From the Mundane (?) to the Insane

What’s Up?

Friends David and Michelle Pugsley drove over early on Friday morning for two days of bird photography and pool deck dinners. We found the two large chicks by the Pavilion and they wound up in the lake foraging, bathing, and then lounging on a gassy island. We saw the Barred Owl pair but did not get to photograph them well. We had a decent sunset yesterday and I had some good chances but did not make any good images 🙂

Today is Saturday 11 April 2026 and we will be headed down to the lake soon. I found some old bacon strips and a left-over chunk of chicken. We will be hanging the stuff in a mesh bag from Bob Eastman’s North Perch. We will surely attract some vultures but I am hoping to get the caracara to land as David has never had a chance to photograph that species. Relieved of the pressure of trying for the career Grand Slam by winning the tournament last year, Rory McIlroy killed it at the Masters in the second round shooting a 65 to follow up on his first round 67; he now leads by six, the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history. I wish him luck in finishing things off this weekend. I will be watching. Whatever you opt to do I hope that you too choose to have fun and enjoy life. Please remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie, The Work.Com

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This image was created on 9 April 2026 by yours truly down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated in the driver’s seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera). The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 2500: 1/500 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. With 253 OvExp pixels, RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness for this one was dead solid perfect. AWB at 8:08:23am on a wet, cloudy-dark morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: Common Grackle (Florida) male Image copyright 2026: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The Mundane (?)

Though Common Grackle is greatly out-numbered by Boat-tailed Grackle here at Indian Lake Estates and is considered a dirt bird anywhere east of the Rockies, they are an extremely difficult species to photograph well. One sunny days you would be pretty much wasting your time is you wish to capture the iridescent colors. There were several Common Grackles poking around in the grass near some puddles on the edge of the South Field. As I positioned my SUV all but one of them took flight to the south. So, I moved my car south and up in front of the remaining grackle in hopes that it would work its way toward me. It did. I keep its face in the grass as it foraged so I made a clicking sound in my throat and the bird posed for three seconds. That was more than enough time for me.

Had I not come across the insane situation below, I would have been more than happy with this image. So, this image is not at all mundane to me.

This image was also created on 9 April 2026 by yours truly down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated in the driver’s seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera). The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1600: 1/2000 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. With 66 OvExp pixels (out of 51,000,000), RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was dead solid perfect. AWB at 8:56:08am on a wet, cloudy morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #2: Crested Caracara adult with baby rabbit carcass Image copyright 2026: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The Decision

As I headed north on Palmetto Drive, I spotted one of the local caracaras in the grass right on the edge of the road. As even the adults of this species and be very tame at times, my first inclination was to try to get really close and try for head shots. Instead, I stayed well back and angled the car by pointing it to the northeast. As the light was changing moment by moment, I relied on Zebras to come up with perfect exposures by raising or lowering the ISO as needed. First the bird picked up a chunk of rotten flesh but dropped it immediately. Then a boat-tailed chased the raptor until the raptor decided to chase the grackle. The caracara walked back to its original spot and began worrying the grass again.

The next thing I know, it picked up a baby something and held it in its bill. I thought that it might have been an opossum fetus but it did not quite fit.
Though the bird’s head was turned a bit away from me I began firing anticipating that I might get lucky. I did. The bird turned its head toward me so I keep firing. I figured that I must have one pretty good head angle. After it flew, I hit the Replay button, zoomed in, and saw the tiny ears of a baby rabbit. Insane for sure!

This image was also created on 9 April 2026 by yours truly down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated in the driver’s seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera). The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1600: 1/2000 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. With 2,000 OvExp pixels (all in the GREEN channel) on the top of the bird’s tail, RawDigger again showed that the raw file brightness was dead solid perfect. AWB at 8:56:08am on a wet, cloudy morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #3: Crested Caracara adult with baby rabbit carcass — tight crop Image copyright 2026: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The Insane and the Huge Crop

Once the bird lifted off to the east I let up on the shutter button for two reasons:

1- I thought that I was at “only” 1/500 second, generally too slow a shutter speed for sharp flight.
2- I was too close to avoid clipping wings and more.

