Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Huge Thanks!

Huge thanks to Allan Warner of Seattle, WA for his very generous BAA Blog Thank You Gift! Allan, it is greatly appreciated that you appreciate my effort here. Lots of love your way. artie

Still Room at the Inn

If you would like to join Bob Eastman and me at Sebastian Inlet for some great bird photography, please get in touch via e-mail or call or message me on my cell at 863-221-2372.We will be here until the morning of 23 November.

What’s Up?

As Roseane Rosannada intoned weekly on Saturday Night Live, “It’s always something.” On Friday morning, it was cherished top shots of the Sabine’s Gull for David Pugsley and me. On Saturday morning, multiple IPT veteran Sandra Calderbank joined David and Bob Eastman and me for what turned out to be yet another wonderful morning. We had an Osprey grab a summer flounder right in front of us as the sun shone briefly. And when it clouded over, an American Avocet and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull joined the usual cast of low tide characters for more than an hour. Everyone got some great images of the two uncommon species bathing.

Today is Sunday 10 November. All but Sandy will be headed early to Sebastian Inlet to see what the avian photography gods have planned for us. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, we hope that you too choose to have a wonderful day.

Please remember to use the B&H 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!

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.

Supporting My Efforts Here

If you enjoy and learn from the blog, are all set for gear, or live overseas, consider leaving a BAA Blog Thank You Gift here.

If you enjoy and learn from the blog, please consider using one of my affiliate links when purchasing new gear. It will never cost you a single penny. To support my effort here, please order from B&H by beginning your search here. Or, click here, to order from Bedfords and enter the discount code BIRDSASART at checkout to receive 3% cash back to your credit card and enjoy free Second-Day Air Fed-Ex shipping. It is always best to write for advice via e-mail.

In many cases, I can help you save some serious dollars. And/or prevent you from purchasing the wrong gear from the wrong shop.

Gilda Radner

As a cast member on the original Saturday Night Live, beloved comedienne, the late Gilda Radner, created a compelling character named “Roseanne Rosannadanna” who habitually ended her routine with the line, “It’s always something.” It was her father’s favorite expression about life.

RRS TVC-33 Versa MK2 Tripod Series 3 (3 leg sections)

Used Gear Page regular Stephen Zarate is offering a Really Right Stuff TVC-33 Versa Mark II Series (heavy duty) Tripod in excellent plus condition for a very low $740.00. The sale includes a set of LensCoat leg covers, the hex wrench that came with the tripod, and insured ground shipping via UPS to lower-48 US addresses only.

Please contact Steve via e-mail.

The VERSA MK2 Tripods merge rugged construction with flexibility; they are dependable companions for outdoor photographic adventurists who value versatility in their gear. This one sells new for $1140.00. RRS

Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro

Used Gear Page regular Stephen Zarate is offering a Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro tripod head in excellent plus condition for a very low $449.00. The sale includes the original box and insured ground shipping via UPS to lower-48 US addresses only.

Please contact Steve via e-mail.

The Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro is a ball head that acts like a gimbal. Incredibly counter-balanced, there is no ball head flop. Ever. I use this head pretty much every day with the 600mm f4 lens both for general bird photography and for flight and action. They sell new everywhere for $699.00. Learn more by watching the video here. artie

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 2.8GII ED & Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G Package

Used Gear Page regular Dennis Westover is offering a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 2.8GII ED lens in excellent condition and a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, also in excellent condition for a silly low price of $829.00 for the pair. The 70-200 sale includes the front and rear lens cap, the original cordura case, the lens shade, and a RRS tripod foot. The 50mm lens sale includes the front and rear lens cap, the original box, and the lens shade. And the sale includes insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 U.S addresses only. Your items will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Dennis via e-mail or by phone at 1-206-605-0404 (Pacific time).

The two lenses in this package sell new for $2,503.90. Grab Dennis’ package for only $829.00 and save a handsome $1674.90.

The 50mm pairs a normal field of view with an especially bright design. It is a versatile prime, well-suited for a wide range of subject matter. Characterized by its fast f/1.4 maximum aperture, this lens is adept in difficult lighting conditions and also excels at isolating subjects using selective focus and shallow depth of field techniques. A Super Integrated Coating enhances contrast and color accuracy by reducing flare and ghosting, and the rounded nine-blade diaphragm contributes a smooth, pleasing bokeh quality. Additionally, a Silent Wave Motor provides fast, quiet, and accurate autofocus performance along with full-time manual focus override. artie & B&H

Thanks, Fred!

