Venice Rookery

If anyone is interested, I visited the rookery at Venice, Florida in mid
February. a few pictures with descriptions are at
http://lewbar.tripod.com/2004/rookery/rookery.htm. Corkscrew and Ding
Darling probably next week.

Lew wrote:

If anyone is interested, I visited the rookery at Venice, Florida in
mid February. a few pictures with descriptions are at
http://lewbar.tripod.com/2004/rookery/rookery.htm. Corkscrew and Ding
Darling probably next week.

Interesting, and those birds would never "make it" here. We're now just
getting some robins, after being adsent all winter.

Fred

--
"...Linux, MS-DOS, and Windows XP (also known as the Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly)."

Lew wrote:
If anyone is interested, I visited the rookery at Venice, Florida in mid
February. a few pictures with descriptions are at
http://lewbar.tripod.com/2004/rookery/rookery.htm. Corkscrew and Ding
Darling probably next week.


I was at the Venice rookery several days in this last week.
"I HAD TO BEAT THEM OFF WITH A STICK!" (The photographers,
not birds!) Seriously, I had to tell several people not to
set up so close to me as they impeded my movements following
birds in flight. Despite this, it is just wonderful there.

Venice is my favorite Florida birding spot. There was a lot
of great action and a good numbers of nesting birds, but only
a few chicks. Between Venice and Ding, I took between
4,000 and 5,000 images, mostly with 500 mm f/4. It'll
take me a while to go through them, and I'll post when
I have a bunch up. Here are some images from Venice and
Ding last year:

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...y.florida.bird

Venice was best in the early morning and by 10:30 am the
light is getting too harsh. A new observation deck
has been built which blocks the rising sun from illuminating
the birds, so it is a little after sunrise before the light
reaches most of the island at this time of year. There were
many more visitors now, and mostly non-photographers because
the location was written up in a birding magazine (I was told).

Ding Darling was iffy as usual, but also a few gem of opportunities.
I was there Thursday, February 26 at high tide in the afternoon,
and saw extremely little. I didn't take any bird photos
(but the raccoons are really out a lot). Tuesday and Wednesday
of this week (March 2, 3): low tide in the morning, but the tide
stayed relatively low all day. Drive the loop multiple times, as
if you don't see something on one trip, you might the next. Each time
I did the loop I saw different birds.

Sunset both nights: just past the observation tower, at the little
bridge spoonbills flew in and did a bathing display. The first night
was best with 50+ spoonbills and lots of flight action with a beautiful
orange sunset. You'll need a 500mm f/4 lens or better plus flash
extender and be shooting at iso 400 or 800. Even then many of my
images were blurry, but many keepers too. One guy who saw the display
first evening was also there the second evening but didn't think
they would come back again as only a couple of spoonbills had come in,
so he left. Within 2 minutes the large group started coming in. So if
the tide is not real high (probably good the next few days), this might
still be a good spot. There were many other birds there too.

Roger

Love your pictures. Question: for flying shots, do you hand-hold the 1120mm
equivalent lens, and follow the birds as they fly? Does the image
stabilization allow for the movement?

Lew
"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote in
message ...
Lew wrote:
If anyone is interested, I visited the rookery at Venice, Florida in mid
February. a few pictures with descriptions are at
http://lewbar.tripod.com/2004/rookery/rookery.htm. Corkscrew and Ding
Darling probably next week.


I was at the Venice rookery several days in this last week.
"I HAD TO BEAT THEM OFF WITH A STICK!" (The photographers,
not birds!) Seriously, I had to tell several people not to
set up so close to me as they impeded my movements following
birds in flight. Despite this, it is just wonderful there.

Venice is my favorite Florida birding spot. There was a lot
of great action and a good numbers of nesting birds, but only
a few chicks. Between Venice and Ding, I took between
4,000 and 5,000 images, mostly with 500 mm f/4. It'll
take me a while to go through them, and I'll post when
I have a bunch up. Here are some images from Venice and
Ding last year:

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...y.florida.bird

Venice was best in the early morning and by 10:30 am the
light is getting too harsh. A new observation deck
has been built which blocks the rising sun from illuminating
the birds, so it is a little after sunrise before the light
reaches most of the island at this time of year. There were
many more visitors now, and mostly non-photographers because
the location was written up in a birding magazine (I was told).

