Sandhill Crane

Its been a few months since I have been on my Blog, so I remembered I had these pictures of the Sandhill Crane I wanted to share. Not much of a summer in Ontario - lots of rain and not that warm. One of the highlights of the summer was this picture I was able to take of these Sandhill Cranes with their chicks. My wife and I were only 10 minutes from our Cottage and she spotted a car stopped on the side of the road looking at something. Naturally we thought it was deer or a bear since we see them often. Nope!!! We saw these new parents. As always I had my camera ready and was able to take a few shots before they became skittish. I have never seen Sandhill Chicks in Northern Ontario before so I was very excited. It seems to becoming a more regular occurrence.

Speaking of excitement, I will be hosting two tours coming up soon. Come tour with me in either Panama in December or Costa Rica in January. Only a few spots left!! Check us out at www.birdinglifetours.com. Hard to beat prices with a very different service offering.

Highlights from Point Pelee 2009

The highlight of this years trip to Point Pelee for Spring Migration was the Prothonotary Warbler. Most of the time he was very far away and we needed our binoculars to get a good look, however, luck was on our side when he flew in for a quick look at us!!!


I have never been this close to an American Coot. It was after a long day in the park and we were heading out and decided to have a quick stop at the boardwalk. We were very glad we did.

This Black Billed Cuckoo is a lifer for me. Never ran across one before and would have missed this one if the group in front of us on the trail didn't spot him. He was motionless for a very long time. Lots of cameras captured him that fine day.

One of my favorite photographs is this action shot of two male Red Breasted Mergansers. What is missing from the photograph is the female just to the left of the image and a third male to the right. Spring is wonderful!


Last and least, is this Black Throated Green Warbler. Rather a boring photograph, however it does capture a colorful male.

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Birding Clothing - Basics and Extras

I am taking a bit of a diversion from my normal photography blogging to talk about Birding Clothing - Basics and Extras. Birding can take many shapes, from a quick stroll after breakfast to a formal birding trip into the rainforest. Naturally, your clothing needs to adjust as well.

The Basics

• comfort - first and foremost wear what is comfortable. Get rid of what looks good if it is not comfortable. You want to be watching the birds NOT thinking about how sore your foot is because your shoes are not comfortable.
• footwear - hiking boots, hiking shoes and rubber boots are all good choices depending on the terrain. Hiking boots and shoes are waterproof and will keep your feet dry in rain and in wet terrain. If you bird a lot in uneven terrain then get the extra ankle support provided by hiking boots. Rubber boots can get you much closer to the birds when your are birding in wetlands.
• clothes - earth tone clothes are best - please no bright colors or white. Stick with Khaki, brown, green, and gray. A comfortable hat will come in handy for the rain and sun. Pick the same colors as mentioned above. Make sure you wear clothes that don't squeak or rustle when you walk. Sometimes the most expensive rain gear can make a lot of noise when walking.

The Extras

• Vest - a lightweight vest with lots of mesh can be a good addition to your birding gear. Lots of pockets always come in handy for fieldguides, protein bars, camera gear etc. Also it provides an additional layer of clothing which will keep you warm.
  
• Repellent - Insect repellent is handy at times and fits easily in a vest pocket. I would recommend only using it when the bugs are really bad as it can be quite greasy and make marks on your plastic equipment - binoculars and cameras. That is because of the chemical "Deet" used in most effective repellents. Be careful!!
• Poncho - a cheap poncho that goes into one of your vest pockets comes in handy for those sudden rainfalls and helps keep your equipment dry too.
• First Aid Kit - a very small kit that contains painkillers, bandages, and tensor bandages are best and can fit into a vest pocket as well. Don't let a headache or a sore knee, ankle spoil your birding experience.

Here is a short video that describes the basics.


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Cinnamon Hummingbird - Mexico

Cinnamon Hummingbird, originally uploaded by Michael A. Nelson.

This photo was taken in the Yucatan. We were staying at one of the resorts and this particular Hummingbird was seen just off the resort during a birding walk. In my travels I am always amazed at why there are not hummingbird feeders everywhere. The different types of hummingbirds that can be attracted can be quite amazing in Central and South America yet most general resorts don't have them. Hummingbirds are generally liked by not just birders, but all types of people.

I find Hummingbirds extremely hard to identify. I usually need a photograph so that I can pick it out from the many types in Central and South America.

