladder, I used the no-longer-available Induro GIT 505X04L/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 800. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:33:48am just as the sun peeked through on a mostly cloudy morning. Tracking: Spot S AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed very well. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Bald Eagle adult feeding large chick in the nest

What I’ll Miss Most While On the Road Again Part I

This bird was hatched on or about 7 February. Young eagles grow very quickly (see the blog post here) and leave the nest anywhere from eight to 14 weeks after hatching. Most can fly at 10 to 12 weeks. As I get back on 5 March, it is likely that this eaglet, assuming that it survives, will likely still be in the nest for at least a few days. I am hoping to get one decent image of the young bird exercising its wings by flapping vigorously on the edge of the nest.

Good luck, not-so-little guy; I will miss seeing you.

The FlexShooter Pro Video

Click on the Play Arrow above to view this 17 1/2 minute instructional video. Note: Most folks — including and especially me — prefer the levered clamp model to the original FlexShooter Pro (that sells for $100.00 less).

Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pros Heads Back in Stock

The world’s greatest tripod head, the Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro, has been back in stock for several days. For good reason, they are selling like the proverbial hotcakes. Learn lots more about this amazing head in the blog post here.

The BAA Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide You can purchase your copy here in the BAA Online Store.

The BAA Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide

126 pages, 87 photographs by Joe Przybyla and Arthur Morris.
The PDF for this e-Guide is an electronic download sent via e-mail.

Purchase your copy here in the BAA Online Store.

Shoot me an e-mail with proof of purchase to learn the exact location of the very photographable eagle nest featured in this and other recent blog posts.

I had thought about doing a guide to some of the great but little-known photo hotspots around central Florida for about a decade, but those plans never came to fruition. I met Joe online in the Avian Forum at BirdPhotographer’s.Net about two years ago. Joe’s photography has improved tremendously over the past few years; he credits the BAA blog, my books and PDFs, and his participation on BPN. The one thing that I learned right from the get-go about Joe is that he is a hard and tenacious worker, always striving to improve his skills and to grow his knowledge base. As he knew of more than a few good spots in central Florida, I broached the idea of us doing a photographic site guide that covered many of the little-known photographic hotspots from Brandon to Lakeland to Joe Overstreet Road to Indian Lake Estates (my Florida home for the past 20 years or so). After more than many, many dozens of hours of effort, The BIRDS AS ART Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide is now a reality. Thanks to Joe’s wife Dottie for her review of our writing. We all learned once again that writing is a process, a back and forth process. All thanks to the white pelicans of Lakeland. Here are the locations that are detailed in this e-Guide:

• Indian Lake Estates: Sandhills Cranes with chicks and colts, lots of vultures, and Ospreys up the kazoo!
• Gatorland, Kissimmee: Learn to make great images of wading birds in a cluttered rookery.
• The Brandon Rookery: Great for nesting Wood Storks, Great Egrets, and more.
• Circle Bar B Reserve, Lakeland: Here you will find a great variety of avian subjects in a great variety of habitats.
• Lake Morton, Lakeland: There are lots of silly tame birds here including and especially American White Pelican during the colder months.
• Lake Mirror, Lakeland: Tame Anhingas, Limpkins, and a zillion White Ibises at times.
• West Lake Parker, Lakeland: Here you will have a chance for two difficult birds, Snail Kite, and Purple Gallinule.
• Joe Overstreet Road, Kenansville: Crested Caracara, meadowlarks, Loggerhead Shrike, and much more on the fenceposts and barbed wire.

Each location includes a map, a detailed description of the best spots, best season, light and time of day instructions, the expected species, and an educational and inspirational gallery that is designed to open your eyes as to the possibilities.

You can purchase a copy here in the BAA Online Store.

Typos

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