Had I known that I was actually at 1/2000 second I would have kept firing. Anyhoo, when I was reviewing the images on my MacBook Pro, I noticed that the images made while the bird had its wings raised offered a much better look at the baby rabbit. With the incredible image quality of sharp, well exposed a-1 ii raw files I knew immediately that a huge crop might work well. With 51 million pixels, that is exactly how things shook out.

Just for the record book:

1- The cropped .TIF file represents just over 13% of the original pixels (13.397234214% to be exact). From where I sit, that works out to an 86% crop!
2- The baby rabbit was surely dead before it was grabbed by the caracara.

Composite #1: All with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The a-1 ii for General Bird Photography

I have found that eye-tracking for general bird photography with the a-1 ii is far, far better than with the original Sony a-1. It grabs the eye and tracks it faster and far more consistently and focus is rarely lost, even with backgrounds other than sky.

Composite #2: All with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The a-1 ii for Birds in Flight

For birds in flight, the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body has no equal. As Arash Hazeghi says, “It is better than the a-1.” When I am late getting on a bird in flight, I have consistently been amazed at how often the AF system of the a-1 ii finds and tracks the bird’s eye.

Composite #3: All the result of using Pre-Capture with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Pre-Capture with the Sony a-1 ii

When it comes to Pre-Capture with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body, Arash and I agree 100%. And with my slower reflexes, Pre-Capture is more important for me than it is for Arash. Understand that in each of the images in Composite #3, I did not push the shutter button until after the bird took flight!

All with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Purchasing or Upgrading to a Sony a-1 ii

The Sony a-1 ii e-Mail Set-up and Info Guide

I now own and use two Sony a-1 ii bodies. Every day that I use them, the more I am amazed by speed and accuracy of the Bird Face-Eye tracking in AF-C and the overall performance of the camera.

Aside from the improved ergonomics as compared to the a-1, other nice features include the fact that the rear screen tilts both ways — the lack of a tilting rear screen on the original a-1 always ticked me off. Pre-capture has proven to be a huge plus almost exclusively for take-off flight images. In my opinion, the Speed Boost feature is a total waste for bird photography because you should always be utilizing the maximum frame rate. In addition, the resolution on the rear monitor has been improved dramatically. I must mention again that Bird Face-Eye tracking on the a-1 ii is vastly improved as compared to both the a-1 and the a9 iii and that the 51MP files are to die for.

So, the big question is, is the a-1 ii “worth” a gear upgrade. Remembering that I can never know whether or not something is worth it to you, I can say that I was not floored when first using my a-1 ii. The differences between the a-1 ii and the original a-1, seemed to be neither huge nor eye-opening. But over time, I have come to realize that I was 100% wrong. The huge difference between the new camera body and the a9 iii is, of course, the 51MP a-1 raw files (as compared to the 24MP files rendered by the a9 iii).

The price of a new a-1 is $5,898.00. The price of a new a-1 ii is $1,100.00 more: $6,998.00. As the a-1 ii is clearly far superior for bird photography to the original a-1, the choice for folks new to Sony or for those upgrading from lesser Sony camera bodies is an easy one. Prices for used a-1 bodies has not dropped drastically as I anticipated. At this point, a-1 folks who like showing flight and action and can afford an a-1 ii, are advised to purchase an a-1 ii. Please remember that life is short; we only get one ride on the merry-go-round.

All with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

If you do purchase an a-1 ii, be sure to use one of my two affiliate links so that you will receive my a-1 ii settings (in the form of a CAMSEa1ii.DAT file), the Buttons and Dials Guide, and an Info Sheet for free. Using my links will never cost you one penny and may actually save you some money. Folks who do not purchase their new a-i using my B&H link or from Bedfords here and entering the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout will be able to purchase the a-1 ii guide for $244.93. If you are at all confused and do not want to screw up your order, please get in touch via e-mail. If you would like to chat about upgrading, shoot me a text to 863-221-2372 and LMK a good time to call you.

Typos

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