Great Black-backed Gull with baby Common Eider

Apex predators and opportunistic hunters, the Great Black-backed Gull is the largest member of the gull family. We regularly see them scooping-up the baby Common Eiders that visit us for overnight safety on L'ile aux Perroquettes during my Deluxe Puffins Galore (and so much more) workshop. This beast scooped-up four baby Eiders at quite a distance in a short amount of time, then it suddenly veered around and started to fly toward us with a helpless baby in its deadly grasp. I usually shoot full-frame as a personal challenge to make better quality images but cropped away about 50% of this one to get a closer view. I am impressed at the image quality after the crop at 20,000 ISO.
Though it was once a cute little baby Common Eider, nature is not always cute and cuddly :(

Atlantic Puffin Wide Wings

There is nothing quite like sitting on a rock behind your camera and having hundreds of Puffins swirling around directly in front of you; it's hard to explain how much fun it is to photograph them coming directly towards you. This happens a couple of times each day during my Deluxe Atlantic Puffins Galore (and so much more) workshop.
This is the first image I made with the (then) brand new Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS Lens and I threw the Sony FE 2X on to test the combo for fast-moving flight photography. I think it passed the test with flying colors - smile.

Laughing Herring Gull Portrait

Another image from my Deluxe Puffins Galore (and so much more) Photo Tour. Again from an overcast and wet day in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Cameras record light as we see it; we see light, not darkness, and that is what your camera records. As such, it is critically important to get the very best exposure to maximize details and minimize noise - you need to do this in the camera to achieve the very best results; particularly with a white subject!

We carefully set-up our long lenses on the beach and remained as motionless as a group can. We were rewarded with many great opportunities in a short period.

This is a calling Herring Gull; this species is very noisy and well known for its loud laughing call. Gulls fascinate me, mostly because there are only 36 species in North and South America, but they can be so challenging to identify with their many varied plumages (none of them are called a "Seagull"). One of the most interesting facts about the Herring Gull is their tendency to nest on the same site for more than 20 years. On average, they live for about 30 years in the wild, but some have been known to survive to be 49 years old!

Savannah Sparrow with Lunch

Cold, wet and rainy days make for color saturation and naturally diffused light that I just love for this kind of intimate portrait of the Savannah Sparrow with a mouth full of food as it pauses before delivering take-out to it's demanding babies.

I was on a small island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence during my Deluxe Puffins Galore (and so much more) Workshop trying to convince my group to skip the Puffins and Razorbill for just long enough to grab a portrait - I think everyone was pleased with their results!

Gannets Galore Bird Photography Workshop

Here’s a Northern Gannet from my Gannets Galore workshop on Bonaventure Island. I just love the post downfall battleship grey backgrounds of the dark sky reflected by the surface of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. If you are serious about mastering bird photography, then this is the very best workshop to attend at the very best venue to truly master your craft. Three full days of in the field and non-stop action and instruction. All three days start with an amazing four hour Zodiac tour of Bonaventure Island where we immerse ourselves in the awe-inspiring and mesmerizing activity at the incredible seabird colony. We will be feet away from the thousands of Common Murres, Razorbills and diving Gannets; not to mention the Grey Seals, Common Eiders, Harlequin Ducks and more - a must-see wonder!

Coastal Brown Bears Jousting

We spent nearly two hours with these two siblings jousting in Hallo Bay in the fog during my Ultimate Coastal Brown Bear Boat trip last June. Shooting at 20FPS when the action was hot and heavy left us with more images than some knew what to do with. To quickly cull the images down to a manageable portfolio, I always look for captivating expressions and at least one eye visible on each bear. I find Adobe Bridge (included in my the photographer’s subscription) renders the best quality previews from my Sony files; and they render much quicker than anything else I have tested on my Mac.

Snowy Owl Final Approach

A Snowy Owl on final approach in fresh snow from my recent Winter Owl Prowl. I got down low and used my Wimberley MH-100 MonoGimbal Head on a monopod. If you missed it, be sure to check out the review by clicking on the button below:

Snowy Owl Silhouette

A silhouette from my recent Owl workshop. I pushed the black point, white balance and saturation to make it more dramatic and add visual impact. It was a fun morning with a great group and everyone got down low to work the rising sun as the clouds parted.

Arctic Tern with fish

I always arrive in Anchorage a few days before my Saint Paul Island and Bear Boat Workshop and one of my favorite things to do as soon as I unpack is head over to Potter Marsh to photograph the Arctic Terns. Their speed and agility is incredible, especially when there is a gusty wind along the Cook Inlet. It is a great way to unwind from the stress of travel with too many connections and the ever-shrinking seats in airplanes (not to mention the stresses and worry of getting my camera equipment onboard with me as a carry-on).

Aging and Sexing Snowy Owls

This is a male Snowy Owl being blown off balance in high winds. There is no shortage of folks who misidentify Snowy Owls age and sex; including the experts. If you would like to immerse yourself, here is a link to a 1980 report called AGING AND SEXING SNOWY OWLS by Bertie Josephson.

“The darkest birds are likely to be first-year females, whereas adult males always have very light plumage. However, the two remaining classes, first-year males and adult females, are intermediate in plumage characteristics and are less easily distinguished by means of plumagee. Because relatively light plumage may indicate a male bird or an adult, and dark plumage may characterize a female or a bird in its first basic (first-year) plumage, it is difficult to age Snowy Owls unless sex is known and vice versa.”