It is great now that our one Hummingbird in Ontario (Ruby-throated) is now making its way north and should be here sometime in April. A number of them nest very close to where we keep our Hummingbird feeder. In fact wearing a red t-shirt near a Hummingbird feeder can bring some interesting results. Try it sometime!!

I remember I was amazed that the first time I did not get my feeder out in early spring the Hummingbirds would go right to the exact spot of where the feeder was the year before and just hover. The guilt quickly made me ensure our feeders are up early every year.

Join me in one of my birding tours in Central and South America. Look for details at www.birdinglifetours.com

How Technology is changing Bird Photography

The Traditonal Approach to Great Bird Photography

Taking quality Bird photographs has always been a trade off. Buying a quality DSLR with a quality 500mm lens (the best for bird photography) would not only set you back thousands but you would have a weight of about 9-10 pounds as well as a tripod for most situations. Plus you want to take your binoculars as well, right? So you are talking about at least 12 pounds to lug around with you. Does this sound like a practical solution for bird photography if you are a serious birder and want great photographs? Now with this setup the photos you do take will be exceptional. There is no question about that. Shooting bird photographs from a 500mm prime lens sitting on a tripod will get you the highest quality photographs that technology will allow you today. But how many will you miss? Setup time is long. Can you really carry all this around for a few hours while birding? Of course not!! You will shorten your walks with the equipment and miss many birding photographic opportunities.

The Digiscoping Alternative

For many years, digiscoping was an alternative solution that many people followed and were able to capture good photographs in an affordable way. The major trade off here was the quality of the photograph and of course you still needed to carry a tripod along with you. Setup time was also a problem as it is in the first alternative above.

So what do we need to fix for a much better solution? First, we don't want to spend the kids college fund to take bird pictures. So we need something affordable. Second we need to realize that we are birders and we will be walking for hours on many of our trips so weight of our equipment is important. Lastly we want photographs that we can be proud of and hang on the wall if we so desire.

Because of all the increased technology options at much reduced prices, I offer a solution to these challenges with minimal trade offs. This is what I ended up doing myself.

The Solution

How to minimize weight?

First thing we need to do is get rid of our 500mm prime. This is the heaviest piece of equiment and restricts our mobility the most. Luckily this is also our most expensive item so helps enormously to bring our cost down. The alternative is a lower cost (not cheap), lighter (not light) 200mm - 500mm zoom lens. Tamron and Sigma choices will not only save you money but save you weight as well. You can expect to pay $800 - $1200 as a rough guideline. Your weight reduction will be around 6 lbs!

Now before everyone jumps all over me. This does create a problem. These lenses do NOT let in as much light as the more expensive 500mm lens. This is a problem that needs to be addressed which I will do later.

How do I improve reaction time and get more bird pics?

This is an easy one, we leave the tripod at home. Contrary to popular belief you can handhold a telephoto 200-500 lens and get great shots. The key is to shoot at high shutter speeds of at least 1/500th sec. This will also let in less light and greatly contibute to our lighting problem described above. What you will achieve is a reaction time that no other solution can hope to compete with.

How does AUTOISO solve my problems?

Most DLSRs today have an autoiso feature. What this does is automatically change the ISO or ASA setting with each picture you take. What this does is effectively allow you to shoot at 1/500th sec and lets say F6.3 but at a higher ISO which would allow you to take the picture that normally you could not.

Whats the problem with AUTOISO?

Shooting at higher ISO creates noise on your photographs. The conventional way of thinking which is still correct is to be able to shoot at the lowest ISO as possible.

How is newer technology solving this problem?

Two equally important technology developments are going along way in reducing noise. First, and most importantly the latest cameras are beginning to reduce noise significantly at high ISOs. I was shocked at the lack of noise in my Nikon D90. The second way is through using post processing software to reduce the noise in your images.

The photograph below of the Indigo Bunting was shot using an ISO of 2000. Although there is still some noise, it is much reduced from what you would have seen just a year ago using older technology.

There are many other advantages to shooting in the method I am describing however I do want to just get my main hypothesis out as clearly as possible. Using Flash will again minimize the high ISOs as much as possible.

I hope this has helped people think of more creative solutions in their bird photography and increase the number of quality bird photographs they are able to achieve.

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