If you are old enough to remember this one, leave a comment and share any relevant memories. I remember only that it was a very long time ago. “Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Back Seat” was written by Bob Hilliard and Lee Pockriss. It was recorded by Paul Evans in 1959 and rose to #9 on the US charts. I was 12 years old. I probably identified with the driver at that time.

This image was created on 4 November 2024 by BAA friend Fred Vaughn at Sebastian Inlet Ospreys. He used the hand held Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Camera with the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens (at 24mm). ISO 200: 1 second at f/10 in Manual mode. Image #1: Atlantic Ocean — breaking waves and barrier beach Image courtesy of and copyright 2024: Fred Vaughn

New Trick Thanks to Fred Vaughn

I first met Fred Vaughn at Stick Marsh a few years back. We’ve always chatted and he has always been quick to share some helpful tips with me. I, of course, have reciprocated whenever possible. In the predawn, on the morning of 4 November, I was trying for Sanderling flock blurs at the base of the North Jetty. Fred was a bit father out on the jetting with a short lens. I wondered what he was doing. When the shorebirds flock flew off to the north, I moseyed out toward Fred and asked him what he was up to. “One second pan blurs,” he said. And showed me a few on the back of his R5. There were some real beauties. I have done lots of wave blurs at shutter speeds as slow as 1/6 second, one second was a whole new ballgame for me. I was very intrigued by the dreamy look of his images and decided to try a few even though I had a much longer zoom lens than he was using, 200-600 as compared to 24-105mm. But one second is one second.

This image was created on 4 November by yours truly on a Sebastian Inlet Extended IPT. I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 200mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 50. 1 second at f/10 (stopped down 1 1-3 stops) in Manual Mode. AWB at 6:31:59am, right about the time of sunrise with the usual big dark clouds to the east. RawDigger showed the exposure to be perfect. Tracking: (lower center) Expand Spot with Bird Face/Eye Detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Atlantic Ocean, breaking waves Image courtesy of and copyright 2024: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Reaching One Second with the Sony a-1

In Electronic Shutter, the lowest possible shutter speed is 0.5 (one-half) second. To get to slower shutter speeds, you need to switch to Mechanical Shutter button. I did that with a conveniently pre-programmed button, set one second as the shutter speed, and worked on the exposure. I needed to set f/8 as wide open at ISO 50 was showing a big over-exposure. I made about 20 images panning slowly with the braking waves. 19 were immediately sent to the trash bin. I immediately saw the potential with Image #2, above, but with the raw file properly exposed to the right, I knew that I’d be able to bring up that wonderful colors that I had seen during the image conversion and optimization processes.

This image was created on 6 November 2024 by yours truly on a Sebastian Inlet Extended IPT. I used the handheld peashooter rig, the Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 98mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 50: 1 second at f/8 (stopped down two stops) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:38:56am just after the time of sunrise with the usual big dark clouds to the east. Tracking: (lower center) Expand Spot with Bird Face/Eye Detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #3: Atlantic Ocean — breaking wave, barrier beach, and dunes Image courtesy of and copyright 2024: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

A Wider Vision

Two days later, knowing that I wanted a wider image that included some beach and the dunes, I returned early with the peashooter rig that got me to 98 mm at the short end. Again, I worked at ISO 50, set the ISO to expose well to the right, and panned as best as I could with the waves. Same result; all but one of the images were pure trash. Only Image #3 survived the first edit. Huge thanks to Fred Vaughn for opening up this old dog’s eyes to the one second shutter speed pan blur technique.

Typos

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

What’s Up?

On Tuesday, Bob Eastman and I had another great morning at Sebastian. It was a dreary high ISO session, with a perfect wind from the southeast and as many as 50 Ospreys patrolling the inlet. They were doing lots of diving but not a lot of catching. As we headed home, I told Bob that I was sure that I had at least two really good Osprey images. I was right.

Today is Wednesday 6 November 2024. You guessed it; we will be heading back to the state park in the dark. Whatever you choose to do, we hope that you opt to have a great day too.

Bob Eastman is living proof of what is possible for someone with a Sony 200-600 and an a-1 body, their camera set up properly, and a bit of quality photographic instruction.

