Summary
With the winds variable and early clouds for the past few days I have enjoyed some great chances with the juvenile Ospreys and the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. My goal as I head out is always the same, to make one good image that makes me happy. Yesterday, I made two very good ones.
Souped Up Super-Fast MacBook Pro M2 For Sale: Price Reduced $200.00 on 18 June
Yours truly is offering a used, 100% suped up, 2023 MacBook Pro M2 Max in excellent plus condition that was recently refurbished by Apple with a new Logic Board (motherboard) and a new Touch ID Board (track pad). The screen is also in excellent plus condition. Space Gray. Memory: 96GB. macOS Tahoe 26.4.1. Built in Liquid Retina XDR display. — 16-in (3456 X 2234). 8TB Solid State Hard Drive. Apple M2 Max with 12-core CPU, 38-core GPU (MAX Option). I pay the insured Fed-Ex ground shipping. Price: $2,800.00 (was #3,000) or the best offer by 10 July 2026. $2300 minimum offer. Buy it today for $3100.00. Pay by Zelle and we will ship it the next day.
You can see all the technical specifications here.
Virtually the same machine is being offered here for $3999.00. Plus the shipping.
Please contact artie via e-mail or by text to 863-221-2372.
Your Call?
Which is the stronger of today’s two featured images? Why did you make your choice?
My Calls
In yesterday’s Waiting for Songbirds at the South Padre Water Feature blog post here, I loved and was proud of all the images. My three favorites were the kiskadee for its colors and pose, the Summer Tanager for the mix of red and blue feathers, and the Veery, for the big drop of water on its bill.
Thanks to David Pugsley for reminding me (by text) that I forgot to share my favorite tiny oystercatcher image in the An Old Man’s Take on the Sony 300mm f/2.8 GM & TCs blog post here. (Note: if you missed the new video, it is well worth visiting.)
Though the two images were very similar and I went back and forth on which one was best, this is my final answer: I like Image #2 best because of the slightly more upright posture and the fact that the faint shadow is in front of the bird (rather than behind the bird in Image #1).
What’s Up?
I was glad to learn that Brian “The Mailman” Bower is doing much better after his double bypass heart surgery on June 12th. He did not break his wrist and there was no damage to his head when he fell. The afternoon thunderstorms played havoc yesterday with my TIVO recording of the World Cup games and the US Open Golf. The past few mornings have been excellent despite the potentially difficult forecasts. I’ve been save by clouds and the southeast (rather than southwest as predicted) winds.
Today is Saturday 20 June and I will be headed down to the lake early to try to make at least one good image that makes me happy. 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
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.
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This image was created on 19 June 2026 by yours truly at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing at full height (plus a bit more) near the natural nest tree by the tangerine house, 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 and the Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera in APS-C crop mode. The exposure was determined using Zebra Technology with ISO on the thumb wheel. ISO 640: 1/60 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:48:17am on a then very cloudy morning with the sun behind the distant woods across the canal. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #1: Osprey juvenile female begging from adult in nest with fish |
Low-Light in Morning: How to Work Effectively in the Early Hours
With sunny skies and SSW winds in the forecast every day for the past week, I have been getting down to the natural Osprey nest earlier than usual to try to make some photographs before the sun hit the nest tree perches. On Thursday and Friday I lucked out with an hour of cloud cover to the northeast. I arrived on Friday at about 6:40am so light levels were extremely low. I grabbed the tripod and set up facing north with the then south wind at my back. My first efforts were made at 1/60 second. I spun the ISO up until I saw lots of Zebras on the white sky. I was working at +2 2/3 stops as framed. You cannot, however, see the +2 2/3 on the analogue scale. All you see is +2 stops flashing to indicate that you are greater than +2 stops. Both the a-1 and the a-1 ii allow you to see the actual values on the analogue scale from -5 to +5 stops only when working in an automatic mode. For some ridiculous reason, when working in Manual mode the actual values quit beyond -2 and +2 despite the fact that the analogue scale goes from -5 to +5 stops. I have been complaining to Sony USA Pro Support for more than half a decade but my complaints have fallen on deaf ears. The real shame of it is that the problem could be solved with a Firmware update.
So, how did I know I was working at +2 2/3 stops? I lowered the ISO until the analogue scale showed exactly +2 stops and then increased the ISO two clicks until I saw lots of Zebras on the sky. Anyhoo, I was lucky that all of the begging images made at 1/60 second were sharp. I kept raising the ISO as the light levels increased slowly and wound up shooting at 1/400 second at ISO 2000.
Speaking of the sky, when working in extreme low light situations I stick with the white sky look rather than trying to “blue up” the sky even to a small degree.
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This image was created also on 19 June 2026 by yours truly at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing at full height on the beach south of the pier, 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 and the Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera in full frame mode. The exposure was determined using Zebra Technology with ISO on the thumb wheel. ISO 640: 1/4000 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:25:43am on a then sunny morning.. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a larger, inexplicably sharper, surprisingly more vibrant, high-res version. Image #2: Black-bellied Whistling Ducks: midair squabble |
When the Sun Comes Out
As the mornings have progressed, the wind has freshened and swung to the south eventually winding up fully west by 9am or so. As the clouds thin out and the sun breaks through, the perched Ospreys will all be facing south while the sun is about 20° north of east. Can you say “wind against sun”? So, I head to the pier and wait for the whistling ducks to arrive. The action has been consistent for the past few mornings and Friday was especially good. Some clouds came and went making Sony Zebra technology even more valuable. I went as low as 1/4000 second at ISO 640 when the sun was at full strength and dropped down to 1/3200 second with ISOs as high as 2500 when the clouds prevailed. Regardless of the light, I go for a very few Zebras on the white wing patches.
As many as two dozen Black-bellied Whistling Ducks have been showing up for the past week usually arriving in small groups after 7:30. Standing is the way to go as with the record low water levels the bay south of the pier is filling in with marsh vegetation. Yesterday, most of the birds in the water were blocked by the grasses but there were some good squabbles. And when two of the ducks squabble, they jump about three or four feet into the air. If you concentrate on the midair fights, you can sometimes get on them quickly and make something decent.
This was the best image from a fabulous tussle that seemingly lasted an eternity; the two birds were in the air for about 3-seconds! All were created as horizontal images and most had both birds facing slightly away. Wide/AF-C is the way to go for midair battles.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
I love the squabbling ducks — the action, the background, the position of the ducks (particularly the top one)!
Artie, I vote for #2. The fact that both birds eyes are sharp and the action win it for me. Like many Florida shots the osprey against the blah sky is less appealing but I love the tack sharp eye.