Ding Darling was iffy as usual, but also a few gem of opportunities.
I was there Thursday, February 26 at high tide in the afternoon,
and saw extremely little. I didn't take any bird photos
(but the raccoons are really out a lot). Tuesday and Wednesday
of this week (March 2, 3): low tide in the morning, but the tide
stayed relatively low all day. Drive the loop multiple times, as
if you don't see something on one trip, you might the next. Each time
I did the loop I saw different birds.

Sunset both nights: just past the observation tower, at the little
bridge spoonbills flew in and did a bathing display. The first night
was best with 50+ spoonbills and lots of flight action with a beautiful
orange sunset. You'll need a 500mm f/4 lens or better plus flash
extender and be shooting at iso 400 or 800. Even then many of my
images were blurry, but many keepers too. One guy who saw the display
first evening was also there the second evening but didn't think
they would come back again as only a couple of spoonbills had come in,
so he left. Within 2 minutes the large group started coming in. So if
the tide is not real high (probably good the next few days), this might
still be a good spot. There were many other birds there too.

Roger

Lew wrote:

Love your pictures. Question: for flying shots, do you hand-hold the 1120mm
equivalent lens, and follow the birds as they fly? Does the image
stabilization allow for the movement?

Thanks. No, it is difficult to hand hold such a large lens
for very long (I've only done it a couple of times, when there
was no time to set up a tripod. The 500 mm + 1.4x TC and Canon 10D
(or D60) gives 2.1 arc-seconds per pixel, which is an extremely small
angle. The subject movement for a sharp image must be
less than that, about 1-arc-second or less! I now use a Wimberly
tripod head with the lens image stabilization turned on.
The images on the web site from a year ago used a
bogen 329 pan head. The Wimberly allows a nice balance
and is very smooth for tracking. A steady tripod that
damps vibration is a must too. I found a bogen 3021
to be inadequate and all the bird pictures on the site used
a gitzo 1325 carbon fiber tripod. The carbon fiber tripod
really damps vibration nicely and is a real must for this
kind of work (a metal tripod would have to weigh many times
more to get the same image quality). Finely, when moving
the big lens around tracking moving subjects, the image
stabilization really helps and works just fine on the tripod.
I only turn it off when I do stationary subjects and lock the
head down. I then use mirror lockup. Here is my complete bird
gallery:

http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries/gallery.bird

Roger

Roger,

You really should try the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery in April. It
is much better than the Venice Rookery. IMHO. Closer, more interaction, and
better chance of dramatic images.

See a quick twenty images of mine from there at;
http://PhotoStockFile.com/SAAF

No GBH nest at SAAF. AFAIK

--
PWW (Paul Wayne Wilson)
Over 1,000 Photographs Online at,
http://PhotoStockFile.com



On 3/6/04 8:09 AM, in article ,
"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote:

Venice is my favorite Florida birding spot. There was a lot
of great action and a good numbers of nesting birds, but only
a few chicks.

PWW wrote:

Roger,

You really should try the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery in April. It
is much better than the Venice Rookery. IMHO. Closer, more interaction, and
better chance of dramatic images.

See a quick twenty images of mine from there at;
http://PhotoStockFile.com/SAAF

No GBH nest at SAAF. AFAIK

Thanks, Paul. You have beautiful images. What typical
focal lengths are these pictures obtained with?
I've never been to Florida in April, but when I get the opportunity,
I'll certainly go to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm.

I like the snowy egrets (rare at Venice), and I really
like your image 040307_015003. Most of your images are backlit
or very large angle from sun to camera. Is this typical of
the imaging opportunities? Are shooting opportunities better in
the morning or afternoon? I also understand you can get a
photographer's pass to get in early. How does one get one?
Can you get it the morning you arrive? Are you shooting
from a boardwalk, and if so, how does it work when the tourist
crowd gets heavy and vibrations abound?

Roger

Roger,

That Snowy, "040307_015003" was shot with a 600 f4, and it was framed that
close cropped because the Snowy was to close to me to shoot any different.
Many times my 600 f4 could not focus short enough to get some birds there.