Tight Crop of Brown Pelican grabbing menhaden from Osprey Image courtesy of and copyright 2024: Bob Eastman

I Got Three Eggs Over Easy

In the last blog post I wrote,

Sunday morning belonged to Bob Eastman. We were ready to give up and head back to our AirBnB for some eggs. Just as Bob started the car, we noticed five Ospreys in the air right in front of us. We hesitated. Two of the birds dove and each emerged with a fish. Bob was first to the rocks. As one of my a-1 bodies had gotten wet, I went to the trunk to grab my second a-1 body. When I could not find it, I grabbed an a9 iii and headed toward the action.

Bob said excitedly, I just got one emerging with a fish!” “Great!” I said, “There is no card in this camera.” I headed back to my SUV and grabbed the card out of my wet a-1.” When I got back to Bob, he was so excited that he could barely speak. An Osprey dove in front of him, just left of sun angle. The bird had caught a large bunker and was struggling to lift it out of the water. Bob fired away. Then an adult Brown Pelican dove on the Osprey and grabbed the fish. Bob kept firing. The two birds battled for the fish. The Osprey flew off fish-less. We reviewed the images. Bob had gotten several great ones. I got three eggs over easy.

The image above is a tight crop of one of Bob’s ten images that will appear in the next blog post, one that tells the whole story. Keep reading to learn about the life of a very special friend.

Bob Eastman in State Park Greeter mode

Bob Eastman and BIRDS AS ART

Bob Eastman began hanging around the blog in 2022. It was obvious to me that he was eager to learn photography. We e-mailed a lot and spoke a few times. Bob’s message was always the same: “I really want to learn from you. I am dreaming of getting to Alaska. I want to attend an IPT. But I do not fly. I am deathly scared of getting on an airplane.”

Skip ahead to February 18, 2023. Carolyn Johnson and I have just gotten off our flight from Seattle to Anchorage. A strange looking guy meets us at the top of the stairs that lead down to bag claim. He has a big smile on his face as he greets us, but his teeth are brown and yellow rotten and misshapen. “Howdy, artie!” he says, his voice very loud and 100% hillbilly, “I’m Bob Eastman.” Carolyn and I were taken aback. We each thought, “What have we gotten ourselves into?” Fortunately, Bob had had us fooled. He removed his fake rubber teeth and gave us each a big hug as we all laughed giddily.

“Bob,” I asked, what are you doing here? I thought that your plane was gonna crash.” “It almost did,” he said. “We were 30 minutes out of Seattle when the plane dropped 700 feet in seconds. Everyone not seated with their seatbelts fastened went flying. So did trays and drinks and everything else that was not tied down. I was sure that I was going to die. Once we resumed stable flight the pilot came on and explained that we had hit a pocket of dead air.”

The next day Bob drove every inch of the way from Anchorage to Homer. He turned out to be a super-nice guy. He was a great roommate. He can be zany. He is funny and laughs easily. He is enthusiastic about everything he does. He was very eager to learn. He did the first and the last Homer IPTs. He asked a thousand questions. I loaned him the SUV during the 2nd IPT, and he was off in search of owls and Moose and anything else he could find to photograph after dropping the group at the dock. And he was always there for us with a warm vehicle as we got off the boat. He drove every inch of the way back to Anchorage even though Monte Brown offered to drive several times. Neither of his return flights crashed. When he got back to Minneapolis, he faced a snowstorm and a six hour drive back to his home in Wisconsin. That wound up taking eight hours. At night. In the dark. Somewhat miraculously, he made it home safely.

A few months ago, I made him an offer he could not refuse. He committed to driving from Wisconsin to Indian Lake Estates, spending a few days at my home, and sharing a large AirBnb in Sebastian for 26 days of Osprey photography. We are a week in to the Sebastian Inlet gig, have been having a great time, and been making some great images. Bob does most of his bird photography with “just” an a-1 and the Sony 200-600. He has developed into an excellent photographer.

As I was giving him a tour of my home just after he arrived, I was complaining that the door of the dryer opened the “wrong” way, toward the wall in the laundry room. When I woke from my nap that day, Bob said, “I tried to do some laundry but had some problems with the dryer.” Bob, always the trickster, had flipped to door of the dryer so that it opened the “right” way. I was amazed and thrilled.

After you read Bob’s biography below, you may be surprised to learn that he is completely devoid of any bitterness despite the bad luck he has had for the past five or so decades. He is a skilled and knowledgeable outdoorsman. He loves life, loves photography, speaks of the time he spends outdoors with reverence, and cherishes every minute of every day. And best of all, he is my friend.

