Very Short-Notice Hooptie Deux Roseate Spoonbill Sessions

What’s Up?

On Thursday, a short visit to the lakefront yielded some very nice images of the perched young eagle. Then I watched him soar over ILE like the king of the skies. The crane is still sitting steadfastly on its nest and is usually sound asleep … Again, I made some progress on my two GNPA Keynote programs.

Today is 26 March 2022. The forecast for the morning is dead clear with a gentle NW breeze — not ideal for bird photography but I will head down to the lake at least to check on the 2-egg crane nest. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post more than less than an hour to prepare and makes sixteen days in a row with a new one.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn …

Great Canon Stuff at Bedfords

Steve Elkins let me know on Wednesday that Bedfords has a Canon RF400mm f/2.8 lens in stock along with two EOS R3 bodies in stock. If you bite, please remember to use the BIRDSASART code at checkout to earn 3% back on your credit card and free second-day air Fed-Ex.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission on items priced at $1,000 or more. With items less than $1000, there is a $50 flat-fee. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. If you are interested, please click here, read everything carefully, and do what it says. To avoid any misunderstandings, please read the whole thing very carefully. If you agree to the terms, please state so clearly via e-mail and include the template or templates, one for each item you wish to sell. Then we can work together to get your stuff priced and listed.

Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice only to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past years, we have sold many hundreds of items. Do know that prices for used gear only go in one direction. Down. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Canon EOS-1DX Mark II (with extras!)

BIRDS AS ART Record Low Price

Multiple IPT veteran Jeff Armstrong is offering a Canon EOS-1DX Mark II in mint condition (with less than 3000 shutter actuations) for the BAA record-low price of $2,450.00. The sale includes the front cap, a Ruggard silicone rubber cover that has been on camera from Day One, a Hoodman H-eyec22 eye cup, the strap, the original box, one battery with the end caps, the charger, the instruction manual, and insured ground shipping via major carrier to lower 48 U.S. address. Your item will not ship until your check clears, unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Jeff e-mail or by phone at 510-604-6100 (Mountain time zone).

The EOS-1DX Mark II was Canon’s flagship professional dSLR for many years. I made many fine images with mine. It is rugged and fast and featured Canon’s best AF system at the time. The 1DX II sells new at B&H for$4,499.00 so you can save a very cool $2049.00 by grabbing Jeff’s pretty much new body ASAP. artie

From left to right clockwise back to the center: Brown Pelican, Roseate Spoonbill downstroke, Brown Pelican sunrise silhouette, Double-crested Cormorant pre-dawn blur, Roseate Spoonbill flapping after bath, Brown Pelican taking flight, Roseate Spoonbill taking flight, Reddish Egret white morph breeding plumage in flight, and Reddish Egret dark morph breeding plumage in flight. All images on this card were created by me on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks on the 2018 trip. With Captain James “Froggie” Shadle You can click on each card to enjoy a larger version.

We will be leaving the dock very early for the morning sessions in hopes of photographing the pre-dawn fly-outs and blastoffs of White Ibis and Fish Crow. The weather forecast is perfect for both days. The morning sessions are planned for the Alafia Banks Roseate Spoonbill Rookery. There will be lots of opportunities for flight photography of several species including and especially Roseate Spoonbill. Also likely for flight photography are nesting Brown Pelican, both morphs of Reddish Egret, Great Blue Little Blue, and Tricolored Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, White and Glossy Ibises, Turkey and Black Vultures, and Double-crested Cormorant. We should have some good chances with birds carrying nesting material. The fee for each session includes all boat and guide fees, in the field instruction and chest waders (feel free to bring your own of course to assure a perfect fit). For the most part we will be standing in mid-calf to knee-high water behind our tripods. Tripod-mounted 500 and 600mm f/4 super-telephoto lenses with a 1.4X TC are best though folks with the Sony 200-600 will do well. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with mobility or balance problems. Note however that some folks opt to stay on the boat to photograph. They usually have lots of chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

All images on this card were created by me on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks

Everything is Perfect!

These two sessions represent an incredible opportunity to photograph Florida’s most wanted species. I do hope that you can join us. All the images on the cards were made on Hooptie Deux trips from late-February through March, prime time for the spoonies in breeding plumage. Many folks have written expressing interest so please do not tarry.

You must e-mail to reserve a spot. Payment by cash or check before boarding the boat will be fine.

Everybody Loves Spoonbills!

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in mid-February is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage…. with long telephoto lenses. Again, a 500 or 600mm f/4 lens with a 1.4X TC is perfect for this trip.

Mornings to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography often with the birds likely carrying nesting material), Double-crested Cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White) in breeding plumage. Some of the White Ibises may be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition, we may get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities.

Typos

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