In case you haven't followed the Weather Channel, Florida has spent the last two weeks or so draped in a damp blanket of unseasonably hot, humid air...making migratory critters and humans alike wonder if they'd misread their calendars.
But no more! We had a strong cold front whip through on schedule last Saturday, and with it came lots of migrating birds from up north. Migrants love nothing better than a tailwind, and each successive cold front will bring more and more feathered friends our way between now and late November.
I took advantage of the opportunity by visiting Bunche Beach this morning, one of my favorite nearby birding spots. I was greeted by a parking lot full of cars--surprising, at 7:30 in the morning this time of year. It turned out to be a group from the Lee County Bird Patrol, doing their monthly bird count, augmented by some folks lured to the beach by the agenda for Ding Darling Days.
Ding Darling Days is an annual week-long program that celebrates the life and legacy of J.N. "Ding" Darling. In the early decades of the 20th century,when newspapers ruled the day, he was the nation's leading political cartoonist. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Duck Stamp program that even today raises funds for wildlife conservation, and served for awhile as head of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Commission under FDR.
Ding Darling National Wildlife Reserve, on nearby Sanibel, is named after him. Its learning center boasts a nice biography, dioramas, and artifacts of his life. It's worth a visit if you are coming by the reserve to observe birds and wildlife.
Bunche Beach, in the days of segregation, was the "colored beach" in Fort Myers. In 1948, Jim Crow laws were struck down and it became open to all. It's a favorite spot for black skimmers, herons, egrets, and a wide variety of plovers and other shorebirds. It boasts terrific tidal flats, easy access, and clean vistas largely devoid of signs of humanity. Only the Sanibel Causeway and the Estero Island skyline break the view.
Lee County is building "improvements" in the form of a snack bar and boat ramp several hundred feet up John Morris Road from the beachhead. I haven't seen the master plan, but I hope and expect that the new facilities won't adversely impact this crown jewel of Lee County birding.
Photograph: Reddish Egret takeoff from tidal inlet, Bunche Beach, Fort Myers, FL. 1/2000 sec. @ f/8, ISO 800. Canon 50D body and 500mm lens, mounted on a Gitzo tripod with Mongoose M3.5 head. ©2009 Geoff Coe / Wild Images Florida. All rights reserved.
Last week I went up to St. Augustine (FL) for a two-day visit to the Alligator Farm rookery, one of the best places to observe and photograph nesting birds from close range. The forecast was ominous -- two days of thunderstorms, clouds and rain -- but the hotel room was already booked and prepaid, so rescheduling wasn't an option.
I managed to get to the rookery by 4 PM on Monday, and was greeted by cloudy skies but no rain -- yet. I was surprised that there were so few serious photographers on hand. Overcast and cloudy days provide lots of great avian shooting opportunities.
Photographing birds in flight is actually easier on cloudy days than on sunny ones. When the sun's out, you must plan to shoot only those birds flying more or less into the direction of the light. On cloudy days the light is more omnidirectional, and good exposures can be had regardless of the bird's flight direction.
The lower contrast simplifies exposure, too. Well-exposed shots will render lots of underwing detail. On a sunny day, that detail is difficult to preserve without burning out the parts of the bird that are in direct sunlight.
What's a "well-exposed shot" for birds in flight on a cloudy day?
You always want to set your exposure so that the sky is rendered as white, or nearly white. To do this, set your camera for manual exposure, and set your aperture to f/5.6. Meter on the cloudy sky (no branches or foliage in the frame) so that your needle is at null (or "+0"). Then, adjust your shutter speed so that the meter is displaying 2 stops overexposure ("+2").
For birds in flight in cloudy weather, (or any weather, for that matter), you'll need sufficient shutter speed to stop the action. There are lots of variables to consider (do you want to blur the wings somewhat? Is the bird close to you, or flying 30 feet or more overhead? etc.) but in general a shutter speed of about 1/1250 or faster is desirable. If, having followed the instructions so far, your shutter speed isn't 1/1250 or faster at f/5.6, consider boosting your ISO setting until it is.
With my Canon 40D and 50D bodies, my standard ISO setting is 400. In cloudy weather, I may need to boost that slightly, maybe even at high as ISO 1000, to satisfy my requirements. To summarize, they're:
- Manual exposure mode
- Set f/stop to f/5.6
- Meter off the sky, then adjust shutter speed by 2 stops to render the sky as light gray
- To stop action, use a shutter speed of 1/1250 or faster
- Adjust the ISO upward (i.e., to 500, 640, or 800) if light is insufficient to meet the above conditions.
Tomorrow, I'll blog about why cloudy weather works for subjects hanging out in mangroves, etc., as well!
Image: Immature White Ibis in flight; 1/1250 sec. @ f/5.6, ISO 800; Canon 50D and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens.
View all my images at the Wild Images Florida website.