Bob Eastman in Zany Mode disguising himself as a Moose

The Happy Life of Hapless Bob Eastman

As told to Arthur Morris

Robert Allen Eastman was born on February 25, 1957, in Milwaukee, WI. At age five, he was on his bike chasing the ice cream wagon. After purchasing four fudgsicles, he was worried about them melting. He kept checking them out until he drove his bike right at the rear fin of a 1957 Cadillac. He split his head open ,and he arrived home bleeding profusely. He woke up two months later after being placed in a medically induced coma to reduce the swelling in his brain. Reading was a challenge , and he was unable to concentrate long on anything.

His family summered at a cottage on the Wisconsin River. His neighbor was washing out a portable cement mixer. Bob was seven. The neighbor was in his house when Bob spotted a shiny rock that he wanted. He stuck his hand in to grab it but fins inside the machine grabbed his coat and lifted him up and down as it spun. He screamed and the neighbor came out and pulled the plug. His right elbow was wrecked, his arm broken in several places. At the hospital, they put his arm in a cast and sent him home.

His parents threw him out at age 15. He got a job working in a pallet factory but was fired due to his age. By 16, he began using drugs including marijuana, cocaine, and acid. He had stolen a bicycle for transportation. When the cops came asking about the bike, Bob – realizing that his life was on a very bad path, told them that he had stolen the bike, told them about his stash, and told them that he needed help. They arrested him . He was placed in Lincoln Hills Juvenile Detention Center until he was 18.

He credits his stay at the center with turning his life around.

While he was there, a team of state doctors re-broke his cement-mixer damaged right arm and set it properly. The improvement was huge.

When he was released, he rented a cabin and got a job driving a forklift, loading trucks and trains on the docks. While trying to help a driver with his load, the forklift wound up on top of Bob. Six fellow workers lifted the 6,000-pound machine off him. He had fractured his right femur. When he could walk on the leg, he went to work in the shipping office.

Thursday night was taco night at Skyline Ski Resort. He ran into a rival from high school named Jerry. Both of them were drunk. Bob grabbed a girl’s car keys and went for a joyride with Jerry. Long story short, Bob wound up marrying Susan three months later.

They had three sons. Walking home through a park after having a drink with an old friend and turning down a ride, he was mugged and severely beaten by to men to the tune of three broken ribs and a bloodied face and head after he refused to give them his wallet with seven dollars in it. Bob got to his feet, broke the arm of one of his attackers, and spent several days in the hospital.

While camping with his wife in Tomahawk, WI, Bob began running a high fever and became delusional. They borrowed a car, got lost, and knocked on a farmer’s door. He came out with a pistol followed by his wife with a shotgun. They met the ambulance on the road. The EMTs put Bob on a gurney but neglected to strap him down. The lady EMT slipped and dropped the gurney. Bob fell off the gurney 75 feet down a steep slope into a cattail marsh. Bob was waist deep in mud and muck.

By the time the male EMT fished Bob out, he was incoherent and covered with mud and slime. His temperature was 105° F. His appendix –previously misdiagnosed by a family doctor, had ruptured. He underwent emergency surgery the next morning. Bob spent another two weeks in the hospital.

In the winter of 2005 Bob went ice-fishing. Alone. The temperature was 20° F. He broke through the ice and miraculously clawed his way out of the frigid water and tried to make his way back to his car, about 1-½ miles away. He almost made it, but collapsed 100 yards short to die. A passerby had seen Bob from the main road but kept on going. After ten miles, he made a U-turn as he felt that something just did not seem right. He saw that Bob, now covered in ice from head to toe and near death, was in dire need of help. He dragged Bob up to his car, pushed and pulled him into the back seat, and drove him 15 miles to the nearest emergency room at Hartford Memorial Hospital.

Bob was in the hospital for a week. Despite advanced hypothermia, he escaped relatively unscathed. Bob never saw the man again. “An angel,” he says.

When Bob was about 50, he was working at a tool and die machine shop in Flint, MI. On his way back to his apartment in Detroit, he got lost and wound up on the Windsor Bridge into Canada. He followed a small white van with a red cross on it into Canada. The van was pulled over by Canadian customs and so was Bob, It turned out that the guys in the van were carrying two million US dollars’ worth of cocaine. The agents incorrectly assumed that Bob was part of the drug convoy.

