ABA Blog

Kayak Kam 2

A couple of years ago I posted about a photo rig for kayaks.  I like the setup but it is mainly for pretty committed bird & wildlife photography (serious tripod & head, big lens, etc.)  As I was getting ready for a little paddling trip a couple of days ago with my 7-year old son, I devised a simple little way to have a camera at hand in the boat without the major rigging job.  This method works well for moderate setups like 100-400mm or 80-400mm zooms on DSLRs, for a smaller kit like a mirrorless DSLR rig, or for a super-zoom camera.  

Heading out into birdy territory by kayak.  Probability of splashes coming on board:  HIGH

The thing about kayaking is that lots of splashes come on board from the alternating paddle strokes.  The little cups on the paddle shaft help to keep much of the water outboard, but even on a sunny day there's going to be water droplets sprinkling down into the boat.  Putting your camera in a dry box (such as a pelican case) or in a dry bag will keep it snug but deployment will be slow if a bird suddenly appears.  As a compromise, I put a boat cushion down on the keel in front of me to rest my camera rig on (this pads the camera and keeps it up out of any water pooling up on the bottom of the boat.)  Then I drape a dry bag over my camera to shed any droplets coming aboard.  If a photo opp presents itself I can just pull off the dry bag & grab my camera.  Also, if things get dicey (like heavy rain, waves splashing into the boat, etc.) my dry bag is immediately available to slip my camera into for a more secure storage situation.

My fairly compact Nikon 80-400mm rig is in reach between my feet, resting on a boat cushion and draped with a dry bag.

Incidental splashes are kept off the camera by the dry bag.  If conditions worsen, the dry bag is immediately available to properly seal in my camera rig.

My camera is immediately ready for action by just pulling the dry bag aside.

Bird photo opps appear quickly, so having your camera at the ready can pay off.  Trumpeter Swans, Crex Meadows Wildlife Area, Burnett County, Wisconsin, June 2013.

As I said before, mixing camera gear with watercraft amplifies the risk factor significantly.  When deploying a camera in a kayak or other small boat you are always one mistake or accident away from unrepairable disaster so get real familiar with your boat and check your rig on dry land before attempting!  Oh, and have fun!!

 

Spot Check

I hope I'm mostly preaching to the choir when I say that counting birds whenever possible (vs. just ticking species) is important for many reasons.  The folks at team eBird have summarized the importance of doing so and some basics to try when counting flocks in their excellent post, "Bird Counting 101".  For those facing more advanced counting situations they followed up with "Bird Counting 201".  Here I'd like to show one of my favorite ways to count big flocks of birds using digital photographs.

Bird photography is very useful beyond aesthetic reasons. For example, when documenting a rare bird or for use in identifying challenging species a few photos can be invaluable.  I have also found that flock shots (however janky) are great for counting bird numbers from the leisure of my laptop.  I know I'm not the first birder who has thought of this (indeed, one main way to census flocks of waterfowl etc. is to study aerial photos), but I'd like to share a few tips I've found to be helpful.

First, a great use for a zoom lens is to pull back to fit the flock into the frame.  Sometimes a modest point & shoot camera or smart phone may be even better than a telephoto if you are close to a big flock.  If you still can't fit the flock in, try to estimate how much of the flock you are getting in the image to use as your basis for multiplying your estimation later.  When I'm looking at an image on my computer, I like to use the paintbrush feature in Photoshop Elements (about any image processing software will have similar features), with the pixel radius set to about the body size of each bird.  This lets me count individuals by dabbing them each with a spot of virtual paint, eliminating re-counts.  I also like to change the color in sets of birds according to the general size of the flock (like every 10, 25, or 100 birds.)  This gives me a nice visual of each block of birds and helps me pick up where I left off if I lose count.  Not only does this give a really accurate count of the flock but I think it helps me improve my visualization of blocks of birds in the field if I can't get a shot to count later.  Here are a few examples of this technique that I've used to get a good count of birds in a flock.

 

 

The winter of 2007/2008 produced an amazing irruption of Bohemian Waxwings in Colorado.  Here is what I estimated to be about 1/3 of a flock in my Longmont neighborhood on 29 December 2007.  How many birds do you think are in this frame?

 

I arrived at 698 individual birds, each dabbed with a spot of color (in separately colored blocks of 100.) Click on the image to see the color dabs in higher resolution.)  Since I thought I was able to fit about 1/3 of the birds in the frame, I estimated the flock to be ~2100 birds.

