It was a very challenging week, no doubt about it! Following a long ago desire, we went searching for the legendary fall migration of shorebirds that hit MA shores. The hard drive was pretty empty at the start of the last day that should have been full of images from the week. Then, the last day, the last spot, the last hour, literally, we were in the sand amongst hundreds of shorebirds! On a narrow strip of beach, fifteen feet wide with high tide an hour away, we lay there in the sand at Red River. The four of us were shooting the Z 9 / Z400f4.5 with either a Z1.4 or Z2x as shorebird flock after shorebird flock landed in front of us and then paraded past us. Sanderling and Semipalmated Sandpiper, Willet and Rudder Turnstone and much more went by within inches, walking right down the lens barrel in the process. The sun and wind were on our back, the perfect combo (though the wind was gusting to 25mph blowing sand in places I’m still discovering). After about fifteen minutes we had to stretch our necks, we don’t get up from our prone position, just stretch. It’s then we go to Battery Info to see what the image count was for each of us. Then, every time we had to wobble left so the incoming tide didn’t soak Auntie, we would check them again. The numbers were impressive! The Z 9’s AF makes shooting a ton knowing you’re getting sharp images real easy. After an hour, the birds, waves and necks said it was time to go. My count for the hour, 8545. I was very happy! Auntie hit the Menu Button, toggled over to the Battery Info and let out a huge and as happy as you can be after a shoot shout, 10402! The factual thing is that’s how many images she had taken in that hour, but that’s not why we look or talk about these numbers. It’s how over the years we gauge how much fun a shoot was. This was simply a marvelous hour with our wild heritage, brilliant. And the number, well, 10402 pegs the fun meter!

I’m in MA looking for the elusive shorebirds heading south. With overcast skies, we sat on a cement wall staring at a 1/8 acre point of sand / mud waiting for the birds to come to us. Not moving an inch, including having cameras up to you eye and feet planted, we waited. Withing twenty minutes, the birds started to fly in to us. We had some great ones but this little Least Sandpiper was a favorite as it kept working the area for food getting closer and closer. The area had that “arctic” look to it and in its breeding plumage proudly shown, I just love this simple click. It was a great shoot! On the sad note though, the historic number of birds moving south, we’ve not seen at all. I just keep wondering what we’ve done to our wild heritage and, will any one care enough to make a difference. I’ve already photographed critters that have gone extinct. I don’t want to do it again!

With all the hummers that have taken over The Ranch this summer, I’m spending as much time as I can to get photographs of them. In particular I want to photograph the Calliope Hummer you see above (an immature). Our smallest hummer in No America, adult males are spectacular. I have no adults in my digital library and I want to change that. The more time I spend with them, the more I just blend in and my odds improve of getting the shots I’m after. We have just two normal feeders out along with about a dozen plants that they feed from. The feeder you see here is at the corner of the home. I am able to set up the Z 9 / Z400f4.5 w/Z1.4x about 6.5′ away from the feeder and just stand with my coffee in hand there and shoot. There is an hour period of time (around 07:45) in the morning when the sun hits the feeder in such a way it bonces the light out on the incoming hummer. When they come in on the right side, I have that unique reflected light along with filtered light of the sun lighting them up.

With that, I’m just using the ambient light to get the shot, no flash. I’m shooting aperture priority and have, very unlike me, raised the ISO to 1600 giving me a shutter speed of around 1/800. The body is sharp but the wings are a blur which is what I like. There are some challenges with this system which I’ll mention in a moment. Focusing is taken care of by the Z 9, Auto-Area AF Animal eye detection. If you look in the lower left corner of the photo below, you will see the red of the feeder. I manually prefocus on that corner of the feeder then pan to the right until I don’t see the feeder. Once the hummer comes into frame, I hit the back button and the AF takes over focusing operation. This is the alley way the hummers fly up to feed. That’s where I’m taking the photos, in that alley way to the right. Using the Smallrig Lightweight Fluid Head makes it real simple and smooth to pan and get the hummer in the viewfinder. Then I lay on the hammer and let the Z 9 work its magic. It’s really been that simple.

The photos I’m after are not just hovering shots. I’m actually after a couple in particular. Below are an example of one, the gyrations a hummer goes through in changing direction of travel. Right below gives you a hint of what I’m talking about. The bottom, out of focus image though is a prime example of it. Why is it out of focus? Simple, it’s moving faster then the shutter speed can stop. The solution, flash! Why don’t I have the flash out? Because I’m being really lazy to be honest with you. And I’m also keeping a small profile so the small Calliope will keep coming in and not be intimidated by flashes. And that’s it, that’s how I’ve been coming up with these images I’ve been sharing. Hope that encourages you to do the same thing.