Pribilofs Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch In Flight

Despite being about 15 % larger than the other two distinct and recognizable breeding populations of this species, it was still rather difficult to get a decent in flight photograph while sitting atop the wind-blown cliffs of Saint Paul Island in the rain with a super-telephoto lens. The wind was howling and the Finch would occasionally stall as it looked for insects on the cliff directly below me.

Crested Auklet Calling

The Bering Sea in winter, framed as it is by Alaska and Siberia, is frigid, stormy, and dark. But remarkably, some birds seem right at home there. The Crested Auklet is one such bird. And they have some unique qualities. Crested Auklets bark like Chihuahuas. Also, these seabirds exude an odor of tangerines from a chemical they produce that they thought repels ticks, but may, in fact, be a form of communication (read more HERE). They nest in immense colonies on Bering Sea islands, and remain nearby through winter, in flocks of many thousands. The auklets present a superb natural spectacle - sight, sound, and smell!

Horned Puffin Dorsal View In-Flight

A Horned Puffin returns to its nest in the cliffs of Saint Paul Island, AK. Very similar to the famous Atlantic Puffin, the Horned Puffin has different bill colors and a longer fleshy "horn" above each eye during the breeding season.

The Horned Puffin is among the Alaskan seabirds facing the challenges of climate change and dying in large numbers. Be sure to see my recent post:

2020 Alaska Seabird Die-offs

Thick-billed Murre (Brünnich's guillemot) in flight with fish

Here's a Thick-billed Murre bringing a meal to it's baby on Saint Paul Island, Alaska. Catching a reasonable image of this species in flight can be challenging with their top speed of 75MPH (120KM/H). This bird may have flown up to 160km (100 miles) and dove down to 100 meters (330ft) to catch this fish; that's a lot of work! The oldest recorded Thick-billed Murre was at least 28 years, 8 months old when it was found in eastern Canada in 2009. It had been banded in Nunavut in 1982.

Crested Auklet in flight

Here’s a Crested Auklet in-flight image from Saint Paul Island, AK. We spent an incredible day perched at the top of the seabird cliffs on an incredibly windy day. The seabird activity was over-the-top. All of the stars were out and preforming for us: Crested, Parakeet and Least Auklets, Horned and Tufted Puffins, Red-faced Cormorants, Northern Fulmars, Black-legged and Red-legged Kittiwakes. It was a spectacular day!

If you missed them, be sure to see these related posts:

Crested Auklet sends fragrant signals

2020 Alaska Seabird Die-offs

Crested Auklet sends fragrant signals

Here is a Crested Auklet from Saint Paul Island, AK. Saint Paul Island is part of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.

The tangerine-scented crested auklet is the first bird found to send fragrant signals.

Whenever I have been to seabird colonies over the years, I often smell seabirds before seeing them. Most often, the smell at a seabird colony is quite foul, especially on a hot sunny afternoon after some rain. When I smell what can only be described as someone peeling a tangerine next to me, I know there are Crested Auklets nearby - smile.

Crested auklets sniff necks when they meet. The birds seem to use perfume to make themselves attractive. When birds meet, they press their bills against each other's necks - feathers here have the strongest smell. It's not known what the perfume signifies. It could convey the bird's quality as a mate - well-fed birds might be able to produce more scent.

The perfume is a blend of oils, but how it's made is also a mystery. Oil from the auklets' preening gland is odorless, but bacteria on the feathers might break it down into something smellier. The birds only smell during the breeding season, with males and females becoming equally pungent.

Many birds, including vultures and pigeons, rely on scent to find food and navigate, but the use of chemicals to signal to others was unknown. The auklets open up a new field, says physiologist Bernice Wenzel of the University of California, Los Angeles.

"It's too soon to say whether [these signals] will turn out to be common," says Wenzel. "The important thing is that more research of this sort should be conducted."

Join me for my Saint Paul Island, AK workshop this July to learn more CLICK HERE.

2020 Alaska Seabird Die-offs

2020 marks the sixth consecutive year of seabird die-offs in Alaska. Alaska's northern oceans have been experiencing record-breaking, above-average sea surface temperatures. Seabirds eat zooplankton and cold-water fish that are both reliant on cold water. If the cold-water fishes have relocated because the ocean is too warm, or less zooplankton are reproducing in the warmer water, then the seabirds have a more difficult time finding enough food. Coldwater fish are fattier and provide more calories and nutrients for the birds, so even if they can find warm-water fish to eat, they may still have trouble meeting their calorie needs.

The seabirds affected in 2020 are:

• Crested Auklets

• Horned Puffins

• Common Murrs

• Short-tailed Shearwaters

• Northern Fulmars

• Black-legged Kittiwakes

Most of the dead birds appear to have died of starvation. Murres, for example, have a high metabolic rate and consume 10-30% of their total body weight every day. Changes to their food supply can impact their basic functions such as flying, feather molt and weatherproofing, and thermal regulation. Seabird die-offs also impact the entire population because of the reduction in breeding adults and the low productivity rate (success of eggs becoming chicks and becoming adults). Some species have experienced reproductive failure because the females are not in good enough body condition to produce eggs.