 

Here's an example from last fall.  On 5 October 2012 an amazing overflight of Sandhill Cranes swept the overcast skies of Boulder.  Skein after skein of vocalizing birds traversed the city in the afternoon hours, and amidst my errands I swung into a Safeway parking lot to take a wide-angle shot of one wave.

 

To count the birds I tweaked up the brightness and contrast and then dabbed the birds in colored groups of 100, arriving at 378 birds.  By comparing this group to the multiple other skeins I saw flying by that afternoon I estimated my observation total at 2400 Sandhill Cranes.  Adding photos like this along with field notes to eBird checklists is a great way to make your friendly neighborhood eBird reviewer happy!!  

 

 

Like much of the United States, Colorado is in the midst of an historic redpoll irruption this winter.  On 24 November, 2012, I caught up to a large flock that had been reported frequenting Baseline Reservoir in Boulder.  When the flock picked up and whirled around I grabbed a shot with every bird in the frame.  Care to estimate the count before scrolling down??

 

 

 

 

In this frame I came up with 60 birds, here dabbed in color blocks of 10.  On a personal note, at the time I saw it, this flock was about triple the size of all of my prior cumulative redpolls in the state (a number that has since skyrocketed from several more large flocks I've encountered this winter.)

 

You don't even need a telephoto rig to try this technique- here's another Bohemian Waxwing flock (from Niwot, Colorado 22 Feb 2013) digibinned with my iPhone through the beta bins that I keep in my car.  I propped the binocular on my window (partially rolled up to achieve a good height) and clicked a few shots for a private census.  

This time spotting by 20s I came up with 160 birds in the cottonwood tree.

 

OK, ready for your homework?  See what you come up with on this one...  ◔_◔

Slap on a Hat- In Style!

With the summer season upon us, I thought I'd mention Wallaroo Hats.  I just found out about this neat hat company by receiving one of their brown check Jasper hats as a gift.  It has a wide 3" brim, is very light and airy, sports an adjustable headband and chin strap (critical for birdng on windy days) and snaps back to shape if mashed.  Wallaroo offers a wide variety of natty models offering UPF 50+ ratings to keep those gnarly UV rays off your scalp, neck, and face.  These go beyond typical floppy sun hats to offer plenty of style and function with easy-to-care-for materials.  Also nice is Wallaroo's support of skin cancer research- they donate 1% of their annual profits to this cause.  So check out their chapeau offerings if you are needing a new topper for sunny birding outings!!  

Hear the Motorcycle

 
[...or the Northern Waterthrush. Moose Bog Vermont, June 2010.]

Vince Elia, friend and NJ Audubon Research Associate, shared a story with me that speaks volumes about hearing birds.

He was leading a “birding by ear” field trip and had been emphasizing that the first step to identifying birds by their sounds was simply to detect them. As the group walked along, Vince noticed the rumble of a motorcycle passing on a distant road. It was clearly audible, and there was no doubt in Vince’s mind that the average person would have had no problem picking it up. As the sound faded into the distance, Vince asked the group, “How many of you just heard that motorcycle?”

Every person in the group responded the same way:  “What motorcycle?”  Vince response is the title of this article.

First, let’s give an important nod to reality. Humans vary in hearing ability, both in terms of loudness (amplitude) and pitch (frequency). Some are blessed with outstanding hearing throughout the range of audible frequencies, and others are less fortunate.

The average frequency of the songs of songbirds is roughly the same pitch as the highest note of a piano, but there is much variation and many are higher than that. Cedar Waxwings and Blackpoll Warblers have famously high songs, reaching beyond 8,000 Hz, and the final note in a Blackburnian Warbler’s song pushes past 11,000 Hz. Although young people with keen ears can theoretically hear all the way up to 20,000 Hz, some birders for example cannot hear waxwings or the high note in the Blackburnian’s song. Unfortunately for us, loss of hearing with age is a problem that seemingly cannot be avoided, one exacerbated due to exposure to loud music or machinery. Some people, whether young or old, may suffer deficiencies in hearing not only high but also low-pitched or mid-range sounds, due to damage or genetics.  And there is certainly disparity between birders when it comes to hearing faint or far-away sounds, whether high- or low-pitched.

