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#1
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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. |
#2
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Venice Rookery
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)." |
#3
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Venice Rookery
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 |
#4
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Venice Rookery
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 |
#5
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Venice Rookery
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 |
#6
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Venice Rookery
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. |
#7
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Venice Rookery
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 |
#8
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Venice Rookery
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? |
#9
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Venice Rookery
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/ |
#10
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Venice Rookery
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)." |
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