How Do You Do? Albatross Courtship Displays… « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

How Do You Do? Albatross Courtship Displays...

What’s Down

I typed this blog post at 9am on Thursday, October 29, 2015 on Saunders Island where we—denise, and Billie and Brian Snell–are staying in the cabin at the Rookery. It is rather nice, a lot less rustic than we were expecting. It is only a five minute walk to the first Cliffside albatross nest and about a half hour to the Rockhopper Penguin colony. There is lots of great photography along the penguin highway. From there, it is an easy five minute climb down to the famed rockhopper shower.

We are scheduled to fly back to Stanley on Friday October 30, do a morning van trip to the Kidney Point Rockhopper colony on Saturday, and then board the Ortelius for our Cheeseman’s South Georgia Expedition early on Saturday evening.

While traveling in the Southern Ocean I will be 100% without internet from 1-14 NOV. Jim will be in the office doing his usually stellar job of minding the store and Jen will be here to help with with all things IPT related. You can reach either of them by phone at 863-693-0906. You can reach Jim by e-mail or Jen at e-mail (the latter with Attn. JEN in the Subject line).

Please refrain from e-mailing me from 23 OCT through 15 NOV. Fat chance on that. 🙂

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To show your appreciation for my efforts here, we do ask that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. Doing so won’t cost you a penny and is the best way to thank me for the 15-20 hours I put in to bring you fresh and free educational material most every day. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store. We sell only what I use and depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail (unless I am traveling without internet!)

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And we still have a few Gitzo tripods in stock. I imagine that we will be phasing those out soon….

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily.

You can see the complete listings by clicking here or always by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right end of the navigation bar at the top of each blog post page.

After a lull in September, things have really heated up lately:

Alan Walther sold his 500mm f/4L IS for $3900 in mid-October.
IPT veteran Larry Master sold his 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens for $4750 on October 22, 2015.
Canon 500mm f/4L IS (the “old five”) was sold by Glen Shellhammer for $4250 in mid-October, 2015.
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens was sold instantly by Walt Anderson for $4750 in mid-October, 2015.
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens (the “old five”) was sold by Dane Johnson for $4150 in early October 2015.
Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 zoom lens (Canon mount) was sold by Beth Starr for $4,999 in early October 2015.
Canon EOS-1D X in excellent condition was sold by Patrick Sparkman for $3650 in early October, 2014.
Canon EF 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens was sold for $699 by Sean Traynor on October 7, 2015.
Canon 100-400 L IS zoom lens (the old 1-4) was sold by Susan Carnahan for $675 in mid-October, 2015.

You can find the complete listings here.


black-browed-albtross-displaying-to-mate-_y5o7203-the-rookery-saunders-island-the-falklands
 

This image was created on Saunders Islands, The Falklands with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 321mm) and the rugged and the rugged professional body, the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400.  Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/640 sec. at f/8. Left Zone/Shutter Button AF activated the AF point two to the right of the center AF point and was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding).   

Black-browed Albatross courtship display  

How Do You Do?

The courtship displays of the various albatross species are distinctly different, intricately beautiful, and always fascinating. Several times on Saunders Island I actually thought about doing some video of the Black-browed Albatross courtship dance but never quite got there…

In today’s featured image the male on our right is doing the bill clack. At the end of a rapid series of these they will often hold the pose for just an instant. The female here was quite interested.

Getting Lucky with Zone AF…

With the 7D II, the 5D III, and the 1D X I will sometimes go to Zone AF when I have two horizontally oriented birds facing each other. It usually is surer than 61- or 65-Point Automatic Selection AF in these situations. I will move the active zone so that it falls on the closer bird. Here I got lucky as the active AF point that was selected by the system just caught the tip of the bill of the bird on our left. The female’s bill tip was on exactly the same plane as the eye of the displaying male; better to be lucky than good.

Induro Tripods and Ballheads

Click here for complete info on Induro tripods and to learn which one is the best fit for you. Or click here or on the logo-link above to purchase via our OPG affiliate link.

First Induro Kudos

Dennis Zaebst left this on the original Induro blog post:

Hi Artie,

I just received my new GIT 304L from OPG after using your link above. Thanks for the great tip!

I am a convert from an older Gitzo (model 1320, really old). I love all the features of the new 304L tripod and I’m really impressed with it. It’s a really precision piece of equipment. One of the best features, but perhaps not emphasized enough above, are the quick-release leg locks. Just a quarter turn and they are released, and equally quick to lock. This is compared to my old Gitzo, requiring more than a full turn, taking about twice as long to set up and use, or to put away. I was always a bit frustrated with the Gitzo as the legs required a fairly hard pull to extend or collapse, and this was a bit awkward to deal with. Not so with the 304L.

Best, Dennis


san-diego-card-neesie

San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….

2015 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) JAN 8 thru the morning of JAN 12, 2016: $1899 (Limit: 10/Openings: 3)

Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the day before the IPT begins
Two great leaders: Arthur Morris and Denise Ippolito

Join us in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants in breeding plumage with their amazing crests; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions likely; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice landscape opportunities as well.

Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?

This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, five lunches, after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions, and a thank you dinner. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.

A $499 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 11/1//2015. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.


san-diego-card-b

Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.

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4 comments to How Do You Do? Albatross Courtship Displays…

  • avatar Bobby Perkins

    Stunning capture Artie, just beautiful. One look, that’s an Arthur Morris image.

  • avatar Eric

    Wow. I have been quietly viewing and enjoying your website and photos for some time. Have always enjoyed your photos. This one raises me to my feet, just gorjous in all respects, and with soch a fascinating subject. Well done!!!

    Eric