— Bertie Josephson

Boreal Owl a la Sony 200-600

There have been a few Boreal Owls around this winter; It really is rewarding to find one in a forest, more so when it is on a clean perch. After everyone in my group got images, we discovered a Northern Saw-whet Owl within about 10 meters (30 feet) and both were at eye level and showing nicely.

Sony 200-600mm Lens Love

Sony 200-600mm Love

If you have been reading about the Sony gear that I used for the last series of blog posts, you know I used the Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS Lens & Sony FE 1.4X Teleconverter. The truth is, it seems I have to force myself to use the prime gear since I got the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens which is such an incredible lens when paired with my Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless camera. It’s not just the auto-focus; The lens is so easy to manage, versatile and so convenient to carry around on my Black Rapid Sport strap.

Snowy Owl Great Lakes only 13% Ice coverage

After the sweet morning light turned harsh, we watched this Snowy Owl chase a Red-breasted Merganser for what seemed like a few minutes. It finally dove on the fleeing Merganser and killed it too far away for pictures.

With recent cooler weather and recent significant snowfalls, Lake Ontario is finally starting to freeze. I have been monitoring the ice coverage of the great lakes, and the news is not good. On February 10, 2020 NOAA found that the great lakes had only 13% ice coverage. This is alarming when compared to 55.7% last year and 71.9% the year before.

NOAA Great Lakes Surface Environmental Analysis comparison on February 10, 2020. CLICK IMAGE TO GO TO NOAA WEBSITE WITH LARGER IMAGE.

Snowy Owl a la RMT-P1BT Bluetooth Remote

There was light freezing rain that caused a thin layer of ice over the freshly fallen snow. I love the way the talons are gripping the ice as this young female Snowy Owl takes flight.

I had my Sony a9 II Camera body, Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS Lens, Sony FE 1.4X Teleconverter mounted on my Wimberly Head II all ready, with my Sony RMT-P1BT Wireless Remote Commander tucked into my mitten and ready for the blastoff; so nice to keep my hands warm inside my mitts when triggering my camera via the bluetooth remote!

Snowy Owl Calling

Snowy Owls are usually quite silent during the winter, but they do occasionally make loud, high-pitched, blood-curdling screams; usually, the result of another Snowy Owl encroaching on their winter territory.

For Sony a9/a9II & a7RIII/a7RIV users out there, I recently discovered the Newmowa USB powered double battery charger; it’s a small charger that simultaneously charges two NP-FZ100 batteries. This is not a fast charger (good for battery health), as it’s charge speed is dependent upon the power delivered by your USB power source. In my constant quest to pack less and lighten my load while traveling, this little charger can charge both batteries overnight and occupies less space than a single Sony NP-FZ100 charger.

Snowy Owl GROUND FX

18 inches of fresh snow, a first year female Snowy Owl and the very fist golden drops of morning light; life is worth living to the fullest!

We watched this Snowy Owl hunt and drop her prey before landing on a telephone pole, so we set up and waited for her to return and reclaim her prize. After sitting for almost an hour, she suddenly dove and sprung the trap we had set.

Snowy Owl a la Sony a9II high ISO

Here’s a Snowy Owl image from the Sony a9 II Camera body with the Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 G Master OSS Lens at 20,000 ISO. The details are remarkable! The key is to expose to the right (Keep the whites all the way to the right hand side of the histogram, but make sure they don’t touch) and try not to crop. This is a full frame image without noise reduction applied.

Male Snowy Owl Blast-off

Here’s another Male Snowy Owl blasting-off in high winds and blowing snow. We had to get down as low as possible to include the out of focus scrub along the fence line which slightly darkens the otherwise white background and helps make the fine snow visible.

Owl’s eye view of my third group of happy photographers during my in Winter Snowy Owl Photo Tour in Ontario, Canada. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. iPhone 11 Pro Max 1/2 zoom a la Snapseed B&W conversion.

Snowy Owl HANGTIME

With the warm weather, the snow in the fields had melted and the disk tilled fields were soggy, to say the least. Our boots collected clay that got ridiculously heavy and extremely slippery. Needless to say, we welcomed the change in temperature and heavy snow - smile.

When photographing in the snow, it is really easy to determine the correct exposure; I usually set the aperture to wide open (f/2.8 in this case), decide my minimum acceptable shutter speed (1/4,000s in this case) and then adjust my ISO so that the light meter reads plus 1 & 2/3 spot off the snow in front of me. A quick test image will show the histogram pushed all the way to the right, but not touching the right side; exactly where the whites are supposed to reside to extract maximum details.

Male Snowy Owl WHITEOUT

Here’s a male Snowy Owl in a blizzard; it’s a white bird flying in the snow in a snow covered field. I really needed those eyes to make something visually compelling.

With the snow falling and wind howling from our backs, frost on my glasses and in my viewfinder, I realized that there was no way I could have focused and followed the owls in flight without the awesomeness of the Sony Auto-focus system. I simply kept the green boxes (the green focus confirmation boxes that locked onto the owl’s eyes) in the middle of the viewfinder, and the Sony a9 II Camera did the rest!