The rainforest of Lamington Nat’l Park around O’Reilly’s is teaming with bird life this time of year. The vast majority are incredibly colorful, have crazy calls and do everything in a big way. One notable exception is the Grey Shrike-Thrush. While “common” you are lucky to see one during a twenty-four hour period and even more lucky to get one in the viewfinder. With that said, on everyone of my visits to O’Reilly’s I’ve have the opportunity to photograph one and long enough to get the “Say What?” cock of the head. I’m not sure if it’s trying to hear better, see around me, watching a predator overhead or what, but rotating their head until it looks like it’s going to pop off seems to be common. Knowing this was coming at some point, I wanted the rest of the frame to be “light and whimsical” to support that look. I didn’t want the “dark” rainforest like I had previously. I dialed in +0.03 exp comp into the Z 9 for the ambient light and used the Profoto A10 bringing up the value of the Shrike-Thrush. The end result just makes me smile so in the future when back in MT, I can look at the photo and know it’s saying, “Say What?”

My mom was a big time beachcomber with an incredibly impressive shell collection from around the globe. I spent a whole lot of my time as a kid on the beach amongst the thousands and thousands of shorebirds vying for the same sand where I as building castles. There was one group I constantly saw running back and forth with the waves. The pattern they made as they ran as a flock fascinated me. We’d see them in spring and winter and they looked totally different though they had the same behavior. I asked my dad who was a reluctant beachcomber what they were doing there on the beach, he looked at the Sanderlings and then looked back at me and said, “They chase the water back into the sea.” There isn’t a time when I’m lying on the sand photographing these incredible travelers I don’t think of that. These days though, there are a whole lot fewer Sanderlings and other shorebirds and there is a whole lot more water. It might just be in the near future we’ll truly need their “special” skill at chasing the sea back!

Fall is the time for those big, gorgeous big game photos. The moth eaten summer coats have been replaced with their lush winter coats. Fat levels are getting high storing up for winter. We’re approaching the time to get out with these symbols of wilderness. With much of North America in drought conditions, with the heat that has being intense in some areas, big game will respond possible with a shorter, more intense rut. Looking at the White-tailed Deer here in the Sapphires, they appear to be setting up now for rut. That’s about 3-4 weeks earlier than last year. Talking with some folks, they are seeing kinda the same thing in their parts of they country. In the past when these conditions were seen, an early, intense rut was the outcome. In your planning for that big fall shoot, check into the weather. Might change the timing of your photography.

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!