He was locked in a room for ten hours without access to a bathroom. He was questioned relentlessly. Bob kept protesting his innocence. He was finally released – without apology, the next day after the Mounties contacted his boss.

He lost that job in 2007 during the recession. Next , he was employed by Benz Metal Industries. He was running a water jet machine that can be used to cut anything. He was loading 55 pound bag of garnet valued at $11.00. When it slipped out of his hand, he grabbed at it. He fell face first onto a pallet of garnet bags. He dislocated his left shoulder and ruptured four spinal vertebrae in his neck. He told the boss who sent him to the doc. They did an MRI of his lower back and incredibly, missed his neck injuries. The MRI showed degenerative discs and a herniated disc in the lumbar region at L4. The doctor suggested physical therapy.

That caused excruciating pain in his neck. The therapist diagnosed a neck injury. Bob went back to see an orthopedic surgeon who recommended an MRI of the head and neck. That done, Bob was told not to move anything and to re-visit the surgeon. They tried cortisone injections and physical therapy. At that point, a Workers’ Compensation nurse become involved in the case. Things got worse and worse. Pain medication was prescribed: Vicodin, Oxycodone, and Hydrocodone, all nasty stuff.

After six months of increasing medication, the pain became worse. His right side began to go numb. He had no feeling in his right hand and could not button a shirt. They put Bob on a Fentanyl patch, 100 mcg every two days. Nothing helped. So, it was back to the surgeon. Bob agreed to anterior cervical neck fusion. Workmen’s Comp cut him off completely stating that his problem was from a pre-existing condition. They would not agree to pay for the surgery.

Bob continued to get worse and worse. His weight had dropped from 185 to 130 pounds. He went to an attorney who arranged Badger Care insurance through the state of Wisconsin. One and one-half years after his accident, the surgery was performed at The Orthopedic Medical Hospital at Milwaukee, WI.

After a tough recovery, Bob was back in physical therapy. Progress was very slow. Seven months after the surgery, he went back to light duty and computer work. No lifting.

Fasten your seatbelt.

Standing next to his boss in the shop, next to the water jet machine, a ten thousand pound steel plate, 5 X 20 feet long was hanging vertically, held by a grab claw and hoist. It was swinging inexorably toward Bob. His boss noticed it and shoved Bob out of the path of the plate. Bob fell backwards onto a pallet of steel plates . He landed on his butt.

He was taken by ambulance to the hospital where injuries to his lower back were diagnosed. After a year of failed physical therapy, three rods were surgically placed in his right hip at the SI joint, an “SI Fusion.” He walked out of the hospital that same day and felt great within a week. “That was my best surgery ever,” he told me recently at the Anchorage Airport after the Homer IPTs.

Another year of physical therapy followed so that Bob could adjust to everyday life while dealing with his neck and SI fusions. He has been out of work ever since his boss had tried to save him.

Bob had been an outdoor person since childhood and loves walking in nature. In 2011, right after the second injury, Bob purchased a Canon Elan 5 and a 70-300mm zoom lens and began carrying it on his walks. Another nature photographer was born.

In 2021, at age 64, while scouting for a good cliffside location from which to photograph the coming Fourth of July fireworks in Wisconsin Dells, Bob slipped and fell 30 feet down the 100-foot cliff until he got wedged between some rocks. Fishermen on the river called rescue, but they did not show up for an hour. Once they located Bob, they rappelled down the cliff, got Bob into a rescue basket, and lowered him down to the river where he was taken by boat to the Wisconsin Dells Dam and then by ambulance to Mauston Hospital. Just bruises and some pain, but no broken bones or serious injuries.

Bob returned a week later to photograph the fireworks display from a safe spot on a folding chair down by the river.

On February 14, 2022, Bob had his left shoulder replaced. It had been injured more than 14 years before when he dropped the $11.00 bag of garnet. The surgery was quite successful; and Bob gets around just fine now without any pain meds.

Bob says, “My life has been a journey, and it’s not over yet. I’m looking forward to the rest of it.”

Postscript: While Bob was in Homer, he often went out on his own looking for owls. He fell on the ice and re-injured his right arm. When he returned home, he had the arm x-rayed: he has an elongated stress fracture of his ulna. When the doctor examined the x-rays of his right arm he was floored; “What the hell happened to your elbow?”

The next blog post will feature ten of Bob’s Osprey/pelican interaction.