So there are our excuses - we simply don’t have the raw material to hear well, we tell ourselves, because of genetics, age, or abuse.

Maybe. I think hearing bird sounds is as much a matter of discipline and practice as it is a matter of raw physical ability. Highly skilled birders are freaky good at detecting sounds. This cultivated ear is why tour leaders hate it when participants play a bird sound with a smart phone or I-pod without them knowing. The participant may be at the back of the group and think they're playing it softly, but the leader's going to hear it, I promise you. I've watched leaders absolutely jump when someone played a rarity's vocalization.

Anyhow, we’ve got to make the best of what we’ve got. You are undoubtedly better at spotting birds now than you were when you began birding, and you can get better at hearing them, too. How?

1) Practice listening constantly until it becomes second nature. Be alert to sound at all times. Some birders are almost creepy this way. You've met the type. You can be having an involved conversation with them and get a sentence like this: “We’ll be driving up to Massachusetts - White-crowned Sparrow - to spend Easter with - there it is again - my grandmother, and driving back down on Friday.” 

2) Reach out with your ears. Just like we can’t expect every bird to tee-up on a bush 10 feet away, we can’t expect every bird sound to come through as if we’re wearing headphones with the volume is on 10. I like to visualize listening as casting a net with my ears - I’m casting it wide, and far, and with a fine mesh.

3) Walk QUIETLY and stand STILL!! This may be the most important advice I can offer. If you are moving, talking, crunching gravel, or swishing clothing, you cannot possibly hear well. Wear fleece or wool so it doesn’t swish. Choose your substrate carefully when you walk, walk slowly, put your feet down gently, stop often. Convince your companions to follow these tips as well.

4) Listen past the obvious. Let’s face it, a few birds make most of the noise - Ovenbirds, catbirds, robins. Every time you hear a new bird, catalog it and then try to put that noise on your mental back burner, so you can listen for something else. Imagine turning the net you are casting into a filter, blocking out unwanted sounds such as common birds, car noise and machinery while allowing fainter or more interesting sounds through.

5) If birding by auto, get out of the car! You can hear much more if you do.

6) Face the sound of interest. Some people also like to cup their hands behind their ears, which has value in terms of amplifying sounds and helps block out interfering background noise.  

7) Take care of what you’ve got! Always wear hearing protection when operating machinery, using firearms, and even going to concerts. See a doctor if you suspect any kind of hearing problem or experience loss.

Owl-seeker's Code

 

[This gray morph Eastern Screech Owl responded to a whistled imitations during the 2010 Walnut Valley, NJ Christmas Bird Count. It's looking over its right shoulder, by the way, head turned about as far as an owl can go. . .photo by Don Freiday.]

Owls get a lot of attention from birders - understandably so, but sometimes it's a bit too much.

Looking for owls, looking at owls, and, especially, showing people owls is a tricky business.  On the one hand, owls are fascinating and universally popular. On the other, they are vulnerable to disturbance around their roosts and nests, and even worse, are still despised by an ignorant few that might intentionally do them harm. We want people to know about, and care about, owls, but we risk having owls "loved to death."

A recent raptor workshop reinforced all this. I decided not to show participants owls at the roosts I knew about, because of the risk of disturbing the owls either during the workshop or if people returned to the roost sites after the workshop was finished (which, experience suggests, some surely would.)  We nonetheless secured decent views of 3 species of owls during the workshop, mainly by watching prime areas at dusk.

The American Birding Association has its own official code of ethics, which all birders should become familiar with (available at http://www.americanbirding.org/abaethics.htm), but owls require birders to be especially thoughtful and respectful.  Many years ago I scribed An Owl-seeker’s Code of Ethics, which I share with participants on owl field trips. I've gone as far as having people on field trips swear to adhere to the code, with right hand raised and left resting on their favorite field guide!  It is reproduced below.

WHEREAS, owls are fascinating and valuable co-inhabitants of our planet, and

WHEREAS, owls are vulnerable to disturbance around their roosts and nests, and

WHEREAS, owls are still despised or feared by an ignorant few,

I DO HEARBY RESOLVE THAT,

I.  I will whenever possible educate others about the value of owls, and explain that disturbance, shooting, habitat loss, and the use of rodenticides are severe threats to these birds.  I will personally avoid causing any threat to any owl.