Join me on Saint Paul Island, AK for the trip of a lifetime. Learn more HERE.

August 4th is International Owl Awareness Day

Here’s a Great Grey Owl to celebrate International Owl Awareness Day!

Free Webinar Wildlife Photography Stories with Chris Dodds

My friends over at ioSafe are sponsoring a free webinar on May 28 at 1 pm EDT/10 am PDT. I hope to see you all there! Sign-up by clicking on the image above or button below.

Bald Eagle Fishing in golden light EYE SPY

“Hey Chris, yesterday you recommended a very high shutterspeed to capture ultra sharp images. I was wondering what trade off in iso there would be. I try not to go above 1600 but my shutter speeds are 1/2000 to 1/4000. Are you suggesting higher iso to get higher shutter speeds? Thanks, Rob”

— Rob Palmer

You can read my blog post that Rob refers to here: Top birds in flight settings for Sony a9II

Hey Rob,

Absolutely, yes! I set my desired aperture and target shutter speed in manual mode and then use whatever ISO that I need to get there. There are many examples in this blog of images made using a higher ISO than the 1,600 that you limit yourself to.

UNCOMPRESSED RAW AT HIGHER ISO

One consideration when photographing action at high ISO with a Sony a9 or a9II is to consider lowering your capture rate and switching to uncompressed raw images to lower the noise in the dark portions of the image. I usually switch to uncompressed raw at 6,400 ISO.

Top birds in flight settings for Sony a9II

“Hey Chris!
It’s Trevor Pottelberg. Hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy! With the unique spring we are all facing, I have been finding myself photographing more songbirds. They are obviously a lot faster and more erratic than the larger predatory birds. Do you have any suggestions of settings for capturing them in flight? I’ve tried with the Flex Point M setting but haven’t had a lot of tracking luck when a bird leaves it’s perch. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks Trevor”

Hey Trevor,

Thank you. We are safe, healthy and staying in self-isolation on our property.

There are a lot of factors that collide into a razor sharp action shot of anything. Here’s the short list:

• Firmware: Make sure you are using the latest firmware from your camera manufacturer. It amazes me how few opt to check and upgrade their camera’s firmware. Manufacturers constantly tweak and tune many aspects of how your camera operates and often unlock great new features.

• Shutter Speed: I strive to use at least 1/5,000s when I want razor sharp images. As you can see from the settings above, I was at 1/6,400 of a second exposure to ensure every detail was sharp in this image. Our cameras and lenses resolve so much detail these days, it is imperative to start to realize that freezing our movement (or that of the camera/lens) is just as important as freezing the subject; think about the wingtip speed of a windmill vane (blade).

• Silent shutter: Be sure to use electronic shutter and turn off any shutter sounds so that your subject remains undisturbed. Migrating songbirds fly away as soon as they hear the sharp sound of a mechanical shutter; it was always the best way to end a great opportunity, we used to have to hold off until everything was just right and often missed the best image with hope of something better; something mirrorless has changed forever.

• Solid footing: I use a solid tripod with gimbal head (Wimberley Head II) as often as I am able.

• Camera settings: Here are the key settings that I use most often to ensure the most reactive AF on my Sony a9II:

• Priority set in AF-C (Camera 1 - 5/14): AF

• Focus area (Camera 1 - 5/14): Tracking: Flexible Spot S (note that less experienced action shooters or those who have trouble acquiring and following the target may get better results with Flexible Spot M)

• AF Tracking Sens. (Camera 1 - 6/14): 1 (Locked-on). This is counter-intuitive to some who feel that they need to use 5 (Responsive) for fast moving birds with erratic flight patterns. The AF remains really responsive when set to 1 (Locked-on), however it will stay locked-onto your target much more reliably. If you were photographing a team sporting event, you would choose 1 (Locked-on) to continue to track a player when other players enter the frame between you and your target. You would choose 5 (Responsive) if you wanted to start tracking that new player who entered the frame in front of your original target.

Hope this helps. Enjoy and be safe.

Bald Eagle Fishing in Golden Light MISSED IT

I’ve only been fishing a handful of times, but there is a story for every one of them. When fishing for the first time shortly after moving to Canada my first bike (a metallic gold banana seat bicycle - but I probably shouldn’t tell you that) was destroyed by a drunk taxi driver in Chateauguay, Quebec and new friend that day Kevin Harvey (Now of Juno Nominated Durham County Poets fame) saved the day like the rock star his today (He remembered the Taxi permit and license numbers, and his dad drove me and my wrecked bicycle home). I’ve fought battles with what seemed like monster Halibut in Alaska, but they were really 20 pound Rock Fish. Finally, I do know that feeling of a great catch escaping the hook just before being landed in the boat when Halibut fishing in the Shelikof straight (AK); it would have been the biggest Halibut ever caught I’m sure!