Some info from a few of my newer 'Digital" shots there.
015135 at 270mm x 1.5 Digital multiplier = 405mm @ f5.3 @ 1/1000
015153 at 200mm x 1.5 Digital multiplier = 300mm @ f2.8 @ 1/2000
015207 at 260mm x 1.5 Digital multiplier = 390mm @ f5.3 @ 1/250

Digital done with with my 80-400 VR Hand Held or
Some with my 70-200 VR Hand Held

I like very dramatic images, my wife at times says I am overly dramatic,
hruphhhh. :-) So it is typical of the type of images that I shoot. I really
go scout out those places to get those backlit images. Most of the
photographers there don't seem to realize what a great image, a correctly
focused backlit shot can look like. They all want front lit images. You do
have to shoot though some holes and walk around a bit. But that is really
not saying much. It really is a very small area. It is much smaller that the
Venice rookery. I would guess that if you walked around the SAAF it would be
about 1/4 of the walk around the Venice Rookery, if that. But don't let it's
small size fool you there is a lot of great action there.

Morning and afternoon. Both have good opportunities. Midday is great for
lunch and viewing the Digitals.

Photographers pass. Yes, but it is questionable about the enter early and
leave late. It used to be a lot better, at least for me, but they have
seemed to lessen this option lately. Unless you can become friendly (well
known) with them there. I used to shoot a lot there but have switched to
shooting other things so most of the people I knew there have moved on.

Even with the regular start and leave time it usually is good enough. The
MAIN rookery is basically to the east in some large trees and it takes a
while for the sun to come up enough to use a faster enough shutter speed.
While I would have liked to stay longer to get streaking egrets coming in
during a fiery red sunset I still got enough great images during the regular
day.

Boardwalk, you betcha. But I went on weekdays, so it never got to be that
busy. Weekends could be different. At times people (or kids yelling) come by
but it is just part of good and bad of this place. Vibrations were not much
of a problem most of the time and now since I shoot digitally, I don't even
have to lug around a big lens and a big tripod, oh what freedom. Most people
are quite and nice and thoughtful. Of course I am an easy going guy so
others might see things a little different.

I have no affiliation with the place, wish I did with all this free
advertising I am giving them!

But it really is worth it to check it out. I was one of the very first to
know about it and I told others in my profession years ago and now it is
getting real well known. And, I know another great little rookery for
Cattle Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Snowys and a couple of Little Blue Herons.
Shhh.

Paul
--
PWW (Paul Wayne Wilson)
Over 1,000 Photographs Online at,
http://PhotoStockFile.com


On 3/7/04 8:13 AM, in article ,
"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote:

I like the snowy egrets (rare at Venice), and I really
like your image 040307_015003. Most of your images are backlit
or very large angle from sun to camera. Is this typical of
the imaging opportunities? Are shooting opportunities better in
the morning or afternoon? I also understand you can get a
photographer's pass to get in early. How does one get one?
Can you get it the morning you arrive? Are you shooting
from a boardwalk, and if so, how does it work when the tourist
crowd gets heavy and vibrations abound?

On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 03:40:34 GMT, "Lew"
wrote:
If anyone is interested, I visited the rookery at Venice, Florida in mid
February. a few pictures with descriptions are at
http://lewbar.tripod.com/2004/rookery/rookery.htm. Corkscrew and Ding
Darling probably next week.

I've been there the last two years in spring and did not make it this
year. Here are some of my shots
http://www.jondral-naturfoto.de/fotos_e.php
but I am still framing the slides


Gruß
Stefan

--


People: http://www.stefanjondral.de/
Naturfotos: http://www.jondral-naturfoto.de/

Stefan Jondral wrote:

On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 03:40:34 GMT, "Lew"
wrote:
If anyone is interested, I visited the rookery at Venice, Florida in mid
February. a few pictures with descriptions are at
http://lewbar.tripod.com/2004/rookery/rookery.htm. Corkscrew and Ding
Darling probably next week.

I've been there the last two years in spring and did not make it this
year. Here are some of my shots
http://www.jondral-naturfoto.de/fotos_e.php
but I am still framing the slides

NICE work! I certainly can tell the quality difference between You Canon and
Sigma lenses!! 'Glad I've stayed with Canon as resolution and colors are MUCH
better with Canon.

Fred

--
"...Linux, MS-DOS, and Windows XP (also known as the Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly)."