II.  I will use extreme discretion when I look for and observe owls.  Specifically, I will take great care not to flush owls from their roosts or nests, and will never touch, climb, or mutilate a tree they are using.  I will maintain a respectful distance from the owl at all times.  I will move slowly and quietly.  If I do accidentally flush an owl, I will NOT continue to pursue it in hopes for yet a better look.  I will not repeatedly visit an owl roost for yet another look, and in general will hold my visits to no more than one per month.

III.  I will limit my calling for owls, especially during the nesting season.  I will never use a tape recorder to call owls unless I am part of an organized owl survey.

IV.  If I am lucky enough to find a roosting owl, I will use most extreme discretion about who to tell about my findings, and especially about who I take to see the bird.  In general, I will not tell more than one close friend or companion, and I will INSIST that they not tell anyone else.  I will seriously consider not telling anyone.

V.  If someone else tells me about an owl, or shows me one, I will make sure I receive his or her specific permission to return to the bird or to tell others about it.  Otherwise, I will respect that person’s find and the welfare of the owl.

VI.  I will be especially cautious about giving a landowner information about owls or other birds of prey on his or her property unless I know them to be upstanding individuals.

VII.  If I find an owl nest, I will immediately leave the vicinity with as little disturbance as possible and I will be especially thoughtful about whether I should return to the site at all.

VII.  I will report the locations of roosts or nests of rare, threatened or endangered species to the appropriate government authority so that information can be incorporated in conservation efforts.

Layering Up and Down

 
[Short-eared Owl photographed over the marshes of NJ's Cohansey River during a bitterly cold Cape May Bird Observatory Winter Marsh Raptor Survey, which involves repeated scans every fifteen minutes, from an hour before dark until a half-hour after - good warm gear is a must! Photo copyright Don Freiday.]

Since cold weather lays heavily upon much of North America, let's follow up on my first blog, which dealt with the "base layer" of clothing. Recall that the base layer is the critically important one next to your skin, a.k.a your “thermal underwear.” 

Most birders are familiar with the concept of layering clothing, but perhaps don't apply layering as effectively as they could. If two layers are good, five or six can be better! Multiple clothing layers allow complete flexibility when conditions change. Layers also trap air between them, and air is a poor conductor of heat away from your body.  So, when it’s really cold, I often have five or six layers on my upper body.

For example, during CMBO's recent winter marsh raptor survey, when the temperature hovered in the teens with that typical east coast dampness (thank goodness it wasn't windy!) and we had to remain essentially stationary outdoors for an hour and a half, here's what I had on, from the inside out, on the upper half of my body:

- base layer: a zip-turtleneck of Cabela’s MTP long underwear, expedition weight;

- a zip-turtleneck of Patagonia's Capilene 3;

- another zip turtleneck of Cabela's MTP, this one designed for archery hunters with thumbholes in the sleeves that keep the sleeves (both of this garment and the ones you're wearing beneath it) pulled up over your wrists;

- a Nano-puff jacket by Patagonia (an awesome, though pricey, addition to the birder's wardrobe, as warm as a heavy wool sweater with almost no weight or bulk);

- a 800-fill-power down sweater by Marmot;

- on top, the lighweight, incredibly warm Micropuff jacket by Patagonia (this could be my favorite cold weather garment). 

That's six layers, and I was warm but could still move freely as I watched and photographed as many as three Short-eared Owls hunting the salt marshes where the Cohansey River meets Delaware Bay, not to mention multiple Bald Eagles, Northern Harriers, and 2 Great-horned Owls that came to the edge of the marsh at dusk to hunt.

Another layering tip: pay serious attention to layering down as well as up, so you don't become too warm.  For example, take a bunch of stuff off if you are going into a restaurant or for an extended drive between birding spots.  Unzip or remove layers if you exert yourself, BEFORE you sweat. Moisture-wicking base layers are great, but have limits, and if you bead up with sweat, you will wind up with damp inner garments.  When that happens, nothing can keep you warm.

