The Traveling Photographer
by Brian E. Small
June is perhaps my favorite month for bird photography. It not
only signals the beginning of summer, but more importantly, it is
the height of nesting season for many birds. From the barren
tundra of the high arctic to the dense river forest of the Rio
Grande Valley and from the rugged California coast to the sandy
shores of the Delaware Bay, the avian breeding season is in full
swing, and for me, that means it is travel season.
Every summer, I plan a three or four week driving trip to a
different part of the country to search for new birds to
photograph. The excitement of these trips comes from never really
knowing what I will find when I am on the road and what new
adventures are awaiting me. For example, let me share some of my
experiences from my 1997 trip and perhaps provide you with a
little information to help you plan a bird photo trip of your own
this summer.
During June of 1997 I took my first summer bird photography trip
through the Rocky Mountain states of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and
Montana. After leaving southern California, I headed north along
Interstate 15 towards Salt Lake City. My plan was to visit the
Bear River National Migratory Bird Refuge at the northern end of
the Great Salt Lake.
I had been to this area the previous summer when I attended the
American Birding Association convention in nearby Park City;
however, I didn't make the time to visit Bear River. When I
returned from the convention and mentioned this to WildBird's
Editor At Large Paul Konrad, he told me I had missed a wonderful
refuge and a great place for bird photography--boy was he right!
The key to successful photography at Bear River is to use your
car as a blind. The cattail marshes, wet meadows and ponds within
the refuge and especially those along the entrance road before
you actually reach the refuge itself are wonderful areas to
photograph. I had great luck with singing Marsh Wrens, displaying
Yellow-headed Blackbirds, nesting Bank Swallows, White-faced
Ibis, Western Grebes, American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts,
Spotted Sandpipers, Wilson's Phalaropes and many more.
In summer, these birds are in their spectacular breeding plumage
and are actively singing, courting, establishing and defending
territories and nesting. In fact, because the water levels were
so high along the entrance road in 1997, I found that both
American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts were nesting literally
on the side of the gravel road. As I would stop my car, the
avocets and stilts would do their "broken-wing" distraction
display and this gave me a great opportunity for some dramatic
action photography.
Like many wildlife refuge drives, your best bet is to use a
window mount or bean bag to support your camera and slowly drive
the road looking for targets of opportunity. A camera window
mount is a simple device that rests in or clips to the window
frame of your car door when the window is lowered. In addition,
most of the available mounts require that you attach a ballhead
to aid in the positioning of your camera and lens. The added
stability you gain by using a high-quality window mount can
dramatically improve your image sharpness because of how well it
will steady your camera and lens.
My favorite tool for this job is the very sturdy Groofwin Pod
from the L.L.Rue catalog (800-734-2568 and www.rue.com). In many
parks and refuges I have visited, the birds are so used to cars
that they hardly pay attention as I photograph out my car window
and that's why I always like to travel with a good window mount.
From Utah, I worked my way along the western edge of the Rockies
photographing in parts of Idaho and southern Montana as I
traveled. My next goal was to photograph nesting waterbirds in
the lakes around Glacier National Park near the Canadian border.
I was met by a good friend and fellow WildBird contributor named
Tom Ulrich. Tom had offered to take me out in his canoe to a few
of his favorite lakes for some up-close and personal grebe and
loon photography-this was an offer I couldn't refuse.
We photographed at two different lakes--one held a beautiful pair
of nesting Red-necked Grebes and the other was home to a family
of Common Loons. At the first stop, I could hardly contain my
excitement as we approached a striking pair of breeding plumage
Red-necked Grebes. The adult birds actually came out to our canoe
to investigate us while they were taking turns feeding their
three newly fledged young. The youngsters would swim around the
adults and beg for food and then take turns resting on the back
of one of the adults. As you can imagine, the shutter in my
camera was humming with roll after roll of wonderful photos.
Again, the Groofwin came in handy, as I was able to photograph
the grebes from the front platform of the canoe. The mount helped
to steady my Nikon F5 and Nikon 500mm AF-S lens while I attempted
to photograph at a low angle to the birds. I wanted my photos to
communicate a feeling of being right in the water with the
Red-necked Grebe family so I tried to get down to their eye level
by photographing as close to the water as I could.
Tom and I had virtually the same experience with the Common Loon
family; however, the difference here was that I also brought
along a medium magnification Nikon 80-200mm telephoto zoom lens.
I wanted to photograph not only the birds up close and personal
with my 500mm, but also in a wider view to show the loon family
within their environment.
Leaving these beautiful birds was hard but I needed to press on
toward the south. I crossed through the spectacular mountain
passes of the northern Rockies and headed towards the open
prairies further south and east. My next objective was to
photograph some of the special birds of the prairie landscape--I
was after longspurs!
Finding photographable longspurs is not easy, but if you have an
experienced Montana photographer like my friend Alan Nelson
along, the challenge becomes much easier. I met up with Alan in
Great Falls and we headed out to some of his favorite grassland
areas.
Alan knew exactly what kind of very specific microhabitat to look
for in our quest for both Chestnut-collared and McCown's
Longspurs. Chestnut-collared seem to prefer the thicker and
taller grass while McCown's like shorter grasses and rockier
areas. We searched for the male longspurs singing on territory
and once we found them, we set up a photo blind on a preferred
perch and waited for the birds to return.
Eventually both species of longspurs became accustomed to our
photo blind and returned again and again to proclaim their
territory by singing from a favorite perch. Alan and I were able
to take many beautiful photographs because we were prepared for
the photographic circumstances. A blind is another piece of photo
gear I always bring with me on my summer travels because I just
never know when it will come in handy.
Someday, you too may get the bug to travel and photograph birds.
When that time comes, I have a few recommendations for you.
Bring as much camera gear as you can because equipment left
behind won't do you any good sitting at home. You may be
surprised at all the things you will end up using by the time
your trip is over.
I suggest you have a basic plan of where you want to go and what
birds you want to photograph. However, be flexible in your
schedule. Don't lock yourself into a hard and fast itinerary with
many motel rooms paid for in advance. When you arrive at you
destination, weather conditions, road conditions, park
restrictions and other factors may require you to change your
original plan.
Probably the best thing you can do is network with other
photographers. Before you leave home, speak with others who have
visited the same places you plan to go. Ask about which specific
locations were productive and which were not. Also try to get
information on specific birds you want to photograph. There is
nothing quite as good as solid, first-hand information because it
can save you lots of your valuable vacation time.
If you have ever dreamed about fantastic new photo opportunities
or undiscovered places to take pictures, I encourage you to
become a traveling photographer. New destinations will take you
into new habitats and that is sure to give you lots of great new
birds to photograph. This summer, I hope you will hit the road
like me and who knows, maybe our paths will cross somewhere out
on the highway.
Brian E. Small
Phone: 310/440-9443
Mobile: 310/849-0306
E-mail: BSmallFoto@aol.com
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