What’s Up?
On Tuesday evening I attended the evening session of the 2025 US Open Tennis Tournament. I was supposed to see a Women’s quarterfinal match and a Men’s quarterfinal match in Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, NY. The Women’s match was a walkover as one of the participants was injured. The match between American Taylor Fritz and Serbian Novak Djokovic was moved up and began at 8:10pm, just before my usual bedtime. Fritz, 0-10 previously versus Djokovic, put up a great fight and extended the match to four sets by winning the third set. Fritz double faulted on Djokovic’s third match point, putting an end to the thrilling three-hour, 24-minute match that ended at 11:34pm. After exiting the tennis center along with many many thousands of others came the long walk back to my SUV in the Citi-Field lot and an hour drive back to Long Beach. I finally got to sleep at 1:30am. I woke on Wednesday at 4:50am ten minutes before the alarm I had set, got dressed, and headed to the beach. It was another great morning though probably not as good as the conditions warranrted — a slight NE breeze and sun — excellent for traditional front-lit bird photography. The pond was still with lovely reflections but the skimming skimmers were few. I have been concentrating more on shorebirds and gulls both at the diminishing pond and the shoreline and less on the skimmers and terns. Exhausted, I opted to stay in that afternoon.
Today is Thursday 4 September 2025 and I was at the beach at 5:45am. The forecast called for sunny skies and a SW wind (bad for traditional front-lit bird photography) and turned out to be accurate. In wind against-sun-conditions it is vitally important to arrive well before sunrise to try for pre-dawn blastoffs and possibly some Red Light District images. That said, several photographers arrived between 7:30 and 8:00am. Had they understood the relationship between sky conditions and wind direction they could have stayed home. There is one guy with a Nikon 600mm f/4 and a Z9 who shows up every day at eight regardless of the conditions. While chatting the other day he mentioned that for folks like him who had the latest greatest equipment making great bird images was easy. I gently begged to differ. In short, the guy has $20,000+ worth of gear no clue at all as to how to use it.
Whatever you opt to do today, I hope that you chose to have fun and be happy.
If an item — a Delkin flash card or reader, a Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro, or a Wimberley lens plate or low foot — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match or beat any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedford by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BirdPhotographer’s.Net, are — out of ignorance — using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads. And the same is true in spades when ordering new camera bodies or lenses. My advice will often save you some serious money and may help you avoid making a seriously bad choice. Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. If you are desperate, you can try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message and shoot me a text if I do not pick up.
Don’t Just Shoot: Learn
If you are interested in changing your life and becoming a better photographer by joining me on the Extended IPT at Sebastian Inlet for Ospreys and more (SEPT 25 to NOV 24, 2025), in San Diego for Pacific-race Brown Pelicans and more (JAN 6 to FEB 2, 2026), or for Roseate Spoonbills at Stick Marsh (March 2026), please e-mail for dates, rates, terms, and additional information. Or shoot me a text to 863-221-2372. Some offerings include options for shared AirBnB lodging and meals. Ground transportation during your stay is a possibility at times.
B&H Simplified
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B&H
Many folks have written recently stating that they purchased a Sony a1-ii from B&H and would like their free membership in the Sony 1-ii Info and Updates Group, a roughly $225.00 value. But when I check my affiliate account, their orders have not been there. When I let them know that they get credit for B&H purchases only if they use one of the many B&H affiliate links on the blog or begin their searches with this link, they are always disappointed. If in doubt, please contact me via e-mail and request a BH link. I am always glad to help and to guide you to the right gear.
Bedfords Simplified
Click here to start your search. Choose standard shipping, and when you get to the payment page, enter BIRDSASART in the discount code box and hit apply. You will be upgraded to free second day air Fed-Ex and receive 3% cash back on your credit card once your stuff ships. Using either my affiliate links is greatly appreciated and will often earn you free guides or discounts.
Bedfords Amazing BAA Discount Policy
Folks who have fallen in love with Bedfords can always use the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout to enjoy a post-purchase, 3% off-statement credit (excluding taxes and shipping charges) on orders paid with a credit card. The 3% credit will be refunded to the card you used for your purchase when your product ships. Be sure, also, to check the box for free shipping to enjoy free Second Day Air Fed-Ex. This offer does not apply to purchases of Classes, Gift Cards, or prior purchases.
You can visit the Bedfords website here, shoot Steve Elkins an e-mail, or text him on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592.
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This image was created on 3 September 2025 by yours truly at Nickerson Beach, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Standing at full height along the edge of the remaining coastal flooding pool, I used the Robus RC-5570 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 Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined with Sony Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 1250: 1/4000 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect. AWB at 9:27:55am on a cloudy morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Photo Mechanic Screen Capture of birds in flight |
Would You Delete This Raw File Instantly?
There has been a Peregrine around for the past few days causing the small flocks of shorebirds to take flight in fear and the skimmer and tern flocks to blast off repeatedly. My advice when attempting to photograph flight shots of shorebird flocks is to acquire focus, attempt to frame the image, and press and hold the shutter button for as long as you have the flock in the frame. Even for the most aggressive shooters good images are extremely rare.
In today’s featured frame we have one dozen juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers, two juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers, one Black Skimmer, one badly out of focus Ring-billed Gull, the far shoreline, and the base of the snow fence beyond the western edge of the pond. The green focus box as viewed in IEDT Viewer was re-created on the Photo Mechanic screen capture above
After enlarging the screen capture above, is there any reason at all to keep this frame? Is there a good picture in the picture? Or should it be deleted instantly? Remember that the raw file is 51 megapixels.
If you would keep this image, what would your plan be for the image optimization?
Nickerson Beach Shorebird Update
The past week has featured an adult Hudsonian Godwit, a few juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs– seven flew in yesterday to bathe but left too soon, a single Greater Yellowlegs, a single juvenile Red Knot, multiple worn, fading, molting adult Black Bellied Plovers, a handful of Semipalmated Plovers, seeveral Killdeer, both adult and young Ruddy Turnstones, a single young Piping Plover, a single juvenile Willet, a pair of Short-billed Dowitchers in fresh juvenile plumage, and of course, lots of peeps; there were about 3 dozen Semipalmated Sandpipers on the pond this morning along with the two usual worn molting adult White-rumped Sandpipers. And of course the young Baird’s Sandpiper featured in the last blog post. It is not totally surprising that I have not seen a single Western Sandpiper but I have been shocked not to have seen a single Least Sandpiper in the drying mud around the remaining pond. Commonplace have been large flocks of Sanderling and several hundred American Oystercatchers. Throw in the female American Avocet from two weeks ago and you have a halfway decent shorebird list.
This just in: on the way back to my place, I stopped to talk to some birders who told me about the Buff-breasted Sandpiper feeding in the grassy field that abuts the entrance/exit road. I had photographed one at Nickerson about a dozen years ago.
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Shorebirds: Beautiful Beachcombers |
Shorebirds: Beautiful Beachcombers
Written for naturalists and birders, the text tells you everything you’ve always wanted to know about North America’s sandpipers, godwits, yellowlegs, phalaropes, plovers, avocets, stilts, and oystercatchers. Topics covered include identification and aging, shorebird behavior, their incredible migrations, feeding and diet, mating and breeding strategies, eggs, nests, and young, conservation efforts, and shorebirding tips. Also included are approximately 50 species accounts covering all of the regularly occurring North American shorebird species. With 70 of Arthur’s images and 26 more by some of the world’s best nature photographers, this book, at publication, contained the finest collection of shorebird photographs ever published in a single volume.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
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