Sea Otter Mother Nursing Pup

Sea Otters are trending here, so I’ll continue with this image of a mother nursing her pup. The hardest part of making this image in the Homer harbor (Alaska) was getting an image without a reflection of the many colorful boats. I started lying on the dock, but didn’t like the split horizon that the ice floating in the background caused. I slowly stood-up and was lucky they drifted closer to me while both looking at me - smile!

Stay safe!

Sea Otter Mother and Pup KISS

Here’s a special moment between a mother Sea Otter and her Pup. What appears to be a kiss, is really the baby trying to take food from it’s mother’s mouth ;) If you missed it, and are looking for something to do, here is a link to my recent Vistek Live Stream that was sponsored by Sony of Canada. We had our share of technical difficulties, but that often happens live.

In this episode we discuss what it takes to get world class wildlife images and how any nature enthusiast can immediately start taking better photos of their...

Sea Otter Mother eating a crab

This is the mother of the baby Sea Otter (from my last post HERE in case you missed it) eating a crab while the snow was gently falling. We usually get Sea Otters (mothers and babies) in Homer Harbor each year during my Eagles Galore Photography Workshops, this year was unusual; all of the Sea Otters in Katchemak Bay seemed to seek the protection from the unusually cold weather in the protected harbor.

Babay Sea Otter Vistek Live and Sony Kudos

In this episode we discuss what it takes to get world class wildlife images and how any nature enthusiast can immediately start taking better photos of their...

Be sure to check-out my Vistek Live interview with Dave Stood from Vistek. This is a much different format than my usual Sony presentations. The event was sponsored by Sony of Canada and Vistek. We had our share of technical difficulties (as is often the case with live events), but I am happy with the results.

Sony Establishes $100 Million COVID-19 Global Relief Fund

Kudos to Sony for reacting quickly and generously to the current COVID-19 disaster. My hope is that many more large corporations will join-in and give back.

Tokyo, Japan - Sony Corporation today announced the establishment of the "Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19," a 100 million US dollar fund to support those around the world affected by the COVID-19 virus.

Through this fund, Sony will provide support in three areas: assistance for those individuals engaged in frontline medical and first responder efforts to fight the virus, support for children and educators who must now work remotely, and support for members of the creative community in the entertainment industry, which has been greatly impacted by the spread of the virus.

In terms of medical support, 10 million U.S. dollars of the fund will be devoted first to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO powered by the UN Foundation and Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, as well as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to assist medical workers and others on the frontline of response efforts to the virus. Sony will also work with its external partners to explore ways that it can support activities that prevent the further spread and contribute to treatment of the COVID-19 virus.

In the area of education, where children, who represent the next generation, are losing education opportunities as a result of school closures, Sony will explore ways to leverage its technologies in support of education activities, and cooperate with educators to implement these measures.

Furthermore, in terms of the creative community such as music, pictures, games and animation, together with its group companies engaged in the entertainment industry, Sony will seek ways to support up-and-coming creators, artists and all those in professions supporting the industry, who have been impacted by the cancellation or postponement of concerts and live events, or the shutting down of film and television productions.

Sony also announced that employees will be able to provide their support through a matching gift program that is scheduled to be offered to its approximately 110,000 employees worldwide.

Kenichiro Yoshida, President and CEO, Sony Corporation, said, "Sony extends its condolences to the families of those who have passed away as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, and extends its sympathies to all those who have been impacted. In order to overcome the unprecedented challenges that as a society we now face around the world, we will do all we can as a global company to support the individuals on the frontlines of the battle against COVID-19, the children who are our future, and those who have been impacted in the creative community."

Going forward, Sony will work together with its partners and stakeholders to explore ways to further extend these initiatives.

Coastal Brown Bear Cub

Be sure to join me on Tuesday April 7 at 13:00 for a free livestream webinar sponsored by SONY CANADA and VISTEK.

Coastal Brown Bear Mother and Cub Clamming

Here’s mom showing her cub how to clam in Geographic Harbor, Katmai National Park, AK. My planned June Ultimate Alaska Bear Boat Trip is officially now another victim of the CORONAVIRUS COVID-19; it is best everyone stay home and let’s flatten the curve together. Join me in October for fishing bears or next June for mothers and cubs.

Bald Eagle Eaglet

Here’s an older image from my Ultimate Brown Bear by boat WORKSHOP in Katmai, Alaska. The Bald Eagle nests are always a nice distraction from the bears. Some years they are plentiful and easily approached from the comfort of our live aboard ship. We returned to the ship after a successful morning in the rain and the captain treated us with a warm and dry Eagle cruise while the rest of the crew spoiled us with an awesome lunch.

Bald Eagle OLD CRUSTY

I think I will have to call this one OLD CRUSTY; If you take a look closely, there is green staining on the underside of the head and at the base of it’s tail. There is even some green lichen between it’s wings. This might be a senior Eagle. I rejected this one during my first pass, but then reconsidered the second time around; something that doesn’t happen often ;)