Birds in Flight (BIF) - just too easy

[zackiedawg]

If you want to find a place where you can shoot birds in flight, then Florida in winter is your place. There are so many opportunities, so close, that you could shoot BIF with a P&S camera. Maybe even with a plate camera. Or a daguerreotype. It's just too easy down here with all the opportunities! Nesting season for the big wading birds, prime hunting season for raptors, and lots of wintering birds down to roost here until weather warms up north - it all adds up to hundreds of birds flying around all day within 10-100 feet of you. Crazy fun.

Some birds in flight shot this winter so far, with the A6300 and FE100-400mm combo:

Great blue heron:

Tricolor heron:

Snowy egret:

Ibis:

Double-crested cormorant:

Egyptian geese:

Great egret:

Great blue heron with nesting materials:

Black-bellied whistling ducks:

Anhinga:

Glossy ibis:

Cattle egret:

Neotropical cormorant:

Belted kingfisher:

Osprey:

Roseate spoonbill:

Little blue heron:

Crazy selection of birds down here right now, and so many in flight every day, morning and late afternoon...it's like a shooting gallery.

 

[gary]

that great blue herons with nesting materials is an outstanding shot, this is really torture on me, because guess what arrived today, my A9 body, after much thought and reading an excellent comparison thread on www.fredmiranda.com between the a7r3 and the a9, i decided for the things i would be shooting. especially until october when i get back to wdw, the totally radical a9 autofocus on fast moving objects was best for my needs. cannot wait to check out some ama flat track motorcycle this season

 

[zackiedawg]

The A9 will crank at a place like my local wetlands. I know a few who shoot with it, along with a few A7RIII shooters too...most with the 100-400mm lens. The A6300/6500 does really well in these situations too. Plus, those great blue herons are constantly hauling materials back and forth, almost every day, for weeks on end - the nests get worn down, sticks rot or get wet, poop accumulates - and they're always having to go get new sticks to fortify and update the nest. Which means opportunities to catch them in flight with sticks, or going to get sticks, are almost endless:

Sometimes I'll play around with my angle - shooting into the sun to get backlit looks, and including people in the backgrounds just to provide something different to the setting:

Sometimes, they're not hauling sticks - but hauling food back for the spouse who's stuck sitting on the nest:

One of the most recent, just this weekend, to show the work never ends for these birds:

 

[ddindy]

Very impressive. Especially now that we're back to having real winters in the midwest where a day above freezing is a real treat.

 

[Scottwdw]

Bravo on the Belted Kingfisher! Have yet to be fast enough to capture one.

 

[zackiedawg]

Thanks Scott! Those are indeed challenging birds to catch in flight. I've photographed them sitting seemingly forever, hoping they'll take off - and then they do when I'm adjusting a setting or took my eye away for a second - and it's near impossible to catch back up to them! I still haven't successfully gotten one hitting the water perfectly...this guy I didn't see until he had already splashed down, and I was just able to catch him as he was coming back up with his fish.

 

[gary]

Thanks Scott! Those are indeed challenging birds to catch in flight. I've photographed them sitting seemingly forever, hoping they'll take off - and then they do when I'm adjusting a setting or took my eye away for a second - and it's near impossible to catch back up to them! I still haven't successfully gotten one hitting the water perfectly...this guy I didn't see until he had already splashed down, and I was just able to catch him as he was coming back up with his fish.

And on the table for a future trip is the Florida bird photography festival in st Augustine, in 2020, I am already down for a 2019 return to the grand canyon railroad, to capture #29, before it goes cold for it's 15 year inspection, but that festival is on the list

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Scottwdw]

And on the table for a future trip is the Florida bird photography festival in st Augustine, in 2020, I am already down for a 2019 return to the grand canyon railroad, to capture #29, before it goes cold for it's 15 year inspection, but that festival is on the list

Found it, I believe: http://www.floridasbirdingandphotofest.com/

Hmm, tough time of year for me due to hockey playoffs. Will keep it in mind though for 2020.

 

[zackiedawg]

St. Augustine has some OK birding - the alligator farm is a popular spot up there. Maybe not quite as good as we have it down here in S. Florida, but not bad!
You guys need to get down farther south and hit my local grounds. You can do birding and BIF photography with a kit lens around here...and a 2 hour walk will net you 50+ species without effort. Plus, all the places I bird are free, no admissions, no tickets, no rules or photo passes.

 

[zackiedawg]

I'll take a look at that bird photofest link - I'm curious about which places are part of the 'tour' and also all the other festival-related activities...we don't have anything like that here, with speakers, events, etc...could be fun.

 

[gary]

i am interested in a number of the workshops,

 

[gary]

and yes scott, that is the right link

 

[gary]

so draw us up a list of locations and a reccomendation of when to be there and i will give it serious consideration. it would keep the costs down and i can fly direct from islip to ft lauderdale on southwest. and it sounds like i could see a bunch of birds not normal to my area, all over a weekend. birdmania?? especially on this drizzly chilly, not fun at all miserable late winter northeast day, sitting here drinking coffee, listening to israel kamakawiwo'ole, that great album of his with the stunning version of over the rainbow, anyone wants to hear some great hawaiian based interpretations of modern songs, with some jamaican rhythms in the bass/drums needs to listen to his work

 

[zackiedawg]

I've got that Israel CD. It's a good one!
I can definitely give you 6-8 spots all within a 3 county region no more than 1 1/2 hours apart for the two farthest spots. And during spring or fall is the heaviest species diversity, with any time in winter always solid too for all the wintering birds.

 

[gary]

that works, and i'm pretty sure by 2020 i will have a handle on bif and the focus system of the A9. i bought a settings guide book by gary friedman, i already had his book for the A6500 and found his teaching style and recommendations very good for me. israel's whole body of work is good i think, have 3 of his cd's and they get rotation in the photo studio.

 

[gary]

would loxahatchee wildlife refuge be one of those spots??

 

[zackiedawg]

Arthur Marshall Wildlife Refuge, aka Loxahatchee, is one spot - not the best of them, but decent...and one of the few that will cost admission to get in ($5). Peaceful Waters in Wellington is about 10 miles north and a bit west, Wellington Wetlands about 10 miles west of that, Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay Wetlands are the two primary spots, both a few miles east and south of Loxahatchee. You could get to them all within a day - but probably a bit too busy to try...Green Cay and Wakodahatchee when busy will easily eat up a day with an enormous species diversity. I keep one gallery separated by cameras just from those two parks, where I usually hit weekly:
The current stuff, including over the past two years, is here:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/a6300_wetlands

And some older shots from older cameras here:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/greencayoldcams

This gallery is a mix of Loxahatchee, Peaceful Waters, and Wellington Wetlands:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/florida_everglades