Action on the Lek!

What’s Up?

We enjoyed a third straight great morning with the prairie chickens. Sunny and not too cold with about 60 birds on the lek. After two straight days of being in a pretty good spot by pure luck, both Kevin and Anita enjoyed the lion’s share of the action today, Friday 12 April 2023. Some bad weather is coming early next week. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you have fun.

Anita North tried her new a9 iii (with all of my settings on it) and was quite impressed. She said, “It does great with backgrounds other than sky, it acquires focus faster, it grabs the eye faster than the a1 and sticks with it better than the a1, and the ergonomics are greatly improved. With more space to the front and left of the grip, it is easier to hold the camera without accidentally hitting any of your custom buttons with your thumb.” After looking briefly at her images, she added this “I can tell you right now that a9 iii image quality is nowhere near as good as it with a-1. We will not be able to crop with impunity as we have done with the a-1.”

This image was created on 11 April 2024 at Fort Pierre National Grasslands, SD. Seated on a small camp chair working off the rear monitor in a large pop-up blind, I used the lowered Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. ISO 1600. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at 7:38:40am on a clear sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: Greater Prairie Chickens squabbling

Action Satisfaction

While Kevin has been giving us some great tips on photographing the chickens, there is nothing as satisfying as figuring out new bird behavior on your own. I thought that I would need to raise the tripod and work with my eye to the viewfinder in order to try for fights and flight. But I continued working off the rear monitor so that I could maintain the low perspective that I love. Once I figured out the that trick was to look for two males in close proximity, acquire focus, and get ready for action to begin, I found that I could capture the squabbles while working off the rear screen. As long as I had my reading glasses on. Image #1 was my first BINGO!

This image was also created on 11 April 2024 at Fort Pierre National Grasslands, Seated on a small camp chair working off the rear monitor in a large pop-up blind, I used the lowered Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. ISO 1600. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at 7:38:47am on a clear sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #2: Greater Prairie Chickens squabbling

Seven Seconds Later

In addition, I learned to stay with the action once it begins. The two birds in Image #2 are the same as in Image #1. They flew up, squabbled, landed and, and then resumed midair hostilities almost immediately. Whatever you do, do not start chimping after a midair tussle to see if you got something good or great. You might miss even better stuff.

This image was also created on 11 April 2024 at Fort Pierre National Grasslands, Seated on a small camp chair working off the rear monitor in a large pop-up blind, I used the lowered Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. ISO 1000. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at e: 8:07:44am on a clear sunny morning. Tracking: Expand Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #3: Greater Prairie Chickens head and neck portrait with pinnae erect

In Love With Pinnae

The prairie chickens are interesting. Their behaviors on the leks are beyond fascinating. A lek is an aggregation of male game birds that gather to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals to entice visiting females that are looking for prospective mates. The long pinnated (symmetrical) feathers atop their heads can be twirled around, pointed fore or aft, and erected before, during, and after various courtship displays. The birds on the lek in Fort Pierre do not seem to notice us or the three blinds at all. Some walk within fifteen feet of the front of the blinds and yesterday, a squabbling duo crashed into the back of my blind. When the walk right by, I go head hunting.

a9 iii Image Quality

As I have stated from DAY 1, the 24MP a9 iii files cannot stand up as well to large crops as the 50MP a1 files. Wile this is true, Image #3 represents less than 38% of the original frame. It looks more than fine to me.

Click on the card to view a larger, sharper high resolution version. Sony a9 iii .DAT File and More e-Guide

Sony a9 iii .DAT File and More e-Guide

Though I have had the a9 111 for only a month, I have created many amazing images with it. (I did get to play with one in Homer for a bit>) As it is a complex camera body and there are more than a few differences when compared to the a-1, it has taken me a while to get the setup close to perfection and I am still and will continue to learn more everyday. I am 100% convinced that a9 iii Bird Face/Eye AF/C is significantly better than it is on the vaunted a1.

Use one of my two affiliate links (B&H or Bedford) to earn a free copy of the guide. Overseas folks and this who purchased their 19 iii without using a BAA affiliate link may purchase the e-Guide for $209.93 by calling Jim weekdays until noon on Friday at 863-692-0906.

Why so expensive? Heck, it is free if you use one of my links. Get in the habit. It never costs you one one penny more and in many cases I gave save you some money if you get in touch with me before you purchase something great.

Your camera cost you about $6K USD. You might opt to struggle with the menu and with trying to figure out the proper settings for bird photography. Or, for just 3 1/2 percent of the price of an a9 iii, you can have my settings on your a9 iii in about five minutes. And ten minutes after that you will know as much as I do about this amazing new technological miracle.

What you will get:

My a9 iii .DAT file along with instructions on how to load it onto your a9 iii. In just minutes, your camera will be set up exactly as mine is. And you can begin making great images.

A Buttons and Dial guide.

An INFO sheet with my comments on all the important stuff.

Product support to the best of my ability. E-mail your questions and I will either answer them or get them answered.

Occasional e-mails with anything new that I discover.

Rejoinder — there may very well be stuff about the a9 iii that I am unaware of. And some of that might be beneficial for bird photography. Do not hesitate to let me know via e-mail if you figure out something great.

Typos

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