Snow Light

Raptors appeal to a wide spectrum of birders and nature loves like few other groups of birds.  But their habit of perching high in trees or power poles and flying overhead can make photographing them challenging- they often have bright skies behind them that contribute to very dark images of the birds.  Your eye & brain combination is much more forgiving than a digital camera sensor, which is why the bird that looked fine in your bins may look like a dark silhouette in your photos.  You can play with exposure compensation or waiting for the right light (sunrise and sunset light from behind is quite nice) but if you live in northern latitudes, get out on a sunny day when there is snow on the ground.  The snow acts like a big reflector, bouncing light up from underneath the birds.  This helps illuminate raptors from below, showing features otherwise lost to underexposure on birds against bright skies.  Portrait photographers sometimes use basically the same technique using portable reflectors to bounce sunlight at their models as an alternative to electronic flashes.  This is especially helpful on dark raptors like eagles or dark-morph buteos, but works with about any raptor you find on a sunny day with snow on the ground.  As a word of caution, light-morph raptors can look really pale in snow light- I've seen light Red-tailed Hawks mistakenly ID'd as Ferruginous Hawks in these conditions, for example, because they look so bright underneath in the bounced light.

We've had a notably dry, warm winter up to this week in Colorado's Northern Front Range where I reside.  But we finally got significant snow a couple of days ago, followed by a sunny cold day today.  Having the day off, I headed out to drive a nearby route I know can be productive for wintering raptors.  One bird I was happy to find was this light-morph adult Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk.  It is back for its 4th winter in the same wintering territory, showing the site fidelity of these birds.  More amazingly, Jerry Liguori (author of Hawks From Every Angle: How To Identify Raptors in Flight and the upcoming Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors) photographed the same bird in migration to its Alaskan breeding grounds in the spring of 2009.  Feather-by-feather analysis of flight photos from Colorado & Alaska clearly established it was the same bird and we co-authored an article documenting the long distance photo-recovery in Colorado Birds Vol. 44 No. 1, Jan. 2010 (PDF here).  It was great seeing this old friend again today and snapping it in the great snow light!

Nearby was another adult Harlan's Hawk- this one more typically dark (perhaps a dark-intermediate morph per Brian Wheeler's Raptors of Western North America.)  It was perched nearly over the road and I photographed it leaning out my vehicle window.  The snow light really brings out the feather detail in the dark body!

I finished my tour with a raptor that took my breath away- an adult male rufous-morph Ferruginous Hawk.  (Rufous individuals with gray heads are likely males vs. females with brown heads per Brian Wheeler's Raptors of Western North America.) This bird wasn't as cooperative as the above Harlan's- it perched in a twiggy cottonwood tree and then flew between me and the sun.  On a normal day the flight images would probably have been unsalvageable, but with the snow light and a bit of shadow highlighting in post-processing I could bring up the amazingly rich dark rufous tones of this bird.  Look at the gape- that guy is made to gulp large prey like prairie dogs & jack rabbits with a minimum of shredding!  I hope you enjoy the images and get the chance to try birding & photographing raptors with snow light sometime this winter.

 

 

First Outdoor Tips Blog - The First Layer

[Note: The folks at ABA have invited me to feature "outdoor tips" on the ABA blog, which I envision as topics related to successful birding that do not necessarily involve identifying birds, from clothing to gear to what to do in the field. People come to birding from a variety of backgrounds; some are already experienced outdoors-people but others may not be, and even outdoors-people love a good tip on methods or gear! It happens I came to birdng at a fairly young age but through other outdoor pursuits, and many of my posts will feature lessons learned while fishing, hunting, kayaking, backpacking, camping etc. that apply to my favorite: birding.]

With the onset of cold weather, I figured we'd start with a tip on keeping warm. Most birders are familiar with the concept of layering clothing, which leaves you flexible as conditions change. What too many people fail to realize, however, is that the base layer is more important than what you put on top of it.The base layer is the one next to your skin, a.k.a your “thermal underwear,” and performs two critical functions. First, it creates a layer of warmed air next to your skin that cold has a hard time penetrating, or more accurately, makes it harder for warmth to depart your body. Second (if it’s the right stuff), it will “wick” moisture away from your skin. To do this, it must fit snugly (not tightly), must be of a moisture wicking material, and must be of a weight befitting the conditions. Cotton doesn't get it done; in fact, just say no to cotton in tough conditions, for all garments from underwear to blue jeans.

The upshot is, when you're shopping for base layer clothes, make sure they're not cotton and make sure they wick moisture. Different base layer brands use different ratings according to warmth, typically along the lines of light, medium, heavy and expedition weight. The expedition weight stuff is tempting, and that’s what I wear in extreme conditions, but most of the time it’s too warm for birding. Choose medium weight for an all around cold weather base layer - you can always add another layer on top.